Anew

58

Scarlet was drawing on a paper towel when Gabriel entered the cabin with a guy she’d never seen before.

“Hey.” Gabriel smiled and walked over to where Scarlet sat at the kitchen counter. He pulled her into his arms and started kissing her all over.

Relieved he was home, Scarlet started laughing. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing.” Gabriel pulled back from her slightly, looking at her eyes with interest, followed by a look of relief. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Oh, and I totally forgot to ask you something very important.”

“What?” Nervousness shot through her.

Great. More life-and-death curse stuff.

Gabriel gave her a cheesy smile. “Will you go to the winter formal dance with me?”

Flooded with relief, Scarlet laughed. “No.”

“What? Come on. I haven’t been in high school for years. It’ll be so much fun.”

“It will not be fun. It’ll be lame. And full of dancing people.” She smiled. “I don’t dance.”

“Oh, but you do dance.” He wagged his eyebrows. “I happen to know for a fact that you, Scarlet Jacobs, are a dancing machine.”

She laughed again. “Is that right?”

“It is.” The guy standing next to Gabriel nodded. “I’ve totally seen it.”

Scarlet raised her eyebrows as Gabriel moved to the side. “Scarlet, I’d like you to meet Nathaniel Fletcher.”

Nathaniel was a goofy-looking fellow, with thick hair matted on one side of his head like he’d just woken up, and a haphazard outfit thrown against his body.

He had no fashion sense whatsoever.

Scarlet immediately liked him.

Nathaniel held his hand in the air. “Good to see you, girl! High-five!”

Scarlet awkwardly high-fived him. “Do we…know each other?”

“Yep. You just don’t remember me. But no worries. I’m super awesome and you’re gonna love me.”

Scarlet laughed. “Okay.”

“Anyway. So, your answer is…yes? You’ll go with me to the dance?” Gabriel nodded emphatically.

She shook her head with a smile.

“Pleeeeease?” He started kissing her all over again.

After being stuck in the cabin with Tristan and his broodiness, Scarlet was grateful Gabriel had come back in such a cheery mood. She needed happiness.

“Okay, okay, fine.” Scarlet laughed again. “I’ll go with you. But only if you stop slobbering on me like a puppy.”

Gabriel immediately leaned back and threw his hands in the air. “Ha! Victory.”

“You are such a nerd.” Scarlet shook her head with a smile.

“I’m a nerd with a date to formal.” Gabriel said proudly.

“High school dances. Yay.” Tristan walked into the kitchen, bringing his dark mood with him, and greeted Nathaniel. “What’s up, Nate?”

“What’s up? Well, I’m supposed to be in my cave right now but, apparently, you guys had another one of your ‘emergencies’.” Nate shook his hands in the air, like an intruder in Scarlet’s house was frivolous.

“The cave’s no good for you, Nate. You’ll thank us later.” Tristan stood next to Gabriel.

Seeing the twins beside one another, Scarlet’s heart squeezed. Nothing had changed in their appearances; they were both still ridiculously attractive. But, as she looked at them side-by-side, Scarlet’s soul screamed for the green-eyed brother.

Which made her a traitor.

What is wrong with me?

Tristan’s eyes shot to hers and she instantly looked away.

“Tell us more about the Head Ghost.” Tristan looked at Nate and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I’m sorry…‘Head Ghost’?” Scarlet looked around questioningly.

“The black object Tristan commandeered from your intruder is called a Head Ghost,” Nate explained.

“Commandeered? Really?” Tristan lifted a brow.

Gabriel said, “It’s a device designed to draw out memories from the brain. We believe your intruder intended to capture either some, or all, of your memories. Most likely, any memories pertaining to the fountain, or the curse…maybe even about us.”

Nate pulled the black band out of his backpack.

Scarlet swallowed. “Can that really be done? Does that…thing really work?”

Nate nodded. “Oh yeah. I’ve been hearing about Head Ghosts for a few years now. Pretty high-tech stuff. Really only moved underground. See this thing?” He pulled the tiny, sharp crystal from the band. “This is actually a very tiny syringe, holding a sleep serum.”

“Creepy,” Scarlet said.

Nate nodded. “Yeah, well. It’s useful. You can’t put the Head Ghost on a sleeping person and expect them to just surrender their memories to you. You have to put them into a deep sleep first. The sleep serum is injected right behind the victim’s ear, like a shot.” He pointed to a spot just behind his left ear.

“Ouch.” Gabriel made a face.

Nate shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt—the needle point is too thin and sharp, see?” He held the crystal up so they could all look at it. “The victim immediately falls into a deep sleep and remains there for four-to-six hours—or until they’re given the antidote.”

Scarlet’s eyes bulged. “That guy was going to put me into a deep sleep for hours?”

“Probably,” Nate said. “But the antidote is right here,” he pointed to one end of the band where another crystal—a black one—was latched, “so, maybe not. Maybe he planned to pull you right back out of it. I dunno.”

