Beyond - Volume 1 (YA Paranormal Romance) (23 page)

Swiftly he goes t
o work. He watches the audience before making his assault, making sure there’s no one around who can see him. Then he puts the box under the yellow ghost.

A light jolt bursts out so fast it’s as if a lightning bolt struck. It hits the ghost, while I gaze around the room, looking for people who notice it. Nobody’s looking at the box, so I guess even these electric bursts aren’t visible to regular people.

After a few seconds the box stops shocking. The yellow ghost dissipates.

Jianyu picks up the box and flies outside. I follow him.
What does the audience think? I’m running in and out of the theater like some crazy girl.

In the
guy’s bathroom, Jianyu’s body lies eerily still on the floor. I’m surprised no one went in here and discovered this corpse.

The watch begins beeping again. I drop to my knees next to Jianyu’s body. The humming is audible again, coming from the box attached to his chest, and shortly aft
er, his body moves up and down.

I place a finger on his neck and wait until I feel a
faint heartbeat. When a sigh escapes his mouth, I know he’s alive again, and I can breathe.

I stand up, rip off a few pieces of toilet paper and hold them under the cold water.
In the meantime, Jianyu coughs, and spurts of blood fly up and down and land on his chin. With the wet paper I wipe his mouth and chin.

“That was very
brave of you,” I say. “Doing that by yourself.”

Jianyu pushes himself up and positions himself a
gainst the wall. “It’s my job.”

I wipe off the last drops from his f
ace and help him get up. “Your job?”

He looks at his pale face in the mirror and throws some water over himself. He doesn’t answer my question.

“Do you want something to drink?” I ask.

“No, I’m okay.” He stumbles outside
, and I can barely support him before he falls over. I help him across the hall to a chair and sit down next to him. There we are, silent for a few minutes, staring in front of us.

“Don’t you wan
t to go back to see the movie?”

He shrugs. “I don’t care.”

Why’s Jianyu acting like it doesn’t matter at all?
He’s acting so weird today.
He just sits down at our table, while he normally doesn’t care about us, and he let the girls treat him like dirt. He pays for a ticket to go see a movie he doesn’t get to watch to the end. He’s distracted by his watch and by ghosts the entire time and doesn’t seem at all interested in this movie. Why did he want to go in the first place? Then I realize there can be only one reason.

“Damian put you up to this,
didn’t he?”

Jianyu continues to stare at the
floor, keeping his mouth shut.

“Say it! He forced you to come,
right?” I tug Jianyu’s shoulder so he looks at me. On his face is a sour look.

“Why? Because I’m his girlfriend?”
I ask and stand up. Girlfriend. Did I really just say that? The relationship isn’t actually defined yet, even though Damian’s kissed me a couple of times already. I haven’t heard it from his mouth yet, and I haven’t asked him either. Maybe he thinks I’m his girlfriend anyway. When I think about it, I get all flushed. I shake my head to pull myself from my thoughts.

“No, that’s not it.” Jianyu sighs.

I kick the chair in my frustration. Why is Damian letting Jianyu do his ‘dirty work’ for him? Can’t he do it himself?

“The person he’s looking for … was also after Damian … and that person threatened him,” Jianyu says.

“What? What do you mean ‘threatened’?” I sit back down on my chair to show him I want to listen to his story.

“That pe
rson … he’s going to hurt you.”

I
’m swallowing and sinking back, letting my body slump, when I realize Damian’s been trying to protect me from this ‘person’ all this time. The person he’s hunting is also after him. And now he’s after me too.

At school, I spend half my time listening and the other half in my mind. I’m still pondering what happened yesterday. I found out Damian’s been afraid all this time of what would happen if this ‘person’ found out I existed. And now it’s a reality.

I draw stupid figures on my paper while barely listening to the teacher. Yesterday, Jianyu even apologized for his deceit and brought me home. We didn’t go back to the theater. We only talked about his view
s on the ghosts and Damian’s problems. Damian told him not to tell me anything, because he doesn’t want me involved in his world.

But I can’t be in love with a guy and build a relationship with him if he doesn’t trust me with anything
, can I?

The only thing I could understand from Jianyu’s story was that Damian’s in big trouble, and now, so am I.

“What kind of crap is this?” Lillian asks as she shakes her book in front of her as if something has to drop out.

“A book.” A grin appears on my face because of my dumb answer.

“Oh, you’re so funny, Raven.” She sticks her tongue out at me. “But what happened yesterday? You just left with Jianyu without telling us.”

“Yeah, you didn’t even finish watching the movie, did you?” Emma says
, holding her mirror so close to her face that she’s almost pressed onto it. “You looked like you were having a great time together.” Suddenly she snaps her mirror shut and gapes at me with her mouth open.

“What?” I ask.

“Don’t tell me you’re having two guys now?” A sly grin appears on her face. “Damian and Jianyu are friends, Raven. Oh, you’re so bad.”

“What?” I ask, stupefied. “No, of course I’m
not. Why would you think that?”

“Well, why else were you sneaking around like you were ready to elope?” Emma seems to enjoy it.

“Yeah, tell us,” Lillian says.

“I got sick during the movies. Jianyu helped me,” I lie.

“Oh, by ‘helped’ you probably mean he massaged your tongue.” Emma’s laughing out loud.

Lillian pokes her
in the side. “Gross, Emma!”

“No, he kept my hair up when I was puking, alright?” I
fold my arms.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lillian says, shutting her book. Apparently she
’s given up learning anything this class.

“It’s the truth.” I can only hope they don’t see through my lie.

