Boy, did we have something to talk about.
"She shouldn’t expect you to train her!" I said, stuffing my face with potato chips, and trying to slurp down Dr. Pepper at the same time.
"Yeah, but according to her, she dreamt Kara told her that someone was after her. If she didn’t start fighting, they find her and kill her."
"And you believed that?" I said, laughing.
"Oh Please! I don’t know if you’ve just been ignoring Rachel all this time,
or what, but Rachel will do ANYTHING to get her way, even if it means lying
to her-" I paused, then
raised my voice to a shrilly level. "Special
friend," He rolled his eyes at me. I started choking with laughter, causing
Dr. Pepper to come up my nose. Tobias burst out laughing. Suddenly, Jake
opened the door, then surveyed the scene.
"Marco, Marco, Marco," he said, piteously. "C’mon you guys, we promised we meet the girls at the mall, remember????"
"Oh yeah," I mumbled, pushing myself off the mess that was Tobias’s living Room Floor. "I’ll be right out…"
A few minutes later, we entered the mall,
and made our way to the food court. Rachel was sitting with Cassie in a
table by the corner, drinking a smoothie. Cassie was shaking her head and
laughing. Then she caught site
of Jake. She waved.
We joined them at the table. "What did you buy?" Tobias asked Rachel, looking at the bulging bags from various places.
"Some…stuff," she said tiredly.
Cassie laughed. "Too much stuff to name!" she said. "This is a first! Rachel’s tired of shopping!"
Rachel put on a face of mock horror. "No never!" she gasped, smiling. "I just kept having some bad dreams last night, that’s all." I saw Tobias go into a wiggy mode.
"What kind of dreams?" he asked cautiously. She waved her hands dismissing it.
"I’ll tell you later," she said. Suddenly, a new voice came out.
"Tobias?" it called. He turned around, then jumped out of his chair in shock.
"Vera?" he called. She grinned, then raced over and gave him a hug. A very LOOONNNNGG hug. I could see Rachel growing annoyed. They finally pulled away from each other.
"It’s so good to see you!" they both said at the same time, then cracked up.
She had to be one of the most beautiful
girls I’d ever seen. She had really looooonnnng brown hair that went to
her waist in ringlets. She had these sparkling blue eyes, and dimples.
She was fairly tall, and very, very
slender.
"What are you doing here," she asked, smiling at Tobias.
"I live here." He said simply. "This would be the other place I disappeared too."
"It really sucks that your aunt didn’t let you say goodbye," she said. "I’ve really missed you,"
"Oh cry me a river," I heard Rachel mumble under her breathe. No one else caught it.
She was pretty. But I knew Tobias. I trusted Tobias. Tobias loved me. He didn’t like Vera anymore than a friend. But still, I was hoping he would introduce me.
My prayers were answered. "Vera, I’d like you to meet my friends. Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Rachel." Suddenly, I felt really hot. It was like a burning. Tobias noticed, and turned away from Vera.
"You ok?" he whispered, kneeling down. I couldn’t answer him.
Flash! I fell back and sat back up again. I wasn’t at the food court. Instead, I was at a white room. Solid white, with low ceilings, and white, fluffy, overstuffed chairs. I’d been here before. Suddenly, Kara appeared.
"Hey!" she said, giving me a quick hug.
"Hey Kara," I said. She’d been visiting me a lot lately.
"Noticed Tobias hugging a new girl," she said, sitting down. I sighed, and plopped down.
"Yeah, but they’re just friends," saying it like I was trying to convince myself.
"Rach," she said, "My time is short. I can’t give you any advice. Some sort of rule or something. But I will tell you this. No one, is EVER who they say they are. Got it?"
Then FLASH..I was back at the food court.
"Is she o.k.?" Vera said, looking at me oddly. Tobias gave me his ‘was it my sister’ look. I nodded. He stood up.
"Well, Vera, I promised that Rachel and I would take a walk down to the river. I’ll talk to you later. We’ll get together. Do something." Then he grabbed my hand and moved towards the exit.
