The Seven Wicked: First Page 3

  I tried to go for a casual, 'I could care less,' sort of a look as I lounged against the door frame. Letting a boy I'd never met into my apartment while I was home alone probably wasn't the best idea in the world, but again, Caleb just let off this vibe of being incredibly trustworthy. Luckily for me, he was.

  "Sure, I guess," I said as I stepped aside and gestured for him to enter. He came in quickly, checking over his shoulder yet again before I closed the door behind him. He licked his lips and glanced at the dead bolt before looking back up at me. I could tell he was too embarrassed to ask, but since I could see that he was visibly upset, I locked it. "We can sit in the living room," I said, leading him down the short, white hall that was still sadly bereft of any family photos, and into the nearly equally unadorned living room.

  "My, my parents just got a divorce," I said by way of explanation as I tried to block the screaming women on Jerry Springer from his view while I fished around for the remote. I turned it off quickly, hoping he hadn't seen, and sat on the opposite side of the couch, wincing as it squeaked in the awkward silence. "I wasn't really watching that," I lied, trying to jump start the conversation. His head jerked up with a start and he laughed. I flushed with pleasure at the light, airy sound of it. Here was a happy human being. No sulking teenager blues for Mr. Golden Hair. I could tell all sorts of things about him from his laugh, and they were all good.

  "Are you sure about that?" he asked me, almost coyly. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was flirting with me, I thought and tried not to blush.

  "Okay, so maybe I was watching a little but just to see if the man who raised me was really my biological father." We both laughed together and it felt nice, like we'd been friends forever, and then we were back to awkward, hand wringing silence.

  "I guess I should introduce myself," he said, adjusting a black leather belt spiked with tiny silver cones that I'd missed before. "My name is Caleb Reed." He scooted a few cushions closer to me and held out his hand. I smiled and took it gently, nibbling my lip as a little thrill spiked through my blood.

  "I'm Eevee, Eevee Marx," I said, pausing on a thought before venturing further. "Unless you ... unless you know that already?" His eyes widened for a second in confusion before he released my hand with a start and ran it through his thick hair.

  "Oh man, no, oh god. I didn't even think about how this would look. Okay," he scooted forward and grabbed both of my hands in his eliciting yet another spark of adrenaline in my blood. "I'm not like, a creepy stalker or anything. I didn't, I mean I still don't, know who you are." I raised an eyebrow at him which only seemed to make him more flustered. He continued on quickly, in true California talk, blurring his words together in his rush to get them all out. "I didn't even know your name until just now. I didn't even know your address, I just. I," he sighed and released my hands, running both of his through his hair this time. "This is just too screwed up." He glanced down at the pudding cup on the table before turning his minty eyes back to mine. "I really don't know how to say this, Eevee, but I, I didn't know what your address was, but I knew, I know, where you are." I blinked confused eyes at him. He wasn't making any sense.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked him, realizing suddenly that my skin was no longer clammy and I had stopped sweating. It was like Caleb was a balm to what ailed me.

  "I can sense you like you're on a radar in my head." He scrunched up his face like he expected me to hit him or something. "Ever since yesterday, ever since you touched the necklace, I've felt you. I was just walking to my sister's shop on Main, across from St. Vincent's when," He slammed the flats of his palms together for emphasis. "All of a sudden I feel this intense urge to look across the street and I see you, standing in the store. The longer you touched the necklace, and especially when you put it on, the feelings got stronger. Along with a whole lot of other things," he added under his breath.

  "Other things?" I said, feeling that cold tingle along my spine again. "What other things?" Caleb shook his head.

  "You are never going to believe me, Eevee. Never. Not a million years. I don't even believe me and I'm the one this is happening to." I picked up my dirty spoon and spun it around in my fingers for a couple of seconds before deciding to confide in him. He'd confided in me, and his story was way more nuts than mine.

