Authors: Mary Ting
Mason, Noah, and Tim slowly paced to close the space between them. Sliding her feet on the wet ground, Alena tugged Skylar toward the open gate while keeping one eye on the boys.
“Stop! I have one bullet left, and I’m not afraid to pull the trigger on your precious Skylar.”
Mason stopped, gestured Noah and Tim to do the same, and raised his hands to surrender. “Okay.”
Pointing the revolver to Skylar’s head, Alena spoke. “Sorry guys, I’m tired of playing around. Say goodbye to your girlfriend.” Alena pulled the trigger.
“Noooo!” Mason ran as fast as he could, but even with his speed, he wasn’t fast enough. The bullet shot out, but just before it did, Skylar jabbed her elbow into Alena’s chest and fell to the ground, trying to dodge the bullet. Mason’s body continued to soar, carrying Alena with him. Slamming her body to the gate, Mason sent electricity through her body. The “Do not enter. Danger! High voltage gate” sign was an understatement. Like fireworks, silver lights exploded. Convulsing, her body seared, turning to the color of onyx, and she went limp. When Mason finally released his hold, Alena’s scorched body dropped to the wet, muddy ground.
Chapter 34
Though Noah had already helped Skylar up, Mason wearily stumbled to her, looking worn out and soaked from the rain. The rain finally stopped and the sun peeped through the puffy clouds, creating a rainbow. It was a beautiful sight in contrast to what they had just been through.
“Are you okay?” Mason asked, still out of breath, pulling Skylar into his embrace. As always, after her life had been threatened, he pulled her back, cupped her face, and looked at her with a sigh of relief. Then he ran his hands through her hair and down her arms, looking for wounds.
Speechless, Skylar nodded her head. Having witnessed surreal, magical moment, she was simply stunned. Now that it was over, she wanted to cry from relief. It took every ounce of effort to hold back and blink the tears away. Then she rooted her eyes to Mason’s wound. “You’re hurt.”
Seeing Skylar was fine, Mason’s tone became serious. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m going to go back in to check on Amanda and Everett.” Then he turned to Noah and Tim. “If you have time, I have few questions.”
Inside, Amanda and Everett were still tied up. Softly moaning, Everett shook his head, seemingly trying to get himself together. The color came back to his face and the movement from his body showed he would be fine; however, Amanda looked like she was pissed as hell.
“Did you, like, forget about us?” Amanda huffed, narrowing her angry eyes at Mason. “You could’ve untied me first. It only takes one second to zap your rays. You had all the fun and left me out. Everett was knocked out, not me. Just because I’m a girl and just because I don’t have powers like you doesn’t mean I can’t kick ass.”
Rolling his eyes without a word, Mason jetted light out of his fingertips, cutting through the thick ropes that were tightly binding Amanda’s and Everett’s wrists. Strangely, even with god-like strength, neither Amanda nor Everett had been able to free themselves, which led Skylar to question whether the rope Alena used had been “special.”
Amanda stood up briskly and set her eyes on the bloodstain on his sweater. “What happened to you? Never mind. Since you’ll live, you deserved it for deserting me.” Then she turned on her heel.
Everyone else followed Mason to the family room. It was furnished with leather sofas, oak coffee table, and a huge plasma television. With a high ceiling and a few oil paintings hung on the walls, it looked elegant, like the rest of the house. Mason walked out and returned with towels in his hands.
“Thanks,” Noah and Tim said in accord, draping them around their shoulders and finding their spots on the sofa.
Instead of tossing one to Skylar, Mason wrapped it around her, never taking his eyes off her. His face held no expression, but there was a deeper meaning behind those striking eyes—so much emotion bottled deep within—pain, relief, and even happiness. Skylar tried to define what he was thinking, but he let go all too soon.
Everett plunked himself on the sofa, looking dismayed, rubbing his temples as if he had a headache, and Mason found a spot next to him on the sofa.
“That hurt like hell. I don’t wish that kind of pain even on my worst enemies. Looks like you’ve made some friends,” Everett groaned.
“This is Noah and Tim,” Mason introduced. “They are Poseidon’s descendants.”
“We knew your kind existed, but we’ve never took the time to look for any half bloods,” Everett explained. “Are there more of you?”
“Yes. There is a group of us,” Noah answered.
Skylar noted how Amanda was admiring Noah and Tim.
“Do you live around here?” Amanda asked. Suddenly her demeanor and tone became more ladylike.
“No, but if you don’t mind, we like to keep our whereabouts to ourselves. Just in case,” Tim winked at Amanda. Amanda lit a flirtatious smile.
“Well…I can certainly understand,” Everett supported. “We were trying to keep to ourselves, too, but Alena found us. Do you know anything about her?”
“About a year ago, Alena took an interest in Noah during our senior year in high school. She was new to our school,” Tim explained. “They dated until we found out who she really was…meaning, she tried to kill us. She escaped and we lost track of her. I guess she went into hiding. Then suddenly she appeared again.”
“Apparently, she was after my body, too,” Noah joked, twitching his brows.
“I can see why,” Amanda murmured.
Skylar let out a small giggle, lightened by his humor, and especially seeing Amanda act so flirtatiously, which she’d never seen her do before. “Both of you were at the mall,” Skylar said to Noah and Tim.
