Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1) (29 page)

I had nothing to say. I wiped a falling tear—which could of easily been mistaken for a water droplet—away, and instead swam around the dock to the shore. Once on land, the air encased me in an icy cocoon. I squeezed a good amount of water out of my drenched shirt, and pulled out my now broken phone from my pocket.

“Oh my god! Are you all right?!” Sarah questioned, running to me.

I heaved my phone at a nearby tree, shattering it into pieces. I was silent—wiping away another escaping tear.

Jett and Vera/Vienna walked passed us and headed up the porch. He didn’t even have the nerve to look back at me. He looked agitated as if I was the one adding fuel to the fire. I—as well as Sarah and Max—caught “Vienna’s” gaze. She flashed an evil grin as she and he slouched over the railing, making sure I saw it.
You’re settling for this,
her words echoed in my mind. I felt the heat growing again, and continued toward them.
Who the hell is she to say I’m not good enough. I’m perfectly good enough!
As I neared the corner, I picked up a rock from the ground and flung it at her. It bounced off of her head and thudded on the ground.

“
Ow!
” she roared.

I hopped up the stairs.

“Rini, just stop!” Jett said, holding me back. “You’ve done enough.”

“No! I’m telling the truth, Jett!” I ducked under his arm and cornered my nemesis.

“Leave us alone. Go bother someone else, you venomous
bitch!
” I spat. Jett tried to get a hold of my shoulders, but I shoved him away.

“Like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vera/Vienna spoke in a condescending tone. “You
must
have me confused for someone else. It’s perfectly common for people to act a little delirious sometimes.”

And with that, I sent a backhanded slap across her face.
Thwack!
It left a throbbing, stinging pain in my hand, but it was worth it. “Now do you remember me?!” I spat. “Huh?! Remember me now?!

Vera/Vienna held her cheek in astonishment, and began to sob, “Why do you hate me, I’m trying to be nice to you!” she had the emotional face to show that of someone crying, but there was one thing missing. Tears. Truth.

In that instant, Jett pulled me away, turned me around, and slammed me against the wall of the cabin underneath his hands. I let out a rush of breath at the sudden motion “What the
hell
is your problem, Rini?!” Anger pulsed thorough his voice and clenched teeth, and his once beautiful brown eyes that I could once get lost in forever were now hollow and dark, not letting me in. “Can you stop being such a
bitch
for a second?! Okay, so maybe my attention isn’t all focused on you, but today is not your
fucking
special day, it’s
hers
!” He pointed to the fake crying girl who’d ruined it all. “This is
her
day! She’s still trying to get adjusted and you’re being rude! She was trying to tell me her story at lunch, but you kept interrupting! Now quit getting all pissed off because things can’t be about you for once!” His grip tightened and he didn’t let go.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I said quietly. “I just wanted to talk to you. Didn’t you get my voicemail?”

“Just
stop!
” he yelled. “We aren’t even married and yet you act like an over-protective wife!” He wasn’t Jett—he was a monster. A vicious, blood-hungry monster. “Are you
really
that self-conscious about yourself that just because I talk to a beautiful woman, you automatically made the assumption that I’m cheating on you?”
So he didn’t think I was beautiful, too?
Had I been myself, I would of tried to stick up for myself better. But, I was getting tamed down by love. And unfortunately, even then, I didn’t have the heart to defend myself from someone I cared about.

The throbbing pain in my hand from slapping Vera was nothing compared to the venom Jett was spewing at me in the form of razor-sharp words. This was my biggest fear of love. The end—the break-up. It was happening right before me.

“Jett!” Max yelled. “Back off her, dude! You’re hurting her!”

“Yeah!” Sarah finally broke her silence. “It’s true,
her
name is Vera.” It was about time my best friend stood up for me, but even so it was too late. He’d already said spiteful things. Ripped our blossoming relationship from the plant of love before it could fully bloom.

