Ravens (17 page)

“And I’m so thankful for that, Kendra. I
don’t remember my other world life, but I’d like to know. I’m glad you’re here.”

Kendra gulped. She couldn’t sit here and
tell Julie everything without crying. “You’re safe and happy here.”

“I am.”

“Well, I don’t want to put our parents
through another loss. I should get back to my world. I hoped you’d come with
me, but I think I know the answer to that.”

Liam cringed when Julie responded,
“Kendra, don’t you know once you pass through, you can’t ever go back?”

“What?”

“The portals open into this world, but
they don’t open out of it. People come here, they don’t leave here.”

The ache dropped to the pit of Kendra’s
being. The energy filled her veins, throbbed until it hurt so bad that it
actually felt good, and squirmed beneath her skin. She stared at Liam, who
stopped dead in his tracks when he met her scorching glare. Kendra felt the
twitching in her eyes before she saw the sparks around them.

“You knew I could never go back, and you
coerced me to fall through anyway? No, wait. As I recall, you
pushed
me
through the portal,” she growled. “Oh yeah, I remember, I remember everything.
You told me to stay and when I tried to run, you trapped me. When you got
impatient, you shoved me into the portal. You kept asking about your parents,
feeling bad for them, but I guess mine didn’t matter at all?”

“Kendra, please, you’ve got to understand,
it was the only way to get your help—”

“And I’m glad I could help my sister,”
Kendra interrupted him. “But you used me! You lied to me! You don’t have
feelings for my parents or me. What do you think they’re going through to have
another child disappear without answers? Is that all you wanted, Liam? To save
Julie and make out with me before I realized the truth?”

Kendra stomped toward him, her tears
dried by the sparks. When she neared him, they hissed and lashed out at him,
identifying him as the cause of her pain.

“Get me here to help you, and then try
to seduce me and convince me you’re loving and protective as if you’re the
noble one? You kept me away from Randal all that time, and you’re no better. In
fact, you’re much worse.”

Kendra spun around.

“Where are you going?” Liam called after
her, taking a step in her direction.

“We had a deal, remember?” she replied
coldly. “After I helped you find Julie, you’d leave me alone.”

“What? You can’t leave us.”

“Tell me where I passed from.”

“Why does that matter?”

“If it doesn’t matter, then why should
it matter if you tell me? After all the betrayals, do me one favor, for the
little girl you once knew. Have some decency and tell me this one thing with no
lies.”

“The park by the woods,” he grumbled. 

“Don’t come searching for me.”

“What’re you going to do in this world?
Where’re you going to go?” He took another step toward her.

“Why worry about me now when you
obviously didn’t worry about me before?” she snarled.

“I needed your help. If you believed
Julie still existed, you would’ve helped knowing everything, but you didn’t
believe she existed. What else should I have done?”

“You’re right. I never believed you. You
did what you had to do. I’m glad I could help, really. Obviously, Julie is the
only person in this world you care about. You’ll never let anyone hurt her. I
can leave her knowing that.”

Kendra grabbed the doorknob. Liam
snatched her by the elbow. She pivoted on her heals and barked, “Don’t touch
me.”

The white energy in her eyes flickered
and snapped at him, singeing him. He released her and stood back. He couldn’t
regret his decision, and he could only regret half of the outcome. He hoped she
would understand, but sadly, she couldn’t.

Liam took her elbow again, “Kendra.”

The energy surged through her. She
slapped his hand away with a jolt of electricity. He jumped back, and grunted,
“Whoa.”

Kendra’s entire body flared up in a
heated, white energy, coiling around her like thousands of slender snakes
striking against him. If her energy were any less controlled, Kendra would’ve
burst into white flames and consumed the entire apartment.

She opened the door. “If you touch me
again, I promise it
will
be the end of you.”

She stomped out, slammed the door behind
her, and inadvertently melted the doorknob.

****

“Crap!” Liam hissed.

Kendra flared up into the most intense
white electricity he’d ever seen. In fact, she looked as though the blaring
flames consumed her. Even her white eyes showed no signs of remorse. He
wondered how powerful she would truly become. Good thing she had enough
restraint to leave before she hurt him.

Liam blinked and inhaled the onslaught
of Kendra’s lingering scent. He shook his head and came back to his senses.

“Well! Go after her!” Julie cried,
running toward the door.

“No.” Liam placed his arm between her
and the door. “Let her go. She needs to cool off. Besides, I don’t want to feel
her rage.”

An angry teenage girl was one thing, but
a pissed off Raven female was something else entirely.

****

Kendra sprinted down the steps and crossed
an entire flight of stairs at a time. By the time she entered the outside
world, her anger subsided enough to keep her from drawing attention. She kept
her chin low and jogged to the park one mile from the apartment complex.

This side of town bustled during the
peak hours of day, but Kendra took no notice. Julie had no recollection of her
family’s existence, much less of her own sister, and Liam saw her as nothing
more than a pawn. She took solace that Liam would do anything to protect Julie,
but she couldn’t forgive him for using her.

The fact that Liam led her to believe he
cared for her made everything else a lie. Guys always pursued their own needs
without thinking about others.

Kendra couldn’t believe she fell for
him.
She
was the idiot! How could Liam trap her in this world? She never
had the chance to say goodbye to her parents. The least he could’ve done was
let her say goodbye to them.

