Grishma (Necoh Saga) (2 page)

One step at a time, Ryder—don’t get too far ahead of yourself,
he thought. A flash of light lit up the forest, followed instantly by a crack of thunder that made him jump. The boom made his insides rumble. He looked to the sky. Black clouds swirled overhead.

“Damn it,” he muttered. A torrential downpour would cover the rotten scent of Grishma and attempting to track it would become pointless. As he turned and began to walk back to the house, he felt a soft vibration against his thigh. When he reached into his pocket, the screen on his cell phone shone bright, making him squint. He was so used to the dark of the wilderness that its fluorescent screen felt like hot needles in his eyes. Half past six, it buzzed at him. “Ugh,” he sighed. It was getting late and he had to get back to the house to get ready for the last day of school.

Chapter Two

T
he bell rang, signaling the
end of another school year. Students laughed and shouted as they raced down the crowded hallways.

“See you tonight, ladies!” Brooklyn called to her friends.

“Sounds good, B!” they called back.

I can’t believe my third year of high school is actually over,
thought Brooklyn with a sigh. The year had been pretty eventful, but not in a good way. Everything had been going great until winter break, when her mother announced that she and Brooklyn’s father were separating. The initial shock left Brooklyn and her brother Jax speechless. First she went numb. It didn’t take long for the aftermath to hit her right in the face. Her grades began to slip and her teachers reported that she was no longer her happy-go-lucky self. Sometimes, when she was alone, she would cry. Other times she would get so angry she felt as if steam would literally come out of her ears. Her brother seemed to take it better. He focused all of his sadness, anger, and frustration on the basketball court. Jax was Kennedy High School’s star point guard and he had been offered a full scholarship to play for the coveted Duke University basketball team in the fall.

Although she didn’t have basketball to rely on, Brooklyn did have two amazing friends, Taliyah and Parker, who were always there for her. They had been friends since kindergarten and their friendship had survived many ups and downs. Lately, they were inseparable, and tonight wasn’t any different. Thanks to their popular older siblings, the three had been invited to the party of the year at Jocelyn MacIntyre’s house. Simply attending the party would enhance their popularity status substantially. Everyone who was anyone at Kennedy would be there.

Jocelyn MacIntyre’s parents lived in a huge house with a massive pool and private tennis courts. The party would be catered by the best restaurant in town and
The Wires
were going to play live music all night. Best of all, there would be minimal parental supervision. Jocelyn had ‘the cool parents’ who usually ended up so bombed they weren’t capable of telling anyone what they could or couldn’t do.

Brooklyn had to admit, she was pretty stoked about attending the party. She had already spent hours picking out the perfect outfit and accessories. A simple green tank top, jean skirt, and black leggings accompanied by some cute gold earrings.

She sighed as she walked home. A warm breeze rustled the blossoms on the trees and Brooklyn enjoyed the time alone to think in the fresh air. By the time she got home, Jax and his best friend, Kai, were shooting hoops in the driveway.

“Hey B! Watch out!” shouted Jax a second too late. Before she could even look up, a basketball slammed into the side of her head.
THUD!
Brooklyn’s face immediately turned crimson. Although the basketball to the head hurt, she was more embarrassed Kai had seen it happen. He was literally perfect from head to toe. He had amazing aquamarine eyes with sandy blond hair and a smile that could take your breath away. Then there was his body, perfectly tanned, lean, and athletic. When Brooklyn thought about Kai, her stomach flipped and her knees turned to jelly. Unfortunately, Jax knew exactly how she felt about Kai and he teased her all the time.

As if on cue, he shouted, “Sorry B! I know how you like to look your best for Kai!” Brooklyn’s cheeks burned hotter and she raced through the open garage door.

Ugh! If it weren’t for this party I would disown him!

A few hours later, Brooklyn looked at herself in the mirror. She twirled one last time to make sure that her outfit and hair looked perfect.

Her mother passed by her daughter’s open door. “Sweetheart, you look beautiful!”

“Thanks, Mom,” Brooklyn replied as she slipped on a new pair of wedge heels.

“B! Let’s go!” shouted Jax from downstairs.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Brooklyn called back. She carefully walked down the stairs. The last thing she needed was to trip and break her ankle.

“Now, you two have fun and don’t stay out too late!” their mother said.

“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll be home before the sun rises!” said Jax with a smartass grin.

“Very funny,” said their mother. “You get home that late and you won’t have to worry about curfew again, because you won’t see the free world until you set foot on the Duke campus!” she retorted playfully.

The ride to Jocelyn’s took less than fifteen minutes. Her house was nestled into a mountainside shrouded by a dense forest. When Jax and Brooklyn walked in, the party was already in full swing.

“Wow,” Brooklyn whispered. She had never been to Jocelyn’s house before or any house that was this big. Clearly the MacIntyres had gone all out for this event. Brooklyn could hear music from the backyard and the tables stacked with food in front of her were pretty impressive. They hadn’t even walked five feet when Jocelyn popped into view.

Jocelyn immediately wrapped her arms around Jax and purred, “Hey, Jax! It’s so nice to see you! Can I get you something to eat? Perhaps a drink?” She was obviously trying to flirt with Jax, but he was ignoring her over the top hints.