Tristan rubbed the back of his neck as he exhaled.

Scarlet took a deep breath. “Okay, so what does that mean?”

“It means you’re in danger,” Tristan said.

Scarlet swallowed.

“It also means you probably have a memory—or memories—that someone wants.” Nate smiled weakly. “You don’t, by any chance, remember any juicy secrets that someone would be after, do you?”

Scarlet shook her head. “I wish. Trust me, no one wants to know what’s in my head more than I do.”

Nate nodded. “Well, then, we need to assume your perpetrator has every intention of coming back. Which means we need to keep you, and your memories, safe.”

Gabriel shifted his weight. “I think Scarlet should stay here with us until Laura gets back.”

Tristan paced to the far end of the kitchen. “No way.”

Wow.

“You’re a jerk.” Scarlet snapped at Tristan.

He shrugged.

Nate stepped over to Scarlet. “How have your eyes been? They look pretty healthy right now, but have you noticed any sparks in them lately? Any changes in color?”

Scarlet looked at him in utter confusion. “What?”

Nate raised his eyebrows and looked at Gabriel. “Please tell me you told her how her eyes change.”

Gabriel shook his head. “She was already freaking out about dying and I didn’t want to—”

“Dude.” Nate held his palms up. “That’s, like, an important thing to tell her. She needs to know.”

“I need to know what?” Scarlet asked, panic rising in her chest.

Nate came over and smashed both his hands against her cheeks, making her look like she had duck lips. He leaned in and stared at her.

So. Weird.

Scarlet froze. “Uh…what are you doing?” Her words came out distorted through her awkwardly-puckered lips.

“Looking at your eyes.” He used his thumb to pull down the skin below her right eye and examined her like she was a foreign creature.

“They look healthy.” Nate released her face and stepped back. “Tell me, Scarlet, have your eyes been burning lately? Have they felt hot?”

Scarlet rubbed her face where his hands had been. “Uh…no, not really.” She thought about it. “Well, maybe a few times. Like when I have flashbacks, or when….”

She remembered how her eyes felt hot when she was standing so close to Tristan in the kitchen the night before.

Tristan makes my eyes hot. Yeah, she wasn’t going to broadcast that.

Nate looked at her. “When what?”

Scarlet shook her head. “That’s it. Just when I have flashbacks. Why? What’s wrong with my eyes? Am I losing my sight?”

Wonderful.

Not only am I dying, but I’m going blind as well.

It’s like the curse that keeps on giving.

“No,” Nate said shaking his head. “You’re not going blind. You’re dying.”

Scarlet blinked at his bluntness. “I know.”

“And the closer you get to death, the weaker your heart gets. Over time, your eye color intensifies, indicating your heart is close to failing. So, your eyes will get brighter and brighter…until you die.”

Scarlet;s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”

Nate nodded.

She darted from the kitchen and into the hall bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.

The guys followed her.

She leaned in and looked at her irises closely. “Oh my g—they’re different. My eyes didn’t used to be this blue! They’re different now. They’re…weirder.” Her heart started to pound.

Tristan’s mouth tightened as he leaned into Gabriel. “I told you.”

Scarlet whipped her head around and looked at Nate. “What does this mean, then?” She pointed to her eyeball. “Am I almost dead? Could I die any second?” Her voice was rushed and high-pitched.

She was officially freaking out.

“No,” Nate said.

She calmed down a tad.

“But you are definitely going to die,” Nate continued.

She freaked out again.

“Unless we find a way to cure you.”

Scarlet looked at the three immortals in the bathroom with her. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go find that freakin’ fountain and cure me!” Scarlet nearly shouted, moving past the wall of boys and out into the hallway.

There was no time for bathroom pow-wows and paper towel doodles. Something had to be done. Immediately.

“It’s not that simple,” Nate said, following her into the living room.

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t know where to look. We can’t just pack up today and find the fountain tomorrow. I think our best bet is to come up with a new plan, and find a way to keep you safe and alive in the meantime.”

“I already have a new plan.” Tristan cocked his head to the said.

“Nobody likes your plan.” Gabriel didn’t look at his brother.

“Your plan sucks,” Nate agreed.

Scarlet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Who cares if a plan—any plan—sucks? Let’s just fix me! I could die any second.”

“Oh, no. You have at least a few weeks left. Maybe even months.” Nate nodded.

Through her teeth, Scarlet said, “That’s not very comforting.”

He dropped his head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But if you want to be healed, what we need to do is come up with a plan. I put a call in to one of my old contacts, looking for pictures of a recently-discovered map of the New World, so that might be a good starting place for us.” Nate looked at his watch. “I should hear back from him in the next few hours. Maybe then we can come up with a new search strategy. But for now,” Nate unzipped his backpack, “I need to set up my video games.”