A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) (13 page)

They ate lumpy
potatoes and overly wet meatloaf and contemplated their actions.  They talked
late into the night, throwing ideas around.  Jade wasn’t there to remind them
about school, and Aunt Bertha retired early, her final words on the subject a
cop-out.
Whatever you girls decide.

Somewhere along
the way, Bertha had passed over the running of the family.  Raven wasn’t sure
how she felt about that. Somehow it seemed that Bertha would be more interested
in saving her niece, in the dire consequences of taking a wrong choice.

As Aunt Bertha
hobbled away from the table, Raven got another premonition.  An icy chill
snaked its way down her spine as a quiet thought rooted in her soul.
Aunt
Bertha won’t live to see the new year.
 Raven tried to shake the thought
away, but it kept coming back. The image of the skeleton wouldn’t leave her
mind.  Raven wished she could turn it off, forget she had ever seen it. Aunt
Bertha was dying.

Chapter
11

~~
Jade ~~

Jade curled the
ends of her hair, watching it limply fall back to her shoulders.  Raven hadn’t
yet dressed…mostly because she was too busy with Jade. She stood behind Jade
watching, “Here, you better let me.  First, you’ve got to use product.  Don’t
you listen to hair dressers?”

“They just want to
sell stuff for commission.” Jade said, teasing at her hair with a comb. Her
hair was in no mood to be teased.

“Sure they do. And
yet, my hair doesn’t fall,” Raven said.  “Move over.”

The bathroom
wasn’t exactly huge.  With a sigh, Jade realized that if she were
ever
going to finish dressing, she would have to let Raven have her way.

Raven grabbed the
curling iron.  She sprayed Jade’s hair until it was stiff and then trapped it in
the hot metal.  Jade’s hair made a slight sizzling sound.  She said, “I
seriously don’t need all this attention.”

“You so do.  You
have to look hot for Matt so he can make Danika jealous.  He’s bringing you a
forty dollar corsage,” Raven released the curling iron and a perfect curl
dropped.  With a light tease, it framed Jade’s face perfectly.

“He is not.” Jade
said.  She was not at all comfortable with the path this conversation was
taking.

“He asked me what
color to make it.  I told him a spray of pink roses to offset the green of the
dress,” Raven walked around Jade studying her like an artist studies his
painting, “Matt bought it in town at our flower shop.  I helped him pick it
out. Hmm…yes, you need mascara.”

“No, I don’t. It
makes my eyes itch.” Jade protested.  She could see where this was going. Soon
she would be wearing a mask.

“Am I putting it
on or are you?” Raven handed her the mascara. 

Sighing, Jade
grabbed it from her hands, “Fine.”

“You’re not going
to go all Carrie on Danika are you?” Raven studied Jade in the mirror as her
sister lightly brushed the mascara on her lashes, a little too lightly, but
Raven wouldn’t quibble.  Her sister really did look one hundred percent better
with that green dress against her milky skin, even with freckled arms, which
Jade complained sorely about, and Jade’s hair set in an actual hair style
rather than a pony tail that .

“What are you
talking about?” Jade applied the mascara to her second set of lashes as if it were
made of poison ivy. She really knew what Raven meant, but it annoyed her enough
to play innocent.

“More,” Raven
ordered pointing to Jade’s lashes. Raven grabbed the hair curler and started on
her own hair. She said, “You are a Fire Elemental.  I mean, you’re going to see
Danika all hot for Zach, you’ll probably go crazy and start the school on fire
or something.  I just want to know when it’s going to happen so I’ll be near an
exit.”

Picking up the lip
gloss, Jade said, “Ha. Ha. Very funny.  I don’t really care what Zach is doing
as long as he stays away from me.”

Eventually Raven
declared the girls beautiful and they moved to Jade’s room to put on their
nylons and shoes.  Raven said, “This would be a lot easier if we shared a room
again, but I think Mindy and Claire are happier this way.”

The doorbell
rang. 

Jade and Raven
exchanged a glance.  Jade slipped into her shoes, “Guess it’s time.”

Their dates
arrived at the same time. Matt and Tim both played football.  Although perhaps not
best friends, they were friends enough to realize that it might be a good idea
to pick the girls up at the same time. Strength in numbers or something.  They
had two cars. There was no way the dual arrival was coincidence.

Jade smiled and
thanked Matt when he handed her the corsage.  She walked slowly and carefully
across the sidewalk and then the gravel driveway, just as she had practiced. 
Raven didn’t need any practice.  She was a half step behind, flirting with Tim
and giggling, even while she navigated such things as sidewalks and bushes with
ease.