  "Last night," I began, still not looking at him. "I went to The Quill. It's this fancy restaurant in midtown near the mall and when we pulled into the parking lot, I got this creepy feeling in my back like a ghost was running its fingers down my skin." I cringed at the memory of it. "And then, when we were eating, I was looking out the window near me and this weird shadow loomed up. I knew it wasn't a person or a dog or something because of the way it moved. It was inhuman." I dug around in my brain for a movie reference and snapped my fingers. "It moved like that girl in The Grudge." I imitated the jerking, stilted movements of the dead chick in the Japanese based horror flick.

  "The Scarecrow," Caleb said, eyes pale, open wide and afraid. "The First." I stopped imitating the movie since it was really amping up the fear factor in the room.

  "The Scarecrow?" I asked. "Like in the Wizard of Oz?" Caleb's hands were shaking now, his eyes glazing over in what we later came to refer to as his recollections.

  "No," he whispered, voice soft and weak. "Nothing like that." He wasn't looking at me but through me, his eyes unfocused and moist while he heard the voice of that ancient god who had started this game so long ago.

  "What's the matter?" I asked, scooting closer and placing a hand on his knee. He didn't respond for the longest time, and just when I had decided to get my cell phone and call an ambulance, he snapped out of it. He grabbed my wrist and stood up abruptly.

  "We have to get out of here, now!" he shouted, dragging me along the living room carpet. "Where's the necklace?"

  "Stop it!" I yelled back, struggling, confused. "What are you doing?" He released me and whirled around, grasping my shoulders.

  "Do you care about your family?" he asked me, face stern, voice serious.

  "Of course I care about my family," I responded in sulky tones, rubbing the sore spot on my wrist where he'd grabbed me just a little too roughly. "What kind of a stupid question is that?" His eyes were frantic now. He was silently pleading to me to listen to him, to trust him. But I couldn't do it yet. Not without a better explanation.

  "Then we have to get out of here, now." He enunciated the last word slowly for emphasis. "Can you write your parents a note or something? Just say you're off to a friend's house, school, whatever. You can even bring your cell phone if you want. Just don't forget the necklace."

  "I can't just do that, Caleb. I don't even know you, you're asking me to trust you and we just - " My words were cut off by his lips crushing mine. Caleb tasted like mint gum and pancakes and despite the frenzy of the situation, it was a sweet kiss, soft and gentle. And my first. I shoved him back against the door roughly and wiped a hand across my mouth. My body might have been excited by what he'd done, but I was pissed. "What the hell are you doing?" I screamed, backing away from him.

  He looked sad, not excited, not like a rapist bent on taking my virginity, but I still hit him. Caleb stumbled back against the door, clutching his chin with his left hand. I stood there, fuming, hands clenched at my side, ready to hit him again. I was angry, but like I said before, Caleb still didn't freak me out.

  "I'm sorry," Caleb said. "I had to do it, to release the magic inside of you in case they attack. I can sense the First nearby, can't you?"

  "What are you talking about?" I hissed back at him, but I could feel it. I could. The tingling in my spine had gotten a hundred times worse in the last few seconds. The shadow was moving closer. My stomach twisted and flip-flopped as I debated what to do. With the same certainty that I'd had last night, I knew Caleb was right. I couldn't stay here. "How long will we be gone?" I asked. He shook his head sadly. He had no way of knowing. I took a deep breath and decided.

  "Fine. Let me grab some extra clothes and s
tuff. Can I have two minutes?" Caleb nodded almost reluctantly and followed me down the hall and into my bedroom. I didn't bother emptying the duffel bag, just stuffed my frog pajamas and hair brush back into it and retrieved my toothbrush and toothpaste from the bathroom before grabbing my cell off of the desk along with its charger. I pulled the necklace out last, flashed the package to show him I had it (though at the time, I had no idea why he was so interested in it), and stuffed it in, too.

  Caleb was getting jumpier by the second and my shakes had started again, goose bumps rising on my arms like little warning signals. I slung the bag over my shoulder and let him lead me back towards the kitchen. I scrawled a quick note to my dad to tell him that I felt much better and that Melissa had come and picked me up after second period. I signed it with a promise to call and left it on the kitchen table before grabbing my keys off of the key ring near the door and locking it behind us on our way out.

