Crimson Echo (28 page)

            I couldn’t help but wish that Faith was still alive. She would know exactly what to do and she would be out of her mind with excitement. She lived for this stuff.
It’s funny how you take things and people for granted and then when they’re gone you learn to appreciate them for who they were. But most importantly I hoped that Gabe was okay.

           
I crawled under the covers and wished for sleep to take me immediately. The thought of Faith’s passing only made it worse. I pulled the sheets up over my head and clinched my eyes tight listening to the chirping of crickets from outside my window. As I lay there in my bed I did something that I hadn’t done in a very long time. I clasped my hands together and said a prayer for Gabe and soon the noises slowly faded into the background and my body relaxed.

           
Not long after I had fallen asleep I was woken by a scream coming from outside. I stumbled to the door and rushed down the steps into the backyard. The moon was slightly silver as it hung overhead. I scanned the lawn looking for the source of the cry. Mounds of fire in the dewy grass lit up the night sky and the contrast between the flames and the moon was unsettling. There were two black figures in the distance fighting—one was faster than the other. One of the dark forms—the quicker one, disappeared in a blue light and reappeared behind the unsuspecting man.

“Kane, wait!” I shouted,
recognizing him. Instantly I ran to him and clung to his chest.

“Stay back, this doesn’t involve you!” He barked.

“Tristan, go back inside. I have this under control.” It was Gabe’s distorted voice I heard this time.

“What
are you doing? You have to stop this!” I screamed at him.

“He knows our secret, he can’t be trusted.” Kane held his hand out and Gabe rose off of the ground.

“Leave him alone!” I pushed Kane with as much strength as I could muster and Gabe dropped to his knees and I ran to him.

“You need to go inside,” he insisted
, licking the blood from his lip. “This witch can’t hurt me.”

“I’m so sorry.
I should have never told you about any of this. How did he find out?” I cried, pulling Gabe to his feet.

“He just knew. It must be the freaky witch genes.” He snarled, running at Kane. “Why don’t y
ou fight like a man, you coward?”  Before he could reach Kane, he was hurled through the air. He tumbled for a few feet and then came to a stop like he had hit an invisible brick wall.

“Kane
no, he’s my best friend! I told him about your secret. It was me, it’s my fault!” I beat at his chest.

“Then you’ll have to die too!” Sabrina’s
piercing voice came at me like a knife to the chest. Her eyes turned red and a vein bulged at her temple.

“I’ll t
ake care of her, she’s mine!” Kane roared baring his teeth.

“Suit yourself.
I’ll dispose of the boy.” Lightning shot from her fingertips and Gabe rose off of the ground, his whole body convulsed with electricity while Sabrina laughed in the darkness. The only thing I could do was scream at them to stop torturing my friend.

“I warned you not to tell anyone about our secret. You know what I have to do now, don’t you?”
He asked, letting the words cut right to the core of my being.

“Do it!” I glared, wiping my tear streaked face.
“Just get it over with.”

“Such a pity, you could’ve had everything.”
His voice was much darker than I had ever heard it. “I could’ve given you the world. I could’ve been your everything, but you threw it all away!”

“This isn’t you. The Kane I know wouldn’t do this.
The Kane I know is kind and gentle, he’s not a killer.”

“The Kane you knew is gone. The Kane you knew
left when you exposed us.”

“
Gabe had nothing to do with this! Take me instead!” I begged.

“You would sacrifice your life for his?” He tilted his head, trying to understand why.

“Yes, please just let him live!”

            Kane
laughed at my request and the back of his hand raked across my cheek. The ground grew farther from my feet as I flew through the air. I landed with a thud and then I heard footsteps coming toward me and I struggled against the weight of my eyelids just long enough to see him standing over me.

“I love you.” I whispered and then braced myself for what was about to come.

“Wake up Tristan.” He murmured in my ear. “Get up!”

I blinked my eyes against the harsh light
s and I shivered.

“Honey, it’s time to get up. You have to be at work soon.”
My mom said again.

           
I rolled over and rubbed my eyes before remembering the dream I had just had. I shot out of bed and pulled the curtains back and looked out into the backyard where the pits of fire had been. The grass was perfectly still, no fire had touched it.

“Thank God.” I sighed.
“It wasn’t real.”

“Bad dream?” Mom questioned from the doorway.

“Yeah, it was just a dream, nothing to worry about.” I forced a smile.

“
If you say so. You better hurry you don’t want to be late.” She smiled back at me as she closed the door behind her.

          
After my pulse settled back down I pulled on my blue polo shirt and faded shorts and secured the red apron around my waist. I marched to the bathroom and raked a brush through the tangles in my hair. I brushed my teeth in a hurry and stepped into my white tennis shoes.

           
I could already feel the chill in the air as I poured a heap of my favorite cereal into a large ceramic bowl and added a layer of milk. I devoured most of my breakfast before it got too soggy and rinsed the rest out in the sink. Looking out of the window to watch the sun float along the horizon I noticed tiny flakes of snow beginning to fall. 

“Great, that’s just great!” I huffed
grabbing my favorite gray hoodie out of the hall closet and zipping it up to my chin.

            Once again I stomped through nearly four inches of snow on the way to my car. I turned the dial on the dashboard all the way to the right and let the heater work its magic. After my nose had unthawed I drove off to work as the snowflakes became increasingly larger. As I followed a sand truck down the highway I thought about how I would go about talking to Kane.

