“You’re in love with Charlie Creagh, sixteen year old cutie and all-around good guy. He’s not there anymore. I’m sorry but he’s gone.”
Ari gulped. Rachel had been right. Why had it taken this for her to realize that Rachel had been right? Feeling ashamed of herself and for the way she’d treated the girl, Ari let her gaze drift away from her until it locked onto a figure in the distance. He was waiting for her next to a black SUV he’d conjured from his home in L.A.
Jai.
He’d lied to her too. She thought of the past few days. Everything that happened. All the things he’d withheld. What he’d omitted when he followed The Red King’s orders to make her break the barrier between herself and her powers. The consequences. And then she thought about what he’d done for her. Like Charlie, Jai hadn’t left her side. He’d given her quiet understanding, comfort, support. What did that mean? Could she trust him?
Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe she couldn’t trust her uncle either.
Who could she trust then?
Yourself, an inner voice replied gently and Ari felt her spine straightening, a blaze of heat cutting through the bitter pain. This couldn’t happen to her again. Not ever again. It was time to grow up. It was time to start relying on herself. It was time to stop fearing loneliness and embrace it as a friend, as a guard and protector.
After all… it looked like a long fight ahead.
That was it. The funeral was over. Derek was buried in the ground and only a handful of people had turned up. What a testament to his life. There was some work colleagues, some neighbors. Charlie’s mom. Rachel, Staci and A.J., and all their parents. In a way, Ari was glad. If she had to murmur ‘thank you for coming’ one more time she was going to scream. And she was tired of the odd looks she was getting. Had they been expecting her to fall wailing on her father’s coffin?
No. But maybe a few tears.
Well Ari couldn’t give them tears. She’d already given them all to her dad days before and she wasn’t all that into becoming a huge sobbing ball of mess for the sole purpose of assuring some people, that didn’t really matter, that she was indeed affected by his death. Brittle and unapproachable was working just fine for her instead.
After telling another mourner that there wasn’t going to be a wake, Ari turned away, blindly following Charlie towards Jai.
“Ari?” a soft voice asked, black patent shoes appearing before her in her downcast eye line.
An ugly knot formed in Ari’s gut as she raised her eyes to find Rachel and Staci standing in front of her, tears glistening in Staci’s eyes, A.J. standing a few feet behind them. Oh no. She didn’t want to have to do this now. Ever, in fact.
She cleared her throat and for once was glad Charlie was standing so close. “Thanks for coming,” her voice was flat and unemotional. With some effort Ari refrained from glancing around in paranoia, afraid The White King had spies watching her, waiting to see what people she treated with friendliness and affection. The people he could target next. Well she wouldn’t give him that. She’d protect her friends even if they hated her for it.
Rachel frowned at her formalness. “Of course. We left messages on your answering machine. We even called around, but Charlie and that guy,” Rachel pointed over at Jai, “Told us you weren’t up to seeing anybody.” Her eyes narrowed as she glanced once more at Jai. “Who is that guy, Ari?” Staci nudged her and Rachel blanched. “I’m sorry. Never mind. I’m… I’m also sorry about what happened at the hospital.”
Ari shrugged. “Don’t be.”
“You must be so mad at the doctors for letting your dad out, for not catching the clot?”
“They didn’t want Dad to leave. It was nobody’s fault,” she almost choked on the lie.
Staci took a tentative step forward, her cheeks pale. “Do you need anything?” her voice cracked on the last word and Ari had to force herself not to pull the girl into a hug. “Do you want us to come home with you?”
“Mom,” Rachel nodded a head over her shoulder to where her parents were standing by their car, “said you’re welcome to stay with us for as long as you want.”
“Tell her that’s very kind, but I’m OK. I’ll be in touch.” With that last lie Ari pulled away from them, gripping onto Charlie’s hand and letting him lead her away. If he was surprised by her touching him, he didn’t show it. Instead he threw a ‘don’t follow us’ look over his shoulder at the girls and hustled Ari towards Jai. Ari felt sick. Really, really sick. She was afraid she was going to hurl on a gravestone. Rachel and Staci would never see her again. They’d assume she’d walked out of their lives with no explanation out of pure selfishness and they’d hate her for it.
“Ari,” Charlie whispered, tightening his hold on her. “Breathe.”
With a shudder, she sucked in crisp, metallic air and nodded wanly at Jai as they approached.
“Everything OK?” her guardian asked quietly.
“It will be,” Charlie replied and he said it with such conviction Ari almost believed him.
Feeling better, Ari slipped her hand from his and got into the SUV. The guys followed suit, Jai driving.
The car was filled with a heavy silence as they drove back towards town. The Sandford Ridge cemetery was on the southern outskirts of town and instead of taking the main route back in, Jai decided to lose the other mourners and take the quiet highway running between Fairmont Woods and pull back into Sandford at the northwest end. The road stretched before them in dreary emptiness and Ari had to shake herself out of her morbid thoughts. She watched the woodlands pass them by and listened to Charlie squirm a little in his seat. She was making the guys uncomfortable, but she really couldn’t care less right then.
“What the…?” Jai’s quiet question brought her head up to the front windscreen. A few yards up ahead across the road, a thick fog had gathered and appeared to be moving towards them at a speed that seemed abnormal.
“What’s going on?” Charlie asked, taking the question right out of Ari’s mouth.