Unbound (39 page)

“I want Doritos!” he exclaimed.

“Ok, I’m sure we have some at the house.”

“No.”

“I think we do.”

“We don’t. I know we don’t for a million percent positive.”

How he was a ‘million percent positive’ of anything right now was beyond me. “Well just eat something else. I know we have some other kinds of chips.”

“I don’t want chips.” His voice was getting louder. “I want Doritos!”

“You’re acting like a freaking kid right now, Harry.” He was getting really annoying too.

“Doritos!” he yelled.

“If I get your effing Doritos will you shut up?”

“Yes,” he said, laughing.

“Fine.” I looked at the clock. “But I don’t think anywhere is still open. It’s really late, Har.”

“The gas station on the corner of McCool is open.”

“It better be because that’s way out of the way.” I turned around at the next light. The rain had subsided a bit. The warm leather seat made me relaxed and I realized how tired I was. So much had happened in the last few days. It was overwhelming and exhausting…and it was gonna be another long night.

Red and blue flashing lights told me that the turn onto McCool Street was blocked off.

“Shit, the cops!” Harrison said, and ducked down. I rolled my eyes and went around the block. I put the car in park and left the engine running.

“Stay,” I said firmly, looking right into Harrison’s bloodshot eyes.

“Ok,” he said with a smile. But I didn’t even make it into the gas station before I heard scuffling on the pavement behind me. I stopped and turned around, waiting for Harrison to stumble his way towards me. He stood a foot in front of me and swayed. Sirens echoed a few streets away. I put my arm around Harrison and steered him towards the car.

“I told you to stay in the car!” I yelled in a hushed voice. Two other cars were parked by the pumps. The sirens grew louder and a police car sped past us. I opened the door and pushed him inside. The last thing I needed were the cops seeing Harrison’s erratic behavior. There was no way he could hide his surfeit of partying.

Harrison flopped down on the seat and bounced right back up. “You’re a good sister, you know?”

“Trust me, I’m the best,” I said, trying to push him down again. Harrison was taller and stronger than me, and he wasn’t budging.

“You are,” he agreed, though I think he would agree with anything right now…except sitting in the damn car! He patted my shoulder.

“Ok, Har, please sit and I’ll get your Doritos.

“I need to come with.”

“Why?”

“To make sure you get the right kind.”

“Ok, whatever, I just want to go home.” I killed the ignition, grabbed Harrison’s hand and led him into the mini-mart. I felt like a mother with an oversized toddler going through his terrible twos.

“Rough night?” The cashier asked when he saw our soaking clothes.

“You don’t know the half of it,” I said as I paid for Harrison’s freaking chips. Still holding onto my brother, I led him back out to the car and opened the door for him. I put the chips on the dash board. Harrison hugged me so tight it hurt, telling me again that I was a good sister. “Thanks,” I choked and pushed him away. Finally he sat down and actually was able to click the seatbelt into place.

It felt like hours later when we got home. I told Harrison to change out of his wet clothes and went into my room to do the same. Romeo was awake and looking hopefully out of his cage at me, so I let him out. Poor little guy hadn’t gotten out much lately. Dry pajamas felt wonderful and I pulled my wet hair up into a messy bun. I quickly called Ethan to let him know we were home safe and then I went to check on Harrison.

Thankfully he had changed and was in bed. I cleared a pile of laundry out of the way and moved the trash can nearby. “Just in case,” I told him and got a water bottle out of the fridge and put it on Harrison’s nightstand. Half an hour later I collapsed into bed. Hunter jumped up and stretched out next to me. Romeo settled by my feet not long after that. Surrounded by my animals, I quickly fell into a deep, black sleep.

***

We watched some horrible movie from the 1980’s in mythology. (Seriously, who watches VHS anymore?!)
 
I only stayed awake for the first ten minutes of terrible special effects. A half an hour nap would have been wonderful, except I didn’t get any rest. I had the same horrible dream from yesterday, except now it was playing as if someone hit reverse. The gashes on my wrists went away. I was being dragged backwards through the woods. My eyes fluttered open, revealing a fuzzy brown outline of my attacker. My vision cleared just as Josh shook me awake.

“Class is over, Anora.”

“Oh.” I looked up and saw an empty classroom. “Thanks.” I gathered up my stuff and walked like a zombie to photography. The rest of the morning took a million years. I hoped that I would feel more awake after I had something to eat, but it wasn’t the food at lunch that woke me up.

I was halfway through my lunch when I saw him. He was sitting across from me like it was a completely normal thing for a ghost to do. He looked better today too; no messy hair and no blood. But there was terror in his eyes and he desperately tried to shout out a warning. I of course wasn’t expecting to see the ghost of Ryan so when I looked up from my salad I gasped, jumped, dropped my fork, which I had just stabbed through some lettuce that splattered ranch dressing all over my lap, and looked completely shocked. Everyone at the table stared at me. I didn’t take my eyes off of Ryan. I could feel his panic and see his mouth move, but I didn’t have any idea what he was trying to tell me. Then he became completely still and vanished.

Slowly, I turned to face Laney. “Was it?” she asked, not needing to finish the question. I nodded.

“Uh, everything ok?” Marie asked. I kept looking at Laney, not wanting to turn and see the judgment in Marie’s eyes.