            If everything Sabrina had told me was true and Kane really did feel that strongly for me I had to see if I could make things work out between the two of us. I knew that I had let my stupid pride get in the way of my relationship with Kane and it was keeping me from being happy as well. As far as the predestined future that Sabrina talked about, I could care less. Kane and I would make our own future.                                                                                                                    

            
It was Sabrina’s day off and I was finally relieved of her prying eyes, though after the dream I had just had I wasn’t feeling relieved in the slightest. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed Gabe’s theory about a dark cloud following the Evan’s family around or not, but I suspected that there might be one around Sabrina.

            It was a busy Sunday— which was pretty normal as far as Sundays go. M
y entire section was occupied with the rush of hungry churchgoers that had just been let out. Mrs. Springer and her grand children at one table, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson at another, the McAlister’s across from them and  Ms. Fall with her daughter Gena in a booth by the window. Three pots of coffee brewing, plenty of hash browns on the stove and six full plates of scrambled eggs under the heat lamp kept me on my toes

           
Molly and I were the only two waitresses on duty and I hardly had a chance to say good morning to her before I was bombarded by customers. I hummed to myself as I served the Henderson’s another round of coffee and cleared another table for a couple waiting by the door. Another handful of people rushed in to seek shelter from the snow and they immediately sat at the bar which meant they were only there for coffee and coffee drinkers never tip well. I emptied another pot and escaped to the back to make more.

“Honey,” Molly whispered, tapping me on the shoulder. “There’s someone
out there to see you and he refuses to let me take his order.”

“It’s probably
Gabe, tell him I’ll be right there.” Leave it to Gabe to slow me down, always being difficult. Why couldn’t he just let Molly take his order? I cursed him silently.

“Alright, I’ll tell him.”

            I headed toward her section and dropped off a plate of biscuits and gravy on the way. When I turned around I was shocked to see Kane sitting alone at a booth in the far corner. He sat with his fingers laced together on top of the table and by the look on his face he was sulking. I slowly paced toward him—my heart was beating out of my chest and my adrenaline warped into overdrive. He looked smoldering in his leather jacket and black boots and I couldn’t help but stare. I placed a menu in front of him along with a set of silverware rolled into a napkin.

“Kane, is everything okay?” I asked confused by his appearance.

“I just want to talk.”

“We are talking.” I shoved my pad and pencil into my apron.

“If I order something will you sit with me?” He murmured.

“I’m on the clock, I have customers.”
I said impatiently.

“When’s you
r break? I can wait.”

“I
just got here,” I eyed a single red rose on the table and then pretended I hadn’t seen it. “It won’t be for a while.”

“Fifteen minutes
, that’s all I ask.” He tried to persuade me.

“Fine, fifteen minutes, that’s it.” I agreed.

I asked Molly to cover my tables and then I followed Kane out the front door and into the frigid wind. We hid under the yellow awning and stared at each other for a long moment.

“I brought you something.” He remembered. “It’s kind of a peace offering.”

“Thanks, but you didn’t have to.” I took the rose and sniffed it.

“We need to talk.” There was
urgency in his voice this time.

“I know.” I shot back. He wasn’t surprised at my tone.
“I’ve wanted to talk to you too.”

“Before we get to t
hat, I have to ask you something. What was the only rule I gave you to keep?” He asked, trying to hide his anger with his hand as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “The most important rule?”

“The only
rule was to keep your secret.” I answered, backing up against the wall.

“Did you
?” He stared at me, waiting for an answer.

“Why, do you think I told someone?” My voice trembled.

“I got a visit from a belligerent friend of yours late last night. Care to explain?”

“You got a visit f
rom one of my friends?” I asked puzzled as I went through all of my friends.

“A young boy named Gabe. Does that ring any bells?”
He interrupted my thoughts.

“
Gabe visited you, why?”

“
He wanted to make sure I was treating you right, he seemed very concerned about you.”

“Oh, Gabe.”
I sighed.

“He was ready to fight me at that very moment, but I convinced him to have a seat and clam down. He said he knew what I was and that didn’t seem to bother him, but I got the feeling there was more.”

“Was there
more?” I prodded, anxiously.

“A bit, he doesn’t think I value your humanity.” He looked amused by the whole thing
. “He also mentioned that you were threatened by a member of my family. Would you care to fill in the blanks for me?”

“Kane,
I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” I shook my head.

“What has she done?”

“Nothing, it’s fine.” I admitted, hoping he would still keep her away.

“There’s a reason Gabe told me to keep her away from you, now tell me!”

“There was a small misunderstanding, it’s over now. But I’m afraid that if you say anything to her, it might make things worse.”

“
I can promise you that she won’t bother you again, I’ll personally see to that.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Now onto the next order of business, what are we going to do about us?”

“
Forget all of this ever happened?” I stepped away from the wall and contemplated taking his hand, but I wasn’t sure if we were back to that point yet. “I’m sorry for overreacting like I did. It was just a bad day.”

“
Don’t be sorry. I should have told you about Emporia, about everything.” He caressed my cheeks. “From now on I promise no more secrets.”

“You don’t have to do that. Sabrina told my why you have to keep things to yourself, I understand now.”

“I want to. I want to share everything with you. You are my everything.” He murmured, pulling me into a hug.