“Well, if it were me, I’d stay clear of guys like that. I think he’s a creep,” Lillian says.

“I’d never date someone like him,” Emma says
, putting her mirror back in her purse.

“We’re not dating! Jianyu’s just a friend.”

Why do I have to defend myself? It’s not even true.

“A friend of Damian. That only makes it worse,” Lillian says.

I sigh. “You just don’t understand Damian and Jianyu.”

Emma supports her head with her arm and leans on the table, so she can bend over and look me in the eye. “Then tell us what they’re like, so we can understand them.”

“Can’t you just be a bit nicer to Jianyu?”

“I don’t trust him.
There’s something about him and Damian that gives me goose bumps,” Lillian says. “And I care about my friends. I’m only mean to him because I’m trying to protect you.” She smiles at me.

“Then trust me. Jianyu’s alright. He wouldn’
t hurt anyone, not even a fly.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll trust you,” Lillian says.

“Only if you guys stop sneaking out.” Emma winks.

I laugh. “Fine. I wasn’t planning to.”

The bell rings, and it’s time for my next class, or better said, gym. Time to head onto the field and get dirty. The coach decides we’re going outside, because the gym’s still a mess from the dance.

The grass still feels wet from morning dew, but that won’t stop us from working our butts off outside. Damian’s here again. Apparently this class is important enough to go to. Sometimes I’m disgusted by his behavior. Most of the time I find him attractive and tough. Actually, I’m not sure what to think of him. I only know he acts this way to protect me, but
whether I like it is a totally different story.

We’re playing dodge ball today. I hate this game. Somehow I always manage to be the last one standing. I’m so fast and thin I can jump in between the others like a gazelle. Nobody can hit me, but I can’t hit them either. Throwing balls is not one of my stronger points.

Damian’s on the other team. When all his other team members are down, we’re left alone together. He’s still standing because he’s strong, awesome at throwing and a master at avoiding. I’m only standing because I’m quick. The rest is pure luck.

Now’s my chance to finally talk to him about this ‘person’. If we can finish this game quick
ly enough, the coach might let us go early, and then I could wait for Damian in front of the locker room.

Here it goes.

The ball bounces up and down in a rhythmic motion between my hands. Damian looks at me, waiting. He also has a ball, which he clenches to his stomach. I wait for his turn. His arms move, and the ball nearly slips loose from his fingers. Then it’s my turn. Like never before, I shoot the ball to the other side, and it smashes into his shin. At the same time, Damian drops his ball on the floor, refusing to throw it.

The other students
have already run past me toward the locker rooms because the coach just gave the green light for us to leave the field. Apparently we did our best, so now we can leave.

Amazed, I stand there gazing at Damian, who salutes me playfully and then runs off, like letting me win on purpose was the most normal thing in the world.
Why else did he just drop the ball like it was an accident?

On
one hand, it’s kind of sweet, and I hope he did it because he didn’t want to hurt me, but on the other hand, I’m mad because he didn’t give me an honest chance to win by myself.

Worn down I walk back to the girls
’ locker room. I sigh and start changing in this damp, filthy room. The girls are chatting, but I’m not listening. I’m too busy thinking about Damian. Maybe I can still execute my plan. If I just dress fast enough, I can wait in front of the guys’ locker room until he comes out and question him there.

Immediately I set my second plan in motion.
I do a quick change into my regular outfit and stuff my leggings into my bag. Luckily, Emma and Lillian don’t seem to notice me. They’re too busy talking about Simon and how Emma actually wanted to take him to the movies.

I walk outside and position myself against the wall in front of the
guys’ locker room. Of course, I’m not going inside when there are still guys in there. I’m not perverted.

A few
guys come out. Some of them I know; some of them I don’t know. For a few seconds they look at me. I think they wonder what I’m doing there. I swallow, and my cheeks warm up, but I stay quiet. I know it’s not normal to just sit here, sheepishly waiting for someone, especially near the guys’ locker room. That’s kind of taboo. I hope Damian comes out soon, so I can get out of here.

But he doesn’t come. I’ve been waiting fifteen minutes already
, and the amount of guys  coming from the locker room is decreasing. I slide my butt down the wall and stay put with my arms clenched around my legs. My butt is beginning to tingle, because I’ve been sitting on one spot for such a long time. Every now and then an unfamiliar guy steps out the door and glances at me before walking on.

I decide to send Simon
a text because I want his friendship back, and I’ve got nothing to do now anyway. Every few words I erase a couple again, until I’m satisfied with the outcome.

Hey, Simon, can we talk tonight?
At work?

I press the send button, so I can’t change my mind.

After a while I look at the clock hanging above the girls’ room. I’ve been sitting here for half an hour already, and Damian still isn’t coming out. I suspect something is going on.

Should I take
a chance? Go inside and face the guys?
Or worse, maybe the coach will find out and punish me for sneaking in. I’ll have to take the risk. I want to know if Damian didn’t just sneak out when I wasn’t watching. That’d be typical of him, avoiding my questions.

I look around to
make sure nobody’s there and then slip through the door like a snake.

It’s warm and moist inside
, and at first sight it seems like there’s no one around. I gaze inside and quietly take in my surroundings. Everywhere are lockers, and there are benches in the middle of the room. Dirty towels lie in a basket next to the door. Clouds of damp float from the showers that appear to be just turned off.

I walk to the left, but there’s nobody there. Only some gym stuff, like
a boxing bag and a box of baseball bats and gloves. I turn around and go to the right side of the room. Against the bench, just in front of the lockers, lies Damian Hayes.