“Yea.” I forced my head in her direction. She, Natalie, Jill and two other cheerleaders looked warily at me. “Uh, excuse me.” I pushed my chair back forcefully. “Get my stuff?” I asked Laney as I dashed out of the lunch room. I ran into the bathroom and put both hands on a sink. Leaning forward to the mirror, I looked into my green eyes. “What is wrong with me?” I asked my reflection. But the only answer I got back was my own worried expression. A toilet flushed and a freshman girl came out of a stall, looking at me weird for talking to myself. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There were footsteps in the hall that gradually got louder. The energy felt familiar. I opened my eyes to find Laney two feet away from me.

“What happened?” Her arms were full of my stuff and her own. I took my books and lunchbox from her and told her about Ryan. “He just appeared?”

I nodded, wiping the last of the ranch dressing off my jeans. “I have no idea what he wants though. Ethan doesn’t think it’s that important, since Ryan hasn’t tried to kill me or anything, he said we will figure that out after we deal with the Pricolici.” We walked back into the hall. I could see Natalie, Jill and Marie from where we were standing. A fit of giggles suddenly possessed me and it took me a minute to regain myself.

“Ok, Annie, now even I will say you are acting weird,” Laney said with one eyebrow raised.

“I just had an epiphany, I think. I used to care so much about what they,” I motioned towards the girls, “thought of me. But it doesn’t matter. There are bigger and
way
more important things in the world. It makes a few stuck up bitchs’ opinions of me seem so trivial.” Ryan was murdered. Demons were after me. And me caring about whether or not the popular people liked me…yea, it just doesn’t matter anymore. An innocent boy had his wrists sliced open and he was left in the cold forest to bleed to death. Being Natalie’s BFF wasn’t going to change that. Evil forces don’t care if you are the homecoming queen or the caption of the chess club. They will still attack. Actually, I felt sorry for those girls. They had everything all wrong. And then I was laughing again. Laney looked concerned so I tried to control my laughter. We finished eating our lunches in the hall with a few minutes to spare.

Marie was talking to Jill at the end of the day as they were walking to their lockers. They didn’t know I was behind them.

“It’s so embarrassing that I used to be friends with her. That girl is so weird. She’s always talking about ghosts and other weird things,” Marie said in a hushed voice.

“Why did you even hang out with her?” Jill’s voice edged on disgust.

“Oh, I don’t know. She was pretty and rich, so I thought she’d be normal, like you. Plus her brother is totally hot.”

“Uh! He is! What I wouldn’t give to spend a night with him!” They both laughed. “Speaking of hotness, how the hell did a freak like Anora land such a gorgeous man?”

“Ohmygod! I’ve wondered the same thing! And from what I’ve heard, he’s like completely in love with her. It’s so unfair!”

I tried to feel sorry for them but right now all I wanted to do was punch them both in the face. Anger boiled inside of me, anger that I hadn’t felt since I found out about Mike and Alix.

“Ow!” Jill screamed.

“What’s wrong?” Marie asked, talking Jill’s books from her.

“I think I just got stung by a bee!” Jill lifted her shirt to see. Sure enough, a small welt was forming on her side.

“Ah!” Marie yelled. “It got me too!”

Shoot, did I do that? I ducked behind a large sophomore and ran down the hall in the opposite direction, looping around the hall to get to my locker. I jammed what I needed into my backpack, said goodbye to Laney and Josh and walked as fast as possible to my car.

Ethan wasn’t supposed to meet me after school, so my excitement quickly turned to nerves when I saw him standing by the Prius. The look on his face confirmed my anxiety. His expression lightened and he smiled upon seeing me. He took my bag and put it in the car. After a hello hug and kiss he asked, “Where’s Laney?”

“Uh, probably still inside. She should be out soon. Why?”

“Just wondering,” he said.

“You’re lying.”

He looked into my eyes. “I know.”

“Ethan, what’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you when we find Laney.” He took my hand and started walking towards the school. I pulled my hand out of his.

“Ethan Joseph Bailey, tell me what’s wrong!”

He sighed and stepped closer, slowly sliding his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. “Leslie got attacked.”

“What!?” I pushed away from him so I could look into his eyes.

“Last night, at the barn. She got attacked by Pricolici.”

Panic took over. I felt weak. “Is she ok?”

“Yes. She’s in bad shape, but she’ll be ok.”

Tears brimmed my eyes. “Are you sure?”

He lifted my chin so I was looking at him. “Yes, your mom even went to check on her. Julia saw them at the hospital.”

“My mom? Does Lesley have brain damage?”

“No, I think your mom is just concerned since she knows her.” He looked behind me and called for Laney to join us. She and Josh walked hand in hand over.

“What’s wrong?” She immediately saw my panic. Ethan told her what happened, but said it was a wild dog attack for Josh’s sake. Laney knew otherwise, I was sure. I got in the car and turned the radio up but not even my beloved Motley Crue could chase away the feeling of guilt that was eating away at my stomach like a ball of toxic acid. Josh and Laney followed behind. I could see Laney’s expression in the rearview mirror. She was tense and sat up straight; she was scared out of her mind.

I hated hospitals. They were dripping with depressive energy that swirled around me and threatened to take over. My hands were shaking by the time we walked down the hall that contained Leslie’s room. Ethan linked his fingers with mine, helping to steady me just a bit. I paused for a split second before I entered the room. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Leslie had the bed in a sitting position watching TV. She was hooked up to an IV and was covered in bandages. Her left arm was propped up and in a cast. “Hey guys,” she said weakly, smiling as best she could when she saw us; she had been clawed across the face. Three distinct red cuts ran from her right eye, across her lips and down to the left side of her chin. My knees felt weak and tears rolled down my face. Ethan put his arm around my waist and led me in. “I don’t look that bad, do I?” Leslie asked upon seeing my tears. I shook my head, unable to answer without sobbing.