Nocturnal (The Noctalis Chronicles 1)

We barely spoke to one another, but kept the purity of silence.

I made one trip back to tell her I would be gone. Smelled her one last time before I ran back to Ivan.

I thought about her. She stalked my every step. Those eyes. The sharpness that simmered under the fragile surface.

It took being away from her to realize it. I hadn't thought about her that way. Now I couldn't get it out of my head. I hated it, but couldn't stop it. I told her she had power, but she didn't believe me.

Eighteen

“We should go, it's almost ten forty-five.” Tex puts the last few touches on her costume. While the theme is White Trash, she can't resist covering herself in glitter, and she's covered me as well. I caved to her begging. Lack of sleep makes me such mush, I would have worn whatever she wanted me to.

I pull down my gold tube dress, wishing it covered more, and hoping that my underwear doesn't show. She's completely comfortable in her mini-skirt, fishnets and torn-up, stained tank top. Trailer Chic.

While she's busy with a last minute primp, I text Peter. I don't even know if he's going to answer. I haven't talked to him at all in several days. True to his word, he's been MIA. I've texted him here and there, but gotten nothing back.

Part of me worries that it's something I've done, but then I want to smack myself because it's so self-centered to think I could drive him away or do something that would make him that uncomfortable around me. Besides, he said it was a noctalis thing. Maybe he's a noctalis king or something and has duties he has to attend to. My phone buzzes with an incoming text.

Yes?

Oh, I hate how much my heart thumps and my hands tingle because of that one word. It's the first hint I've gotten that he's still breathing. Or whatever.

Im going 2 a party.

Oh.

I kno ur busy, but do u want to come? I send it before I can second guess myself. I look at Tex, who is trying to get her skirt to cover her butt and failing because it's too short. My hands shake a little bit as I wait for a response. I've already gotten bits of glitter in between the keys. Damn you, Tex.

Where? I fight a smile that might crack my face open.

I give him directions without hesitation, snapping my phone shut and pulling my dress down for the millionth time. God, I am reckless.

“Hey, do you mind if I invite Peter?” I look at Tex, primping her hair. She's used enough hairspray to put a decent-sized hole in the ozone layer. Hello, global warming.

“Who's Peter?”

“That guy... You know...”

She looks at me blankly. “Oh yeah,” she says as she slide a lip gloss wand over her lips. “I was waiting for you to bring him up.”

“I should probably warn you he's kinda weird.”

“Like Dungeons and Dragons weird or I-watch-you-when-you-sleep weird?” I have no idea if he watches me sleep.

“Neither. He's more like awkward weird.” I don't know how else to explain him. I fiddle with the top of my dress, trying to hike it up.

“I'll be the judge of that. If he's hot, the weirdness won't even matter.” She puckers once more, checking her teeth for lip gloss.

“Okay.”

Somehow we get into the car without any major wardrobe malfunctions. My hands keep sweating and I keep wiping them on my dress. I've been going through Peter withdrawal all week, which is nuts because I've only known him a few weeks. Somehow the cemetery isn't the same without him now, so I haven't been back.

Tex starts the car and I tense up immediately. My heart pounds the whole way to the party.

***

I have never seen so many cars crammed on one lawn before. I wonder what Chuck's parents will think when they come home. Would he tell them that some crazy hooligans had trashed the lawn doing donuts while he sat at home doing his homework like a good little boy?

Probably.

“So, where is this guy?” Tex says after she's extricated herself from the driver's seat with minimal underwear showage.

“I'm not sure. Hold on.” My phone slips in the combination of glitter and sweat from my palms. Gross. I wipe my hands on my dress. The dress and glitter are both gold, so it doesn't show.

Where r u?

Here. I look around, squinting in the dark and cursing my feeble human vision.

And there he is, wearing the same dirty clothes and no shoes. That might be a problem. My eyes make their way back up to his face. Disappointed, I see his hair is back in his eyes. At least he's here. That's what counts. I'm ridiculously happy to see him. I kinda want to hug him, but would cut my arms off before I did. I don't have to know anything about him to know he's not a hugger.

“Hello,” he says.

“Hey, Peter.” The words feel awkward in my mouth. This isn't going to work. Tex pinches my shoulder, a subtle sign for an introduction.

“Peter, this is my friend Texas. Tex, this is Peter.” No turning back now.

“It is nice to meet you, Texas.” She looks a little stunned. I wish I could be a fly in the corner of her mind to see how she had pictured him. Obviously different than the reality. I'll have to pick her brain later to find out how different.

“It's Tex. Nice to meet you, too.” She wraps her arms around herself instead of shaking his hand, which is kind of good, because he wouldn't have shaken her hand anyway. On the other hand, she's acting un-Tex like, looking oddly serious.

“I'm freezing, so I'm going in. You coming?” She's being exceptionally rude.

“Be there in a sec,” I say, looking at Peter. I feel like there's something else going on here than just Tex snubbing him.

“Okay.” She gives Peter a look like he's going to lunge at her, and then dashes into the pulsing house, nearly tripping in her heels.

“Sorry about that,” I say, shaking my head.

“Her reaction is normal. She senses what I am.” Of course he isn't offended, or at least he knows how to hide it.

“Is everyone like that? I mean, doesn't that make it hard to, um...” I don't finish. He knows what I mean.

“Not everyone is like that. She is more sensitive than most.”

“So she's got, like, noctalis radar?”

“That is one way to put it.” I stand there, hoping he'll say something about my costume. I shift from side to side so it sparkles in the lights from the porch.

“We should, um, go in,” I say, rubbing my bare arms. It really isn't that cold out, but I don't want to stand outside. He follows me as I walk up the steps, taking my time in the heels Tex shoved on my feet. We're the same size, which means I couldn't say no to them.

“I'll warn you,” I say as we walk across the porch, which shudders in time with the music blaring from inside, “Jamie's probably going to interrogate you.”