Awakening (The Way Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  "I can tell," he smirked and nodded downwards towards my collar. I pulled down on my shirt in the back to raise the color over the marks.

  "Shudup," I stuck my tongue out at him jokingly.

  "Who beat you up?" He asked sarcastically.

  "No one," I rolled my eyes. "I got in a fight with a vacuum cleaner is all."

  "Looks like you lost," he replied as I started out of the store.

  "Nah!" I called back pausing in the door. "You should've seen the vacuum."

  Chapter Eight

  And see the vacuum I did.

  As I walked to my car, my phone vibrated.

  Just　woke　up.　Bring　me　something　to　eat.　Tacos　sound　good.　–R

  I typed out a quick response and ran through Taco Bell as I headed to her house. I pulled up in her drive way and rang the doorbell.

  "Just come in, I'm not getting up!" Raven's voice shouted from inside.

  I pushed open the door and closed it behind me.

  "Okay!" I called following the direction of her voice down the hallway. "Just trying to be polite."

  "Since when are you polite?" Her voice came from a door on my right.

  I pushed it open and found her still laying on her stomach in bed with her head at the foot.

  "You've gotten a lot done today." I teased dropping her food by her face and sitting down next to her with mine.

  "Of course," she rolled over and flopped limply across practically the whole bed. "Can't you see I am a picture of industry?"

  She had on pajama pants and a yellow tank top. Her hair wasn't much more messed up than it had been when I'd last seen her, but her eyes were barely half open.

  She opened the bag and grinned ear to ear. "Aw yeah!" She tore into the tacos I had brought her. "I'm glad you were paying attention last night."

  "Wasn't paying attention to much besides you." I winked at her and pulled out my own food.

  We ate in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again.

  "Before we get lost in the land of incessant flirting," she laughed softly. "I have to ask about something a little more serious."

  "Sure," I turned to face her. "Go for it."

  "Tell me about Denver," she said bluntly. “What happened there?”

  I inadvertently flinched and looked away. I didn’t want to lie to her so instead: "Please ask me, absolutely, anything else."

  She touched my shoulder softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to–" I cut her off.

  "It's okay," I grabbed her hand not wanting to make her feel bad. "Don't apologize. I just," I took a deep breath. "I don't like to talk about that."

  "That's alright," she had finished the tacos and reached to her bed side table for a pack of gum.

  She stuck a piece of the mint flavored gum in her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully.

  "Then I think I'll take you up on your offer and ask a different question. Is the voice still gone?"

  I smiled and nodded. "Haven't heard from him since last night."

  I didn't bother mentioning the uncomfortable feeling that was working its way up from my stomach. I figured it must’ve been all the pizza.

  "Well, that's good," she offered me a piece of gum and I took it. "I'm glad something's going well."

  "Thanks," I smiled at her and flopped, back against her pillows. "So where are your rents?"

  "Oh, they're not around much," she yawned laying back next me.

  She rested her head on my shoulder and curled up into my side. "I tend to spend a lot of time alone."

  "That must be rough," I replied wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close. "Can I keep you company?"

  She twisted in my grip and pulled herself onto my chest. "For as long as you want."

  Her face hovered over mine, the red streaks forming a wall between me and the outside world. I reached up slowly, sliding my hand up her neck to tangle in her hair. I gently pulled her mouth to mine and kissed her. She laid half draped across me with her mouth pressed to mine. She pushed herself back up and looked down at me.

  "You know, I'm sorry about last night." She said awkwardly.

  "Whadaya mean?" I asked propping myself up on one arm.

  "You were having some kind of life altering experience and I was just over here like, ‘Hey let’s party!’”

  “Hey,” I put my hand on her shoulder. “I was so pumped to be free of that stupid little voice, all I wanted to do was party!”

  “Are you sure you weren’t just hoping to get in my pants?” She teased. “Cause, you know that ain’t happening.” She stuck her tongue out at me.

