CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Before I realized where I was going, I found myself standing outside the high school. It was after the last bell had rung. The parking lots were nearly empty, except for a few stragglers. I stood in the snow looking at the building, wondering if Eric’s words were true when a familiar voice spoke from behind me.
“He isn’t here,” she said, her voice lacking its normal perkiness. Jenna Marie stepped next to me in a pink parka and fuzzy white boots. The faux fur lining her hood encircled her face, with each individual strand of synthetic hair moving in the wind. “He’s not been here for a while now.” Golden hair cascaded from under a pink woolen cap to her shoulders, and down her back.
I nodded, staring at her somber face. She was a Martis. One of Al’s oldest friends. The perky pink girl was Al’s mentor. But everything about her was wrong. The angle of her shoulders, the smoothness of her steps, the line of her lips. She seemed sad. There was only one reason for that. I turned to her and asked, “You know? About Al?”
She nodded, her glassy eyes looking to the side, away from me. “Yes, I know.” She swallowed while looking at a snowdrift that lined the end of the circle drive in front of the school. When she spoke again, her voice was clear and strong. “Al knew Eric would be her death when she found him. She saw it in a vision. So did I. Al raised him anyway. She played her part,” Jenna Marie turned her face back towards me, “and it’s time you played yours.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she shushed me. I bristled, but was quiet. “Collin Smith is one of them. His power rivals most demons, yet he is a Valefar. He has a soul—partly his own, partly yours.” Her blue eyes held sympathy, but also courage and conviction that I didn’t know she had. “You and he are fighting for different sides, and yet here you stand, looking for him.” She paused, looking at me with a slight tilt to her head. “Why?”
I started to walk away. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, Martis. There are no sides in this battle. Only living and dying.”
She reached out and wrapped her slender fingers around my arm, stopping me. “That’s where you’re wrong.” She laughed. Her voice was deep, her blue eyes like ice, “You are so incredibly wrong. This is more than life or death. It’s utter annihilation. Don’t stand there and think you know more than me.”
Twisting out of her grip, I shook her off, “I don’t have to listen to you. Martis are all the same self-serving corrupt immortals who are high on power. Go play with Julia and leave me alone.” I spit the words at her, not expecting her to react. Martis pride was one thing. The way Jenna Marie reacted was another.
She laughed one short laugh that made her body lurch forward. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders. Snow clung to her cute hat making her look like a Barbie doll. She was always perfect. Rosy cheeks, golden hair, and a perfect smile. “So, we’ll do this the hard way, then.” She reached out and grabbed me. And I realized, a second too late, that I completely underestimated her.