Walking Among the Shadows: Awakening: Revised Edition (32 page)

My mom didn’t know what to do
and I could tell the changes in us were tearing her apart inside. She tried to
convince Sarah to go but it just wasn’t happening, so she went on a crusade to
make sure I went, no excuses. She took me shopping for a suit and shoes and
even went to great lengths to find me a date. That was when I had to draw the
line. I could find my own date if I wanted one. I would go to prom but I was
going alone and that was that. Maybe at my senior prom I would go with a date,
but not this year, not during this transition in my life. I just wanted to
either be alone or  be around people like me who knew who and what I really
was. Of course I wasn’t going to take Tony with me, so I decided to take Sarah.
Yeah, I know, to some it was weird but since that night with Jason we had grown
closer and to us it made sense. To others it didn’t but neither of us cared
what others thought. I didn’t want to go, but if I was going then I wanted to
get Sarah out of the house with me as well. And we agreed that if anyone even
whispered the word “incest” they would regret if for the rest of their lives
and both of us had the power to make that happen.

P
rom
night, it might have been Halloween for all I cared. People without class
dressing up as if they had tons of it and those with class being made to feel
as if they didn’t belong. But I guess for at least one night we all could
pretend to be normal, even Sarah and I could play along. The months leading up
to prom night were slow and uneventful for the most part. I eventually laid
eyes on Jasmine but she made sure our paths didn’t cross. I’m sure she was
aware that I was aware and she didn’t want any trouble and I was cool with
that. I wasn’t going to pick a fight with her. Because that could lead to
someone coming up missing and this wasn’t Spain; trying to cover up her
disappearance in a town recently rocked by murder would be a tall order to
fulfill. Plus I suspected that if she was a Shadow then it stood to reason that
her entire family were Shadows and taking into account from Jaffrey that
Jasmine might be one of the most unique and powerful Shadows he’d heard of
could pose a problem for me. Her parents and siblings may be more than I could
handle alone.

Plus, my family’s safety would
be in jeopardy; what they couldn’t do to me they could certainly do to those I
loved. It was a lot to process for a seventeen-year-old but I was learning and
growing and beginning to think first and act later. To say it was easy would be
lying because my impulses urged me to pursue Jasmine and rid the school of her
darkness but I had too much to lose so I stayed my hand. For now. I am ashamed
to admit this but even though I loathed her existence and wanted nothing more
than to send her somewhere just as dark as the places she had sent me, she was
still the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes upon. And it seemed like
her body had gotten more developed in my absence.

She was already built beyond
her years but now it was on another level. I guess that’s how it goes, huh? The
forbidden fruit can’t be so forbidden if it didn’t look so damned good. If this
were another reality in another life, I would definitely try to date her and
only her. It didn’t make sense having a girl that beautiful and deciding to
sample other dishes just because you could. But because she was what she was
and she did what she did, I couldn’t entertain dating her for too long. I had
to stay focused and on my toes because I knew one day she would try something
and I wanted to be prepared for it.

I was dressed in a black
Armani suit with a white dress shirt underneath, no tie, and an open jacket.
Sarah was dressed in a black and white Vera Wang print dress that was
absolutely stunning. She wore a pair of black three-inch heels and my mom’s
black and white diamond necklace to make it all come together. At first she had
her hair tied up but then decided at the last minute to let it flow down her
back. She was absolutely beautiful that night and for the first time in months
she was smiling and blushing. She even threw a few zingers at me about me not
wearing a tie—I mean classic Sarah-zingers. For that moment everything felt
like it used to, no Baraqu, no Shadows, no special abilities, and no killer
boyfriends. Just us being a family again.