He turned back to me, not paying any attention to my saviors behind him. “No wonder Martin didn’t want us to date people like
you
!” he continued, but I really wish he hadn’t. “You all are nothing but
jealous
,
self-centered
and
crazy
wastes of creation. You’re no better than the humans that forced our kind away back then. I’m honestly starting to think that it was a bad idea to even date you in the first place! And now you have your friend lying for you so
you
don’t look like the crazy one.
Ha!
”

“J-Jett, I-I-I?” Tears were beginning to flood my eyes as I watched the person I cared for and admired, attack me to defend my enemy. The last words of Julius Caesar entered my mind,
Et tu, Brute
? And you, Brutus? I was stabbed in the back by someone I thought I could trust. Someone I thought I could finally let myself fall victim to love with. I had to blink and send streams of tears slithering down my cheek to clear the walls of water blurring my vision.

“Dude!” Max spoke again, this time trying to pry Jett’s hands off of me. “She’s your girlfriend Jett! And if she says that
that
girl is someone else, then it probably is. Are you really believing a stranger over your own damn girlfriend?”

“Not you too, Max! She brainwashed you too?!”

Max countered, “The only one that got brainwashed here is
you,
dude! Look at what you’re doing to Rini! She’s shaking in fear. Just because someone decided to stroke your ego or something, doesn’t mean you have to turn into a
douche
!”

Jett looked at me, his eyes different as he saw my shivering body underneath his strong grip. As though
my
Jett was trying to pull through
this
Jett and take control. But then, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone. He was not the same guy I met on my first night here, or in the forest. The same guy that matched my playful sarcasm and wit. He was someone else. As though he were being controlled, or was under the influence of something making him act in such a way.

“I want
my
Jett back!” I told him, my voice cracking. “Whoever you are, I want him back!”

“What the hell is up with
that
?! I’m not different,
you
are the one that changed! You are the one that’s acting crazy and attached. I’m still the same!”

“No, you aren’t!” I cried. “You’re different. You are
not
my Jett! I don’t know who you are anymore!”

“What makes you think you ever knew me at all?” he said curtly, words stinging me like acid. “We
just
started dating, you know. I’ve only known you for a few
damn
weeks! Weeks of my life that I will never get back!” There it was, out of his mouth and in the air—words hovering around us and making sure everyone around us heard them.

“Dude! Stop!” Max yelled. “Stop, before you do something stupid!” It was too late for that.

“The only stupid thing I’ve done is let myself have feelings for
her
!” He whirled his head to me and let go. “Now please, go home! I’m getting sick and tired of your annoying whining!” He pointed to the direction of my cabin. “And, take your friend with you too.”

I stumbled over my words like a child trying to talk when they are crying, “W-What-ha-happened-to-not-letting-me-out-of-your-s-sight?”

“I don’t care anymore, just leave me alone! Please!” He went back to Vera/Vienna. She was still pretending to cry. “Are you okay?” he asked nicely and comforting, a tone completely opposite of the way he’d shown me. “It’s all right.” No. It isn’t. Not anymore. Everything was shattered. Broken into pieces on the floor that I wanted to put back together, but each time I tried, the pieces only grew smaller and smaller.

I took a few steps closer to him, “Jett please!” I cried, trying to get his attention. I didn’t want to lose him. I’d finally let myself be vulnerable to being in a relationship and here it was crashing down. He was special. I need him. I
love
him. There was the word I’d uttered into his voicemail and was unable to retract. Now that he was straying away from me, I felt it. That feeling of not wanting to lose this particular person. Had I only liked him, I would just leave like I did with the other guy who dumped me when I wouldn’t put out. Sure it was a little too soon, but love has many stages. It was at the beginning, yes, but I didn’t want to lose him. I love Jett! I
love
him! I needed to say it aloud. In person. Make it real—my declaration.

I touched his shoulder, “Please Jett, I-”

“
Get the hell away from me
!” he stammered and pushed me back. My foot skidded across water. It happened in a flash. Before I knew it, I slipped on a puddle of water at the top of the stairs that had formed from my dripping clothes, and was stumbling down the porch stairs—my body twisting in the air. My sight was blurry, erratically shifting into blurs of grey from the sky and green from the trees and then—brown, from the dirt.