"Well," she said, stepping casually in his way. "I heard a new club is opening tonight. Maybe you and me should check it out?"
"Defiantly!" Marco spoke up. Vera smiled at him. "We’ll all be there," he said. She smiled again. Tobias smiled a hurried smile, then pushed met towards the door.
Finally, we burst out side into the nice crisp air. He took me a little ways out, then slowed down a little. I sighed, and plopped down.
"Sorry I ruined your ‘reunion ,’" I said as sweetly as I could manage.
"Don’t mention it," he said, sitting down next to me. "Are you o.k.?? I mean….I wonder if this War thing is the best for you."
"Of course it is!" I shrieked. Then I lowered
my voice. "Look Tobias, I feel like the witch of the year doing this to
you. I know you loved Kara. We all miss her. But you can’t let the fear
of me…ending up like Kara….make you
stop training me. I need you. This can’t
work without you. I know you miss her, but please, Do this for me."
He turned away, angry. "Rachel…." He started
but stopped to breathe in a deep breath. "I know you think I’m being selfish.
I know you think that I’m not doing this because I’m afraid you’ll end
up like Kara. You don’t know
the half of it. You think you have bad
dreams? Try being me!! I’m terrified to go to sleep every night ‘cause
all I see Is you." I smiled. "and I don’t mean that as a compliment," I
stopped smiling. "You always die. It’s like…reliving that night when you
got impaled, over, and over, and-"
"OK!" I shrieked. "I get it!"
I glanced at my watch. "Look," I said,
turning to meet his gaze. "I have to get going home. Are we going to the
opening of the new dance club tonight?" he nodded. "Good, meet me there
at 8:00. Ok?" He nodded. Then
he looked back at me.
"Later?" he said, standing up and pulling me up with him. I smiled.
"Later," I said, putting my arms around his neck and pulling him down to my level, and kissing him. He held me tighter, and kissed me back. We soon parted, and went our separate ways.
So trusting, so accepting. If my Leader Meww were still alive she’d scoff at how trusting they are.
I am also a child of war.
If Kara had been on Tetra when she died, it would be I who got the powers. Kara was to much of a hothead to give them to anyone up there. She would have just died. Then the forces of good (or bad as the case may be) would give me my birthright. But no…Kara HAD to be a good girl. She ran away and gave another girl MY powers. The powers I had wanted for so long. Now, if only I could find this girl and kill her.
Unlike Kara, however, My presence was not
erased from Earth. Tobias is living proof of that. I lived in an abusive
home. My father…well, let’s just say that if I ever got my powers, he would
be the first I’d kill. Tobias was
always there for me. So loving….so trusting.
I loved him very much. He loved me too, he just never admitted it.
Anyway, there I was, after Tobias left with Rachel, sitting down with all his "friends." There was something different about them. I could feel it. Tobias to…
Wait a minute! They knew who the War Princess was!! Perfect!
"It was nice meeting you!" I said sweetly.
I raced out the exit, thanking the heavens for my ability to read people.
All I had to do was gain the trust of the majority of them, then viola!
I had instant powers. I heard voices in the
woods.
I crept up behind them. It was Rachel and Tobias.
"Later?" he asked her, standing up and pulling her up with him.
She smiled. "Later," she replied, wrapping his arms around his neck. I felt a flash of something horrid go through me. He loved her. I could sense it. It made me sick to my stomach. Tobias was supposed to love ME!!
Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the girl Cassie. "Were you looking for something?" she asked, confused.
"Yes!" I said, standing up. "I was looking for my ring. Found it! Guess Now I can get out of here!" then turned and walked briskly away. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw her and the boy Jake holding hands. Then, a plan popped into my head. A plan that would not only get me what I want, but would destroy two people in the process.
I would attempt to have Marco, Tobias, and Jake fall in love with me.
‘That’s it’ I thought to myself. ‘I’m buying that girl a pager.’ Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Rachel?" I asked turning around. Nope, Vera. I’m sure my face dropped.