We decided to forego a limo
and drove to the prom in my Camaro. My mom spent so much money on our clothes
we didn’t feel right letting her spend even more on a limo. Plus it would have
been over-the-top weird, even for us to have her and me go to prom and jump out
of a limo together. Yeah, that would have felt too much like a date instead of
a big brother taking his kid sister to prom. The prom was being held at a hotel
ballroom in the nearby township of Lincolnshire. Many of the students had
already secretly gotten rooms upstairs in the same hotel, planning on having
some very interesting and over-the-top after-parties. Tony was invited to
about…all of them! But he assured me that he had enough on his hands with the
two seniors he was going with and the only after-party he was going to was his
own. He was going to be “Jack Tripper” tonight. I didn’t understand what he
meant by that at the time, but later on, after watching an episode of Three’s
Company, I understood completely.

Tony and his dates were
waiting for us outside when we arrived. Tony’s eyes almost fell out of his head
watching Sarah get out of the car. I don’t think Tony has ever seen Sarah the
way she was tonight and I was worried about that change of perspective, so I
warned him that if he wanted to live on Mars for the rest of his life he should
keep looking at my kid sister that way. Tony’s dates didn’t get it and laughed
as if it was a joke, but Tony wasn’t laughing because he knew I could and would
do it, so he turned his gaze away from Sarah. Sarah smiled, watching Tony’s
reaction to my threat and whispered in my ear, “Don’t be so mean to him, he
can’t help it I’m beautiful.” I smiled because again, it was classic Sarah
showing herself and I was hoping and praying that tonight would help bring her
back.

A
s much
as I hated to admit it, after arriving at the prom we began to have a lot of
fun. Sarah was by far the most beautiful girl here and I was getting a lot more
attention from the ladies than anticipated. The music was great, the food was
great, and the energy was intoxicating. This prom was well planned and we all
were having a great time. This made me look forward to my senior prom and I
made a personal note to request those that planned this one to plan next year’s
as well. Just when I thought things were getting better, things took a turn for
the worse—and for the worse meaning Jasmine. I was standing by the refreshment
table watching Sarah dance with Peter Swartz, the captain of the debate team.

Sarah was having a good time
dancing with Peter who wasn’t that great of a dancer, but he made up for his
clumsiness with effort and not taking himself too seriously. He would crack on
himself every time he missed a step or went offbeat. Sarah found him funny and
relaxing to be around. I figured because of his good nature Sarah found it
easier to befriend him and soon they were good friends. I knew he was wishing
on some distant star that the both of them would one day become more than
friends and find teenage love. But I knew that the only way that would happen
is if they actually lived on that distant star. Reality being we all lived on
Earth and he just wasn’t Sarah’s type; he was placed forever in the friend
zone. Keep wishing, buddy; it’s never gonna happen in this lifetime.

Sarah was laughing with Peter
when her entire demeanor changed and her smile instantly disappeared as she
stared at the ballroom entrance. Soon half the room was staring at the
entrance. I turned to see what the commotion was about but I already knew who
they were gawking at. I just didn’t know how extreme the visual content would
be. My mouth automatically flew open as I beheld the most amazing and beautiful
girl I had ever seen. Jasmine was absolutely amazing. She wore a mid-thigh-
length red dress that seemed to caress every curve of her body. It was
strapless, exposing her beautiful tanned shoulders and neck. She had her hair
pulled up, exposing an exquisite red ruby necklace. Her hair seemed blacker
than usual and the contrast between her hair and the dress blended perfectly.
Holding up her goddess- like frame were her long, toned legs sitting atop
three-inch high heels that were the exact color of her dress. Her attire was
simple yet elegant, and even from across the room you could tell it wasn’t
cheap either.

And much to my surprise on her
arm was none other than our starting quarterback Brian, wearing a black suit
with red accents that paired perfectly with Jasmine. He seemed exceedingly
proud of himself as he walked into the ballroom with Jasmine. Their entrance
seemed to suck the air out of the room as all eyes were on them.

