Chapter Seven
We drove straight on through for the entire drive back home.
We made one stop before the main highway so that Keil could ask a local Terran group about Cade, but that was it.
What information he found wasn’t helpful.
There was a new, loud melody that the Terrans had noticed, but that had been it.
There was no way of knowing if it was Cade, but I would not lie to myself, and as Keil relayed the news to us, the monster growled inside of me.
She and I both knew that it had to be him. It had to be Cade, and we wanted blood.
Before, when we were saving Ryker, we split the trip up into two days, and we had slept at a hotel.
It helped us gather more information in order to figure out where we needed to go exactly; however, on this return trip, we went straight home.
Keil was eager to get back home to Roseville to continue my training.
I sat in the back seat of the compact car, sandwiched between Shad and Ryker.
On my right, Shad made the side of me buzz with an electric current.
On my left side, Ryker made me feel warm and calm.
It was so weird. I tried to huddle into my own spot without touching either of them; it didn’t work.
I held the crystal that Shad had given me in my hand and twirled it.
It still felt like it held some energy inside of it, and I wondered what kind of magic or Terran energy would cause it to do that.
I still had so many questions, questions about everything.
The car ride was mostly silent. I assumed that we were all in shock, still, from what happened at the cave.
Ryker was looking better. He had a few bruises that his sleeves didn’t cover, like on his face, but most of his face’s swelling seemed to be going down.
The cuts were still bandaged, but he had that light in his grey-blue eyes that lit up the car each time I looked at him.
We turned down a windy road, and I smashed into Ryker, and Shad was almost completely on top of me.
I was worried about Ryker’s bruised and bandaged body.
“Are you okay, Ry?” I asked, practically jumping onto Shad’s lap to get away from hurting Ryker.
He chuckled and smiled at me.
“Emma, you weigh nothing. I’m fine.” He took my hand and drew a tic-tac-toe board on his jeans. A realization flooded through me that we had done that before, and suddenly, I could see it.
We used to play this game on road trips when we were younger.
Because the game was invisible, I often forgot where he had placed his mark, or I became lost because I often wasn’t paying attention.
I had won the game on one long-ago day, and Ryker had smiled as he squeezed my hand in congratulations.
I came back to the present, and I leaned my head back against the headrest and noticed that Shad was asleep, his head against the window.
I glanced at Ryker a half hour later, and he was also asleep.
I wondered if he would mind if I—I stopped myself.
I couldn’t lean on Ryker. He was bruised: duh, Emma, how selfish can you be?
I looked back at Shad, and I wondered if he would mind if I just used part of his shoulder as a pillow.
My back was aching from not moving for hours and being squished in the car.
Slowly, I moved my head down until it rested on his shoulder.
He didn’t move, and the electric current that flowed between us, eventually, lulled me to sleep. It felt wonderful.
“We are here, Sleeping Beauty.”
I blinked, looking into a pair of black eyes on a very handsome face. Hasn't this happened to me before? Well, yes, but without the soulless eyes. It is strangely familiar. “Huh? How do you know who Sleeping Beauty is? Do you remember something?” I was sure that I had to be dreaming.
“I don’t know. It just kind of popped into my head. Queen Briar of Thorn, she slept for three hundred years. I think my mother told me a story about her.” He looked just as confused as I felt.
“You remembered something. Your mom told you stories too?”
“I think so,” he said, squinting his eyes.
“Sorry that I fell asleep on you,” I said.
“If you think for one second that I mind that you fell asleep on me—”
“Then you don’t know me—” I finished for him. I sat up in shock.
“How did you know that I would say that?” he asked, touching my cheek.
I looked around, and we were alone in the car.
I looked out of the window, and the sun was just starting to display its yellow, orange, glow of morning’s light on the dew-covered world.
We were parked in my driveway. I looked through the back window and saw Ryker, Keil, and Mary talking in the driveway, holding backpacks.
“This is a dream—” I said—but Ryker wasn’t there the last time that happened.
“Emma, are you okay?” Shad moved his face directly in front of mine. I looked into his eyes. I wanted to kiss him; surely, one small kiss wouldn't alert Keil, and it couldn't corrupt my soul that much. I would even debate, if ever asked, that kissing Shad would actually help my soul. I needed him.
“Do you want to—” I didn’t get to finish before he interrupted me.
“What do you think?” he asked, leaning toward me.
I let his lips brush against mine in a blissful electric touch.
The one note of his melody which he had left inside of me tried to make its way over to him, and I pulled it back.
I knew that I needed to uncover what memories he had left inside of me, and I could not let him have it–not yet.
I leaned into him and pulled at the collar of his shirt, locking that precious note of his melody away.
Like Keil had suggested, I imagined a box, and then I placed his note inside of it, and locked it up.
He kissed me back with such urgency that it took my breath away.
I wondered as his mouth devoured mine if he was still there, if he remembered me.
He is kissing me, so he has to remember me, right?
There was a tap on the window, and I looked up, pulling my lips, regretfully, away from Shad’s to see Ryker glaring at us. I pulled away.
Real-life. Will Ryker tell Keil?
“I should not have done that,” Shad said, looking into my eyes. “Why did I do that?” He shook his head as if ridding it of cobwebs and dust. “What are you?” he asked, horrified.
Well, that hurt.
“It’s okay; we have kissed before, and I asked you,” I tried to reassure him.
“So? What does that even matter? I have been asked by plenty of girls before, and I haven’t ever—I mean, I wasn’t supposed to kiss anyone until—” He trailed off.
“I’m sorry,” I said as tears tried to escape from my eyes.
He wasn’t happy about our kiss. He didn’t remember me.
I horrified him. I tried to remind myself that he didn’t know me, and that to a Terran, kisses were special, and the fact that he had just kissed someone, who he thought he didn’t know, would be traumatic for him. It still hurt.
“I’ll just go,” I said as I slipped over the seat and out the door.
“Mary, I am going to go lie down,” I said as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked into the house, trying to forget about that moment with Shad, and trying not to not fantasize about his lips.
As I thought about his lips up against mine, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and my cheeks became flushed.
Well, at least I am alone now, I thought as I walked into my house.
I will always be alone, now.
No, you are not Emma; don't say that you are alone.