Crack!

I let out a high pitched wail. I had fallen onto my left hand and dislocated my wrist over a rock. I couldn’t move it anymore. I’d lost all connectivity. The pain was immense. Sharp like needles prodding my skin. Sarah and Max rushed to my side, helping me to my feet. I cradled my limp hand, slowly loosing its color, in my right as more tears flooded down my cheek. I could hear both of them talking, but tuned them out. I was focused on other things. My heart was broken figuratively, and now, my hand was broken physically.

“Are you okay?” I heard Sarah say.

“I think it’s broken.” Max followed.

“She needs help!” Sarah yelled, but it was all a distant sound. Dizziness overtook me and almost swept me off my feet.

“Oh, fuck!” I heard. A voice belonging to neither of the duo around me. “Rini, I’m so sorry! Let me see it!” Jett was at my side, shoving the pair aside and trying to help.

“Don’t—touch me,” I managed to get out in a sob, not facing him. My voice was uneasy. I was balling and my breathing became heavy and out of sync.

“Just let me see it,” he reached for my hand again.

“I said, DON’T TOUCH ME!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, and shoved him away with my good hand.

I turned to Vera/Vienna who looked amused from the porch. “YOU CAN HAVE HIM!” I yelled to her, before turning toward the forest and bursting into a dash. Sarah stayed behind. It was a good thing. I wanted to be alone. I needed to be alone. I wanted to get as far away as I possibly could. Even journey to the end of the world if it meant that was far enough.

“What the hell did you do!” I heard Del scream at Jett. The slap of the screen door followed.

“I just pushed her and she fell down the stairs....”

That was all I heard as I disappeared into the forest toward my cabin, with tears streaming down my face and the salty taste at the corners of my mouth—alone.

Del

26

“Why the hell would you push her!” I was furious upon hearing what had happened. This was
unacceptable
. Rini was a sweetheart. She cared about Jett and our family with her heart. I absolutely adored her, which was rare for me. I never give people the benefit of the doubt. They’re usually exactly how I expect them to be. But not her, she was different.

I had thought everything was calm. But when I heard the scream and saw Rini soaking wet and holding her hand and running into the forest crying, I knew something was wrong. I had just gotten in from getting Rini’s gift from the car to put on Jett’s bed, which is when I thought I had heard a suspicious splash, but ignored it.

“She was attacking Vienna!” Jett yelled, he’d been acting different since yesterday. A lot different.

“So!” I roared. “That doesn’t give you the right to
hurt your girlfriend.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Jett’s voice cracked, as though things weren’t yet processed in his mind until now. It was exactly what he did. “It was an accident! I just pushed her and she slipped.” He sounded as if he was regretting what had happened, and if he had made a huge mistake, which he had. And he sure as hell better be regretting what he just did. Rini knew about us, and she still acted the same after finding out.
How dare he!

I’d had it with him. “Shut up, you stupid idiot!”

Martin and the rest of the boys exited the cabin. “I need to speak with you two inside,” Martin motioned to Jett and I.

Sarah, and Max entered the cabin. Jett and I followed. Vienna stood straight and trailed behind us.

“Could you give us a moment?” Martin asked, stopping her from entering the cabin.

“Sure,” she said, stepping back. “I’ll just be out here.”

“Thank you,
Vera
,” He smiled.

A confused look appeared on her face as he closed the screen door.

“Well, what is it?” I asked.

Martin headed to the couch and found the television remote. He raised the volume slightly. “Turns out,
Vienna
isn’t who she says she is.”

A news anchor reported:

“...mbers and Melina Huffenson are still missing. In other missing persons news, officials are still in search for local teen, Vera Hill. Missing reports were filed a few days ago by her parents, Kathy and Fred Hill, after they say their daughter never made it home from work a few days ago. If you have any information regarding this case, please contact authorities at….”

