Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep Page 11

  In the seconds it took all of this to happen, the rest of my team crawled away in defeat. Everyone else had been knocked out. That left eight remaining people on the jocks side to just little old me. I gulped. I was surely doomed. The two I knocked out had been a fluke. I have never been good at dodge ball.

  But you were never good at math either…

  The voice spoke volumes to me. I wasn't some little snot nosed, wimpy kid anymore. I was one of the Fallen! I grinned and picked up a rolling ball from the floor.

  "Who's next?" The jocks looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had. Who the hell cared?

  One of them ran for the imaginary line running through the gym and launched his ball. I tossed the one in my hand over my head, caught his, tucked it between my legs, plucked the one out of the air and launched it at him. As he turned to run, it caught him right in the back, knocking him to the floor. I didn't give the rest a chance to regroup. I pulled the one from between my knees and hurled it at three of them standing too close together. It hit one, bounced, struck a second, but missed the third. He made a sign of the cross before apologizing to his teammates and scrambling to find a ball to throw. Five to one, the odds became a little more even. Or less. Whatever.

  The remaining jocks decided to coordinate their efforts and attack me as a team. They almost got me while I caught one ball as I dodged the rest. They were down to four. I threw and dove for another ball as the sound of rubber on flesh told me there were three left. Three balls flew at me at once, I ducked and launched. Poing, two left.

  One of the two ran toward me and threw, I caught the one ball, but the other had thrown while I made the catch. He almost got me. I leaned into my roll and spun in a somersault on the gym floor, firing as I got to my feet. The impact of my ball sent him back three feet and to the floor. And then there were none. I turned toward my team expecting cheers…and was once again met by slack jawed silence.

  "Freak," one of them muttered.

  The jocks were helping their final fallen comrade up off the hardwood floor. They looked like they wanted to hang me from a tree by my own intestines. I gulped and looked at the coach. I couldn't hear his thoughts, but I read his expression perfectly.

  Have Connor Sullivan tested for performance enhancing drugs.

  Chapter 17

  "Did you ask her?"

  I looked over at Clarisse and shook my head. After the day I’d had, asking Jessie to the Halloween dance hadn't come up.

  "No, I'll call her tonight."

  "Uh huh, sure you will. Well, there's always the alternative…"

  "What's that?"

  "Go with me," she said and turned a wicked smile at me.

  I laughed and ended up with a fist in my chest. "Ease up, Clarisse. That hurts."

  She turned the corner onto my street. I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt and ended up with a mouthful of dashboard as she skidded the tiny Bug to a stop in the middle of the road.

  I started yelling at her but stopped when she started snarling at the windshield.

  Three winged women stood in the middle of the road in broad daylight. They were unbelievably beautiful and deadly at the same time. Two of them held fiery swords, but the one in front held a glowing mace in her hand. Behind each of them fluttered white feathered wings. The Chosen.

  "Stay in the car," Clarisse said and opened her door. It shut with a muted thud. She strolled to the front of the car and partially blocked my view.

  "We want to see him," the leader of the three called out to Clarisse.

  "Why? He hasn't broken any rules."

  "His existence goes against the natural order. The People are not created, they are born of love. Not even the Fallen may swell their numbers unnaturally."

  "It was his wish. He was given the chance to rescind. We communed and found his request to be within his rights."

  "We want to see for ourselves. Let him speak."

  Clarisse's shoulders slumped in defeat. Maybe, if there hadn't been three of them, she might have put up more of an argument. She waved at me to join them. I opened the door and the chilly October air felt ten degrees warmer.

  I closed the door behind me and made my way to where Clarisse stood. Usually our street was somewhat busy. Everything was utterly still and quiet. No one played outside or worked in the yard. No sounds of traffic filled the air. No birds or insects could be seen or heard. I licked my lips and tried to squash the fear in my stomach. It didn't work.

  "Hi, I'm Connor–"

  "Silence, pretender. Step forward."

