The Seven Wicked: First Read online

  As The Platters' Twilight Time trickled out of the fading gray speakers, I held a hand up to shield my face from Caleb and stared out the window at the lines on the road until I was in a near trance.

  So far today, I had run away from home, been chased by a monster, and found out that I was some sort of (promiscuous) goddess. I clutched the necklace tightly in my right hand, still refusing to put it on. I don't feel like a goddess. I can't be one. I'm only sixteen. But that feeling inside of me that had told me that the shadow outside the restaurant was what was making me sick and that Caleb was trustworthy was also telling me that the story was true. I sighed and as the song faded away with the classic (and extremely embarrassing) line, 'together at last at twilight time,' I turned back to Caleb.

  "Okay," I said. "So I believe you." He sighed with no small amount of relief and flashed me another one of his brilliant smiles. My heart pitter-pattered for a moment before I was able to reign it in. "So tell me," I said, playing with the clasp on the pendant that, even though I didn't know it yet, had changed my life forever. "How do you know all of this stuff?" Caleb flicked on his blinker and pulled into the dusty parking lot of the first diner we'd passed since leaving town.

  According to the sign on the opposite side of the road, we'd just entered Castle Bluff, Oregon. I stared at it, trying to calculate how far we'd traveled and then gave up and turned back to my would-be rescuer, a bird of panic attempting to take flight and batter the inside of my chest.

  "What are you doing?" I squealed and in my panic, decided that if Caleb wanted me to put the necklace on then hey, who was I to argue? He was my guardian or whatever after all. I put the silver chain around my neck and by some miracle managed to hook the clasp by myself. "I put it on, okay. I did what you wanted, can we keep going now?" Caleb reached out and took my hand in his. Warmth traveled up my arm and had I not been in a panic, I would've been pleased.

  "Eevee," he said, chuckling. "It's okay. I'm not punishing you. We're just getting something to eat. I told you, we can travel faster than they can so as long as we don't stay for too long, we'll be fine. If you feel a chill, even if you think it's just the wind, you'll let me know?" I nodded grudgingly. I didn't like it, but my stomach had been snarling and nagging at me for quite awhile; I couldn't ignore it anymore. The food in the back of the van didn't seem nearly as appealing as a hot plate of bacon and eggs. Even if the place that served them was called The Stompin' Shack Eatery.

  "Um, okay, but Caleb, I don't have any money. I mean, I have a credit card, but it's for emergencies only. If I use it here and my dad sees the bill, he'll flip. Other than that, I only have the twenty bucks my grandparents gave me last night and we're probably gonna need gas and stuff ..." I trailed off and waited for him to agree with me, to say that despite the circumstances, we had to go home. He just smiled and pulled a faded leather wallet from his back pocket.

  "It's alright, Eevee, I'm prepared for this. My parents are kind of ... strict." There was that hesitation again. He had the exact same expression on his face that he'd had when he mentioned home schooling, but this time, he just shook his head and it was gone in an instant. "Last summer, my sister gave me a job at her store and my parents made me put almost all of it in a savings account. I emptied it this morning." He opened his wallet and showed me a big, green wad of cash. I stared at him, my mouth dangling loosely on the bottom of my face.

  "How much do you have there?" It looked like a million bucks to me. His wallet was practically exploding with green and frankly, I was surprised that it had even fit in his back pocket since his pants were so tight. Not that I minded, it made for a nice view.

  "Over four thousand dollars." I raised an eyebrow at him and he stumbled on, trying to explain. "But it's not all in the wallet. I left some in my checking account, just in case. And there's some in the back of the van, hidden under the backseats. And it wasn't all from my summer job. Like I said, my parents are kind of strict with stuff. Every cent my relatives gave me for birthdays or when I babysat my cousins, it all went in the account. They only let me take some out when I really need it."

  "What are they going to do when they find out it's all gone? Not to mention the van," I said, glancing at the pile of stuff stacked in the back.