"Sorry to disappoint you," she said, picking up my facial expressions, and smiling her "Vera" smile. "I take it you are waiting for Rachel." She looked slightly hurt for a millisecond, but quickly gained her face. "Do you want to dance? I mean, who knows how long it will be until she shows up. It’s not like she looked like a responsible person." I looked at her strangely. I heard a song start up. A hauntingly errie tune filled the room. Suddenly, a male voice started singing.
"Now or never?" she offered, holding out her hand. I smiled.
"Why the heck not?" I said. "It’s not everyday I see a childhood friend." I took her hand and let her lead me out onto the dance floor.
"I had a dream last night, and it took
me like a dream," a voice started singing as Vera started moving. She was
almost like a cat when she danced. She moved gracefully and confident.
She was dancing really close,
actually way too close for my comfort.
"It was too the Montegues," it sang again, as she slipped her hands over my shoulders and started swaying more closer to me.
"John Wayne and Betty Davis,"
That’s when she started pressing up against me and rubbing her hands along my bad. "Hey," I said quietly, pulling her farther away from me. That didn’t stop her.
"And Juliet is up in heaven, with a pocket full of pills,"
"Don’t be a baby," she said still swaying.
"and Jesus drives to MEXICO to get her prescription filled I had a dream last night,"
She pulled me closer. "C’mon Tobias! We’ve
known each other forever!" I pulled away from her, turning towards the
door. Unfortunately, I went right into Rachel. A very annoyed Rachel, mind
you, with her arms crossed and
eyes glaring. I cursed under my breath.
This was going to be a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG night.
"Rachel," he said, like he’d half expected it. "Baby, listen,"
"Back room, NOW" I snapped, moving to the back room, hidden by a beaded curtain. He followed.
"Look," he said. "I know what it looks like, but you don’t understand-"
"Save your breath," I said, sighing, and
sitting on an unused pool table. "I know, You weren’t dancing. Only Vera
was. I saw you. Believe it or not, I do trust you sometimes." He smiled
at me. Then I knew why Vera hated me
so much. She was in love with him. She
wanted him to be smiling that way with her. Suddenly, my thoughts were
interrupted. Vera…
"If your girlfriends done bitching about you having a little fun," she said, annoyed, with a pointed look in my direction. "Then I was wondering if maybe you’d like to dance again?"
Tobias started to look annoyed, but I jumped in.
"Well, actually," I said, jumping off the
pool table and walking over to Tobias. "we were going back to my place.
My mom’s not home, and this place is soooo…." I stared at her disapprovingly
"well, hooch like. We were
going to watch movies instead." I smiled
at her, and took Tobias’s arm. He smiled that smile at me, and took my
hand and walked out the door. Vera put out her arm to stop me.
"Can I have a word with your ‘girlfriend?’"
she asked at him. He looked at me. I felt like really injuring her, so
I did the thing that I KNEW would kill her. I grabbed him by the back of
his neck, and pushed my whole body up
against him, kissing him very intensely.
I felt like smiling. I’d won this battle. I could feel the anger seeping
out of this girl. I finally pulled away.
"Meet me outside?" I asked. He smiled again and nodded. Then he left.
Vera watched him go a good few yards away, then slammed me back in a wall. I took it. It didn’t hurt.
"Listen, Sweetie," she said sarcastically.
"I don’t know what your trying to pull here, but as for me, I’ve got plans.
Mess them up….believe me, you won’t want to get in my way." I shoved her
hard. She landed on her back in
the middle of the floor, her long curly
hair flying. She sat back up on her elbows, glaring at me.
"Now you listen," I said cruelly. "If you
think for one second Tobias is ever going to love you, You’re out of your
league. I know more about him then you could possibly know. He never loved
you, isn’t ever going to love you,
and doesn’t love you now. I guess," I
said, looking her up and down. "He goes for girls with a little thing called
‘class’. Look it up in the dictionary. Maybe you could actually get a date!"
and with that, turned around and
left. I ran right into Jake.
"Oh hey!" I said, still high of the adrenaline of putting that girl in her place. "Tobias and I were just leaving, but Cassie should be here soon. Oh, and watch out for that Vera girl."