I became enraged at the sight
of them and the attention they commanded. I mean who does she think she is? If
everyone knew who and what she really was they wouldn’t be so taken by her. And
what the hell was Brian doing? Why would he even come here with her? I know he
didn’t have all the details but he knew Jasmine and I were not on good terms. I
can’t believe this! My anger began to get the best of me and I started to let
my teenage impulses take over. I knew I couldn’t start anything here, so I
quickly turned storming out of the room into the hallway to avoid any eye
contact with Jasmine. I was afraid that if she gave me that smirk again I would
go all “Stephen King’s Carrie” at this prom and that wouldn’t be good at all.
In the hallway I started pacing back and forth rubbing my hands together. I was
trying to calm down, but I couldn’t. What was wrong with me? Why was I so
upset? I felt Tony walking up behind me and I should have turned around to face
him but I couldn’t.

“Dude? What’s up?” Tony asked
with concern in his voice. “Did she do that thing again? Dude, talk to me,
what’s up?”

I couldn’t answer him nor face
him because I didn’t know what was “up.” Tony decided he had enough talking to
my back so he came around to face me.

“Aiden bro, you got to talk to
me right now. You are standing out here pacing and tweaking out right now and I
am nervous, very nervous, because if you and the dark princess get into it here
a lot of people could get hurt or worse.”

“I know Tony, I know, but
honestly I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Tony stared at me and then his
eyes got wider as I could tell he just had an epiphany. From his reaction I
knew it was amusing as well as terrifying.

“Dude! You are hating on
Brian! You like this girl! Or at the least you are attracted to her. Oh shit,
dude, that’s crazy!”

“Huh? Tony, you are tripping
right now. I don’t want her!”

“Dude, I’ve known you since
the sandbox days and I know when you are jealous. Like that time my mom got me
the PlayStation and your mom waited a full year before getting you one? Yeah,
you were ‘jealy,’ my friend. You refused to even play with me on that thing
until you got yours.”

“Dude whatever, I wasn’t
jealous. I just didn’t feel like playing video games at the time.”

“You are a horrible liar,
you’ve always been. You are attracted to Jasmine. It’s freaky and dangerous but
I don’t blame you. That girl is off-the-charts beautiful and to see her prance
in there with Brian, the little brother of your nemesis, is almost poetic
justice.”

“Shut up! You don’t know what
you are talking about Tony!” I snapped back.

“Dude, you can get angry all
you want but the truth is the truth and you
are
attracted to Jasmine.
That’s crazy though because you guys are mortal enemies. Man, I tell you God
has a sick sense of humor. The one girl that gets you all emotional and
involved is the one girl you can’t have.”

“Whatever!”

“Hey, wait! Aiden you know you
can’t have her, right? You and her dating would be bad, very bad, especially if
she’s connected with the assholes that tried to murder you and your family. You
ever heard the term ‘sleeping with the enemy’? Yeah, that would be it if you
decided to date that girl. I wouldn’t even suggest you let anyone know how you
see her because they could definitely use that against you.”

“Tony, I’m not even getting
involved in their crusade!”

“Dude wake up, you are already
involved. You took out not only one of their top guys but you took out his entire
crew too! Oh trust me, you are involved. You may not want to organize with them
but you are involved, so I would suggest you keep those feelings to yourself.”

“Tony, I already told you, I
don’t want that girl! I’m just upset about what she did to Sar-”

“What? What she did to who?”

I had to catch myself because
I was going to spill the beans right here about Sarah’s abilities. You see my
point here? Teenage impulses causing you not to think before you speak.

“Aiden, I’m talking to you!
What did she do to who?”

“Nobody, Tony.”

“Naw, bro, it sounded like you
were going to say ‘what she did to Sarah.’”

“What? C’mon, look at my
sister. Does she look like she’s had something done to her?”

“Uh, yeah? She hasn’t been the
same since that night.”

“Who would if someone you
trusted was trying to kill you? That’s all Tony, she’s just trying to move on
like the rest of us.”

“Dude, why are you lying to
me? Not cool Aiden, not cool at all.”

“I’m not lying to you!”