Maybe if Liam explained things to her in
his illusions, she could’ve mentally prepared herself and said goodbye to her
parents to ease the grief of dealing with another missing child. Instead, he
told her he couldn’t explain anything until she arrived. When she got here, he
didn’t explain it all until he had to. Nowhere in this timeline did he intend
to tell her that she couldn’t travel back.

She felt like a cheap whore who didn’t
even know she’d been treated like one.

What would she do now? She didn’t know
anyone in this realm except Liam. She didn’t have a home, money, belongings,
and no record of her existence. Who would give her a job? Who would rent out a
place to her? Even now, she didn’t understand how Liam and his friends lived in
an apartment complex without being c
being
aught.

Kendra meandered through the park, to
the edge of the woods, in long strides. She took refuge in the shade of a
cluster of giant oak and towering pecan trees. She lifted her lids and searched
the area. With a deep breath, she exhaled, relieved the park was nearly empty.
She could be alone and somewhat safe for a little while until things panned out
in her head.

She slowed down to a quick pace, not
knowing where she wanted to settle, but something drew her to a cozy oak tree
that cast its shadows onto her. Kendra took a seat at the base of the grand
trunk, pulled her knees to at her chest, and leaned against the tree. No one
bothered her. No one even came near.

Time slowly passed.

In the late afternoon, Kendra noticed a
young man approaching her. She sat up, leaned into her knees, and kept her head
low. The last thing she wanted was a crazy, paranoid human to scream her
whereabouts to the entire world. With the makeshift research facility not
having been too far away, she knew armed hunters must be on the lookout for
potential Ravens.

The young man had plenty of space to
move around her, but he didn’t. Instead, he slowed his pace as he approached
her. He kept a safe distance but noticed her.

Kendra groaned as she watched his black
dress shoes come to a halt on the grass in front of her. She hoped he’d go
away. She hoped he didn’t pay attention to where he headed. Maybe, as he read
the paper, he stopped without thinking. Maybe he didn’t see her. Maybe he
didn’t have the intention of looking at her.

Chapter Sixteen

“Why so glum?”

“Keep moving,” Kendra grunted without
glimpsing him.

“I couldn’t help but notice you and—”

“And what?” she growled.

“And I thought,” he went on with a
friendly tone, “that maybe you could use someone to talk to.”

She watched him through dark lashes.
With narrowed eyes and the shade, she hoped he wouldn’t recognize her Raven
feature.

The young man had a broad frame. He had
olive skin, black hair, and the most sincere pair of green eyes that she’d seen
in this world.

She lifted her chin to make sure her
eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. She recognized him and cringed. Was this
cruel fate or a merciful universe after all?

The clean-cut guy wore a button up white
shirt and black slacks, no tie or jacket. He had an odd pairing of preened
clothing with an oversized backpack, which clung to his shoulders. His fingers
latched around the straps near his waist.

“Oh I see.” He leaned in just a little,
his hands still clutching the backpack. “Is that why you’re so down and out,
Raven?”

The incongruity of his kindness toward
the other world mutants confused Kendra, but his sincere smile and demeanor
smoothed over the strangeness. Either he had genuine concern, or he was a good
actor.

Kendra responded curtly, “Aren’t you
supposed to be afraid of me?”

He chuckled. “I guess prejudice is a
scar that draws attention away from the rest of the face of humanity, isn’t it?
The ugliness, fortunately, is compact and small compared to the rest of the
species.” He bowed at the waist and tilted his head to the side. “Forgive me on
behalf of all the ignorant, inbred racists out there. There are more tolerant
and accepting humans than you think.”

“Hmm.”

“What is the other world like?”

“What?”

“I believe the Ravens’ claims. After
all, how can so many Ravens from all over the world have the same story? Is it
true that there’s a parallel world?”

“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate to respond,
but remained guarded.

“Do you think there’s a parallel me out
there?”

“Yes.”

“Ah.” He smiled. “That’s exciting.” He
began with an introduction, “My name is....”

Kendra spoke at the same time, and
together they ended with, “Randal.”

“Oh,” he muttered, baffled.

“I know your other world self,” she
answered his unspoken question.

“Really?” He beamed. “What’s he like?
What does he do for work? Does he know about this world?”

“He looks just like you, nice guy. He’s
a martial arts trainer, third degree black belt. And he doesn’t know of this
world. He probably would think it’s an insane idea.”

“Wow, martial arts, huh? I’m a math
teacher, much less exciting.”

“Other world Randal hates math, also
hates butterflies.”

Randal laughed. “What’s the story behind
that?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. It’s
a lot more disturbing than you think.”

“We all have our thing. I have some
hates, too. I hate tattoos, at least on my body. On others it’s nice,” he
commented on her body art. Her tank top left her arms, and the spirals and
circles on them, bare. “And I hate violence. I can’t imagine my other world
self as a martial artist.”

“He’s pretty rough, has tattoos.”

He tapped his watch. “Sorry, I have to
get to a faculty meeting.”

“Sounds exciting,” she replied in a
droll tone.

He smiled. “It’s riveting. I’m
wondering—if it’s okay with you—I could give you a call sometime.”

“Now, why would you want to hang out
with me?” she asked suspiciously.

He shrugged. “I’m not prejudiced.”

“I don’t have a number.”

He absorbed the brunt of humiliation. He
sucked in a breath and glanced away. “I see.”

“I really don’t, new to town. Why don’t
you give me your number?”

Randal jotted down his cell phone number
and handed the piece of paper to Kendra, who remained seated on the ground, not
bothering to move.

“I hope you do give me a call. I’m
sorry, I didn’t even ask for your name.”