War and Order Page 5

  "I wish my mom hadn't spoken to them either," Jayden said. "You should have seen her, guys. She went from actually being happy—well, not happy, but as close as you can get. She had actual hope in her eyes, and then this guy comes along and simply puts it all out. Just like that. She went straight back into depression. I think you were being smart, Amy."

  "I don't know," I said. "I fear they'll be back and then they'll be very suspicious of her because she didn't open the door the first time around."

  Amy shrieked. "You think so?"

  I shrugged. "They might think you have something to hide."

  She grimaced. "Couldn't they just think that I wasn't home?"

  I sighed. "We can only hope. But, the fact is, they're here, and I have a feeling they won't be gone anytime soon. We have to be very careful what we do." I swallowed, thinking about my talk with Duncan the day before. "Some say there might be a war coming. That it has already begun."

  "A war?" Amy asked.

  I nodded. "So far, they say it's between the vampires and the spider-men, but there is no reason why it shouldn't involve the rest of us as well. If they're determined to take down the vampires for Mr. Aran's disappearance, then they'll probably take down any supernatural creatures out there."

  Amy gasped. "We're talking a real war?"

  I nodded. "Between supers and spiders, yes. The vampires are preparing for it as we speak. The attack in Paris was no terrorist attack. It was a raid on the vampires. Duncan's mom was there. I heard her tell my mom about it on the phone."

  "Wow," Jazmine said. "That's insane! And you say it's because of Mr. Aran's disappearance?"

  I nodded, my head hurting slightly from all the thinking, or maybe it was the lack of proper sleep. I had been wondering how to solve this dilemma all night.

  "They see it as an attack and have declared war. There used to be a truce, apparently, but it is broken now." I left out the part about vampires buying themselves special treatment. I don't know why I did that. Maybe I was beginning to feel like one of them after all?

  Jazmine sighed. "But would getting Mr. Aran back change that?"

  I exhaled. "That's the hard part. According to Duncan, finding Mr. Aran would stop the war, but where would that leave us? If he is released, he’ll kill all of us; well, not me since I’m technically not one of you…at least not yet."

  Amy looked at Jazmine, then back at Jayden and me. "B-but don't we have an obligation to try and stop the war?"

  "Amy has a point. We can't just think about ourselves here," Jayden said. "If they're coming for vampires now, then wolves might be next." He looked at Jazmine. "How do you break the spell?"

  Jazmine threw her hands in the air. "Don't look at me. Even if I wanted to—which I don't since I don't mind losing a couple of vampires—I have no idea how to break the spell."

  "Don't your mom's books say anything about it?" Jayden asked. "Like where you found the spell in the first place?"

  She shook her head. "I didn't find the spell in any book. I just thought of it. I didn't even know it would work. I told you, I’m getting stronger."

  "So…you're telling us you don't know how to get him out of that Yeti?" Amy asked.

  Jazmine nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what I’m saying."

  "Oh, boy," Amy said, her shoulders slumping.

  I lit up. "Maybe your mother knows."

  Jazmine shook her head violently. "No. No. No."

  "Yes, Jazmine," Jayden said. "Your mom would know."

  Jazmine got up and grabbed her books, clutching them to her chest. Her eyes and nails turned from green to flaming red, as they always did when she got angry or worried.

  "I’m not doing it."

  "Please? For all of us?" Amy said.

  She shook her head again. "No. I am not talking to her. Besides, I’m not that interested in releasing the man who killed my dad anyway."

  "It's a war, Jazmine," Jayden said. "Our parents could get killed. Especially Robyn's parents. They are in grave danger because of what we’ve done. If you don't do this, if you don't break the spell, then the blood will be on your hands."

  Jazmine froze. She was breathing heavily. "Well, so be it," she said, then turned around and started to walk away.

  "They might kill Adrian too," Jayden yelled after her. "Don't forget that."

  The words made her stop walking for just a second before she continued and soon was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I was conflicted. Jazmine refused to talk to any of us for the rest of the day in school and avoided even having eye contact with us. I couldn't blame her. It was a lot to ask of her and, frankly, I wasn't sure I wanted Mr. Aran to be released. What would he do to my friends if he were? At the same time, I worried about Duncan and my family. What was going to happen to them if he wasn't released? How was this war going to affect them and me? I wasn't very big on vampires in general and still didn't want to become one, but they were my family. Duncan was my boyfriend. He had already lost his dad; who would it be next?

  I sighed, annoyed, as I drove back home after school was over. If only there was an easy answer to this problem.

  I drove onto my street and noticed that Amy had already come home, and her truck was parked in the driveway. She was always faster than me. She was a little more reckless when driving than I was.

  I chuckled when thinking about her. I had known her for so many years now. Then I got nervous when thinking about her and about how Mr. Aran had tried to capture her. I wasn't going to lose her. I simply wouldn't survive it.

  I looked at Jayden's house as I passed it and thought about his family, who had taken such good care of me when I was younger. I wondered about the wolf population. There didn't seem to be as many of them as there were of vampires. The same with witches and dragons. Was it just because that truce had protected the vampires? Was the spider-men's goal really to make all the supernatural creatures go extinct from this world? Like they had almost managed to do to the mer-people? Duncan seemed to think so. But why? Why were they against colonization?