At first Jade was
relieved that she and Raven were taking different cars. Then Matt started
talking.  Their conversation was limited to indie bands and football, neither
of which Jade knew anything about.  She smiled and nodded and said “Really?”
and “I didn’t know that” so many times she thought her brain would develop a
groove in those neurons.

The ride to the
gym was twenty minutes but felt like an hour.  Still angry with Zach, Jade
could only hope that he suffered the same fate; however, she didn’t believe
that Danika could possible have a smaller range of topics with Zach as she did
with Matt.

As they approached
the dance, Matt said, “Want to dance the first dance with me?  We’ll make sure
we swing in front of Danika and Zach.”

Jade didn’t much
want her junior year Homecoming Dance to be more about making someone jealous
than enjoying the actual event.  This was her first time to be asked, even if
it was a sham. She agreed readily enough to Matt’s suggestion, but wondered if
that was all there would be.

She followed Matt
in. They were more than fashionably late, which was fine by Jade.  Raven
actually made the suggestion to Tim yesterday.  She said that no dance was ever
really worth anything in the first half-hour.

Matt led Jade out
to the floor.  Ugh. It was a slow song.  She felt prickly and uncomfortable,
unsure of herself except her two left feet.  A few times, her face felt so hot
she thought she was going to pass out.  Even though she didn’t see Zach, Matt
assured her that both Zach and Danika were watching from the sidelines.

The song ended.
Matt asked, “Would you like something to drink?”

Smiling, Jade
said, “That would be great. Thanks!”

She wondered if
this was how it was done.  Did people just talk and ask and be close and then
go back to talking again?  How was it that she was the only one who felt like
she was dying every time she walked onto the dance floor?  Actually. No. It
didn’t feel like dying.  It was way worse. Dying was more like tripping on a
rock and realizing you were sprawled on the ground.  There was no angst.  Just
a shocking surprise. Hey…I’m dead. Yes, it was new and a little scary, but the
Homecoming Dance was a thing that Jade dreaded.

This. Dancing. 
The Horror!

Jade took a seat
on one of the folding chairs that lined the side of the gym and watched Matt
thread his way among the crowds, slapping fellow football players on the
shoulders or grinning at one of the especially pretty girls.  The photographer
was already taking pictures in the upstairs section above the gym where the
weights and mats were used.  It was too eclectic to actually be a weight room,
although some of the guys would sometimes work out up there after school.  Jade
wondered if Matt was planning on photos.  She’d frankly forgotten them until
Raven reminded her to freshen up before pictures.

Another song
started.  Jade was a little surprised when Matt and Tina Monroe started
dancing. Matt danced with girl after girl. Jade realized that if she wanted a
drink, she would have to get it herself.  She felt so awkward.  Most of the
other sidelined girls had bosom buddies to chat with. 

Jade had no one.

Raven was swirling
across the floor with Tim. No help there.

A shrill and
rather piercing laugh broke Jade’s thoughts.  She turned and her heart sank. 
Hanging on Zach’s arm like it was a rope and she was dangling over the Grand
Canyon, Danika sauntered toward Raven in a pathetically obvious move.  Which
worked  because Jade was so jealous she almost forgot that she and Matt were trying
to do the exact same thing.

She wore a black
low cut dress that sparkled and left very little to the imagination.  As pretty
as she thought she looked in the mirror two hours before, Jade now realized
that she had just been fooling herself.  She would never compare to the
Danika’s of the world.

Wrapping her arm
around Zach, Danika leaned in and gave him a squeeze. She said, “I just don’t
understand why someone would
torture
themselves by coming to a dance
when they know they’re just going to sit on those fold-up chairs and watch the
rest of us.  Know what I mean?”

Jade burned hot.

Even Fire felt it.

She said,
Jade.
They’re all combustible.

Fire’s little side
comment gave Jade the strength to smile and nod at Danika, pretending she
didn’t just overhear her cruel comment. 

Zach disengaged
himself from Danika, “Excuse me.”

He was so close to
Jade, she couldn’t leave to escape him. That would be rude, especially since he
was just coming to talk to her out of pity after Danika’s snide remarks. Jade
had no idea what to say, what to do. Zach took the seat next to Jade, leaving
Danika to stand with a huge pout for Zach and an angry glare at Jade.

“Are you having
fun?” Zach asked casually.  There was a catch in his voice, and Jade thought
that maybe he was hoping she wasn’t.  That he wanted her to have fun just with
him.

She said, “Yeah,
it’s great.”

