Unbound (36 page)

“Yea.” I felt compelled to lie for some reason.

“Ok, good, ‘cuz I have a cousin at Marcellus and we have a bet going on who will win. Tell your brother he better bring his A-game or else I’m out fifty bucks.”

“I’ll let him know.” I smiled again but quickly turned my attention to Mr. Brooks. He started class teaching about Harpies. He clicked through slides of information on the PowerPoint presentation he prepared. After several slides of boring information, a picture popped up. I dropped my pen and gasped. Josh, and several other people including Mr. Brooks, stopped to look at me. Josh had that what-is-wrong-with-you look in his eye and everyone else just thought I was weird.

“Is everything alright?” Mr. Brooks asked.

“Yea, I, uh, I just got a paper cut turning the page of my notebook.” I knew my face was bright red right now. I picked my pen up off the floor and looked down at my notebook. I didn’t look up until Mr. Brooks started talking again.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the constant danger that made me startle so easily this morning. I looked at the Harpy again. It was an ugly woman’s head and torso stuck on a bird’s body. Now, it didn’t exactly resemble the bird-demons, but it was close enough to strike a stroke of fear in me.

I felt jittery the rest of class. I couldn’t help but wonder what mythical creatures were only myths. I grabbed my stuff and was the first one out of the room.

“Are you ok, Annie?” Laney asked in photography class. “You don’t seem like yourself.”

“I’m really tired and a bit jumpy today, but yea, I’m fine.”

“Well, that’s understandable.”
 
We went into the darkroom. I froze in the doorway. “Annie?” Laney sounded worried. “Aren’t you coming?”

I shook my head to clear it. “Uh, yea.” I went to her side and whispered. “I took these pictures yesterday.” I held up the camera.

“So?”

“Yesterday, in the woods.”

“Oh!” She pulled me over to an empty corner. “Do you think you might have captured something?”
“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “I don’t think I’ll find out till tomorrow, though.” There wasn’t much time left until the end of class.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Annie? You look a little overwhelmed.”

I smiled and nodded and we went about developing our film. Truth be told I was feeling overwhelmed. I was running on only four hours of sleep and the gravity of yesterday’s events hit me like a ton of bricks. The more I thought about it, the more scared I got. My legs felt weak just thinking about facing another demon. How was I able to do it so fearlessly yesterday?

All my remaining energy was gone by the time I got to econ. I tried really hard to pay attention since I had missed so much. But government policies just couldn’t hold my attention. My eyelids were so heavy. It was taking more effort than it should to keep them open.

“Anora,” a voice whispered behind me. I turned around quickly and got a startled look from Mark Glaskow.

“Did you just say my name?”I asked.

“Nope.” He looked at me like I was a crazy person. I sighed and turned back around. It didn’t take long to feel incredibly sleepy again. I felt a pull into the darkness. Giving in, I closed my eyes.
 
The next thing I knew sunshine was warming my face. Birds chirped above me. I was lying on the forest floor. It rained yesterday, and the leaves were still wet. My jacket was slowly getting soaked, making me shiver. I wanted to get up and run home to safety but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even move my head or open my eyes. It was hard to breath.

The life had been sucked out of me and this was the end. Someone picked up my right arm and gripped my wrist so tightly it hurt. In one quick swipe a razor tore through my skin and into my vein. Warm blood trickled out, spilling on the colorful fall leaves. They picked up the other arm and did the same thing. Then something wet and cold was pressed into my hand. It’s ok, I told myself, at least it’s over now. A light brighter than the sun burned down on me and a sense of complete peace and calm took over. I let myself move towards the light.

But suddenly I was violently yanked back. A hundred dark hands pulled me down, down through the earth and into udder darkness. The more I struggled, the darker it got. The darkness didn’t just surround me; it engulfed me inside and out. Horrible thoughts clouded my mind: I’m suffocating, I’m trapped, I’m alone and scared and I’m going to be here for eternity.

I woke with such a start that I knocked my books off my desk. Once again, everyone looked at me curiously. After my stuff was resituated on my desk, I quickly jotted down every detail from the dream in my notebook.

I gave Laney a cliff notes version of the dream as soon as I met her at our lockers before lunch. I stuck the psychic self defense book in my purse, grabbed my lunch and followed Laney to the cafeteria.

“Hey Anora!” Marie called cheerfully. I smiled back.

 
Natalie looked up. “So I hear you ditched yesterday to spend the day with your boyfriend,” she giggled.

“Yea, I totally did.” I tried to sound happy but I felt like I might get swallowed in infinite darkness at any moment.

“He is
so
hot!” Jill gushed. “I mean, I only saw him that one time a while ago, but ohmigosh, you are so lucky! If you told me he was a model, I would totally believe you!”

“He’s not a model,” Marie said quickly. Too quickly, because everyone looked at her. “But he definitely could be one!” she said to cover her jealousy.

“So how did you meet him?” Jill asked.

“Uh, I just kinda ran into him and we got to talking and we, uh, just got along really well.” I decided to leave out the part where we both subconsciously could sense the otherworldliness about each other.

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-three.” I liked talking about Ethan, of course it made me happy, but I was a little confused as to why the girls were so interested. Well, he is the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on, so if the tables were turned I’d be curious too. Whatever, I thought and took a bite out of my sandwich.

“What does he do?”

“Teaches martial-arts.” Well, he used too. Now he was a full-time demon hunter.