  There was a lot I still didn't understand.

  As my eyes left Jayden's house, I realized something odd was going on at my own house. Three police cars were parked in the driveway.

  What the heck?

  I parked in the cul-de-sac behind one of the police cars. I got out and rushed to my house, just in time to see my mother being guided out, flanked by two officers. She was, naturally, protesting wildly. I spotted Jayden's dad and approached him.

  "Mr. Smith?"

  "Robyn!"

  "What's going on? Where are you taking my mom?"

  And that was when I spotted one of the spider-like men in the crowd of police officers. He was standing with a guy who seemed to be the one in charge.

  Jayden's dad sighed. "I’m so sorry, Robyn. But we have to take her in for some questioning."

  "What? My mom? Why?"

  "It's concerning the disappearance of Mr. Aran."

  I shook my head. "They're taking her in for that? She doesn’t know anything about that."

  "Well, they seem to think she does."

  "Would you get your filthy, germ-filled fingers off me!" my mom yelled to the officer next to her. He let go of her, and she snorted. "Who knows who or what you touched last? Don't you people ever shower? You really ought to do something about that skin of yours. You look like someone who's been smoking crack for ten years."

  The officer stared at her. She had almost made him cry. I wondered if I even needed to worry about her in all this. It seemed almost like they were the ones in over their heads.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "Dad?"

  I rushed inside and found my father in the hallway. I could still hear my mom yelling at the officers as they put her in the police car and drove off. My dad watched it all from the open door.

  "What's going on?" I asked.

  He grabbed me and held me tight, his cold fingers causing a chill to run down my spine. It had been a long
time since my dad had last hugged me, and I really enjoyed it, despite the coldness of his touch.

  "Will she be all right?" I asked.

  He scoffed. "It's your mother. Of course she will."

  That made me smile. I leaned my head into his chest. It was the first time I realized that there was no heartbeat. I wondered why I had never noticed before. I guess I just hadn't ever thought about it. Just like I had never thought about my parents being any different than other parents. I mean, I had always known that my mom was a little wacko, but lots of suburban moms are a little on the crazy side, right?

  "What are their reasons for taking her in?" I asked when he had let go of me. But my dad didn't answer. He walked to the door and slammed it shut, then rushed to the kitchen, grabbed the phone in his hand, and looked at me.

  "I need to make some calls. You might want to check on Veronika. She could have been scared from all the screaming and yelling. It was mostly your mother who did it, but it was still scary."

  I smiled. "Of course."

  But I didn't go upstairs right away. Instead, I snuck to my dad's office and waited by the door after he had disappeared in there. I put my ear to the door and listened.

  "We've gotta do something. She's in trouble. They say they have evidence. I don't know what kind of evidence, dang it. They won't tell me. It could be anything; they could be making it all up for all I know. Of course, they would do that. They would do anything to take us down. Yes, they were in our house. We don't know for how long. Apparently, those spiders of his were spying on us for a longer period of time. Yes, they might even have been there for the meeting, remember? Yes, that one…"

  I gulped. I remembered that meeting. All our parents had gathered here in our house and planned to kill Mr. Aran. Had the spiders heard that? If so, then our parents were in real trouble. All of them.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I heard my dad finish the conversation with: "I don't know what we can do, but we have to come up with something, soon."

  Then I rushed upstairs and, as soon as I had gathered myself, I knocked on Veronika's door. I used our secret code to let her know it was me. She opened it, looking pale.

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  She nodded eagerly and closed the door behind her, locking it. She looked at me intently.

  "Did those men scare you?" I asked.

  She shook her head.

  "Okay, good. But why do you look like you've seen a ghost? Have you seen a ghost?"

  She shook her head, and a smile spread across her face, lighting up her eyes.

  "I think I’m in love."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  "Excuse me?"

  I stared at the little girl. Those certainly weren't the words I had expected to come out of her.

  "I'm in love," she repeated, biting her lip.

  "What? You're ten."

  "So what? You think love knows any age?"

  "I swear, sometimes you sound like you're fifty," I said and threw myself on her bed. "Okay, lay it on me, who is he?"

  "It's a boy in my classroom."

  "Okay, same age, that's good."

  "His name is Tommy."

  "Decent name. Who are his parents?"

  Veronika chuckled. "I don't know that, silly. I just met him yesterday in school."

  "Ah, okay. We'll have to check them out later then. But parents are important. Look at them, and you'll know who he is and who he might become. If he chooses to become like them, that is…never mind. Tell me more about him. What does he look like?"

  "He's very pale."

  I sat up straight. "Uh-oh."

  "What do you mean uh-oh?" she asked, startled by my reaction.

  I gave her a look. "What kind of pale? As in pale like my mom? Like Adrian and my dad?" I asked, concerned.

  She shrugged. "He's just pale. He doesn’t get out much; he told me when I asked him about it."

  "Wait. Whoa. Let's take a step back, shall we? You're speaking to him? As in talking…using words?"

  She nodded, still smiling. "I trust him."