"Hey," she said casually. Suddenly a song began to play.
"Like…Anyone would be," Alanis sang.
"I am confused with your fascination with me,"
"Oh I love this song!" gasped Vera. She looked longingly out on the floor.
"You wanna dance?" I asked. It didn’t mean anything. I just could tell that she was lonely, and wanted to dance.
"Sure," she said, brightening up. We walked out on the dance floor, and started dancing.
Vera isn’t like a lot of other girls. Most girls would be shy and hanging back, but she was all over.
She slowly started going towards me, until I stopped dancing and let go of her.
"Jake!" I heard Cassie call across the floor. I turned. Suddenly, Vera grabbed my neck and kissed me, hard.
"What are you doing?" I shrieked, and pushed her lightly away from me. I turned to Cassie, who was staring wide eyed at me.
"Cas?" I asked her. She shook her head in disbelief, then turned and rushed out the door.
I cursed under my breath. Who did Vera think she was. I turned back to her, angry. She was no where in sight.
"But this…is not allowed…..Your uninvited," the song sang. I ducked out the door, and into the darkness.
"Cassie?" I called out to silence. All I heard was the patter of footsteps. No answer. "Great," I mummered to myself. No point in staying around here.
"Rach," he said, exhausted. "How many times do we have to go over this. I don’t love Vera."
"But you don’t hate her?" I asked.
He sighed, and plopped his head back on my couch. Then he clicked the remote, and the movie started playing again. "Watch the movie, Rach. Look. Leo’s about to drown again."
"Oh cry me a river," I mumbled under my breathe, sliding to the other side of the couch.
He clicked off the movie again, and slid over to where I was sitting. "Why are you over here?" he whispered in my ear, trying to pry my arms off the end of the couch, and around his neck.
"Wondering how thick your skull is," I replied, looking at him with my eye brows raised.
He sighed again. "Rachel!" he said, whining.
"If you’d just answer my question…" I said.
"Fine!" He practically shrieked. "I cannot
hate Vera! Ok? You happy? She was the only friend I ever had for a long
time. Yes, I love her like a sister! But she’s not you! You’re the
one I think about all the time, not her. She
may want me, but I don’t want her!!" He
was getting mad. I was madder.
"So, let me get this straight." I said. "You mean to tell me, that after threatening me, attempting to break us up, AND making me so mad at you I can barely stand it, You STILL care about Vera?"
He threw his arms up in sign that he was
done with this argument. He stood up. "Look!" He yelled. "I’m tired of
you over reacting! My God! Vera was right! We were just dancing! You’re
blowing this whole thing out of size. Deal with it, Rachel! I’ve done what
you asked me to! I’m training you! Isn’t that what you want! I sure as
heck hope it is, because it makes me physically sick to my stomach every
time I think about how I’m just
building you up for your death. I’m allowed
to have a little fun here and now! Jeez! If you had shown up on time, none
of this would have happened in the first place!"
I felt like I had been slapped. I stood up, barely containing my rage. "Get out!" I screamed at him. "If you have the nerve to sit here and tell me it was all my fault that your best friend is a slut, GET OUT!" He glared at me, then walked briskly towards the door.
"Fine!" he called over his shoulder, slamming
the door behind him. I fell down on the couch and hit the pillows. Suddenly,
I heard a door timidly open. Cassie peeped around the corner. She looked
like I felt, miserable. I
motioned for her to come in.
"Rach, I heard your argument with Tobias-"
I cut her off. "I know, I know," I said dismissing it with a wave. "I’m over reacting,"
She chuckled. "I actually think your not doing enough about it," she said. "You’re right about Vera. Something’s just not right about her. She seems really…" she trailed off. She didn’t have to finish. I knew what she saying.
"So," I said, grinning inspite of myself. "What are we going to do about it?"
Cassie smiled slowly. "I was thinking we go play Buffy and trail her." She said. I laughed.
