Page 14 of Shattered Heir
“Emma, you weigh nothing. I’m fine.” He took my hand and drew a tic-tac-toe board on his jeans. A realization flooded through me that we had done that before, and suddenly, I could see it.
We used to play this game on road trips when we were younger. Because the game was invisible, I often forgot where he had placed his mark, or I became lost because I often wasn’t paying attention. I had won the game on one long-ago day, and Ryker had smiled as he squeezed my hand in congratulations.
I came back to the present, and I leaned my head back against the headrest and noticed that Shad was asleep, his head against the window. I glanced at Ryker a half hour later, and he was also asleep. I wondered if he would mind if I—I stopped myself. I couldn’t lean on Ryker. He was bruised:duh, Emma, how selfish can you be?I looked back at Shad, and I wondered if he would mind if I just used part of his shoulder as a pillow. My back was aching from not moving for hours and being squished in the car.Slowly, I moved my head down until it rested on his shoulder. He didn’t move, and the electric current that flowed between us, eventually, lulled me to sleep. It felt wonderful.
“We are here, Sleeping Beauty.”
I blinked, looking into a pair of black eyes on a very handsome face.Hasn't this happened to me before? Well, yes, but without the soulless eyes. It isstrangely familiar. “Huh? How do you know who Sleeping Beauty is? Do you remember something?” I was sure that I had to be dreaming.
“I don’t know. It just kind of popped into my head. Queen Briar of Thorn, she slept for three hundred years. I think my mother told me a story about her.” He looked just as confused as I felt.
“You remembered something. Your mom told you stories too?”
“I think so,” he said, squinting his eyes.
“Sorry that I fell asleep on you,” I said.
“If you think for one second that I mind that you fell asleep on me—”
“Then you don’t know me—” I finished for him. I sat up in shock.
“How did you know that I would say that?” he asked, touching my cheek. I looked around, and we were alone in the car. I looked out of the window, and the sun was just starting to display its yellow, orange, glow of morning’s light on the dew-covered world. We were parked in my driveway. I looked through the back window and saw Ryker, Keil, and Mary talking in the driveway, holding backpacks.
“This is a dream—” I said—but Ryker wasn’t there the last time that happened.
“Emma, are you okay?” Shad moved his face directly in front of mine. I looked into his eyes. I wanted to kiss him; surely, one small kiss wouldn't alert Keil, and it couldn't corrupt my soulthat much. I would even debate, if ever asked, that kissing Shad would actually help my soul. I needed him.
“Do you want to—” I didn’t get to finish before he interrupted me.
“What do you think?” he asked, leaning toward me. I let his lips brush against mine in a blissful electric touch. The one note of his melody which he had left inside of me tried to make its way over to him, and I pulled it back. I knew that I needed to uncover what memories he had left inside of me, and I could not let him have it–not yet. I leaned into him and pulled at the collar of his shirt, locking that precious note of his melody away. Like Keil had suggested, I imagined a box, and then I placed his note inside of it, and locked it up. He kissed me back with such urgency that it took my breath away. I wondered as his mouth devoured mine if he was still there, if he rememberedme.He is kissing me, so he has to remember me, right?There was a tap on the window, and I looked up, pulling my lips, regretfully, away from Shad’s to see Ryker glaring at us. I pulled away.
Real-life. Will Ryker tell Keil?
“I should not have done that,” Shad said, looking into my eyes. “Why did I do that?” He shook his head as if ridding it of cobwebs and dust. “What are you?” he asked, horrified.
Well, that hurt.
“It’s okay; we have kissed before, and I asked you,” I tried to reassure him.
“So? What does that even matter? I have been asked by plenty of girls before, and I haven’t ever—I mean, I wasn’t supposed to kiss anyone until—” He trailed off.
“I’m sorry,” I said as tears tried to escape from my eyes. He wasn’t happy about our kiss. He didn’t remember me. I horrified him. I tried to remind myself that he didn’t know me, and that to a Terran, kisses were special, and the fact that he had just kissedsomeone, who he thought he didn’t know, would be traumatic for him. It still hurt.
“I’ll just go,” I said as I slipped over the seat and out the door. “Mary, I am going to go lie down,” I said as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked into the house, trying to forget about that moment with Shad, and trying not to not fantasize about his lips. As I thought about his lips up against mine, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and my cheeks became flushed.
Well, at least I am alone now, I thought as I walked into my house.
I will always be alone, now.
No, you are not Emma; don't say that you are alone.
Chapter Eight
The house looked exactly the same. Nothing had changed, and yet everything about my life had changed. I would never be the same again. I cooled down the fiery feelings of rage from the monster that dwelt inside of me. I tried to bottle up my emotions.
The last thing I need is rage spilling out and enticing the monster to taste vengeance and blood.
I walked upstairs and into my bedroom, trying to do as Keil had instructed, and I locked the monster away. The room was the same with its white walls, wooden furniture, and pink blankets and pillows on my bed. The blankets were askew as if I had just left, as if I had just hurried off in a rush before school, and suddenly, I was back. What did I expect, though? Did I expect my room to suddenly change because I had changed so much? No. It was cold in that bedroom; it was also dark. Drawers were opened, and it was as if I could see Mary shuffling back and forth, packing my bag, me throwing up in the bathroom, Shad giving me a glass of water, and me packing my gym shoes. I looked down and saw the same gym shoes on myfeet. They were the same shoes, and yet they were not the same at all anymore. Those shoes showed the changes in me; they were proof of exactly what I had just been through. They were filthy, covered in brown dirt from traversing trails, ash from the fire pits, mud from the cave, and blood—no doubt a mix of mine and Ryker’s. I pushed that thought away. I would not let myself dwell on that. I set my backpack down in the corner and quickly closed all the drawers that had been left open, tucking the clothes back inside of them, and along with those clothes, I also tucked away the memories of who I once was.
