Rising (21 page)

“
Setti
. You
cannot stop us.
 
You will not.”

It’s voice was deep and gravelly like
someone being choked by water.
 
My heart
pounded feverishly in my chest.
 
I was
fighting the fear that threatened to spin me out of control.
 
The menacing shadow man took another step
closer as if it was being cautious for some reason.
 
I flinched backward, pressing myself into the
sofa.
 
Misty spat again then leapt down
to hide in some corner.
 
Thanks for the
back-up, Misty.
 
Then, the leader of this
hideous crew did something entirely unexpected.
 
It smiled, and then laughed at me.
 
I felt my back stiffen as that guttural cackling sound filled the
room.
 
Its teeth were a coarse gray or
metallic color, if what lined its mouth could be called teeth.
 
The two behind him shared wicked smiles.
 
That’s when my fear turned into anger.
 
I mean, what was going on?
 
What were they doing here?
 
Why me?
 
As soon as my emotions shifted, I felt something flare like fire deep
within.
 
I noticed a change in the
leader’s stance.
 
It leaned away from me,
just barely.
 
That flame burned inside,
intensifying my anger.
 
All three of them
stepped back in unison, their eyes widening almost invisibly.
 
But, I caught it.
 
Whatever stirred inside of me wrapped my body
in a shell of heat.
 
I could even see my
own aura waving out from my arms and torso in golden ripples, fueling my
courage.
 
I no longer felt fear.
 
I felt strong, stronger than them.
 
I jumped off the sofa to face them and
whatever attack they had planned.
 
I was
about to say something, although I didn’t know what, when they turned, and
vanished through the wall.
 
In a blink,
they were gone.

I stood there for what seemed like an
eternity, unable to move.
 
Something
grazed my ankles.
 
I shrieked and
jumped.
 
It was Misty, staring up at me
with her big green eyes, like nothing at all had just happened.

“Oh, now you come to my rescue,” I
said, picking her up, “you scaredy-cat.” She purred softly against my
chest.
 
That was as close to an apology
that I was going to get.
 
“They’re
gone.
 
Don’t worry.”

The air felt light again.
 
No creepiness.
 
I took Misty to my room and curled up in my
bed with the side lamp on.
 
I didn’t have
the feeling they would be coming back tonight, but I still wasn’t ready to sit
in the dark.
 
Not yet.
 
I had to calm down before I could ever fall
asleep.
 
Picking up my phone, I texted
Gabe.

HEY. DON’T
FREAK OUT. 3 SHADOW MEN WERE HERE.

There was a
chance he’d already gone to bed.
 
I
figured he might not even respond, but as I set my phone down, it bleeped.

WHAT!!! ARE YOU OK?

I quickly
texted back.
 
He was freaking out like I
said not to.

YES. I’M
 
FINE.
 
DON’T WORRY.

There was about a 10-second delay.

I’M COMING
OVER.

Oh, crap.
 
I texted back again.

NO! I’M REALLY
OK. WE’LL TALK TOMORROW. SEE U THEN.

There was no response after that.
 
He might be ticked off at me for not letting
him come over, but my dad would freak out if he woke up.
 
He was a light sleeper.
 
I was, too. Sometimes I would wake up in the
middle of the night and go to the living room to fall back asleep to the TV,
only to find that Dad had beat me to it.

I lay back in bed, bundled under the
covers.
 
Misty rested on my other pillow,
purring softly.
 
It was nice to see at
least one of us wasn’t completely shaken by what happened tonight.
 
I’d just turned off my bedside lamp when I
heard a tapping at the window.
 
I
froze.
 
Could the shadow men be
back?
 
Of course not.
 
Shadow men didn’t tap on your window and
announce their arrival.
 
They just zapped
right in your house and scared the pee out of you.
 
I knew it was Gabe.

I pushed the window open and leaned
out.
 
Our house was a one-story Acadian
style house set up on pillars.
 
Gabe had
found our recycling bin and turned it upside down so he could reach the window.
 
We were eye level.
 
Even in the darkness, I could see a
shimmering wave of all the colors in the rainbow hovering around him.
 
They were dimmed more than usual, but they
were there.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“I told you I was coming over,” he
said, bracing his hands on the windowsill to lift himself into the room.

“No, no, no, you can’t come in.”

“Why not?” he asked, as if it was
perfectly fine for him to crawl through my bedroom window.

“My dad will kill us both if he wakes
up and finds you in here.”

Gabe gave me that flat expression that
said he wasn’t going to leave until we talked.

“Okay, okay.
 
Meet me on the front porch,” I whispered.

I didn’t own a robe, but I wasn’t going
out there in just my
pj’s
.
 
I pulled on my long, black
peacoat
from my closet then padded quietly down the hall
and out the front door, wincing when the screen door creaked. Gabe was leaning
back against a corner post on the porch.
 
His ankles were crossed casually and his hands were tucked into the
front pocket of his BCHS sweatshirt.
 
He
had that tilted half-smile that made me melt.
 