  "Okay. That's good. You're talking to people besides me. That's an improvement. I like it. So, tell me, have you tried to touch this boy's skin?"

  She looked at me like I was insane.

  "EW! No!"

  I rolled my eyes. "I don't mean as in have you kissed or hugged him, just have you touched him even quickly, like tapped him on the shoulder or something like that?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "No."

  "When you're close to him, does it feel chilly?"

  She tilted her head. "Now that you say so, yes. I get kind of cold when I’m near him. His breath is really cold too. I like it."

  I shook my head. "You can't hang out with him."

  "Why not?"

  "Because I think he's a vampire."

  "What? No!"

  "And just how do you know, if I might ask?" I said.

  She looked confused. "Because…because…I just do, okay? And I love him. He's not a vampire. He's not!"

  I pointed my finger at her. "I am only going to say this once more. Stay away from that boy, you hear me? He's trouble."

  I hurried out of her room, so she couldn't contradict me. I walked back to my own room and closed the door, my hands shaking while I realized I had just turned into my mother.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jayden was at Ruelle's house when he received the text from Robyn. He opened it and read it.

  MOM GOT ARRESTED. WAR HAS BEGUN.

  He gasped and read it again.

  "What's going on?" Ruelle asked.

  They were sitting in her room at her house, eating chips in her bed. He had taken his bike there. It was a good half hour ride, and he was still sweating from it. The news from the text made him sweat even more, and he wiped his forehead. He looked around in Ruelle's room that suddenly was so clean.

  "Jayden?"

  He turned to look at her. He couldn't tell her it was a Snapchat from his ex, so instead, he smiled.

  "You cleaned up your room?"

  "Yeah, I got sick of the mess. Piles of stuff were gathered everywhere. I don't understand how people can live that way."

  Jayden chuckled, puzzled. "You used to say cleaning up wasn't that important, that there were more meaningful things in life."

  "I know," she said. "I just needed a change, I guess."

  Still thinking of Robyn and how terrible she had to feel, he leaned over and kissed Ruelle, hoping it would take his mind off his ex-girlfriend and off his own problems. It did, at least for a few seconds. Ruelle, on the other hand, was all over him. She pressed him onto the bed and sat on top of him.

  "Ruelle, I…"

  She shushed him and started to pull up his T-shirt. She kissed his stomach and moved up his chest, pulling his T-shirt completely off. He then felt her nails on his skin, pressing down till it hurt. She leaned forward and scratched him on the chest.

  "Ouch," he said and sat up.

  Ruelle fell to the side. Blood drizzled slowly from the scratches. "You really should cut those nails," he said.

  Ruelle laughed. "I am so, so sorry." She got up from the bed. "Let me get you something to wipe the blood off."

  She left the room. Jayden touched the scratches. They were pretty deep, much to his surprise. He shook his head, a little annoyed. This was going to make it uncomfortable to wear a T-shirt.

  He waited for a few seconds for her to return when his eyes fell on something on her desk. It was a piece of paper, but not an ordinary one. It looked old and looked like it was a page ripped out from a book. Jayden tried to read the words on it, but they made no sense to him. Wondering what it was, he grabbed his phone and took a picture of it, just as Ruelle returned with paper towels and an antibiotic ointment.

  "Let me take a look at…" she stopped when she realized he wasn't sitting on the bed anymore. "Hey. What are you doing?" she asked awkwardly.

  "I just looked at this piece of paper. What is it?" he asked.
<
br />   Ruelle shrugged. "I don't know. I found it in the park one day." She hurriedly put the paper in a drawer, then turned and looked at him, her eyes glowing in the light.

  "Now…where were we?'

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was dark when the spider-men came back. Amy knew they had taken Robyn's mother away earlier and she was terrified of what they might do to her own family if they found out who and what they were.

  The two spider-men stood outside the front door, and Amy watched them through the blinds, her heart throbbing in her throat. The two men knocked again, then stood back and looked at the house and then at her truck parked in the driveway.

  They know I’m home. Of course they know.

  She stared at them, sweat springing from her forehead, while she could hear Melanie roaming around upstairs. She hadn't told her about the first visit nor had she told her about the war coming or the attack in Paris or Robyn's mom being detained by the police. Melanie was so happy; going back to school had given her all this new energy and joy, and Amy didn't want to ruin it. Plus, she didn't want Melanie to worry. Or maybe she just kind of hoped it would all go away on its own if she didn't talk about it. Right now, that didn't seem to be happening.

  Please, go away. Please, just leave us alone.

  Amy wished her parents were home. They would know what to do. She bit her nails, thinking about the conversation they had in school about Mr. Aran and whether or not they should release him. Amy was against him ever walking freely again since he had tried to kill her on so many occasions, but still, she couldn't stand the thought of being the reason why so many other families might get hurt. Even though it was mostly vampires so far, according to Robyn. Amy was certain that Jayden was right and soon they would turn their attention to the rest of the supernaturals as well. The vampires were only the beginning. But the thing was, if they released Mr. Aran, he would punish them for what they had done. They would all be in just as much trouble, right? Amy sighed and bit down on her nail. She couldn't really see a way out of all this, not one that ended well at least.