  "My dad just bought my mom a new Caravan so my parents gave me this one. And they think that I'm with my youth group right now. They all went on a camping trip to commune with God or something like that ..." I chuckled. "Anyway, it was a no phones allowed trip, except for emergencies, so I just stopped by the church and told the pastor that I wasn't feeling well. Nobody will even know I'm gone until they get back on Friday and hopefully, we'll be back in town, too, and I can come up with something to tell my parents."

  "God, Caleb," I said, undoing my seat belt. "I'm sorry you have to lie to your parents like that. This is all my fault." He was still holding my right hand in his. I wanted to take it away, but not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because I shouldn't be. He shook his head at me.

  "Don't worry about it, Eevee. I'm as much a part of this as you are. Don't blame yourself. Can you promise me that?" I looked down at the necklace resting against my chest, and after a silent wish that I had a little more in the cleavage department, I nodded agreement. I was afraid, and he was offering to help. And he was my guardian, right? So it wasn't selfish to let him spend his money on me or lie to his parents for me. Right?

  I felt suddenly sick with myself, but Caleb had finally let go of my hand was halfway out of the van. I sighed and followed suit. Until I remembered my shoes.

  "Hey Caleb," I said. "Wait up." I left my door open and crawled into the back seat. The only shoes I had packed were my high heels for prom. The shiny, black patent, peep-toe slingbacks didn't really seem appropriate given the whole I'm-running-for-my-life scenario that I had going on, but I didn't have any other choice. With a sigh of remorse at the idea of scuffing my new shoes in the dirty parking lot, I climbed back into the front seat and began to undo the clasp on the right shoe.

  Caleb was standing next to my open door, one hand on the handle. He wrinkled his brow with concern.

  "Do you need me to get you some tennis shoes or something?" I smiled back at him. Was this guy real? If I needed any proof that the legend he had told me was true, all I had to do was look at Caleb. He was too nice to be a normal person. The only explanation was that a god infused him with love. Really, it was only logical.

  "Um, you mean like borrow yours or ...?" I kind of liked the idea of wearing Caleb's shoes and as soon as I realized that, I blushed again. It was starting to get old, the whole blushing thing.

  "Um," he said, shuffling his Converse and kicking at a stray pebble. "I don't think we wear the same size, or I'd give you some. I meant buy you some in the next town or something." I hooked the clasp of the first heel around my ankle and tried to act nonchalant.

  "Yeah, cool, I'd like that, thanks." I pulled the other heel onto my left foot. "But only if you let me pay you back." Caleb just smiled. Whether that meant he'd let me pay him back or not, I wasn't sure, but I made myself a mental note to at least try.

  Once the other shoe was fastened securely, I was met with the task of trying to walk. I'd only practiced in heels twice before. Once at the mall when my mother had first bought them for me and once on the hardwood floors of our dining room. I swallowed nervously and took my first step out of the van.

  I pinwheeled my arms wildly for a moment while I tried to find some sort of balance. Caleb stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward just enough that I was able to find my center. "Thanks," I mumbled as I wobbled away from the door and slammed it shut behind me. Luckily, there wasn't far to walk, or I might have killed myself.

  "Do you need me to hold your hand or something?" He asked, cringing each and every time one of my ankles threatened to give out. Maybe I should've stayed with the two inch heels. Three is too close to the grave for comfort. I shook my head and he remained silent, trying to allow me at least some dignity.

  The Stompin' Shack Eatery probably wasn't the classiest place in town and it certainly wasn't The Quill, but as soon as Caleb opened one of the glass doors for me and ushered me past, I was immediately rewarded with the smell of fresh buttermilk pancakes and bacon. I tried not to drool as we walked (he walked, I hobbled) together past the 'Please Seat Yourself' sign and shimmied onto one of the cracked, red pleather benches with just a pastel pink tabletop separating us.

  Caleb's legs were ridiculously long, and we both suffered an awful, awkward minute of trying to arrange our feet so that our knees weren't touching. I tried to smile, grimaced instead, and then attempted to bury myself in the menu that was wedged between the silver container of napkins and condiments.