  Clarisse gave a small, almost unperceptive nod. I walked about half way to where the trio stood. They closed the rest of the distance and surrounded me. They looked vaguely familiar…

  Then it hit me. The one holding the mace was Shannon MacVie, captain of our cheerleading squad! No wonder Clarisse told me to avoid them. The fact my sister hung out with them started my blood boiling. I began to understand why we didn't get along anymore.

  "Shannon?" As soon as I said her name, she ceased with her visual inspection of my person.

  "Silence!" She gave me a disgusted look and the three of them began circling around me. "Let us see your true form," she said.

  "Okay." I called my wings.

  "I said your true form. I don't care what you look like with the tattered remnants of your wings. Bring forth your true self and let us see it in all its grotesqueness."

  "Excuse me?"

  "I said silence! Do it now!"

  Clarisse stepped forward. "Shanria, it is not his fault. He is new and still gaining his power. He knows not his true form. I beg you. Give me time to ease him into the transition."

  "Oh, this opportunity is too grand to pass up." She turned her attention back to me and held her finger up to my lips without touching them. "Did not Clarisse tell you of your true form? Let me educate you. This is what one of the Chosen truly looks like!"

  She held her arms out to her sides. There was a blinding flash of light. As my pupils adjusted, her true form came into focus. She stood at least three feet taller than her previous five foot form. I looked up into her eyes. There were no whites, just silver. Her hair doubled in length and was white, purer than snow. Her normal looking clothes had been replaced with gauzy linen robes with a silver sash. She was utterly unearthly and utterly beautiful at the same time.

  "Wow," I said without thinking. Instead of being told to be silent, she chortled. It sounded like music to my ears.

  "This is what you could have looked like millennia before. Before our cousins decided they would rather do things their way. Now see what you have become…" She held up her hand and shoved power at me.

  A black cloud surrounded me and discomfort seeped into my bones, but when it cleared I looked straight into her eyes instead of up into them. I'd grown to match her height. Her eyes widened in shock.

  "No," she said.

  I stepped back and looked down. My taller body wore robes just like hers, but of the blackest black. I held out my hands and my skin had turned a dark blue. My fingernails had been replaced by talons of deep crimson. I reached up and touched my face. It felt mostly the same except for deep ridges on my forehead tipped with long, slender, smooth horns.

  "Cool!"

  I turned and saw Clarisse. She'd changed, too. Her clothes were gone, but she wasn't wearing robes. She didn't need to. Her skin was pebbled with shiny black scales. She had horns as well, but they were twisted and ridged. She had no whites to her eyes, but instead of silver, they were completely red. Her face remained just as beautiful as before, but her teeth were sharp and pointed and hung over her lip, like a vampire's. Her wings stood straight out to her sides and seemed to radiate darkness around them. She looked hot and evil.

  "Wow." I was starting to repeat myself. I didn't understand all the hubbub. "I thought you said we were hideous?"

  Clarisse stared at me in awe. I wondered what my face looked like. I walked over to her tiny pink Bug and tried to bend down to look in the side-view mi
rror. It didn't work.

  "Sorry, Clarisse." I ripped the mirror off the side of the car. I'd have her show me how to fix it later. I held the tiny mirror in front of my face and gave a little gasp myself. My hair had turned as white as Shannon's. My eyes glowed red like Clarisse's. I had fangs, but they were shorter. I’d been half hoping for scales like Clarisse, but my skin looked normal, just blue. Gone was every freckle and blemish. My lips were a little darker blue than my skin and my ears came to a point above my hair. I looked friggin cool. My horns shone like onyx and sprouted from the sides of my forehead and swooped up until they almost met above my head. I wanted to take a picture.

  I dropped the mirror and it dissipated into nothingness. I turned and smiled at the three Chosen in front of me. They frowned and turned toward each other. The other two quickly assumed their true forms as they leaned in and whispered quietly to themselves.

  I turned to Clarisse. "Not too shabby, eh?"

  Her eyes went wide and she started shaking her head to tell me to be quiet. "Act disgusted," she mouthed.