"Great!" I said. "Just let me go change into my training outfit. This would be the perfect time to test my skills!" Cassie’s smile dropped.
"Are you sure Tobias wouldn’t mind?" she asked. That made me shiver. Tobias and I had never had an argument before. This was harder on me then I let known to everybody.
"The heck with Tobias!" I said, forcing a smile on my face. Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and ready to kill.
"Black is a wonderful thing," I said to Cassie as we walked along the sidewalk to the dance club.
She laughed. "You look like Buffy!" She
said. I guess I did kind of. I had solid black Adidas stretch pants with
a black hooded sweater over it. I had the hood up. All and all…I was burning
up. But still, one of the things
Tobias always stressed was keeping my
identity a secret.
"So Cassie," I said, making conversation. "You know why I hate Vera so much. What’s your story?" She went silent for a moment.
"I caught her dancing and kissing Jake," she said painfully. I cringed. Oh, Vera had it coming.
"I’m sure she was kissing him," I said at last. "He wouldn’t have kissed her back."
"Oh!" she said, surprised. "I knew that. But I knew if she’d hit on Jake, she’d sure as heck hit on Marco and Tobias. Think about it. Three against two. It’s almost like she wants to win the majority of the hearts."
"Well, what about Ax?" I asked.
"Ax wasn’t with us. "Full House" reruns were on. He said he was fascinated with the behavior."
I laughed. Suddenly, I heard a noise. I ducked behind some bushes, and pulled Cassie down with me.
"What is it?" she whispered to me. I pointed.
Out strolled Vera. A few boys looked her way, and whistled. I rolled my eyes. She smiled at them, and kept walking. When she reached the corner, she looked around, and disappeared into the trees behind us.
"C’mon!" I whispered to Cassie, pulling her behind me as I crept up.
Cassie was distracted. "I’ll stay here," she said at last. "You follow her," I didn’t have time to argue. I raced into the woods.
"Hey," I said quietly.
He didn’t meet my gaze. "Hey," he said, miserably into his hands. I leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"I’m not mad," I said. He breathed in a deep breath of relief.
"Thank God!" he said, pulling me into a hug. Then he pulled away, keeping me at arms length so he could look in my eyes. "I promise you Cassie! Vera didn’t mean anything by it! She came up to me after you left, and said how sorry she was. She said I reminded her of her old boyfriend. It was an impulse. She was practically crying.
I felt a sharp pain of anger go through me. Now Vera was lying. I didn’t let it show to Jake though. I kept smiling.
"I’ll walk you home?" he offered. I smiled and nodded. Then hand in hand, we started our walk home, staring at the peaceful night sky. But I was still angry.
"I just remembered!" I said suddenly. "Rachel
and I were going to have a sleep over tonight. You can drop me off at her
house," I was halfway telling the truth. I wanted to be first to know when
Rachel got home. There was
something going on. It’s as if the boys
were blinded by it. Vera was out to get people. She wanted to get into
their hearts so she could get some information. Then I got the strangest
feeling of déjà vu. It was like…when I
was seeing Kara’s memories projected.
I could sense she was evil. I shrugged it off. I would tell Rachel about
it when she got home.
I reached my apartment, and went upstairs. I locked the door behind me. I plopped down on the couch, and switched on the TV It was some late night talk show. I glanced at the clock. It read 10:00. My gosh. So much time had past. I leaned my head up against the back of the couch and fell asleep.
She went through the woods at a fast pace. Not fast enough where I was having a hard time keeping up…but quickly. Suddenly, a building came into view. I recognized it as the Granite Building, or the back of it, anyway. She knocked three times on the door, looking around to see if anyone was looking. Suddenly, the door opened, and Vera slid inside. The metal door closed behind with a clunk. I scanned the building for any visible entrances.There were no windows open, so I couldn’t morph bird and fly in. ‘Hmm,’ I thought. ‘I wonder if they have air conditioning in this place," I could easily get through the vents. I quickly talked myself out of that idea. The only way I could get into the vents without being noticed would be if I was inside. I sighed. It was getting colder out and I was tired. I was getting impatient. This was all Vera’s fault! If she hadn’t of interfered with Tobias and I, NONE of this would have happened.
