Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) (37 page)

“
This is so cool,” Breccan
said.

Easton rolled her eyes. “Be
cool.”

“
I am,” Breccan said as he
winked at two girls who walked by. Even Calloway laughed at his
absurd behavior.

“
That doesn’t work on
girls,” Calloway said.

“
How would you know?”
Breccan said. “The two girls you liked had no interest in
you.”

“
Breccan!” Easton said.
“Don’t be a jerk.”

“
Whatever,” he said as he
walked toward the stairs that led down to the basement. “I’m going
to say hello to Weston. She doesn’t have a problem with me.” He
climbed down the stairs and the two of them followed
behind.

The basement was packed with people
sitting in chairs and standing in the middle of the room. The walls
were decorated with Christmas lights and there was a table full of
punch and soda. Calloway wondered if any of these students were
members of the White Wing—they probably were.

“
Hey guys,” Scott said as
he approached them. “Glad you could make it.”

“
Hey,” Calloway said. “How
was your holiday?”

Scott put his hand over his stomach.
“Filling.” He smiled.

Michael walked over and clapped
Calloway on the shoulder. “Hey, dude. Merry Christmas,” he
said.

Calloway nodded. “Merry Christmas,” he
said. “How did your finals go?”

“
Well,” Michael said. “I
passed—I think.”

Scott shrugged. “I don’t even know,” he
said. “I got busy toward the end of the semester.”

“
I’m sure you did fine,”
Calloway said.

“
I hope you’re right,” he
said. Two pretty girls walked by and Scott and Michael turned to
the each other. Scott turned to Calloway. “Will you excuse us?” he
said. “We still have to find someone to kiss at
midnight.”

“
Good luck. “Calloway
smiled.

Calloway heard Weston before he saw
her. The sound of her laughter was amplified over the rest of the
sounds of the room. Calloway didn’t hear the other conversations
about the Christmas holidays or the arguments about favorite sports
teams. He just heard the sweet sound of her laughter.

When he finally saw Weston across the
room he was shocked to see who she was laughing at. Marquan was
smiling at her while he talked, and Weston kept spilling her glass
while she chuckled with merriment. Calloway never asked if Marquan
knew who Weston was because he never thought about it—they did go
to the same college.

“
Isn’t that your weird
friend?” Breccan asked.

“
Why is he weird?”
Calloway asked. “He’s cool.” Calloway walked over to him and
clapped Marquan on the shoulder. “Hey. Long time no
see.”

Hey,” he said as he embraced Calloway.
“I’m starting to think you’re following me.”

“
To the end of the earth
and back.” Calloway smiled. He looked at Weston and they stared at
each other for a moment. The brown strands of hair curved around
her face and contrasted against the pale skin of her features.
Calloway noticed the freckle in the corner of her mouth but he
looked away from the blemish and into her blue eyes. She seemed
neither happy nor angry to see him—just sad—like their meeting was
painful to her. Calloway wished it didn’t have to be this way—they
were still friends.

Marquan felt the tension. “I’m going to
get me some eggnog.” He walked away and left them standing
together.

Calloway was the first to speak. “Thank
you for inviting us.”

Weston put her glass of punch down and
tightened the gold sweater around her throat. It was the same one
he’d seen her wear before. He pictured how a dark blue scarf would
look on her; it would match her eyes perfectly and contrast against
the ivory color of her skin. The tone of her flesh reminded him of
the white grains of sand on the Mexican beach—so pure and refined
that it didn’t look like sand at all. She fidgeted with her scarf
for a moment. It was the first time Calloway had ever seen her be
nervous.

“
Please don’t be nervous
around me,” he said. “I’m not here to talk about—anything. I just
wanted to say hello.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you for
coming, Calloway. I hope you enjoy yourself. There are a lot of
great people here. I’m sure you could make some
friends.”

Calloway nodded. “I’m sure they are
great.”

“
How do you know
Marquan?”

“
We work together,” he
answered. “He’s one of the greatest guys I know—the
best.”

“
I like him too,” she
said.

The stood together for a moment, and
Weston stared at his outfit for a moment. Her sight lingered on his
combed hair. “You look nice, Calloway,” she said. “You’re going to
have a lot of admirers when you start school in the
fall.”

Calloway blushed. “I doubt
that.”

“
I don’t.”

“
Well, I’m not
interested.”

“
Why?” she
asked.

Calloway wasn’t sure why he said those
words. They just flew out of his mouth like an unstoppable
projectile of vomit. He didn’t even know what he meant. “I have
other responsibilities,” he said. “I have to save the
world.”

She nodded. “It takes up a lot of
time.”

“
Yes.” He laughed. “Too
much time.”

“
Well, have fun tonight,
Calloway.” She turned around and walked away from him. It wasn’t
until he saw her turn away that he realized how much pain he was
in. He hated having such a strained friendship with her—he wanted
to be back to normal. He wondered if she regretted the kiss she
gave him in the car after formal—he hoped not.

“
What was that about?”
Marquan asked when he came back over. He handed Calloway a glass of
cherry punch.

Calloway sighed. “Nothing.”

“
Are you
involved?”

“
Not at all,” Calloway
said. “Weston is just a friend.”

Marquan nodded. “Don’t let that woman
break your heart—she does it to everyone.”

“
So I’ve heard,” Calloway
smiled. He dropped his gaze from Weston and looked at his friend.
“Are you in the White Wing?”

Marquan stared at him for a moment.
“You know of it?”

“
Well, Weston is my
friend,” Calloway said. “She showed it to me. That’s why I plan to
attend Fresno University in the fall. I wanted to be a member of
the organization. Fight against the ones that seek to destroy
us.”

“
And themselves,” Marquan
added. “The whole thing is pretty crazy when you think about it.
When I was first recruited, I thought Weston was a beautiful
madwoman.”