  "Why? I look friggin’ cool."

  The others lifted their heads at my statement. Clarisse mouthed a word I didn't have any trouble understanding. My father used it enough whenever he stubbed his toe or smashed his thumb with a hammer. It happened every other day or so.

  "What did you say?" Shannon ignored the other two and strode right up to me.

  "I said I look friggin’ cool?" I didn't get what the big deal was.

  "You are hideous! You are imperfect and there is no room for imperfection in this world!" She swung her mace at my face.

  Oh, that's why Clarisse told me to be quiet.

  My twin black blades met the ball and shaft of her mace. Her weapon sparked. Mine seemed to feed off the sparks. They started glowing. I'd never seen anything glow black. They radiated darkness like Clarisse's wings. Shannon stared at my blades like I'd just skewered two puppies with them.

  "Not possible," she said and looked at me. "He is an abomination. He deserves not to live!"

  The other two Chosen attacked me. Clarisse intercepted one of them with her fiery sword, but that still left two of them against me. I was going to get my ass kicked. Or killed.

  They weaved in and out and attacked me simultaneously like they'd been fighting together since the beginning of time. For all I knew, they had.

  They moved very slowly and I blocked every attack without much effort. A block here, a parry there, I got bored quickly and slid the blade in my right hand up the shaft of Shannon's mace and nicked her finger. I had just wanted to give her a reason to stop attacking me. Instead, she screamed and jumped back. She looked down at her finger as silver blood slowly dripped down to the paved road beneath her feet and made a sound like a church-bell as it struck.

  Everyone stopped fighting and stared at Shannon. She sucked in a deep breath and bowed low. Turning, she gathered the other two Chosen with a sweep of her hand. They leapt into the afternoon sky and left Clarisse and I standing in the middle of the street.

  "What the hell just happened?"

  "You drew first blood. The fight was over unless they wanted to restart the war. They only meant to humiliate us."

  "I hope they know it would take a lot more than a cut to humiliate me. I'm still in high school."

  Chapter 18

  Clarisse offered to drive me the rest of the way home, but I wanted to walk. Changing back into my human form had been easier than I thought. She seemed, for lack of a better word, weird after our encounter with the Chosen. I didn't know what it meant, nor did I ask.

  I opened the front door of my empty house and went up to my room. I thought about playing video games, but flopped down on my bed and picked up my phone instead. I dialed Jessie's number without thinking about it.

  "Hello?"

  "Hi, Jessie, it's me, Connor." I'm sure it sounded more like, "Hijessieitsmeconnor," but what can I say? I was nervous. Even talking to her on the phone caused me to break out in sweats and chills.

  "Slow down, Skippy. Take a deep breath. Did you make it home okay?"

  "Yes? Why?"

  "Well, with the day you had, I just wanted to make sure. Are you feeling okay?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a weird day is all."

  "You could say that again!"

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a weird day is all…" I waited for it.

  "Smart ass."

  I laughed into the phone. "Jessie…" I swallowed and took a big lungful of air to help build up my courage.

  "Yes?"

  "I was wondering, if you're not busy…"

  "Deep breaths, what is it?"

  "Would you go to the Halloween dance with me?" There I said it. Now I just had to wait for the inevitable no.

  "Well, jeez." My heart sank. "You see Jeremy already asked me…"

  My room started spinning. I could feel heat climb into my face and I'm sure if I looked, my eyes would be glowing red. "He what?"

  "Yeah, he already asked. At lunch."

  "Oh. Okay." I wanted to throw up.

  "It's a good thing I said no, huh? I hoped you'd ask me so I told him I already made plans. I'm glad you finally did. That could have been a little embarrassing."

  "You said no?"

  "Of course I did. I want to go with you!"

  My heart started beating again and the nausea dissipated on a cloud of rainbows and puppy dogs. I don't think I'd ever been happier than right there and then. It's amazing what a simple yes can do. I was still going to skin Jeremy and hang his carcass in the center of town, but I was happy. "Great! Thank you, Jessie."