“Nah, thanks, we’re good,” replied Jax as he backed up and shrugged his way out of her grasp.

“Okay, well, please let me know if you need anything,” Jocelyn cooed as she batted her fake eyelashes at him. She turned, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, and walked toward two more guests who had just arrived.

“Hey, B, you good?” Jax asked.

“Yeah, I think I see Parker and Taliyah over near the punch bowl. How cliché is a punch bowl at a high school party?” Brooklyn asked.

“It’s only cliché if someone wearing a leather jacket pours a flask of rum in it,” Jax replied with a smile.

Brooklyn walked over to her friends and grabbed a cup. “So fill me in, what have I missed?” she asked as she poured herself a glass of the sweet smelling red liquid from the punch bowl.

“Well,” replied Taliyah. “Kai is here and looking as good as ever.”

“Ugh… I know!” Brooklyn sighed. Then she recanted the basketball-to-the-head story to her friends. “It’s like he has no filter! Whatever he’s thinking just pops out of his big mouth!”

“It could be worse,” said Taliyah, laughing. “You could have a black eye right now! Or even worse, you could be sitting at home on the couch with a concussion!”

“True. Very true,” replied Brooklyn smiling.

“Hey, Taliyah, isn’t that Ryder from Jax’s class?” Parker asked. She pointed across the room at a silent, watchful guy.

“Yeah, I think so. I mean he is the MacIntyres’ exchange student, so I guess he would be here,” responded Taliyah.

“Wait a minute. He’s who’s exchange what?” Brooklyn asked, shaking her head, trying to work that sentence out in her head.

“Yeah,” said Taliyah. “He’s an exchange student from Denmark, didn’t you know that?”

“Clearly I did not,” replied Brooklyn, shrugging as she looked over at Ryder. He had perfectly tousled black hair and deep green eyes. He appeared to be a bit shorter than Jax or Kai, but it was difficult to guess his height from across the room.

“I thought Danish people had blue eyes and blonde hair,” she said, unable to take her eyes off him.

“What does it matter? He’s pretty hot,” Parker retorted.

Then, as if he knew they were talking about him, Ryder looked up and locked eyes with Brooklyn. The exchange was so intense that it seemed like the world stopped for a minute and everything fell silent, even the music blaring outside. When Ryder finally looked down, Brooklyn actually had to force herself to take a breath.

Did that just happen?
she asked herself.

“Um, Earth to B! You there?” Parker asked, waving her hands in front of Brooklyn’s face.

“Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I’m good. I think I just spaced out for a minute.”

“Right. If I didn’t know that you were madly in love with Kai, I would say you and Ryder just had a love-at-first-sight moment!” said Parker with a smile. Brooklyn just rolled her eyes.

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what just happened, but it definitely didn’t change how she felt about Kai. Her infatuation with him had all started when he came over after school one day when Brooklyn was in seventh grade. Brooklyn had a horrible bout of the stomach flu that day and she had missed the past two days of school.

She was downstairs watching cartoons in her ratty pink robe and teddy bear slippers when her brother walked in the door with Kai.

“That’s a good look for you, B!” Jax said with a smirk.

“Shut up, J—” Brooklyn stopped abruptly when her eyes landed upon her older brother’s attractive friend standing a few steps away. She froze, like a deer in headlights.

“Oh come on, Jax, I’m sure you couldn’t pull off that look,” said Kai as he winked at Brooklyn. That was it. That one event started a crush that still endured to this very minute.

“B, let’s go check out the band,” Parker said, interrupting Brooklyn’s trip down memory lane.

“Sounds good,” Brooklyn replied. The girls walked through the open doors outside on to the deck. The band played directly below on the lawn and a few people were already dancing.

“How many people down there do you think are actually sober” Taliyah asked as she glanced over the rail.

Brooklyn smirked. “Very few.”

“Hey, isn’t that Kai in the middle?” Parker asked, pointing down.

“Oh, um, yeah, I guess it is,” replied Brooklyn, her cheeks red.

“I heard Kai snuck in some rum,” said Taliyah with a mischievous grin. “And I want some!”

Taliyah pushed through the sea of bodies jiggling and grinding to the music until she got close to Kai and Jax. She was only a few feet away and about to call out their names when she bumped into Ryder.

“Excuse me!” she yelled over the noise. Ryder turned and looked down at her. She smiled at him. “Excuse me, can you please move?” she yelled again.

Just a few feet away, Taliyah overheard Kai yell something to Jax. “You know, that Parker is pretty hot!”

Taliyah’s eyes widened as she looked past Ryder. Jax and Kai were dancing with a couple of girls, but she didn’t care. It was their conversation she wanted to hear. She grabbed Ryder and started to dance with him. Her back faced Jax and Kai.

“She’s only sixteen,” Jax yelled.

Ryder looked super confused. “What are you doing?” he asked loudly so he could be heard over the music. People were bumping into him, but Taliyah held onto his arms. “Shut up and dance with me for a minute!” she yelled.

“Yeah, that means easy taking,” Kai said.

“Seriously, lay off. That’s one of Brooklyn’s best friends. You know my sister has already planned your wedding and named your future children,” Jax yelled.