Realizing that she
had just become a third wheel, Danika called out to one of the nearby seniors. 
With a little flirt, she managed to ditch Zach and make it look like it was her
idea.

Zach didn’t seem
to mind.  Jade couldn’t believe he was sitting next to her as if nothing else
mattered to him. He sat next to Jade until Danika was well and truly enthralled
by her new partner.  As a Taylor Swift song wound down, Zach held out his hand,
“Wanna dance?”

The logical side
of Jade’s mind wanted to say no, to protest
Death Keeper.
The lonely
part, the girl who cared for the Zach from her first date and longed to dance
with him said,
YES!!!!!
 

Lonely girl won
that round.  

She took his
hand. 
This is Homecoming.

Don’t Want to
Miss a Thing
by Aerosmith started.

Zach led her to
the dance floor and if there were anyone else in the gymnasium, Jade didn’t
know it.  His eyes were the most beautiful shade, reflecting blue storms from
the deep blue shirt he wore under a black suit jacket.

Her heart danced
with excitement. Jade wanted so much for Zach to kiss her. She wrapped her arms
around him and for the first time since they broke up, she felt happy. Feeling
a little misty eyed, she followed his lead around the dance floor.

Zach held her
closer, closer than they had ever been when they were holding hands in the hall
or walking along the sidewalk to the theater.  She wanted him.  She needed
him.  Jade forgot herself.  She completely forgot that over three hundred of
her classmates, people who might taunt and tease for the remainder of her days existed
in the nooks and crannies of the gym watching everything she did. No one else
mattered.  She and Zach shared a moment entirely to themselves, alone in the
universe.

They kissed.

His lips were made
for hers.  Soft and compelling on the approach until they pressed against hers
and then those same lips were strong and masculine. He tasted like the punch.  Her
whole body sighed.

When the song
ended, Jade felt a keen disappointment.  It was a shame there wasn’t a twenty
minute slow song for moments like this.  Jade realized that they had just
kissed in front of the whole school and blushed furiously.  Worse, at least one
of the chaperones wove their way through the crowd toward Zach and Jade’s
direction.

“Shall we go
outside?” Zach asked.

He wasn’t at all
sure of himself.  As a matter of fact, he looked so pathetically nervous that
Jade felt it a matter of honor to rescue him. She said, “Of course.”

They escaped the
chaperones.  Raven would later tell Jade that she had too much of a guilty
conscience.  Even if they did stop Jade’s PDA, it wasn’t like they were going
to expel her or anything.  Not the first time anyway.

The air was bitingly
cold. Zach led Jade to his car.

She stopped.

“I’m…Zach, I don’t
think I’m ready for…” Jade couldn’t even say the words.  She didn’t want to
have sex in his car outside the gym where anyone could walk by. 

First of all, Jade
wanted to be in love.  But not just love, LOVE.  It had to be super-love, not
sex.  Second, she wanted a place of absolute privacy.  There would be nothing
worse than a rumor in school that she’d lost her virginity outside of
Homecoming in a Ford Escort, especially if it were true, which it would be as
her virginity was intact.  Third, he was a Death Keeper and she was an
Elemental.  Elementals loved hard.  They tended to find a person and stick to
them like rubber cement. If she ever made love to Zach, that would be the end
of it.  She wouldn’t be capable of loving anyone else.  If he hurt her, it
would shatter her heart into a wretched powder that would never heal.

“I just want to
talk to you.  Where no one can hear,” Zach said.  He held the passenger door
open for her. Jade had a flash of guilt when she remembered Matt holding the
door open for her earlier, but quickly shook it off.  Matt left her sitting for
half an hour while he danced with every popular girl in the school.  Sure, he
made Danika jealous…at the cost of Jade’s well being.

“Okay.” Jade said.
She tried to be dainty when she sat down.  Wearing a dress certainly made
graceful movement difficult, which is probably why women who actually could
walk gracefully in satin and heels were so prized. Sliding her legs into the
car, Jade just felt awkward.

As if he could
read her thoughts, Zach said, “You’ll always be beautiful to me.”

Jade murmured a
quiet thanks. It was amazing how safe she felt in the car with him, not just
safe.  That wasn’t the right word.  He gave her a warm feeling that filled her
heart.

Zach said, “Jade,
I’ve never met anyone like you.”

Jade didn’t know
how to take that so she blushed. She said, “I feel the same way.  It’s just
that things are so complicated. What are we doing? Not just tonight, I mean in
the long term. You’re a Death Keeper and I’m an Elemental. This can never
work.”