Redemption (Night Marchers #2) Written by: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (6 page)

After stuffing my luggage in her small trunk
we both hop in, Kaylee starts the ignition, pulls out and starts
driving towards her house.

"By the way, my mom is going to be heading
out of town tomorrow for a week long business trip. She couldn't
cancel it. Your dad was okay with everything though. After all,
both of us are less than a few months from turning eighteen."
Kaylee says with a sly smile. I consider this predicament. It
couldn’t be more convenient, or ironic, at how well this may turn
out. I may very well have just been handed an opportunity.

"Well, that's mighty convenient Kaylee
because I could really use your help." I say as the wheels start
churning in my head.

"Oh really? Spill girl." She says allotting a
short mischievous glance in my direction before returning her gaze
back onto the road.

I inhale deeply allowing myself a moment to
gather my thoughts. After all this time I thought it would be easy
to spill the beans to Kaylee. After all, we’ve been friends for
what seems like forever. Shouldn’t this be like second nature? I
try to think of where to start only to have to retort to plan B,
then C and so on… I just can’t figure out how on earth to tell her
about these evil wandering spirits who kidnaped Kai and Noa and my
need to drag her across the Pacific to help them. It doesn’t even
seem plausible in my mind much less if I were to say it aloud.

Kaylee must sense my hesitancy but just
patiently waits for me to begin. I twiddle my thumbs in nervous
anticipation. I haven’t done that since I was small but find myself
resorting to it for some form of comfort. I watch the cars zip past
us on the expressway and I try to clear my head. There is only one
way to start this, and it has to be from the beginning.

***

I hold tight to the ‘oh-crap’ handle as
Kaylee drives frantically through the city. Tires squeal as she
makes a sharp right turn into a gas station and parks at a neck
breaking halt.

“So let me get this straight,” Kaylee begins
in a frenzy. Her eyes are wild and she’s sort of scaring me right
now. I don’t think I have ever seen her like this before. “You go
to Hawaii, meet a guy, fall for him, and then get caught up with
some ‘Night Marchers’?” She says the last part with air quotes. If
there is ever a time to be afraid of Kaylee, it’s when she uses air
quotes. “Then you meet a hot guy named Kai who saves you and you
break your leg in the process of getting rescued.” Her eyes begin
bugging out of her head at this point and she grabs the center
console. “And then somehow, your ‘broken leg’ heals in a day.”
Using more air quotes again. “ Then you train with some Menehunes
to fight the Night Marcher and fail, so Kai steps in and becomes a
Night Marcher himself releasing his evil brother Kao. Then later on
you find out Tristan’s best friend was also taken?
Seriously
Emma? What do you think I am, a fool? You are on drugs Emma, right?
What kind? That's so jacked up, seriously, we vowed not to do
stupid crap!” Well, at least I can say she was paying
attention.

At this point I am plastered to the passenger
door wondering if my best friend’s evil side is going to come
slamming at me full speed in an all out brawl. Kaylee is breathing
heavily and staring me down, making me feel insignificantly
small.

“Yes,” it was all I could squeak out as I
cringe waiting for her reaction but then I correct myself when her
eyes bug out in horror. I realize quickly my error and stumble to
correct myself. "I mean, no, I'm not on drugs! Yes, I am serious
about everything I told you. No hallucinogens were needed for any
of that."

She watches me for a long second and then
begins to straighten out her hair with her fingers. It was as if
Mr. Hyde had put Dr. Jekyll back in his place. All the anger and
animosity has simply disappeared leaving my BFI Kaylee in its wake.
She relaxes into her seat and puts her hair down looking me in the
eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell me everything before now?” A look
of hurt flashes across her face and in that moment the guilt of
keeping all this to myself comes rushing out in the form of tears.
“Oh, honey.” Kaylee reaches over and embraces me in one of her
reassuring hugs. “It’s going to be okay.” Kaylee says reassuringly.
“We’re going to figure this out, I promise.” Kaylee abruptly pulls
me from her embrace and braces my shoulders forcing me to look her
square in the eyes. “But you promise me one thing missy.” She
doesn’t wait for me to respond before she begins again. “Don’t you
EVER keep things like this from me again!” I simply nod as her face
softens back to the friend I have grown to love.