"The heck with this!" I muttered under my breath. I went around to the side, found a room with the lights off, and broke a small hole in the glass of the window. From there, I reached my hand in, and felt for the lock. I was soon able to get the window open, and crawl in. It was really risky. If I told Jake what I did, he’d probably yell at me. That wasn’t my main concern right now.
I found the air conditioning pipe, and squeezed my way up into it. I had no idea where I was going. Suddenly, a loud thought speak voice boomed.
< Vera! > It called. I gasped. Visser three! I went to the nearest vent opening, and peered down into it.
Vera was sitting in a chair looking really mad and bored at the same time. Visser Three was pacing around her, his Andalite tail raised high in dignity. I felt happy in spite of myself. Vera was a yeerk!
< Vera! > He said in delight. I saw her roll her eyes.
"no I haven’t caught the princess yet," she said, sarcastically. He looked annoyed. What did she mean by princess.
< My sources have told me that you have been fooling around with these primitive- >
"Hey!" she said, sitting up in her chair. " Watch it pal. I am one of those "primitive" humans. Deal with it,"
Visser Three shook his tail a little bit.
< Be thankful, human, > he said, annoyed. <That you are immune to
yeerks. If I could infest you, I would. But, if you put my mission in danger,
then I will personally destroy you
myself, >
Vera rolled her eyes, obviously not afraid. "Bite me," she said. Visser Three then removed the head of the statuette sitting on a desk.
< Find the warrior princess, then destroy her! I have enough to worry about with these Andalite bandits. I do not need another…. Thing….possessing the power to morph!! >
"Consider it done," she said, in a low, silky voice. I started crawling again.
I made it safely outside, and ran into the woods. I ran all the way home. When I got there, I explained everything I heard to Cassie.
"What do you think we should do?" I asked her. She stared off into space for a minute. "Maybe tell Tobias?" I offered. Just then, the phone rang. Rachel went over and picked it up.
"Oh hi!" she said, with as much of a bright
tone as she can manage. "uh-huh, she’s here." She gave me the phone, and
mouthed the word MOM. I groaned, realizing I had completely forgotten to
tell my mom where I
was.
"hi, mom," I said. My mom didn’t waste any time.
"Why didn’t you call?" she asked. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I glanced at the clock, and groaned. 11:30. A lot of time had gone by.
"I’m really sorry, mom. It’s just, Rachel and I got caught up in something, and I just forgot to call."
"I want you home now!" she said. "you’re father and I are worried SICK!" I sighed, said I’d be right over, and hung up the phone.
"I take it you can’t stay," Rachel said, laughing. I smiled.
"Rachel…is it just me, or have I gone crazy. We have to save the world, keep our boyfriends, and be home by twelve." Rachel laughed again.
"Cas," she said. "You’re starting to sound like Marco," I laughed.
"Later," I said, standing up, and walking through the door.
Fifteen minutes later, I walked through the door. I got a lecture from my parents, then was sent up to my room. I closed the door behind me with a thunk, and dropped down on my bed. I was so tired.
"Well, Well, Well," a voice came up beside
me. Shocked, I sat straight up. I found myself looking at Vera. "Is the
poor girl tired?" I just stared at her, wide eyed. I couldn’t scream, then
my parents would just come running. I
couldn’t put them in danger. Suddenly,
Vera pulled a baseball bat from behind her back. I suddenly fell into darkness.
That’s what found me channel surfing that night. Nothing good was on. I finally found an old Monster Truck show, and decided to watch that. Suddenly, I heard a light tapping at the door.
I got up and opened it. It was Vera. She looked like she had been crying.
"Can I- I come in?" she asked. I nodded, and pushed open the door.
"I’m so sorry to bug you like this, I mean, I know you don’t know me at all, but I had to talk to someone, and I could tell you wouldn’t judge me." I nodded, concerned. What was going on?