  We made it to the elevator without any problems though each step I took seemed only to push the feeling of cold deeper into my bones. I slumped against the metal wall and waited silently while we pinged down to the bottom floor.

  "That didn't count as a kiss, did it?" It seemed like a stupid thing to care about, but I did. I had kind of imagined my first kiss as being with someone I'd known for more than one day. "I mean, since you were unlocking my ... " I couldn't even finish the sentence. How could I? He'd said magic. Magic didn't exist, much as I'd like it to.

  "Eevee, I have so much to tell you. So much." He turned back to face me and I cringed as I noticed the slight swelling in his lower jaw. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but you have to believe me. Your life depends on it." I nodded, my teeth chattering against the cold, and clutched the bag tightly against my chest as the doors of the elevator slid open.

  The lobby stretched before us, decked out in burgundy runners over creamy marble floors. Plants lined the wall in colorful glass pots, flanking the sliding glass doors that filled the room with the morning sunshine. It looked more like a hotel lobby than that of an apartment building. As usual, the check in desk was empty. There wasn't much of a need for it. Everything here was ordinary, safe.

  And in the center of it all, stood a creature straight out of my worst nightmare.

  "The Scarecrow," I whispered through frozen lips as it swung its perpetually grinning face around to meet us.

  The First of the Seven Wicked.

  Chapter Three

  The Scarecrow didn't really look like a scarecrow at all. If it hadn't been for the gleaming hoe clutched in one hand and the bits of yellow hay that peeked out from beneath its tattered brown shirt and trousers, I wouldn't have been able to figure out where the name had come from. It looked as if my Grandmother Dorothy had attacked her scrap basket and pieced together ragged, mismatched bits of fabric with looping, messy stitches and then stuffed them with ... Well, there was really no other word for the gray goop that oozed between the cracks in the Scarecrow's veiny skin other than guts. Glistening wet insides that crawled with the white bodies of maggots. The whole room was infected with the smell of rotten flesh and death. I might have thrown up had the entire contents of my stomach not been frozen solid.

  "C-Caleb," I chattered, my hands still clutching at my duffel bag as if it was some sort of life preserver. "What do we do?" He grabbed me around the waist with one arm, giving my body a welcome rush of heat, and leaned in close to my right ear.

  "We run." He pulled me along with him, and we took off down the side of the lobby towards the front entrance. A cackle resounded behind us, echoing back from the marble and intensifying until I felt like I was going to go deaf. The automatic doors opened just in time to let us pass through as we raced out into the parking lot. I didn't know where we were going or what I was supposed to do, so I followed along at Caleb's heels, resisting the urge to look back. If it was chasing us, I didn't want to know.

  Caleb stopped next to an early model Caravan in hunter green and threw open the side door. He pushed me in without warning and slammed it behind me. I sat up slowly, feeling slightly dazed, as I heard him pound the pavement around to the driver's side and climb in. The center seats had been removed, but the front captain's chairs and back bench seat were still in place leaving an empty center filled to near capacity with cases of water, boxes of canned foods, and suitcases.

  "Um, Caleb," I croaked before clearing my throat. "Is this going to be a long trip?" His attention was otherwise occupied and he ignored me as I was flung violently to the side of the van, slamming my head against the door as the wheels screeched around a corner and onto the street. I pushed my duffel bag out of the way and crawled between the front seats, hauling myself up and into the chair opposite his and buckling my seat belt.

  "Caleb?" I asked again, watching the beads of sweat trail down his sun kissed skin. "What the heck is going on?" He turned towards me briefly, green eyes full of fear but also determination.

  "I can't tell you everything," he said, breath coming and going in short, sharp gasps. "Since I still don't know it all yet but I'll try." We slowed at a red light and I watched as Caleb checked and rechecked the rear view mirror. "But first I want to get as far away from here as I can."

  "Where do you plan on going?" I asked him. "How do you know that thing isn't following us?"