“Okay, you know what, I’m
going to go back inside now because I don’t want you to keep lying to my face
anymore. It’s bogus and it’s getting me upset and I got two beautiful seniors
in there who can’t wait to use and abuse me. So I’m going to leave you here,
okay? Handle that, though. Get it together, dude. We don’t need your and
Jasmine’s kind of arguments or fights here tonight. Some of us are actually
having fun.”

Tony then quickly walked past
me but not before running into my shoulder. Tony was furious about me not
telling him the truth and I felt bad about it, but I made a promise to Sarah
and I wasn’t going to break it. Sarah was already having trust issues after
Jason and I wasn’t going to be someone else close to her that would abuse her
trust again. But the nerve of Tony to say I was attracted to Jasmine. I didn’t
know where he pulled that craziness from but the last thing I wanted to do was
kiss her. What I wanted to do was on the other side of the spectrum of
affection and it wasn’t romantic or nice. Brian had no idea the type of danger
he was in and as much as I wanted to warn him I decided that I would just let
him experience her evil all on his own. I still didn’t understand my reaction
but I did understand that I needed to get Sarah out of here and fast before she
relived that night all over again.

I slowly walked back to the
ballroom and looked around for Sarah. I didn’t see her on the dance floor nor
at one of the tables sitting down. I saw Peter standing by the punch table and
I walked over to him to find out where she went.

“Hey, Peter, where is Sarah?”

“I don’t know. She just ran
out of here as soon as Jasmine came in. She seemed really upset but she
wouldn’t tell me why.”

“Which way did she go?”

Peter pointed towards the
hallway I had just come from and fear began to pulsate through my body.

Sarah couldn’t have gone out
that door because I would have seen her or she would have definitely walked
over to me. We both knew that once Jasmine got there it was time for both of us
to call it a night. I looked around again and saw Brian standing alone on the
far side of the room.

I quickly ran over to ask him
if he’d seen Sarah.

“Yeah, I saw her,” he
answered. “She walked out with Jasmine about ten minutes ago.”

“With Jasmine? Why?”

“I don’t know; they just left
me standing here.”

 “Which way did they go?”

“Out the front entrance, I
think. When you see Jasmine, ask her if she wants something to drink—for me?”

“Brian, after tonight I don’t
think Jasmine will be needing anything else to drink.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“Never mind”

“Hey wait, Aiden. I know you
think I was bogus for asking Jasmine out, but dude she’s fine,  I couldn’t help
it.”

“Brian, it’s cool. I just need
to find my sister. I’ll talk to you later.”

I ran out the front entrance
to look for Sarah and Jasmine. If anything has happened to my sister, Brian can
believe he will pay for it dearly and Jasmine has crossed my family for the
last time. I don’t care about how many of them there are. I will exterminate
each and every one of them if one hair on Sarah’s head is out of place. Outside
I asked the valet if he’d seen Sarah and Jasmine and he pointed me towards the
side parking lot that was right next to a small park. I ran towards the parking
lot hoping I wasn’t too late and the Shadows hadn’t taken my sister hostage or
worse. I ran as fast as I could towards the side of the hotel.

 I shouldn’t have left Sarah
alone!

I ran around the parking lot
calling out for Sarah, but there was no answer. Then I glanced over towards the
park and saw two figures standing face-to-face in the darkness. I could make
out Jasmine’s silhouette quite easily, I could pick out that insane hour glass figure
with my eyes closed, I thought. I ran towards them to see Jasmine placing her
hand on Sarah’s forehead. Sarah seemed to be in some kind of trance and she
wasn’t moving at all. She was just standing there with her eyes closed.

“Don’t you touch her! Get away
from her!”

Jasmine turned to me exposing
“the smirk,” and then darkness began to surround me and I knew she was casting
the darkness curse on me. When Jasmine first cast this curse on me, I was
unaware and unprepared; but tonight I was prepared and just like Jaffrey did
balling up the alternate reality like a piece of paper, I did the same to the
dark reality that was surrounding me. My quick response to Jasmine’s curse
caught her off guard and wiped that smirk completely off her face as she took a
step back with a look of surprise and fear.