“
She still is.” Calloway
laughed.

“
You got that right,”
Marquan said.

“
And what do you do in the
organization?” Calloway asked. “Anything specific?”

“
We aren’t supposed to
talk about that stuff with outsiders,” he said.

Calloway nodded. “I
understand.”

They were quiet for a moment and
Calloway sipped his punch.

“
Whatever,” Marquan said.
“I know you’re trustworthy. I try to develop biological weapons
against the Hara-Kirs, along with genetic tests to determine if
they are human or not.”

“
And how is that
going?”

Marquan shrugged. “It’s really
difficult to tell them apart, even with their DNA. Their anatomical
features differentiate from ours but their genetic make up is still
very similar; ninety-nine percent similar.” He drank from his punch
and put it down. “It doesn’t help much because when I compared my
DNA to Weston’s it matched by ninety-nine percent, but when I
compared her genetic makeup with someone else it was one-hundred
percent identical. So basically it’s hard to tell. Only if the DNA
is a perfect match will I know without a doubt they are
human.”

“
So, if the DNA matches by
ninety-nine percent, the subject could be human or
Hara-Kir?”

“
You understand my
problem?” Marquan laughed. “I can’t be sure.”

Calloway nodded. “That is a head
scratcher,” he said. “What else are you trying to achieve? I’ve
offered to help but Weston claims I’m too young.”

“
You have to be a legal
adult,” Marquan said. “We want to research the Anti-Life and study
it before we cross over and defeat them. It doesn’t seem feasible
to have the battle on this side of the portal, which is probably
better because there are no bystander casualties.”

“
And how do you plan to do
that?” Calloway asked.

He shrugged. “We haven’t figured out
all the details. We haven’t even found a single portal. I have a
feeling no one has a clue where to start.”

“
Why don’t you just follow
a Hara-Kir and see where it goes?”

Marquan shook his head. “They never
return to where they came from. They engage us until they die or we
die. I suspect they aren’t allowed to return. They keep fighting
until they are killed.”

“
Like a suicide bomber?”
Calloway asked.

“
I guess you could say
that,” Marquan said. “They want to end their lives as well as
ours.”

“
I still don’t understand
everything,” Calloway said. “I feel lost in the dark. Weston won’t
elaborate further and I feel like she even lacks
knowledge.”

“
Don’t be mad at her,”
Marquan said. “She’s just trying to protect you. She couldn’t live
with herself if a minor died under her protection—that’s
all.”

Calloway sighed. “I guess you’re
right.”

“
I know I am.” He smiled.
“I’ve known Weston for a long time.”

Since Marquan confided information to
him, Calloway felt obligated to reciprocate that trust by revealing
his possession of the portal key and the location of the portal in
the Grandiose Historian Library. He wanted to confess his knowledge
about the Kirin Book but he held it back, knowing he had to keep
his secrets since Marquan wasn’t trustworthy. He might tell Weston.
Calloway needed to prove his allegiance to the Life, and it had to
be clear to everyone—especially Weston—before he revealed his
knowledge

Breccan and Weston approached them and
stood beside Calloway.

“
Hey,” Marquan said with a
smile. “It’s Breccan, right?”

“
Yeah,” Breccan said
dismissively. He turned to Calloway. “Guess who’s here?”

Easton rolled her eyes at Breccan’s
rudeness and extended her hand to Marquan. “Hello,” she said. “I’ve
seen you before. I’m Weston’s younger sister.”

“
It’s nice to meet you,”
he said as he shook her hand. “I see the resemblance.”

“
I’m not sure if that’s a
compliment.” Easton laughed.

“
Yes, it is.” He
laughed.

Calloway turned to Breccan. “Who’s
here?” he asked.

Breccan nodded toward the center of the
room. Calloway felt his heart accelerate when he saw Beatrice
standing with two of her friends. She was wearing tight-fitted
jeans with a green jacket that matched the color of her formal
dress and accentuated the emeralds of her eyes. Her eyes locked
onto his and after a moment of staring, Calloway looked away and
returned to Marquan. “I don’t care that she’s here,” he
said.

“
But I bet Hawk isn’t too
far behind,” Breccan said.

“
I don’t think so,” Easton
said. “It looks like she’s just with her friends
tonight.”

“
Good for her,” Calloway
said. Even though he was irritated with Beatrice’s dismissive
attitude he still cared for and he wasn’t sure why. She obviously
had no empathy or respect for him. If she cared for him she
wouldn’t have allowed her boyfriend to tease him mercilessly for so
long. “She’s just going to ignore me like usual—I don’t
exist.”

“
I think she’s walking
over here,” Easton said.

Calloway didn’t look. “No, she isn’t. I
can guarantee you she’s not.”

“
Um…” Breccan said.
“Calloway?”

“
What?” he asked as he
turned to him. Beatrice was standing next to Breccan and she was
looking at Calloway. He had to stare at her for a moment before he
realized this was really happening. She’d never spoken to him
before—this was the first time.

“
Hey,” she
said.

“
Uh,” Calloway mumbled.
“Hi.”

Calloway placed his hands in his
pockets and avoided her gaze. He didn’t know what she wanted but he
had no interest to find out. If it was an apology, he didn’t want
to hear it.

Beatrice glanced at Breccan and Easton,
clearly uncomfortable by their close proximity, and she stepped
closer to Calloway. “I never had a chance to thank you for what you
did,” she said over the music.

Breccan laughed loudly and slapped his
knee. “When did you not have a chance? Every day in the English
class you both have? Or how about during Photography? The
opportunity just hasn’t presented itself?”

Beatrice avoided his look and focused
her gaze on the ground. It was obvious how nervous she was to speak
to Calloway and the insults were stinging her courage. Calloway
pitied her saddened expression.