"Rachel…she threatened me!" she said, showing me a big bruise on the side of her head. "Tobias and I were dancing when she was late, and then she punched me! I don’t think she’s stable! She has to be stopped,"
"Are you ok?" I asked, reaching out and touching the bruise. She shrank away.
"It’s odd," she said, looking away, tears brimming in her eyes. "I don’t bruise that easily. Rachel doesn’t look that strong,"
I laughed. "Rachel’s very…different," I said. "She’s a lot more than what she looks like," Vera watched me very closely. It started to make me feel uncomfortable.
"Rachel’s gone insane," I said again. "Punching you like that. Where is she now?" Vera shook her head.
"I have no idea. She stormed out, dragging Tobias with her."
"Oh, then they probably went back to his place. Or if not, Rachel might have gone to Cassie’s."
"Where are both of those places?" she asked. "I really need to talk to Rachel and Tobias, to make sure they don’t hate me."
I nodded, and told her the addresses. She smiled, thanked me, and walked out the door. Just like that. Something in the back of my mind told me that Rachel would never do something like that. I really didn’t care though. At that point, I figured Rachel to be insane.
I went up the rickety stairs, and knocked on the door. It took him a few minutes to open the door.
"Oh," he said. "It’s you," I was about to start screaming at him, but refrained from it.
"Can I come in?" I asked him. He shrugged, but moved out of the way so I could enter.
"Look," I said. No time in wasting the point. I was still really mad at him, and didn’t want to be in here longer than I had to. "You’re friend Vera, she’s not who she says she is. I mean, when I talked to her at dance club, she threatened me, so I of course pushed her. Then when I followed her-" suddenly, another voice interrupted mine.
"See, Tobias," another voice said. Vera! I felt my heart drop. What was she doing here? "I told you she was lying. She’s mentally unstable," I stood up.
"What the heck are you doing here?" I snapped, and shot a furious stare to Tobias. He just glared at me.
"She’s telling me the truth, Rachel," he said. "She told me how you threatened to kill her."
"But I didn’t!" I shrieked. "Tobias! Come on! You know me better than this!" He looked away. Suddenly, I lunged for Vera. She grabbed a lamp, and hit me on top of the head. I fell away into a black unconsciousness.
"Cassie?" she asked. "How did you get here?"
"Vera," I said, darkly. I’m normally not judgmental, but when someone attempts to steal your boyfriend, then knocks you out, it’s kind of hard NOT to hate them."
"Are you o.k.?" she asked.
"Yeah," I sighed. "other than the fact I’m cold, tired, and hungry, plus will be grounded till I’m thirty if I’m not home by the time my parents check on me. How are you doing,"
"Horrible," Rachel said, clearly miserable. "She turned Tobias against me." I couldn’t believe it! Tobias?
Just then, we heard a voice. Tobias’s.
"Are you sure you can handle this? I mean, I agree with you, we should keep her tied up until we can talk to her calmly, but you can let me see her."
"No!" Vera said anxiously. "I mean, just seeing you is going to make her mad again. Then she might break the chains. That girl is really strong!" Tobias nodded.
"So, I’ll leave now. Good luck!" And with that, he was gone.
Vera smiled, and walked back in the room
with us. "Well, Well, Well," she said, smiling. "I guess now I get rid
of two problems with one strike! I was going to hold you two hostage because
you knew about me, but in the
meantime, I happened to find the princess,
another big problem of mine. Now, I get you two out of the way, my powers,
AND," she shot a look over to Rachel. "Tobias," Rachel just glared at her.
"Tobias doesn’t love you," she said like she was trying to convince herself. "He loves me," Vera just laughed.
"Do you think that? You’re a fool. You’ve been giving me a lot of trouble, Rachel. Those powers should be mine. I didn’t see it at first, but I slowly began to figure it out."
"How?" she asked.
Vera smiled her evil smile. "Number one, No other girl could have shoved me like you did. Number two, You were just muttering about Kara in your sleep." Rachel looked mad.