  "For what?"

  "For saying no to Jeremy and being patient while I built up my courage. For being you. For putting up with all the strange stuff that's been going on. And most of all for saying yes to me."

  "You're welcome. Pick me up at eight."

  "I will."

  "What are you going as?" Her question caught me a little off guard.

  "Excuse me?"

  "It's a costume dance. What costume are you wearing? I'll see what I can do to match…"

  "A demon," popped out of my mouth. I didn't even hesitate.

  "Sweet! I'll go as an angel!"

  I pictured her in fluffy white wings and a flimsy outfit. I know the Chosen are our mortal enemies, but I won't lie. The image in my head "worked". I imagine Jessie would look good in anything. Or nothing…I dropped that line of thought as soon as it started.

  "Connor?"

  "Huh?"

  "You okay?"

  "Oh, yeah. Was just picturing you dressed up as an angel."

  "Is that okay?"

  "You have no idea how perfect that sounds."

  * * *

  The sound of the front door opening broke me out of my Jessie themed daydream. I sat up and headed downstairs to see which of my rents arrived home first.

  Instead I found Caelyn had come in and sat on the couch with Shannon. Not eight foot tall, silvery eyed Shannon, just plain old captain of the cheerleading squad Shannon. I smiled at her and my sister. I didn't particularly like the idea of one of the Chosen hanging out with my sister but I couldn't exactly bash the smile off the winged freaks face with Caelyn sitting there.

  "Evening, ladies," I said with as much sugar as I could muster.

  "What do you want?" My sister stared at me with disgust.

  "Nothing, I'm a little hungry, I was gonna head to the mall for pretzels. Would you care to join me?" I snickered at the thought. This was kind of fun.

  "Did you start taking drugs? Why the hell would we go to the mall with you?"

  "Sure," Shannon said at the same time.

  I don't know who looked more shocked, me or my sister.

  "What?" Caelyn spoke first.

  "I'm hungry, too. Come on, we can take my car," Shannon said, leaving little room for argument.

  This was bad. Very bad. I didn't know what her game was, but if she thought I would get into a car with her, her self-righteous attitude had made
her crazy.

  "Fine," Caelyn said and threw her arms in the air, "but I'm riding shotgun."

  I tried to think of an excuse. Shannon must have seen the wheels turning in my head. She jumped off the couch like a normal teenage girl and grabbed my arm.

  "Come on, this will be fun," she said and started dragging me to the front door. I thought about kicking and screaming, but figured it wouldn't help.

  "Great. Thanks for the ride," I managed to say. I took one last look at my house, figuring it might be the last time I saw it.

  Thank God the drive took less than five minutes. The whole ride over in Shannon's little convertible HHR was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. She and my sister chatted about school and boys the whole time in the front, while I expected Shannon to turn around and skewer me like a piece of beef in the back of the car. I should have offered to ride in the trunk. That would have made me and my sister happy.

  We parked, and I made a mental note that the Chosen and Fallen have one thing in common, good parking places. It was less than fifty feet to the glass entrance of the mall.

  "What do you think, Connor?" Shannon's voice broke me from my thoughts.

  "About what?"

  "Weren't you paying attention? We were discussing possible Halloween costumes. I was thinking about going as winged creature of light."

  "You mean an angel?" I tried not to sound incredulous.

  "Yes, an angel. What are you going as?"

  "I was thinking about going as a winged creature of darkness." I gave her my best attempt at an evil smile. She stiffened and returned the smile I'd been attempting.

  "Good, we can go as mortal enemies then. Be sure to save at least one dance for me."

  "Oh, I will. What are you going as brat?" I turned my attention to Caelyn. She stood there with one hand on her hip, taking turns looking at Shannon and me.

  "What's going on? Are you going to the dance together?"

  Shannon and I laughed simultaneously. "Of course not! I'm sure your brother already has a date!" She looked at me. "You're probably going with that skeez, Claire. Aren't you?" She looked at me triumphantly.

  "No, I'm not. We're just friends. I have another date."