Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) Page 3

  “How much are you thinking?” One man asked with skepticism.

  “At the very least 500,000.”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” the man agreed.

  “Wait,” the other man protested. “What if she doesn’t come looking for her friend?”

  “Then if the price is right, I will deliver her to you myself,” she snapped.

  “When will she be eighteen?” the man asked in a low voice. He was intimidated.

  “I’ve been waiting for years, now it almost feels like it was a waste. But hey, at least I’ll have money.”

  “Ahem,” one of the men cleared their throat, snapping her out of it.

  “Oh, in October,” she answered.

  “Well then, if you can, make it closer to October, I don’t like to keep them around for long.”

  They started walking away and she came back to me, as she did in my last vision. I anticipated the shovel, and this time, it didn’t end once I saw her face.

  “You always were a little brat.”

  She grabbed me by my clothes and picked me up, dragging me along through the forest.

  “Why are you doing this?” I cried.

  “Shut up,” she ordered.

  “I want to know who my dad is; I want to go live with him.”

  “No way in hell am I giving you back now.”

  “Giving me back?” I trembled. “What do you mean?” She lifted her hand up and smacked me across the face, and then it was over.

  When I woke up in the morning, I rolled over to look at Dante, but he was gone. I wasn’t anywhere near as upset about the dream as I would have been if I hadn’t known my mother was a monster. I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My hair was a mess. I opened all the drawers and found a brush. I ripped it through my knotty hair; by the time I was done my head was throbbing. I brushed my teeth and went to go find some dry clothes; I fell asleep in the ones I wore into the lake. I wondered about my dream. It must have been from the past, yet I never really dreamt of the past. When I saw the past, I was awake, not aware, but awake, nonetheless. I also wondered why I was worth 500,000 dollars. I had so many unanswered questions, but last night was the first time in a long time that I actually had a good time. I couldn’t let this vision from the past ruin that.

  I went back into the room, and grabbed some jeans and a T-shirt. Then I opened the closet door. I needed shoes, too; I left mine at the beach. All that hung in there were men’s clothes and a few dresses. I took a deep breath and looked down at the shoes. All high heels and they all had to be at least five inches high. I would have to make a trip back to the beach later and retrieve the ones I left. Then I grabbed a black and gray striped sweater; I figured it would look better with the heels than a T-shirt would.

  I walked around the house looking for someone, anyone. Everyone was gone but Grace, who was still sleeping. I left her a note next to her bed.

  I headed out the door and stumbled over to George and Elizabeth’s, almost twisting my ankle with every step. When I reached their house, I walked over the stone path to the door, being careful not to trip. I learned fast that even one missed step could result in catastrophe. I knocked on the door. I heard Elizabeth chattering as she came to answer.

  “Oh hey, we were wondering when you were going to get here. You look very nice,” she complimented. I blushed.

  As I walked in the door, Lily looked me up and down and rolled her eyes.

  “You look beautiful,” Dante said as he picked me up and swung me around. When he set me down he gave me a quick kiss. He held my hand and led me over to the table.

  “So I was thinking…” Elizabeth Started, “…how would you girls like to go shopping today?”

  “Oh, I don’t have any money—” I started to explain.

  “Oh don’t you worry about that,” she said. “So how about it?”

  “What about Grace? Would it be safe to take her out?” I asked. She pulled out another velvet bag full of dirt.

  “We won’t even need this, but just in case,” she smiled.

  “Alright, it sounds fun,” I lied, smiling.

  I was never excited to go shopping. Sure, I liked new clothes just as much as the next girl, but shopping had never been a fun experience for me. I was very excited to get out of here for the day though.

  “Great! Go get Grace up, and we’ll head out soon,” she said, she sounded so happy.

  Great, I had just gotten here, now I had to make the journey back to the house. I had little hope of making it back alive. Dante sensed my frustration.

  “I’ll go with you,” he offered.

  He got up from the table, and I followed him to the door. He walked at a normal pace, and it didn’t take him long to realize my limitations. He chuckled and motioned for me to jump on his back. He carried me back to the house, and let me off once we were inside. It was much easier to walk on a flat surface, though I still wouldn’t call it easy.

  I went into Grace’s room and tapped her shoulder.

  “What—” Grace said, alarmed.

  “Were going shopping, you should get ready.”

  “Ugh,” she whined.

  “C’mon were leaving soon.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked, sounding more concerned about me than she had in a long time.

  “Yes and no, but I’m trying not to think about it.” I walked out of the room to let her get dressed.

  She walked out of the room a few minutes later, wearing the same sweat pants and sweatshirt she had on for the last three days. I imagined she must have been wearing them for far longer than that.

  “Hey, you know they have clothes in there you can use, right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Alright, let’s go.”

  We met Elizabeth, Lily and Annabelle back at the house. It wasn’t as long of a ride as I expected. First, she took us to get lunch. It was at a restaurant in downtown somewhere; I didn’t know where we were, but then again, it was rare that I did. We sat out on the patio, not many cars drove by.