His dark, wavy hair looked more of a mess than usual, but somehow that
made him look even better.

“Um, expecting snow?”

I glanced down at my coat, unable to
come up with a response.
 
Before I had
time to think of one, he was across the porch and had me in his arms.
 
The night was warm, but there was a chill on
the wind.
 
It was an eerie paradox.
 
I shivered.

“It’s okay,” Gabe whispered into my
hair.
 
“I’ll stay all night if that’s
what keeps you safe.”

“Oh, no you won’t,” I protested,
pulling back a little to look up at him.
 
“I’m not kidding.
 
My dad might
act like a goofball, but he’s very protective of me.
 
He won’t take it very well if he finds some
boy sneaking into my room at night, even a boy he likes.”

      
Without
warning, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.
 
It was a gentle kiss, slow and soothing.
 
It definitely shut me up and made me forget
whatever I was just saying a minute ago.
 
Right then, with Gabe, I did feel safe—completely safe.

“He won’t wake up,” he said.

He brushed his lips lightly, but deliberately
against mine, more teasing than kissing.

“He might,” I whispered, completely
breathless.

“He won’t.”

Gabe pulled back, grinning at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

That grin on his face didn’t say
‘nothing.’
 
Then I realized it.
 
He was reading my feelings.
 
I knew that what I was feeling had nothing to
do with me being worried about my dad catching us.
 
I felt a flush of heat fill my face.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” I said
flatly, not meeting his brown eyes.

“What?”

He gave a little laugh.

“You know what,” I accused.
 
“You know my feelings.”

“Sorry, Clara.
 
It’s not anything I can control.
 
At least I know you’re feeling, um, better.”

      
I
turned and looked out into the night.
 
It
was nearly a full moon in a crystal clear sky.
 
A ghostly blue light bathed the trees, grass, and nearby houses.
 
I thought about the shadow men.
 
Gabe must have sensed my immediate
change.
 
He took me by the hand and we
leaned back against the railing.

“Tell me what happened,” he said
soberly.

I exhaled deeply.

“I was watching TV by myself.
 
Well, my cat Misty was with me, but she
wasn’t much help when they showed up.”

“They?
 
Last time it was only one.
 
Now it
was three?”

“Yeah, and this time one of them spoke
to me.”

“Really?
 
It was a weird language, wasn’t it?”

“No.
 
It spoke English.”

“You’re kidding.
 
But, I thought when I saw that vision of the
warrior woman that she was speaking their language.
 
That’s so weird.
 
What did it say?”

Gabe held that look of disbelief on his
face.

“It called me ‘
Setti
’
again then it said, ‘you cannot stop us.
 
You will not.’ Then the worst was that it laughed.”

“Laughed?
 
Are you sure?”

“Uh, yeah.
 
I’m pretty sure.
 
It wasn’t like ‘ha, ha what a nice place you
have here.’
 
It was dark and gross and
completely creepy.”

I shuddered again.
 
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and
still held my hand with the other.

“The weirdest thing wasn’t even that
though,” I said.
 
“It seemed like they
were a little scared of
me
.”

“How do you mean?
 
What made you think that?”

“Well, at first I was totally terrified
of them.
 
You haven’t really seen them,
Gabe.
 
Not like I have.
 
They’re really,
really
scary looking.
 
But,
when the leader of the three laughed at me, something in me just snapped.
 
I got so upset, I mean angry.
 
I didn’t even know where it came from.
 
All of a sudden, I felt a hot sensation in my
gut then it came all the way out of me until I could even see my own aura.
 
Gabe, I’ve never seen my own aura.”

“What happened?
 
What did they do?”

“They stepped back away from me then
just vanished.”

I watched a frown crease his face.
 
His brown eyes were shadowed by that crazy
hair.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I think something’s happening to us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean with our other senses.
 
I think we’re supposed to use them somehow
against the creatures.
 
I can feel it,
Clara.
 
I feel it in my gut, too, just
like you did.”

He looked at me more seriously than I’d
ever seen him.
 
His aura had darkened to
shades of blue, indigo, and purple all blurred together.
 
It looked like ribbons of light weaving in
and out of each other, cocooning his whole body.

“Can you feel it right now?” I asked
softly.

“Yes.”

“I think I’m looking at your true aura,
Gabe.
 
It’s different than when you’ve
got everyone’s emotions bouncing off of you.”

“What does it look like?” he whispered.

Something in his eyes drew me toward
him.

“It looks beautiful.”

Like a magnet, I was lured into
him.
 
His arms slipped under my
peacoat
and held me tight.
 
Then our lips met again.
 
No
teasing this time.
 
Our mouths were persistent,
not playful.
 
My hands went up behind his
neck in a tangle of hair.
 
That electric
current was back, pulsing between us, making me want to get even closer.
 
I felt my heartbeat racing through my veins
at a dizzying pace.
 
Then I felt
something else—a subtle, humming vibration.
 
Gabe clutched at my back then without warning . . . wham!
 
A heavy blow knocked me unconscious.