  “With how tight you where your jeans I doubt I’d fit anyways.” I teased back.

  She laughed and shoved me clean off her bed.

  I hit the floor laughing and laid there looking up for a second. She flopped across the bed, taking up as much space as possible and leaving her arm hanging off of the side. I reached up, grabbed her wrist, and hauled her down with me.

  I caught her at the hips and lowered her down. Her legs straddled me and her hands were planted on the ground on either side of my head. She went with it immediately and grabbed my face in her hands slamming her mouth against mine.

  I wrapped my arms around her and used my abs to force myself into a sitting position. I got my feet underneath me and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I stood up and turned pushing her down onto the bed. She pushed me over rolling herself back on top and turning us the right way on the bed.

  Of course I had to be myself, so I tickled her. She smacked my hands away, laughed, and tickled me back. We fought for a few moments before she shoved me away and hid behind a pillow.

  "So, just, curious," she asked from behind her pillow. "Are we dating?"

  "Do you want to be?" I asked awkwardly. As hard as it must be to believe (sarcasm there, folks) I'd only ever had one girlfriend and that hadn't gone very well.

  "I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly, my last relationship didn’t go so well.”

  “Whadaya mean?” I asked.

  “Now you’ve stumbled upon something I don’t like to talk about” She shook her head. “I’m just…not sure.”

  “Neither am I,” I sighed. “Let’s just take this slow. Just let it happen you know?”

  “I like that idea,” she nodded. “But we need to at least set some ground rules.”

  I chuckled and she went on. “We’re ‘talking exclusively’ I think is what they’d call it?”

  “Sounds perfect,” I laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” She asked narrowing her eyes at me.

  “That just sounds so weird to say,” my shoulders shook. “Like: ‘um, so, are y’all dating?’ No, no, we’re just talking exclusively. It’s like dating, but not as scary.”

  She tried to keep glaring for a second, but couldn’t do it. She laughed; then I laughed. And it was a long time before either of us stopped.

  Chapter Nine

  I arrived at school the next day and felt like I had stepped into an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’. As I walked to my locker, a preppy looking blonde girl in a (not to be judgmental) rather ill–fitting top walked right up to me.

  "Hey, you're Way, right?" She turned herself at an angle and pushed her chest and butt out.

  "Um, yeah," I forced myself to focus on her face. "Why?"

  "Well," she stepped close to me. "I was just wondering if you'd maybe wanna come over to my place after school." She bit her lip in a way that was anything but friendly. "My parents are out of town, so we'd have the whole place to ourselves."

  "I'm sorry," I took a step back. "But, what is your name?"

  "Trixie," she replied, trying to reinvade my personal space but I put my hand out and stopped her.

  "Listen, Trixie," I said. "You seem...nice. And you're quite...pretty, but I’m spoken for."

  "That's ok," she winked at me again. "I don't mind sharing."

  At that, I got frustrated and therefore rude. "Well, I do," I growled. "So shove off." (Ok,
so maybe I didn’t say ‘shove’.)

  Anyway, I pushed past her and was immediately shoved into by one of Clint's goons.

  "You got a lot of nerve showing up here." David growled at me grabbing my shirt.

  "At school?" I gaped at him. "Where else would I be?"

  He shoved me into the lockers and I snapped. His hands were off of me before he knew I'd moved. I bent him over and cranked his right arm up high above him before driving his face into the wall.

  "Now, listen up," I growled leaning in close to his ear.

  He whimpered as my movements put extra pressure on his arm.

  "I don't want trouble with you or your boss, but you'll keep your hands off of me." I shrugged and he gasped in pain. "Or I'll take them off."

  The day went on like this with me narrowly avoiding fights and sexual advances. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced.

  "I can't explain what's going on," I told Trevor and Raven at lunch. "It's kinda freaking me out."

  We were sitting in the back of my Yukon with the cargo door opened. It had started raining but fortunately we were pretty much dry. We sat around a box of pizza and the steam from it was fogging my windows.

