Forsaken

“What are you doing way down there?” He looked down at me with mock surprise. I scooted forward and pushed behind his knees with my hand as hard as I could. He came crashing down beside me. “What was that for?” he asked innocently.

“I told you I can be dangerous. Bad things happen to people who try to push me around.” If he only knew how true that was. I shook the thought and smiled at him. A piece of leather peeking out of the sand caught my attention. Wrapped around his ankle, it held four small black beads shining in the moonlight. I had a good guess as to which type of stones they were.

“If that’s all you’ve got, I’m not too worried,” he taunted me. I dipped my hand in the wet sand, grabbing a handful. I slowly raised it above his head threatening to release it. Before I even noticed, he caught my wrist and pulled it back down. Holding my eyes, he delicately threaded his fingers through mine, while the wet sand squished out. The gesture was somehow very intimate and a shiver ran down my spine. The wet sand ran down my arm but I didn’t even notice. We stayed like that, hand in hand, facing the ocean for what seemed like hours.

I had a million more questions waiting in the wings, but decided this wasn’t the time to open up that can of worms. So, I settled for the least complicated one.

“Why weren’t you in class today?”

“There was somewhere I had to be,” he answered simply.

“You missed a very important lesson. It was life altering.” I teased him.

“The only thing I really missed was sitting next to one very extraordinary girl.” I didn’t think I was breathing anymore.

“She sounds wonderful.” I tried some humor to shake off my nervousness.

“You have no idea.”

Someone laughed in the distance and I pulled my eyes away from his. I realized my roommates were probably getting worried about me.

“I should be getting back to the bonfire. They’re going to think I’ve been kidnapped.” He pulled me toward him in one quick motion.

“Kidnapped insinuates some sort of struggle.” He said in a low voice with a sexy grin. “You’d enjoy being captured by me.” My heart jumped in my throat, but I tried to remain cool.

“I’d like to see you try,” I threw back at him, “but first you’ll have to escape your own sandy death trap” I wiggled my feet out of the sand, stood up and washed my hands off in the water. He followed my every move with curious eyes.

“Sweet dreams, Anastasia.” I wasn’t sure if there was an underlying meaning to his words.

“Sweet dreams, Finn,” I responded, breathlessly.

Halfway back to the bonfire, I looked over my shoulder at him, but he was gone. Seriously, how did he do that?

“Stasia! What happened to you? You’re soaked!” Phoebe ran up to me in a panic.

“Just got a little too close to the water and a wave got me. I’m fine, I promise” I assured her.

Carmen watched me with skeptical eyes and I got the feeling she had seen what really happened to my jeans. When I got back to the fire, I rotated gradually, drying myself off.

“That wave sure was tall, dark, and handsome,” Carmen raised an eyebrow at me. “Who’s the mystery boy?”

“It’s nothing, really,” I tried to convince her. Her face told me she wasn’t buying it. “Okay, okay his name’s Finn. He’s in my 6th period,” I admitted. Her face paled.

“Finn? The Finn that’s a Son of Daimon?”

“As far as I know. I mean I haven’t asked him which Order he’s in but I saw four…” she grabbed my arm, interrupting me.

“Stay away from him, Stasia,” she said with urgency. I could hear an undercurrent of fear in her voice.

“What? Why?”

“He’s cursed,” she whispered. Cursed?

“Stasia! Carmen! Come on, we’re leaving!” Willow ran over and took our hands, literally pulling us out of our conversation. Once we drug our tired feet back up to our suite, I said goodnight, fell onto my bed, and closed my eyes. I could still hear his voice and see his crooked smile in my mind. It should be illegal to be that hot. Carmen’s warning disrupted my delirium. Cursed? People couldn’t really be cursed, could they? What was he cursed with? Devastating good looks and a dark, sexy smile? She couldn’t be serious. That’s just not possible. Of course, two weeks ago I wouldn’t have imagined any of this could be possible; yet here I was. Images from previous reveries flashed into my mind. His bloodied and beaten face, swinging an axe down on someone’s neck, standing by as a woman was killed on the beach. With a sense dread creeping down my spine, I had to admit, it was very, very possible.

* * *

The world was blurry when I opened my eyes, but I could see movement coming towards me.

I tried to roll over to get away, but my body wouldn’t listen. My stomach exploded and I instinctively curled into a fetal position. Something hard hit my shoulder. Footsteps walked away and people started yelling in the other room. Still curled into a ball, I took a moment to catch my breath. Oddly enough, the pain had turned to hollow numbness. I guess when pain is too much; your body mutes it for you. It was like a gift. Maybe that was what death felt like. Just never-ending numbness. The sound of glass breaking came from the next room, but as long as they were in there, I was okay. I knew once he came back he’d kill me. There was no way around it. At nine years old, I was no match for him. But then again, the numbness wasn’t so bad. It would be really easy just to let it take me.

Then I wouldn’t have to be scared anymore. I wouldn’t have to feel pain anymore. Too bad I wasn’t good at giving up. Mustering as much energy as I could, I inched toward the living room closet on my stomach. Just a little bit farther… I reached up, turned the door knob and pulled. Pain from the movement erupted in every cell of my body and I fell back to the floor. I took a deep breath, pushed the door open farther and saw it on the third shelf up. I crawled on my hands and knees into the closet, when I heard them both come back into the living room. With adrenaline running through me, I stretched out my arm and pushed myself up. I heard a scream and a thump, but tried to block it out.

He pulled the closet door completely open, right when I grabbed the handle. As I crumpled back onto the floor, he grabbed my left foot and pulled me from the closet. I rolled onto my back and saw a baseball bat in his hand. Through his legs I saw her unmoving body. It was heavy and I couldn’t hold it up with my hurt arm, so I just angled it up towards him. He raised the bat above his head and I pulled the trigger.

I woke, drenched in sweat and sobbing in my bed. I pushed back the covers, pulled up my knees and tried to calm myself down. ‘He can’t hurt you now’, I told myself over and over. And it was true. When I shot him, I hit his right thigh. Enough to stop his attack, but not enough to kill him.

He’d been in prison now for close to eight years. He had killed his wife, my foster mother, when he hit her in the head with the bat and was convicted based upon my testimony. I spent three weeks healing in a hospital and the state found me a new home. But the memories never left me. Neither did the strength I gained from it.

I finally got my breathing under control and changed out of my sweaty clothes. I turned on my IPod, put in my ear buds and lulled myself to back sleep.

Chapter 13

In History the next day, we received our first official assignment. In groups of four, we had to research two specific Nerieds; their strengths, weaknesses, what part they played in history, and write a ten page paper due in a month. Mrs. Leone rattled off the different groups while I crossed my fingers that Willow would be in mine.

“…Rhea, Willow, and Xavier. And the last group will be Lyric, Stasia, Maya, and Lexi. For the last ten minutes of class, you will meet with your group to discuss.” So much for luck. I looked around trying to figure out who Lyric, Maya, or Lexi were when a girl waved at me. Thank goodness.

She had an ethereal glow about her and when she smiled, the goodness radiating from her was enthralling.