Forsaken (Book #1)
Chapter Twenty-Seven

I had been so, so relieved that I had gotten Cassie to go shopping with me. I had known that it would mend things between us. With all of the supernatural craziness in my life I needed some semblance of normalcy. The shopping trip went smoother than I would have expected.

Cassie was undoubtedly still mad at me but at least she was talking to me now. I held up one of the costumes that the store had. It was a self-proclaimed sexy angel costume, but Cassie shook her head wrinkling her nose. I looked at the costume and put it back on the rack. It was more slutty than sexy.

“How about this?” Cassie asked, holding up a demon costume.

“I thought you wanted me to be an angel?” I asked her with a wry smile.

“Oh I did, but all of the good angel costumes are gone.” Cassie said her tone a little biting. “Try it on.”

I stared at the costume with distaste. It wasn’t something that I would have picked out for myself, and the colors were awfully dark. Nonetheless I took it and reluctantly headed into the changing room. I changed as quickly as possible and frowned as I looked at the mirror.

I looked horrible. Well, I didn’t look horrible but I didn’t think I looked great. The top was too tight and certainly emphasized my waist. It was black and the skirt was red with black lace. It flared out but the skirt was way too short for my comfort.

“So?” Cassie called. “Let me see, let me see.”

Reluctantly I stepped out of the changing room a frown on my face.

“You don’t look bad.” Cassie murmured, tapping her chin with her forefinger. “I mean you don’t look super-hot or anything but you don’t look bad.”

“So, you’re saying I have to try on more costumes.” I said looking less than enthused.

Cassie nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

I tried an innumerable amount of costumes from zombies to fairies; even a pirate costume or two. None of the costumes were working and Cassie quickly grew annoyed. I just shrugged it off and told her that I would figure something out. She wasn’t pacified, and we left the store silently. Cassie was silent on the drive back to her house. She never said a word and even though I wanted our relationship to be mended I quickly grew annoyed with her.

So we hadn’t found me an outfit for her Halloween party. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Maybe a long time ago I would have thought it was a mildly big deal, but after we graduated from high school this wouldn’t really matter. None of the parties we went to or the outfits we wore would matter once we left high school. So for Cassie to be that upset with me because I didn’t already have an outfit and because we weren’t able to replace one today was absolutely ludicrous.

However I didn’t say anything to her. She was already extremely bad at me, and I didn’t want to damage our friendship any further. We pulled into the driveway of Cassie’s four story house. She grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder and opened the car door.

“You better replace an outfit for my party,” was all she said to me before she was out of the car and walking into her house.

I watched her go sadly. How had our friendship become like this? When had she turned so vain? Before, she had never really acted like this. At least, I hadn’t noticed. But now she was mean and so obsessed with one’s physical appearance. I laid my forehead on the cool glass of the window, watching as we drove back to my house.

The roads had become slick with moisture, and it was snowing heavily. It was supposed to snow every day for the next two to three weeks. I watched the snowflakes drift towards the ground and a sigh escaped my lips. Every snowflake was unique, not one looked alike and they were all celebrated for their uniqueness.

People weren’t. We were supposed to conform and be like everyone else. I think that’s why my friendship with Cassie was forever changed and wouldn’t be the same. I was different than she was. For starters, I wasn’t even human and I was involved in a world that she would never be able to be a part of. I was unique, and if Cassie knew what I really was I would be ostracized.

Subconsciously I already had known this. That was why it was so easy for me to withdraw from Cassie and draw closer to Grayson, Elysia and even Lucian because they were different too. No matter how much I wanted Cassie and I to go back to how we used to be, that wouldn’t be possible.

Everything had been changed and we’d never be able to go back to the way that we were. I should have been sad about that. But I wasn’t. I was happy that we wouldn’t be able to go back to the way that things had been before. I had changed for the better because everything around me had suddenly changed.

Things were better now. Hectic and most of the time life-threatening, but still better.

* * * * *

As soon as I arrived home I collapsed onto the couch, rubbing at my temples. I could feel a headache starting to form and I wanted nothing more than to just go to bed and sleep it off. But I did have training in a few minutes, so reluctantly I sat up. I ran a hand through my hair, and eventually stood up.

I grabbed my coat off of the rack and sullenly headed to the gym for training. I’d rather be doing anything else but Halloween was coming up and I needed every edge that I could get.

Training was…interesting to say the least. Anais was there, and with her appearance there was a lot of tension. She would interfere in the fights between Grayson and I, when she felt like we were getting too close and too intimate. I rolled my eyes after she blasted us apart for a sixth time and sighed.

“Anais, you need to stop doing that.” Grayson said sternly. “Calla needs to learn how to break out of a hold like that. You aren’t helping.”

“I’m sorry,” Anais said in faux sweetness. “I just…it seems so intimate and it’s making me uncomfortable.”

“If it makes you uncomfortable then get out,” I said harshly.

Anais sniffed, her eyes glistening with tears. Grayson just ignored her, intent on continuing with my training. He darted towards me, feinting to the left and then striking at my right. I dove to the side, hurriedly bringing up a blade to parry his blow as he aimed a strike at my chest.

He overpowered me and I stumbled backwards, my swords a blur as I did my best to parry and dodge his blows. Since my training had first begun I had only beaten Grayson a handful of times, and even when I did beat him I had this sneaking suspicion that it was because he wasn’t really trying.

As Halloween had grown closer though, our sparring had grown more brutal. Often times I would come home with bruises littering my body and – rarely – cuts. I ducked. Grayson’s blade whistled over my head and then I was straightening back up, stabbing at him.

He didn’t move quickly enough and the blade pierced his skin. Our sparring halted and Grayson pulled the blade out with a wince. Blood dripped down onto the floor and I looked away feeling a little lightheaded.

“We can keep going.” Grayson said. “I’m all healed.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, hesitantly taking my blade back.

“I’m fine Calla.” He reassured me. “Now, can we continue?”

I nodded. The sparring began anew, but I noticed that throughout it all I was holding back. Stabbing him had been a fluke that I knew but I didn’t want to risk it happening again, so I was taking precautions. Grayson quickly grew annoyed, and after he knocked me to the ground and cut my cheek that was all it took for me to start sparring for real.

By the time we finished it was dark outside and both of us were covered in sweat. I carefully wrapped the blades in the silk and placed them in the container that had been lying in the corner of the room.

“You’re doing well Calla.” He murmured. Then he laughed, “I say that a lot but it is true. You are doing better than I actually expected you to and I am a little more at ease. I have more confidence in your abilities.”

“You didn’t before?” I questioned him, closing the container.

“No.” Grayson said quite bluntly. “I believed that you might eventually be able to stop the Afterdark but when we first started training that belief dwindled. You knew nothing about handling a blade, although you did well. Training with you has been tougher than I ever thought it would be. But now, I believe that you will be able to do it.”

“Well I’m glad that you believe I can do it.” I said. “I think you’re one of the few that do.”

“Other people do too,” Grayson attempted to reassure me. “They just aren’t vocal about it, and those that aren’t haven’t seen the incredible progress that you’ve made.”

“Well I hope that I am able to live up to those expectations.”

“You will.” He sounded confident. “You’ll stop the Afterdark, Calla and Darya won’t be summoned.”

I wished that I could be as confident as he was. I knew that with my training I was more than ready but I couldn’t help but feel like the Afterdark may have something up their sleeves. Something that we could never have anticipated and that I just wouldn’t be ready.

Of course, that could just be my self-doubt talking. Either way I was determined to do my best and keep them from summoning Darya.