The face of the blonde girl’s picture on TV was the same of that dark haired girl just outside, pretending to be a girl from Mundahlia named Vienna.
How in the world did she even know of its existence?

“Rini was right,” Jett said, his voice full of remorse. He stood with his hands clenched and walked over to a wall. The veins on his wrists protruded through his skin. He slammed a fist against it, thinking of the biggest mistake he had made.

Good. “What do we do with her now?” I asked Martin.

Martin held a hand to his chin, “We need to find out how she knows about us and Mundahlia, and how she became one of us. That girl isn’t human anymore, I can sense it. We need to find out who changed her.”

“Excuse me?” Sarah broke in. “What are you all talking about?”

It was too late to take back what Martin said. Instead, he put his hands on both of her shoulders and said, “You want to see a show? Then follow us. But, you have to promise not to run and tell anybody, okay?”

Poor Sarah looked terrified. Max took her hand into his. “It’s okay, babe. Rini knows about us already, so you should too. Just don’t freak out. Promise?”

A curious thought provoked her mind. “I promise.”

We all stopped by the screen door, as we overheard a conversation.

“I don’t care! Just hurry up and do whatever the hell you were going to do so I can get out of here, I think they’re on to me,
Bane
.” She slammed her phone shut.

At the mere mention of the name, I could hear Jett clench his teeth together. He was enraged.

“I should of known!” Jett pushed through us and exited onto the porch. Vera was slightly frightened, but recomposed herself.

“Known about what?” she smiled, pretending we hadn’t heard a thing.

“What is Bane plotting!” he shouted.

“Who?”

“Cut the crap! We know who you are,
Vera
,” I added, stepping beside Jett.

“Tell me now!” Jett shouted again, a few drops of spit fell to the floor.

Vera backed into the corner of the porch, “I can’t tell you.”

“Then there’s no reason as to why you should stay alive!” Jett stepped towards her with his arms ready to burst through the clothes, but I held him back.

I pushed my way in front of Jett, facing the liar. I’ll kill her myself. “All right
perra
, let’s see what you got!” Before I turned, I veered over my shoulders to Sarah, intently watching what was going to happen next. “I apologize ahead of time for any fright you may endure in the next few minutes.”

Shreds of my clothes fell to the ground, and I was not in my Mundahlian form. I heard the horrified gasp behind me.

Vera panicked and dashed over the railing, almost slipping on the gravel. I hopped over it, and chased after her as she ran for the forest. Before she reached the opening, I grasped the collar of her shirt and pulled her back. She fell to the ground, skidding across the dirt. It was then, that she used her newly granted abilities and morphed into a large hybrid beast in resemblance to a tiger. The same Mundahlian clan as Bane.
He
had turned her.

Vera swept me under with her orange and black striped legs. Using her retracting claws, she scratched me across the chest. The stinging pain began. I could smell the rusty blood scent. As I got to my feet, I was struck in the face with another set of scratches. Vera was growling and showing her ugly sharp teeth.
Enough of this bullshit!
I thought.
You caused way too much trouble!

I charged at Vera, tackling her and pinning her to the tree. She let out a yelp of pain. She was still to new at this and didn’t know how to work everything. I held her down long enough to get my claws around her throat. With a quick flick of my hand, my nails sliced into her neck—blood began dripping over my hand. Vera was gargling over another shrill, the blood blocking her windpipe. I grabbed the raised edges of the freshly torn skin, and yanked it across. Stepping aside, as blood poured to the ground like a waterfall. Vera’s body stiffened, and I let go off her. Watching her fall into a pool of her own blood. Dead. She morphed back into her human body. The letter B was branded on her shoulder. It was fresh, and fleshy. It was over. Too late, but over.

I felt the cool air rush through my now nude and human body. I was covered in blood and still burning with anger as I stomped up the porch.

“That—was—
awesome
!” Sarah squealed. “And yet, that is still not nearly the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in my life.”