“That’s hot,” she said quietly to Natalie. “What do you guys like to do?”

“Uh, normal stuff, I guess,” I said vaguely. “You know, like hang out and stuff. He likes to ride the horses with me.”

 
“Any other hobbies?”

“Uh, working out. Oh, and hunting,” I said and Laney choked on her juice. “He really loves a good chase.”

“Oh.”

I don’t think Jill wanted to hear that. It probably ruined the preppy-model image of him she had created.

The feeling of being sucked into darkness suddenly got stronger and made me feel sorta nauseous. Laney said she’d come to the bathroom with me. I grabbed my purse but it slipped through my fingers and landed on the table, spilling its contents everywhere.
 

“What is this?” Marie picked up the psychic self defense book and looked it over. “Um, ok…” She looked at Natalie, raised her eyebrows and dropped the book down on the table like it was contaminated with leprosy or something. Natalie looked at the book—which had a large pentagram on the cover— at me, and then at Jill. They exchanged ‘what-the-hell’ glances. I smiled my gooney nervous smile, packed my stuff back up and high-tailed it out of there.

“She’s always been a little on the weird side,” I heard Marie tell Natalie and Jill before I left. If there was a public humiliation contest going on today, I think I’d give everyone a serious run for the money. Tears welled up in my eyes. Laney took my hand and led me out of the cafeteria. Harrison saw and rushed out into the hall after us. I leaned up against the wall and slid down to my butt. I put my head in my hands and took a deep breath. I wiped my eyes and looked up. Harrison knelt down next to me.

“Annie, what’s wrong?” His blue eyes showed genuine concern. Laney sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I shook my head, not wanting to relive today’s socially murderous moments.

“I’m just so tired. I can’t do this.” A tear rolled down my cheek.

“Hey, it’s ok,” Harrison said gently and sat down on my other side. “But what can’t you do?”

“This!” I threw my hands in front of my face. Harrison looked over me at Laney for a clue as to what I was talking about, but she didn’t know either. “Be normal,” I explained. “I can’t keep pretending. I lie to myself and everyone else all the time. It’s so exhausting to hold up this front. And it doesn’t even work. Everyone knows that I’m a freak.”

“No they don’t,” Harrison tried to convince me.

“Yes, they do. I just can’t do it anymore. I’m so tired.” Truth was, this breakdown was a long time coming.
 
I knew that there were people far worse off than me, but lying, faking and pretending to be normal wears on you. The worst part was never being able to honestly convey just how hard it is. “Face it guys, I’m just not normal.” Another tear streaked down my face.

“So what?” Laney said passionately. “First of all, you’re the one who told me that being normal is overrated. And second, who cares? You are my best friend and I love you no matter what.”

“That’s right,” Harrison agreed. “Who cares what they think?”

“I love you guys.” I smiled bleakly. But they still didn’t understand just what I had to go through every day.

“Does this have anything to do with the dream?” Laney pushed for another answer.

I nodded. “I feel all sad from it.”

“What dream?” Harrison asked. I quickly explained. “That sounds horrible. I’m sorry, Annie.”

“Don’t be, I’ll get over it. I just can’t shake this doom and gloom feeling.” I wiped my eyes and ran my hands through my hair. “The bell’s gonna ring soon.” We stood.

“You ok now?” Harrison gave me a half smile.

“Yes. Go back to your friends. I’ll see you tonight.”

Laney and I went to the end of the hall, which was as far as we could go without a teacher asking what we were doing. “Do you still feel sick?” she asked.

“No. The icky feelings are fading.” The bell rang and we were free to walk to our lockers. “What time are you going to the barn?”

“Probably around five. My mom gets off at four-thirty today, so I don’t have to watch Annabelle. Wanna meet there?”

“Yea,” I was feeling even better now. “Thanks for being my best friend, Laney.”

 
She squeezed my hand. “Ditto.”

***

Natalie and Jill were close behind me as I walked to the parking lot. I quickened my pace and pretended to not notice them. They were instantly out of my mind when I saw Ethan. He got out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door for me. I threw my bags on the seat and let out a deep breath.

“Long day?” he asked and slid his hands around my waist. I rested my head against his muscular chest.

“Yes. I’m so glad it’s over.” I looked into his brown eyes and smiled. “So what did you do all day?”

“Didn’t get up until eleven, worked out, played ball with Hunter and watch TV.”

“Lucky.”

He kissed me. “Oh, and I got you these.” He reached into the back and gave me a beautiful bouquet of yellow Asiatic lilies.

My jaw might have dropped a little. “They’re beautiful!” I admired the flowers for a minute before looking back at Ethan.

“You like them?” he asked apprehensively, as if he was afraid I’d say no.

 
I bet my eyes were sparkling. I don’t even remember mentioning that these were my favorite flowers. “How did you know?” I asked, figuring he would know what I meant by that.

“You said once before that you thought roses were unoriginal, and your favorite color is yellow, and they just looked like flowers you’d like.” He shrugged, again a bit embarrassed by his thoughtfulness.

“I love lilies.” I smelled the sweet petals. “But why?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to. You know, I’ve never bought flowers for anyone before.” He put the lilies back in the truck. I couldn’t stop smiling. I stepped close to him and he enveloped me in his arms.

“Hey Anora!” A cheerful female voice called. I lifted my head from Ethan’s chest just enough to see Natalie and Jill walking towards us. They had already changed into their cheerleading outfits and had ditched their coats.