  “Well, I can’t sense anything different myself.” Raven shrugged.

  "Well, I sensed a shift in your aura when you came into McDonalds yesterday." Trevor mentioned. "I didn't think much about it but it could be to blame for this."

  “Woah, woah, woah,” I threw up both my hands. “You’re like her?”

  “Yeah, not as powerful as her or anything, but similar powers.” He shrugged. “A few variations here and there of course.”

  "This afternoon you should come to my house and I could do a reading." Raven added. "Maybe when the voice disappeared it unbalanced your aura."

  I looked between them and stared for a second before forcing myself to roll with it. Just another surprise on the pile. "You do realize I have no idea what you two are talking about, right?"

  They shared a glance and sighed in unison, "Sorry."

  "Simply put, your aura is the energy field that surrounds your body." Raven said. "The stronger it is, the more likely it is to affect those around you. Everyone's susceptible to everyone else's aura to some degree or another, but the extent yours is effecting people is highly unusual."

  "I follow," I said. "But whadaya mean by that last part?"

  "Well, you know how when one person in a room is mad everyone gets a little on edge?" She asked and I nodded. "Well, that's because your aura effects those around you and vice versa. But you're attracting attention at two opposite ends of the spectrum. Some of the people want you and others want you dead."

  "Well, that'll have a song stuck in my head all day." I shook my head slowly.

  "The thing is with my abilities," Trevor chimed in. "I can see your aura, meaning I can read your emotions unless you know exactly how to hide them...or don't have any. So, I can also tell when someone's aura makes an unexplained shift and that's what yours did. At first, I figured it was her fault," he cocked his head at Raven making his piercings rattle against each other. "But it’s changed again since yesterday. Something's affecting your chakras."

  "See, there, you lost me again." I cut my eyes away and made my mouth a straight line.

  Raven chuckled, "Your chakras are the seven points of your body that your energy flows through." She started drawing on my window with her finger but stopped when the bell rang. "Never mind I'll explain this afternoon."

  She jumped out of the car and we followed her.

  "Hey, just meet me out here and I'll take you home." I called after her as I locked up my truck.

  "Sounds good," she waved back. "Take care of my baby, Trevor."

  I sighed and shook my head as Trevor wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry! He's in good hands!"

  "You keep your hands to yourself," she stuck her tongue out then turned to run inside. "No stealing my boyfriend!"

  We laughed as he wrapped his arms around my neck jokingly.

  "Come on, let’s go," I laughed and pushed him off of me. I turned to walk away. "No offense, but I'm pretty into Raven." I turned to look back at him. "Well, you coming?"

  "Huh? Oh yeah!" He looked like he hadn't heard me. "I'm coming."

  I gave him a confused look then turned to continue walking into class. "Jeez, what are you, deaf?

  Chapter Ten

  As I walked to my car after school, the rain was picking up again. I saw Raven waiting for me by my car. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone.

  "Can I help you?" I called to the six guys surrounding her.

  Clint turned with his goons and sneered at me. "About time you showed up!"

  "Well, the bell just now rang, so I felt like I was doing pretty well," I started sizing up the situation.

  The guys were between me and Raven but their backs were to her now. I pressed the button to unlock my car and flicked my eyes at her while taking a step toward the guys. "So, what exactly do y'all want?" Raven ignored my cue, looking ready to rumble.

  "Well, I figure," Clint stepped out of the pack. "If you get down on your knees and beg, maybe I'll let what happened Monday slide."

  That uncomfortable feeling that had been working it's way up from my stomach since the day before had made it to my head. I blinked hard as it turned into pain for the first time.

  "How about," I grunted rubbing my head. "I get in my car and you jog on."

  The goons howled in laughter making my teeth grate against each other. They started to spread out and circle me. I stepped back with my right foot setting my body into a fighting stance but my hand stayed on my head trying to rub the pain away. It wasn't working.