  “Okay, so the main reason I wanted to take you girls shopping is, we’re having a party tonight. We want you to meet all of our friends. Welcome you to the… well, neighborhood I guess,” she joked.

  “That’s so nice,” Annabelle said. “I’m excited!”

  “Great,” Elizabeth replied with enthusiasm, and then she looked over at me.

  “You guys have been so wonderful to us; I don’t know how to thank you,” I said, though I wasn’t a big fan of being at a party with close to no one that I knew.

  “It’s no problem at all, really,” she laughed. “But it would mean a lot to me if you all dressed up.” She looked around at all of us; Annabelle couldn’t have been more excited. I, on the other hand, was not too excited about dressing up. “It will be fun,” she promised.

  When we were done with lunch, Elizabeth took us to a fancy dress store. It was Annabelle’s dream come true. As long as I could find some heels that weren’t five inches like these; I figured I would survive. I could understand why a girl like Annabelle was thrilled to be in here. The dresses were gorgeous; I was starting to get a little excited, myself. Annabelle ran from rack to rack, spouting out gibberish about the necklines and material. I couldn’t keep up.

  “We have all day Annabelle,” Elizabeth giggled.

  I went to a more modest rack. There were plain blue and black dresses, most looked like T-shirts with skirts. I turned around and saw Annabelle twirling around in a beautiful, red dress. The style was called mermaid, as Annabelle pointed out. It fit her perfectly until it puffed out just below her knees. Grace picked a dress off the rack and hurried to the dressing room. She stayed in there for a while; I was starting to get worried. Then, I looked over at Lily. She was slouched over sitting on the ground across the store; I went over to see if she was okay.

  “How’s it going Lily?” I asked.

  “Leave me alone,” she snapped.

  “What did I do to you?”

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nbsp; “It wasn’t bad enough that Dante is crazy about you? You had to lead my brother on, too. Not to mention my mom has replaced me with you.”

  “Lily, I didn’t lead Cooper on, and your mother could never replace you,” she lightened up a little. I grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a rack. “This would look amazing on you,” I handed the dress to her. It was green, and it sparkled. I almost wanted to try it on myself.

  “You’re right,” she smiled. “I’ll go try it on.”

  “Scarlett?” Elizabeth said as she walked up. “Haven’t you found anything yet?” I looked across the room and saw the perfect dress.

  “Yeah,” I said as I walked over. I held it up.

  “It’s a bit plain,” she said. “Try it on, I’ll see if I can find anything else you might like.”

  It was baby blue with a black satin ribbon around the waist. It went down to my knees and flew up when I twirled. It was simple, but still pretty. I came out of the dressing room; Grace came out at the same time. Her dress was short, black and extremely tight.

  “Oh, that does look nice on you, but before you decide try this,” she said to me as she handed me a shiny purple ball gown. She looked over at Grace. “Oh wow, uh, Grace maybe you should try on one of those.” She pointed over to some longer dresses.

  “Oh, I think I like this one, but thanks.” She walked away.

  “I don’t know…” I said with skepticism. “Besides, are all of your guests going to be wearing dresses? If they weren’t, I would feel really out of place in this. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful… But—”

  “What, you think because we live in the woods, we can’t host parties for which it would be appropriate to wear a nice dress?” She stared at me with crazy eyes like I had never seen, I felt my face flushing. “I’m kidding,” she laughed. “You thought I was serious?” She asked, still in disbelief.

  I laughed back. It was real, but more of a nervous laugh than anything.

  “I just figured if it was to introduce us to your friends, it would be more…” I stopped to think of the right word, “…casual.”

  “Do you know what day it is?” she waited for an answer. I didn’t. It felt like I was caught in some kind of time warp. “It’s Halloween. Every year, we invite our friends over on Halloween. It just turned out to be perfect timing to introduce you to everyone.”

  “So why aren’t we at a costume store?” I asked.

  “Weren‘t you listening when I told Annabelle?” I shook my head. “The younger kids wear costumes. My friends and I decided to take the opportunity to wear fancy dresses that would seem silly if it were any other day,” she waited for my response.

  “That’s pretty cool,” I admitted.

  I couldn’t see anyone in the woods, wearing the dress Annabelle was, or the one Elizabeth had picked out for me, but for Halloween, I guess it kind of made sense.

  “Right? It’s not as fun for the guys; they just follow our lead and wear suits.”

  “Ooh, how about this one?” Annabelle chimed from across the room. I looked over. I was mortified.

  It was black lace intricately designed to cover only the most necessary places. It was beautiful, but I could never….

  “Try it on!” Annabelle urged, she started whistling, and Lily joined in.

  “Okay, okay,” I grabbed it and went into the fitting room. When I got it on, I was surprised, I looked… good. Even better than that, what seemed revealing on the hanger covered everything. I walked out of the changing room.

  “You have to get this one,” Annabelle said. “You look amazing!”

  “I agree,” Elizabeth said with excitement.

  “You do; you look great,” Lily complimented. She was wearing the green dress I pointed out to her.