  "First rule is, we never stop moving. Never. Maybe to sleep a little or get some gas but not for long stretches. It can't move as fast as we can driv,e but it doesn't ever have to stop to eat or sleep so it puts us at a disadvantage." I still didn't know what 'it' was, but I trusted that Caleb would tell me in time. At that moment, we were both so panicked that I hardly blamed him for leaving out crucial bits of information.

  "Caleb," I began again, but he interrupted me. Not because he was rude, Caleb was never rude, but because he felt like he needed to get out as much as he could in those few, short moments at the stoplight.

  "That's just the First," Caleb said, pausing to worry at his lower lip. "And it's only one of seven, Seven Wicked; we can't destroy any of the others until we destroy the First. They're immortal until we do, so it means he'll be the most eager to see you die." I clutched the fabric of my shirt in one hand and tried to make sense of what he was saying.

  "You mean there are more of those things?" I ventured, hoping I had just misunderstood what he was saying.

  "They're not all the same," Caleb said, grabbing a bottle of water from the floor and opening it as he slowly gassed up the van and took off into the intersection. "Each one is different."

  While I waited for him to continue, I watched the scenery of Avondale roll by. Since we were downtown, most of the streets were lined with little mom and pop shops still housed in the buildings that had been originally built for them. In the blocks between them, there were fancy new apartment complexes like the one my father had just moved into. It was a strange combination, the old and the new. But the new was where everyone wanted to live and the old was what kept Avondale in tourist dollars. People from all over the country flocked here to shop the quaint little shops, stock up on antiques, and admire our vast collection of Queen Anne houses and Painted Ladies. How could something as disturbing as the Scarecrow have been hiding amongst all of this?

  "I'm sorry, Eevee," Caleb said interrupting my thoughts and making me jump. I turned towards him and was once again struck by how gorgeous he was. For a moment, I couldn't even believe we were riding in the same car together. That is, until I remembered the circumstances. I shook my head to clear it of ridiculous thoughts like the one I had just begun entertaining of Caleb and I riding a tandem bicycle together.

  "Sorry for what? You didn't make that ... that thing." He ran a hand through his hair again, apparently one of his nervous ticks, and took another swig from the water bottle before offering it to me. I took it and drank deeply, savoring the faint taste of mint he'd left on the rim when I remembered. "Oh ... that." The Kiss. We sat in silence again for fifteen minutes before I got the courage to speak up.

&
nbsp; "I can't really go on a trip or anything, Caleb. I have prom in two days and my parents are absolutely going to flip when they find out about this. Maybe we can just go to the police or something ... " I trailed off as I realized how ridiculous I sounded. The police? What was I planning on saying?

  "Hey officers, there's this mutant scarecrow thing that's chasing me and it makes my entire body turn to ice when it gets close. Can I file a restraining order against it?" I sighed.

  "Okay, so maybe that won't work, but Caleb, we can't just run off into the sunset together." He turned on his blinker and merged onto the Highway 101 going north, a long stretch of road with few travelers and oodles of redwood trees.

  "I'm sorry, Eevee, but until we get the sword, there's no other choice. We have to run." Suddenly my visions of racing around with a Lord of the Rings replica came back to me.

  "What sword, Caleb?" I asked, adjusting the sandy colored seat belt and trying to make myself comfortable. Apparently, I was in for the long haul.

  "I'm not ... well ... Eevee, I'm not sure." He tried to look at me but ended up having to turn his attention back to the road in order to pass an old person in a white Cadillac going fifteen miles an hour. "Ever since I first saw you yesterday, I've been getting these visions. Each one longer than the last. They're like some sort of detailed mythology but one that has to do directly with you and me."

  "But why? We don't even know each other." Even as I said it, it sounded untrue. But it wasn't. We really didn't know each other, no matter how much we clicked. Caleb remained silent as we whizzed past the local community college and joined in a rush of cars merging onto the highway next to us. I decided a change of subject was in order. "Where are we going? Do you have a plan?"