Pulling up to Kaylee’s house I breathe a sigh
of relief. It’s good to be back, is all I can think. Kaylee’s mom
comes rushing out the front door wearing a hot pink muumuu. The
funny thing is, she looks good in it. I don’t think anyone else
could rock it the way she does.

Kaylee’s face has a look of pure horror as
she takes in the sight of her mom. “Mom! You’re embarrassing me!
What if the neighbors see you in that getup?”

Her mom simply ignores her and wraps me into
a rib-crushing hug. Feeling as if all the life has drained out of
me, she finally releases me.

“Hi Dyan.” It was all I could muster after
being practically crushed to death.

Kaylee’s mom Dyan is like the mother I never
got the chance to have. She is extremely eccentric, but that is
exactly what I love about her.

Dyan grabs my luggage and ushers us into the
house. Inside, the house smells of fresh baked cookies and all
sorts of homemade goodness. My stomach begins to churn at the
smell. I honestly can’t tell if it’s because I’m hungry or because
the smell reminds me of Alani and all of her homemade goodies.

Dropping my luggage in the foyer, we all plop
onto bar stools and dig into the pile of cookies.

“Thanks mom,” Kaylee says through her mouth
full of food. One thing I will never understand is how Kaylee can
eat like she does and never gain a pound or a blemish. It doesn’t
seem cosmically possible.

Before I am on my second bite of cookie
Kaylee grabs the plate and drags me back to her room. I smile at
the sight before me. It looks like the color pink threw up in here.
There’s a child’s canopy bed set up against a rose pink wall along
with other antique furniture dotting the room. Teddy bears are
piled up in the corner in mesh netting displayed for all to see.
Kaylee’s mom installed a trundle bed underneath the canopy so that
we could have sleepovers. I’ve spent countless nights in here
growing up and the sight and smell of it is comforting in and of
itself. It's like coming home.

"So, why did you pull me away so fast?" I
mumble trying not to let the cookie crumbs fall out of my mouth. I
can’t deny that I was looking forward to catching up with Dyan
too.

Kaylee gives me that roguish grin that always
sets me on edge because I know it means that she's got some type of
mischief planned. That's when I see the light bounce off a metal
blade in her hand. I instinctively drop my cookie and gasp when
Kaylee pulls out a butcher knife that she must have grabbed from
the kitchen on our way in here. Now it makes sense why she flew out
of the room with me in tow in such a hurry.

"What the hell Kayle?" I yell at her just a
tad bit freaked out.

"I have an idea." She says raising her
eyebrow at me as if silently asking me if I'm game.

"Um, okay but I don't think now is the time
to try to do some type of 'blood sisters' ritual or something like
we did in the seventh grade." I say a little nervously. I can't see
how anything that has to do with a knife like that could be a good
idea.

"No, Emma, I'm not doing some stupid ritual,
after all we are already sisters, we don't need to share blood to
know that. I was just thinking...and it's totally up to you, but
perhaps we can test out this rapid healing of yours."

If I could see myself in the mirror, I'm sure
my eyes would bug out of my head. "WTF?"

Kaylee tries to lighten the mood by joking,
"Why The Face?" She sees that I'm still looking at her in dismay so
she says, "I'm not suggesting that we plunge this into your heart
or anything. I'm just sayin’ a little cut is all."

"Well then you could have grabbed a smaller
knife! Geez Kaylee. That giant butcher knife is really freaking me
out."

She turns if upside down and hands it to me
handle first. I gladly accept it. She then clarifies herself. "A
broken leg healing in a matter of days? That's comic book stuff.
Maybe something crazy is happening to you. I mean, obviously it's
something good, but it's still crazy nonetheless. Don't you want to
know if you are still healing that rapidly and why?"

I think about it for a minute. The anxiety of
what happened to Kai has been stuck in the forefront of my mind so
I really haven't allowed myself too much time to dwell on my fast
healing. I have no idea what's going on or more importantly what’s
causing it. The only two things that I can think of is perhaps it
has to do with the curse that I struck or the drink that Kai gave
me. But, Kaylee is right. I do need to find out if I'm still
healing fast or if it's slowing down. "Okay, but a small cut and I
will do it myself." I say resolutely.

"Um, of course Emma. I don't feel like
slicing up my best friend. I'm not that much of a lunatic." She
says laughing.