"You’re not going to get away with this," I snapped. "Jake will find out. He won’t let this happen. You can kill us, but you’ll die in return," I don’t know what possessed me to say that.
"Killer with a conscious? My goodness!" Vera laughed. "Hate to break it to you little girl, but I’ve won. There’s nothing you can do while your chained up."
Then Rachel interrupted. "You think your such a good actress, but your really not."
"I’m obviously better than you give me credit for. I’ve fooled the majority of your little group."
"You didn’t fool us!" I pointed out.
"But I’ve fooled you for a long enough time for me to strike. I guess I am a good actor after all,"
Then a new voice spoke up. "But not quite as good as me." Suddenly, Tobias stepped up.
"Tobias!" she said, "What are you doing here?"
I glared at her. "Save it, Vera," Suddenly, Jake stepped out of the other side of the room.
"Joke’s over" he said, then went over, and untied Rachel and Cassie, giving Cassie a brief hug.
Vera looked like she was going to pass out. "Tobias! Come on! This is for the best! Rachel’s a killer!"
"Give it up, Vera!" I snapped. "I know
Rachel better than you can ever imagine. She would do something like that,
but she wouldn’t lie about it. Sooner or later, she’d come to me with it.
Then, theres the fact you tied up
Cassie too. I mean, Cassie would NEVER
do anything like that."
"She just did!" Vera exclaimed. Cassie looked sick, and turned away.
Suddenly, Vera attacked Rachel. She lunged
at her, grabbing a knife she had laid on the table. Rachel ducked out of
the way, tripping Vera in the process. She spun around on her back, then
kicked her legs up, jumping up.
Vera slid, and tried to trip her. Rachel
jumped over her legs, and then jumped back until she was five feet away
from Vera. Vera kicked herself back up, and lunged at Rachel. Rachel grabbed
the arm with the knife, twisted it, and made Vera’s arm twist with a satisfying
crack.
I laughed softly. "That’s my girl Rachel,"
I said, staring at Vera, who was now screaming in pain, and holding her
arm. Rachel stood back with the knife, far enough where Vera couldn’t do
anything, but near enough if she
decided too.
I walked over to Vera, and crouched down to her eye level. "If you ever come NEAR Rachel-"
"or Cassie!" Jake interrupted.
"Or Cassie," I said. "I will personally end you myself, you got that?" I said harshly.
Vera just stared up at me. "We should have been together Tobias." Then she stood up on shaky legs.
"Be seein’ ya’!" she said to Rachel. "But just a warning, I know where you live. I will come after your family." With that she was gone.
"Do you think it would be all right, If I just crashed hear tonight,"
I sat straight up in my chair. I could
go live with Tobias. Trick everyone into thinking I was dead. Tobias and
I could morph some police officers, go tell my mom that they had thought
they found my body after I run away.
Maybe, one day, I could return home, after
all this matter was solved. As much as irked me, I knew I had to do it.
"Rachel!" My mom called, jarring me out
of my thoughts. "Sweetie, It’s time for dinner." I closed my eyes tightly,
forced a smile on my face, and went down to eat dinner. After dinner, for
the first time in ages, I helped with
the dishes. That night, before I went
to bed, I gave my mom a kiss and told her how much I loved her. I know
that surprised her. Then, I went upstairs, packed my things, wrote a note
saying that I was going to live with dad, and left.
At that point, I hated Vera more than Visser 3. She was going to cause Rachel so much pain.
She got calm in a few minutes, and we sat down on the couch. "Jake and I will morph the officers tomorrow," I told her. "I don’t think you could really handle it. " She nodded.
She just laid her head on my shoulder, and closed her eyes. I switched on the radio next to me. A song came on, as they often do on radio’s.
"You are… my fire,"
"my one…desire,"
"and I…don’t wanna hear you say,"
"I want it that way,"
Rachel started crying again, which concerned me cause she rarely ever did.
"Tell me why,"
"ain’t nothing but a heartache"
I closed my eyes. "It’s o.k." I whispered.
"You are….my fire. My one…desire…and I don’t wanna hear you say…"
"I want it that way,"