  The pain shot down through my body a few times, pulsing oddly, then stopped.

  Damn, kid, what've you gotten yourself into?

  "Crap," I muttered aloud and brought my hand off of my head. "Now is not a good time for you to be back."

  "What the hell?" Clint barked. "Who are you talking to?"

  I ignored him as the voice started up again. If you wanna get out of this alive, you will do exactly what I say.

  "Well, I'm out of ideas so go for it," I muttered.

  Front walkover, bring your right leg up as hard as you can on my call. I set myself in position not sure why I was listening to him.

  NOW!

  I pitched forward putting my hands on the ground and kicked up with my right leg behind me. My heel hit something hard and I flipped up to my feet.

  Left elbow back. NOW! I swung back hard and felt my elbow connect with a soft solar plexus. I turned throwing a hard right cross and knocked the attacker down. As I watched him fall, I saw the guy I must’ve kicked, sprawled spread eagle on the ground. A third charged me from the front. I prepared to take him but the voice stopped me.

  Stay in place! Two arms wrapped around me from behind. Shoulder throw...NOW!

  I slipped the hold, locked his right arm over my shoulder and hauled him over me. The body of the goon I threw slammed into the charging one, dropping them both to the ground. I spun on my heels and glared at Clint and his last goon. Raven stood by my car staring wide eyed.

  "Still want some?" I growled.

  "Clint, man," the other whimpered. "He ain't human!"

  "We've both got fifty pounds on him!" Clint yelled at the boy. "Let's get him on the ground and beat his brains out."

  The boy looked back and forth between me and Clint. His fear of Clint outweighed his fear of me and they charged.

  You've got it from here.

  "Obviously," I muttered shooting forward to meet them. I ducked a wild swing from Clint's thug and punched him hard in the ribs and slammed my palm into his nose temporarily blinding him before aiming a hard knee at Clint's stomach. He managed to block the worst of it and shove me back. A hard right cross caught my chin, but I spun with the impact turning a full circle to build momentum for an earthshattering back hammer fist.

  I surveyed the scene. The first goon was star
ting to stir and the two that I'd used to take each other down were on their feet running away. Raven and I jumped in my car and tore out of the parking lot.

  "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Raven asked amazed.

  "The last two?" I asked rhetorically. "I learned that in Tang Soo Do. Everything else? I have no idea." She looked at me confused. "The voice is back." I told her. "And apparently he's a master of battle strategy."

  I explained everything that had happened as she stared at me open mouthed.

  "So schizophrenia is suddenly a combat tool?" I scowled as I pulled up in her driveway. "I don't think so.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I was waiting on Raven to come back from the laundry room where she was throwing our wet clothes in the dryer. I'd been lucky enough to have a dry pair of jeans in my car but I didn't have another shirt.

  Haha, bet you're glad I showed up when I did.

  "I would've rather gotten my ass kicked." I growled back.

  You sure about that? Right in front of your new girlfriend? How’d that happen anyways?

  "A lot happened while you were gone," I couldn't seem to raise my gaze from the floor. I'd finally thought I was free.

  Listen kid. It almost sounded sad. Look, I'm sorry. Ok?

  My eyes flew open wide. This was yet another new thing.

  It's not like I'm choosing to screw up your life or anything. I can't help but be here; it's not like I want to be. I'm stuck in here with you and I probably always will be but if we keep fighting like this forever it'll kill us both.

  "What?" I swore at him. "Were you in couple's therapy for the last day and a half, or something?"

  Real funny. Shut up and listen, kid. Something crazy is going on in our life right now and I have a feeling you'll need me.

  As he spoke, Raven came walking in the door. Her top was covered by a black spaghetti strap that was growing darker as her hair dampened it. She had a black lace edged bra on underneath it and, as if that wasn't hot enough, she had a pair of gray yoga pants on making her already great butt look unreasonably good.