  “Well, at least no one will be looking at me with you there,” I complimented back.

  Once we all found shoes, we went to a more casual store. Everyone got a few pairs of jeans and some shirts. I felt awful letting Elizabeth buy all of this for me, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  On our way home, Annabelle and Elizabeth chattered on and on about the party. Decorations, hairstyles, makeup, they covered it all. When we got home, Annabelle started dragging me back to the house.

  “Let’s get ready together I can do your hair and makeup….”

  “Wait a second,” I said, noticing Lily walking back to her house. “Lily!” I yelled.

  “Huh?” She turned around.

  “You can come back and get ready with us; Annabelle’s offering to do hair and makeup.”

  “Okay,” her eyes lit up. I didn’t think Elizabeth would be interested, but I figured I would offer anyway.

  “You can come, too, Elizabeth,” I shouted as Annabelle tried pulling me and Lily along.

  “Actually girls, the party isn’t until nine, and I wouldn’t mind some help getting everything ready.”

  Annabelle wasn’t happy; she was too excited about putting on her dress and getting ready to concentrate on anything else.

  “Come on, she just bought us all this stuff, the least we could do is help,” I snapped.

  “Okay, okay, you’re right,” Annabelle groaned.

  We caught up with Elizabeth; she was in the garage looking through some boxes.

  “Here are some lights, hang them wherever you can. The guys and George will set up some tables out here, and I’ll handle inside the house,” she said.

  Annabelle grabbed some lights and walked over to a tree.

  “Wait a second.” I imagined all the lights wrapped around the trees. Every other tree was covered in orange and green lights. That was too easy. I imagined more lights, dark purple, hanging from the trees and leading to the house. It was a beautiful canopy over where all the tables would be.

  “Wow,” Annabelle said in awe.

  Grace looked paralyzed with fear; I remembered this wasn’t normal for her, not that it really was for me.

  What else could I do? I had an idea; I was sure everyone who would be wearing heels, would thank me. I imagined the ground flattening out, and then, taking it a step further, I imagined the dirt around the house turning a bright, beautiful orange.

  “I’d say our work here is done.” Annabelle started walking back to the house.

  I glared at her. I was feeling exhausted; I’d never done something like this.

  “Let’s go see if Elizabeth needs help inside.” I grabbed Annabelle’s arm and dragged her along, just as she’d done to me a few moments earlier. “Hey do you need any help?” I asked as we walked through the door.

  “Are you done out there already?” she asked disappointed. I understood. I wouldn’t have thought we could have gotten much done in five minutes either.

  “Come look,” I suggested. She followed me to the door.

  “How did you do this?” she asked. I closed my eyes and imagined all the trees turning orange and black. “Your power? I had no idea…” she stood there frozen.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?” I asked.

  “No, no, no. I love it. It’s just… it all makes sense now,” she said, frightened.

  “What? What makes sense now?” I wondered.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she whispered to herself.

  “Please tell me what’s going on,” I begged.

  “If the Alliance ever got ahold of your power, it could be catastrophic.”

  Chapter 4: Surprise Guest

  Elizabeth dragged me into the house, telling everyone else to stay outside. I was horrified; I didn’t know what was going on, or why I was so dangerous.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as she dragged me through the house.

  “In theory you can imagine anything, and it will just be. Thank God your dreams are reality, otherwise the world could have been plagued with your nightmares,” she was starting to sound crazy. “Your dreams are not imagination, so that’s not a worry.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” I asked.


  “The Alliance, if they don’t know about this yet, they will.”

  “So, I could just imagine them all dropping dead, or imagine a crack in the earth and let them all fall in it. If your theory is correct that is, this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done with my power, and I’m exhausted so….”

  “Never, ever underestimate the Alliance or your power. They recruit people with extraordinary powers just like yours. Some can cancel out other people’s powers. You know when they use that?” she asked, not waiting for a reply. “When their recruits deny them, they cancel their powers and take them for themselves.”

  “How could they take them?” I questioned.

  “Do you know how we came about?” Elizabeth asked.

  “No,” I choked, I never even thought of anything like that.

  “A necklace,” she stopped. “A woman found it one day, buried in the sand. It called to her, and she couldn’t ignore it. The story has some holes. No one knows how it got its power. She put it on and immediately felt different. When she woke up the next morning, she was curled up on the bed. She wasn’t a woman anymore, she was a tiger. She could change into almost any living thing she could dream of, but she couldn’t change back into herself. She learned how to return to her human form—but she still would never be the same. When she did, she locked herself away, afraid she would be called a witch and be burned alive. She met a man a few years later, when she touched him, she bestowed power onto him. His power wasn’t great, but it allowed him to communicate with her without ever saying a word and as time went on, he gained more power. She was the most powerful of our kind, and only he could receive her power. The two of them fell in love, and their children were born with various powers.”

  “What does this have to do with me?” I asked.

  “Back to my point, once the necklace she wore gave her its powers, it was an empty vessel. One of her children found it years later. She was eighteen, and it took away her powers. When she put it on again they were restored.”