Noah ran his hair back with his fingers while letting out a nervous laugh. “Yeah…about that. I was told to keep an eye on you…sort of.” Noah looked uneasy.
“Keep an eye on me?” Skylar questioned with a sharp tone. Her pitch elevated. “And…was that you spying on me through my bedroom window from next door?”
Mason glared at Noah. If looks could kill, Noah would have been a dead man. “You watched her?”
“Look…I’m not authorized to say much, but it isn’t what you think,” Noah continued. “I saw her naked, but that’s all.”
“What?” Mason stood up, looking like he was ready to give it to him with his fist.
Noah raised both of his hands. “Relax, dude. I was just kidding…okay?”
After Mason sat back down, Noah continued. “I was instructed to keep an eye on Skylar, making sure she was safe. We know what type of blood runs through her veins. Unlike Alena, her blood is poison, but at the same time, we know she’s not evil, so we were told not to harm her. We were also instructed to find information about your family. Obviously we knew where you lived. Our boss doesn’t want us saying much. We wanted to make sure you were on the right team.”
“You have a leader? Who is he or she?” Skylar asked.
“Sorry. I can’t disclose that information.”
Skylar released a heavy irritated sigh. It was not the answer she wanted to hear.
“Does your leader want anything from us?” Everett asked.
“No. Our mission was to keep Skylar safe from Alena, and only interfere if it was absolutely necessary.”
“Why does your leader care if Skylar lives or dies?” Mason jumped in with his question.
“Like I said before, I’m not at liberty to say much.”
Mason stood up again, his fingers sparking with anger. “What are you at liberty to say?”
Tim stood up, seeming to protect Noah. Seeing Tim get up, Everett stood up too.
“Whoa....” Noah raised his hands again. “Everyone, just calm down. We’re not the enemy, okay? We had the same goal. We were trying to keep Skylar safe from Alena.”
Amanda jolted up, looking like she’d had enough. “Boys, sit! Keep your testosterone to yourself!”
Taken in by Amanda’s words, there was an awkward stretch of silence. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they sat back down, albeit guardedly.
“Good. Now, speaking of Alena, where is she?” Amanda asked, changing the subject.
Surprisingly, no one spoke a word. The room was quiet for a long few seconds until Tim spoke. “Mason zapped her. It was pretty nasty. Her hair looked like Ms. Frankenstein, and her eyes popped out and….”
“Okay…that’s enough,” Mason interrupted, standing up. “She’s dead. Death is nothing to celebrate even if she was evil. She was someone’s daughter, someone’s friend.”
Amanda gave Mason an “are you kidding” look.
“Okay…maybe she didn’t have any friends. Regardless, I took a life.” Mason’s tone was low and soft. “It’s nothing to be proud of. She was our kind. I’m almost positive she wasn’t born evil. Something must have triggered it, or someone influenced her…like her dead mom, like she said. We are all born with a clean slate, and what happens afterward depends on people that surround us. I’m not sticking up for her. I just wish…I…she was human, after all…a life is a life…I….” He turned to Noah and Tim without finishing his words. “Thank you for your assistance. If there is anything you need, we will return the favor. We can exchange our contact information just in case. If you’ll all excuse me, I need to find Nick.” Mason headed out of the room.
“Our dear Nick is with Kayla,” Amanda informed. “He has no idea what’s going on. I’m sure he’ll be upset he missed our reunion.”
Mason turned to face Skylar, looking impassive. “Amanda will take you home. You have an early class in the morning. As promised, since there is no threat to your life, you can go home now.”
“I can take her home,” Noah said. “I’m on my way out anyway.”
Mason paused. “Whatever she wants. I’ll be in my room.” With that, he sauntered toward the stairs, leaving Skylar confused.
Something in the pit of Skylar’s stomach told her Mason’s wall could not be broken. She only wanted to chip a piece at a time, but now, it felt like the little piece she’d chipped away had sealed itself back up. She couldn’t help but feel as if Mason had just broken up with her, even though they weren’t officially going out.
Nothing was clear between them. Maybe he never cared about her the way she thought he did. Perhaps he had decided she was too dangerous for him. After all, she could kill him by accident. Feeling like there was no hope, at that moment she decided to accept the fact that Mason would never care for her in that special way.
Skylar wanted to run, fast and far away from there, but no matter how far she ran, Mason was already etched on her heart, like a tattoo that would be too painful to erase.
“Noah, would you mind taking me home?” She said it nice and loud, purposely wanting Mason to hear. She didn’t know if it was her tone or that she asked Noah instead of Amanda, but it froze Mason in his place. Then without a word, he continued into the hallway, up the stairs, and out of view.
After the exchange of phone numbers, they headed out the door. Skylar didn’t know whether to go back inside and confront Mason or let him be. Afraid of being rejected, she got in the car with Noah and Tim. Just before passing the gate to exit, she turned and looked toward the bedroom windows.
Though she was unsure which window was in Mason’s room, she thought she saw a dark figure peeping through the curtains in a second story window. What did it matter? As she desperately blinked her tears away, she turned toward the front and focused on Noah and Tim. But grief consumed her whole body that she felt drained, emotionally and physically. All she could do was leave with a broken heart. Though she had known this was a possibility, she never imagined the pain would be this excruciating. It only proved one thing; she cared for him more than she’d realized or wanted to.