Part 4 (1/2)

My tone drips with sarcasm. ”Really?”

He turns down my street and then smiles. ”Why does that surprise you? You're easy to talk to, beautiful, and know a thing or two about cla.s.sic cars.”

I press back a grin. ”So I don't get points docked for making you jump into a lake to rescue me?” I eye his crinkled clothes flaked with dried dirt. ”And ruining your clothes.”

He parks in front of my house, a narrow two-story townhome in desperate need of a paint job. ”Are you kidding me? You let me fulfill my life dream of being a hero.” He grins at me.

”Yeah, yeah, we'll see.” I open the door, stifling a smile. ”I'm sure when you start school on Monday you'll forget about little old me.”

”Little old who?” he teases.

”See, you've already forgotten,” I joke back and start to close the door.

”Wait.” He leans over the console. I duck my head back into the cab. ”First off, make sure to tell your mom what happened and then have her take you to the hospital. If you don't want to call the police, then fine, but at least get checked to make sure you're okay.”

”I will,” I lie. My mom doesn't need any more stress added to her life, and since I know she won't notice the car's missing, there's no point in telling her what happened.

”And second, no one could ever forget about you. Trust me.” His eyes sparkle with a look that makes my skin warm.

Having no idea how to react, I shut the door. I walk up the driveway as he drives off. ”Yeah, we'll see if you feel the same way on Monday,” I say, but a smile breaks through my lips. He said I was beautiful. No one has ever said that to me before.

”Yo, where the h.e.l.l have you been?” Ian hollers from the living room sofa. He's eating a bowl of Fruit Loops and watching a movie starring people who have thick French accents.

”I told you before I left that I was going to a party.” I slip my jacket off and toss it on the banister.

He glances over his shoulder and his mouth falls open. ”Why does it look like you went swimming in a lake with your clothes on?”

”Haven't you heard? It's what all the cool kids are doing.” I lug up the stairs.

”Since when have you been cool?” He yells as I reach my bedroom door.

I don't answer and close the door. I flip on the lamp and slip off my waterlogged boots. I groan with each movement. My legs and arms are heavy and my head is pounding. ”Those were my favorite pair of boots.” I trudge toward the closet to put them away, hoping they'll dry out and won't be ruined.

Sobbing drifts from the back of the closet and I freeze. ”h.e.l.lo?” I pull back the curtain. ”Who's in there?”

Raven runs out and throws her arms around my neck. ”Oh my G.o.d! Where were you?”

Rain, water, blood. She can't breathe. I pat her back, but I'm irritated. ”Where was I? I think I should be the one asking where the h.e.l.l were you. You just left me there. And you left with a guy who I had a death omen about.”

”I know.” Her tears soak the shoulder of my s.h.i.+rt. ”I'm sorry, Em. I just thought... Well, I don't know what I was thinking. It's hard to remember anything.”

I draw away and frown at her. ”Raven, you didn't drink from a cup someone offered you, did you?”

She bites on her lip guiltily. ”I needed another drink and you dumped mine in the trash. So I drank one that this really cute guy offered me. Well, except for this weird X tattoo across his eye.”

”Raven.” I take a frustrated breath. ”I love you and everything, but sometimes you're an idiot. How many times have we talked about drinking from cups from people we don't know? Especially ones like what you just described. Because I think I met that guy and he wasn't cute-he was a creep. But you were too drunk to notice it.”

”I know,” she wails. ”And I'm so sorry.”

I feel kind of bad. ”I know, but you have to be careful.”

She wipes away the mascara dripping down her cheeks with the back of her hand. ”Do you think I was slipped something?”

”I'm not sure.” I guide her to the bed and she curls up in a ball like a scared child. ”Do you remember what happened with Laden?”

She shakes her head quickly and hugs a pillow to her chest. ”Everything's all blurry.” Her eye twitches-her lying tick. ”But Em, I think I saw death tonight.”

My muscles tense and my lips burst with a hundred questions. But her cries alter into hysterical sobs. I sigh, deciding not to press until morning when she's gotten some rest and sobered up. I grab some pajamas and head to the bathroom to shower.

”Em... why does it look like you went swimming? And what did you do to your head?”

”It's a long story.” I sigh. ”I'll explain in the morning after you've got some rest.”

She shuts her eyes. ”Leave the light on, okay?”

After a hot shower and fresh set of clothes, I stare at myself in the mirror with my hand over my heart. I died tonight. My heart stopped beating, and then revived, all because of Asher. But how did he save my life? It felt like when my grandma died, and her life entered me.

I tiptoe back into my room. Raven is pa.s.sed out on her stomach taking up the bed. I cover her up with a blanket and notice bruises on her wrists and elbows. Her s.h.i.+rt is torn and there's a small scratch across her shoulder blade in the shape of an X.

”What happened to you tonight?” I whisper, placing a finger lightly on the spot. She winces and rolls over.

My brain is growling and my skull feels cracked. I grab a blanket, s.n.a.t.c.h a black marker from my dresser, and hide out in the closet. I situate on the floor, near the wall that displays the rest of my ramblings, and press the marker to the wall. It's like my hand is possessed.

Like a feather in a dust storm, with no direction The Raven flies through life, helpless and omitted Until night declares and the wind expires.

Then it flies to the land of stones and etchings And becomes an Ember, breaking away.

I decide my poetry might be off tonight so I set the marker down, but my hand takes on its own life, forcing the tip to the wall again. I scratch down X after X until they nearly cover the wall, pus.h.i.+ng so hard it peels through the paint. Then, in the center, I sketch an hourgla.s.s.

The marker falls from my hand and I scoot away from the wall. I blink and blink again, but the drawing stays. Is this aftermath of the accident? Or am I starting to lose my mind, just like my dad?

I fall back on the floor, exhausted. Seconds later, I drift asleep.

Chapter 5.

A week before my dad's disappearance, he was acting strange. One day when I came home from school, I found him in the garage with his head tucked under the hood of the car and the engine running. I hurried and pushed the garage open and he coughed as the door rolled open.

”Sorry, Emmy,” he said. ”I didn't realize it was shut.”

I walked down the steps and peered under the hood. ”Dad, are you okay...” The inside of the hood was covered in little red X's. ”What are those?”

”I'm not sure... I don't remember how they got there.” He slammed the hood and I had to jerk back to avoid my fingers getting squished. ”But you don't need to worry about me, Emmy. I got everything under control. What I need for you to do is find that necklace Grandma gave you.”