I just look at her nervously and position the
knife over the inside of my forearm. I take a deep breath and make
a slow slash. It's no deeper than a paper cut but it stings like
the dickens.

We both stand there for five minutes staring
at my bleeding arm. Kaylee hands me a few tissues when some of the
blood starts dripping over. Both of us are so silent that you could
hear a pin drop. After a few more minutes we both look up at each
other and then start cracking up uncontrollably. My arm is still
covered in blood, but what did we think? That we would just stand
there and watch it close up like on some kind of crazy sci-fi
movie?

Laughing with Kaylee is one of the first
normal moments that I've had in several days. When our giggling
dies down, Kaylee suggests, "Why don't you go clean that off. I
don't want to get your blood all over my nice pink rug."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that." I say smiling,
then turn towards her attached bathroom to rinse it off. As I'm
washing my arm off I steal a glance of my reflection in the mirror.
I look pretty haggard. My dark hair is oily and flat and my brown
eyes look red and tired. I desperately need to get some sleep.

When I go to turn off the water I look at my
arm and my breath goes whooshing out of me. I barely find myself
able to stutter, "Kkayllee."

She comes running in and we are both stunned
into complete sober silence as we stare at my bare forearm. Other
than a fading white scar, there is no evidence that I just cut
myself a few minutes before. I look at Kaylee in complete shock.
I'm grateful that she has the same shock on her face, which tells
me that I'm not crazy. After all if I were crazy, she would not be
as surprised as I am that my arm has healed so quickly. I pick up
the tissue that has my blood on it, proof that my arm had been
bleeding.

"OMG, Emma. This is totally nuts. Do you know
what this means?"

I look at her in question and answer,
"No..."

"You’re immortal! Maybe you’re a vampire or
something. Or a werewolf or something as equally impressive!" She
says, her words spitting out a thousand miles a minute.

Raising my eyebrows I give her a serious look
and then bust out laughing. I laugh so hard that I can't stand. I
sit down on her bathroom floor unable to contain my hysterical
cackling. "Yeah, or maybe I'm Wonder Woman now. Maybe I can fly!" I
can't help myself I'm cracking up so bad.

"Hey!" Kaylee says hands on her hips, trying
to act annoyed even though I can tell she's doing her best to
suppress her giggles. "Okay, okay, maybe you aren't a super hero.
But, you have to admit, this is pure craziness."

Calming down a little, since laughing is now
making my side hurt, I reply, "Yes, it's crazy but Kaylee, you have
been reading way too much paranormal teen fiction. I am quite
positive that I'm not immortal or some type of new breed. I'm not
certain what is going on with me, but I have much bigger fish to
fry." Thinking about the last part sobers me up completely.

Kaylee sees my change in mood and sits down
next to me. She traces over the scar on my arm with her finger as
if she needed to do that to really believe that what she saw was
reality. Then turning towards me she says assuredly, "It's all
good, whatever it is Emma. I think it's pretty cool, but I know
that this is the least of your problems. We are BFI's though and
now
your problems are my problems. We’ll get through this.
We just need to brainstorm...What's our game plan?"

It doesn't take me long to come to terms with
what I need to do. "Well, one things for certain Kaylee, I need to
go back."

"Okay, but you do mean
we
need to go
back, right?" She asks.

I think about it for a moment weighing
everything out. I want Kaylee with me, but do I really want to put
her in danger. I mean risking my life is one thing, but to risk
hers too? I don't know if I'm okay with that. I look at her in the
eyes and can tell that she's reading my thoughts because her face
is all scrunched up in that, 'oh no you don't' look of hers. "I
just don't want to put you in danger Kaylee, that’s all."

"Okay, let me clarify this for you Emma. If
you are going back to Kauai, I
will
be going back with you.
I am not asking you, I am
telling
you. I
will not
let
you do this alone and you
will not
shut me out. Understand?
"

I have known Kaylee long enough to understand
that there is no more discussing this. When she is set on
something, she is immovable. I can however put in my own
stipulations. "Fine. You can come with me, but, if I am ever in a
situation of danger, you will listen to me and not follow me into
it if I tell you to stay put. Now, I have had more training than
you and obviously I can heal quicker than you so this is
non-negotiable. Capiche?"