  The waitress was at the table before I had a chance to decide on anything. I had planned on ordering the cheapest item since my guilt was gnawing a hole in my gut, but I ended up just blurting out, "I'll have what he's having," at which point she raised one of her drawn on eyebrows and gave me a once over. Caleb hadn't even ordered yet. I slunk low in my seat, feeling like the world's biggest dork. Caleb smiled.

  "Do you like pancakes?" he asked me. I folded the menu up and reluctantly passed it to the waitress. I would miss my shield. I nodded. "We'll each have the number two with a Coke."

  She smacked her gum twice, stuck her pen behind her ear like she was in some sort of clichéd movie, and said, "Uh huh." She waddled off, adjusting the bright pink of her shirt so that it covered the few inches of hairy back that she was exposing. I shivered.

  "Are you okay?" Caleb whispered, leaning forward and trying to touch my arm again. I wasn't sure how many more touches I could handle before I ended up begging him to go out with me, so I jerked my arm away and nodded vigorously, trying to laugh off the surprise on his face at my sudden withdrawal from him.

  "Yeah, that lady just gave me the creeps, you know?" He smiled at me and cast a nervous glance over his shoulder at the rest of the restaurant. There was an old man playing a crossword puzzle, two young girls who looked to be twins coloring alone at a table near the bathroom, and a boy and girl, probably the same age as Caleb and me, making out at a table in the corner.

  He turned back to me and shrugged, and we both ended up laughing again.

  "So," I asked, trying to enjoy the moment. Once my parents figured out what was going on, I mean, if they ever did, I probably wasn't going to have any more moments like this until I went to college. "What are we having?"

  "A short stack, bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs. I think they called it the Piggy Platter." I twisted my face in disgust.

  "The Piggy Platter? I mean, the food sounds good, but yuck, why would you call it that?" I stuck out my tongue.

  "At least we get soda with breakfast." We both chuckled again before falling silent. It was becoming a pattern of ours, talk, laugh, have awkward silence. "So, uh, I guess you were going to tell me how you know all of the ... the things that you know." Caleb grabbed a salt shaker and slid it back and forth between his hands.

  "You know when we were at your dad's house and I kind of blanked out for a second?" I nodded. "Well, ever since you touched the necklace, I've been getting these visions. They start off like movies in my head but with a narrator that sounds like me except, it can't be me because I never know what he's going to say or show me. Until I got my first vision across the street from you, I didn't know anything about any of this."

  "I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling the slight sting of tears again. I was sorry, I really was. Caleb's head jerked up, and he reached out and grabbed my hand before I could pull away.

  "Please don't be sorry, Eevee. I'm not." I smiled, wiped furiously at my face, and had no idea that the future had just been foreshadowed by his words. We gazed at each other for a moment before two steaming plates slammed down onto the table in front of us.

  "Be back with your Cokes," the woman, whose rectangular, plastic nameplate said 'Larry,' drawled at us before shuffling off again. Caleb raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged. I didn't want to know.

  I stared down at the brown speckled, oval plate. There were four, fluffy buttermilk pancakes stacked on top of one another, three sausage links, four pieces of crispy, nearly blackened bacon, and a mountain of yellow egg fluff that I supposed would pass for scrambled eggs. And all of it was drenched in a heavy, sticky monsoon of syrup.

  "Nice of them to, uh, season it for us," I said, unfolding a red napkin on my lap. Caleb chuckled and picked up his own fork, stabbing a piece of sausage with such vigor that I doubted our pit stop was solely for my sake. "When I saw that ... you know ..." I picked up my own fork and copied my new friend by digging in. With a piece of gooey, sugary pancake rolling around in my mouth, I tried to finish my previous thought. "Well, when I saw the First standing in my dad's lobby, I thought my life was over and I know we've only been on the run for," I looked around for a clock. "Three hours but I mean, it's not all bad. This is kinda fun." Caleb finished chewing and swallowed before responding which was more than I could say for myself. I looked down at my plate with embarrassment.

  "No, it's not all bad. I got to meet you." I choked on my next bite, a charred slab of bacon that tasted like peppered coal, and waved my hands in the air as I fought for breath.

  A man in a white button up with his own name tag, this one reading 'Linda' which really explained a lot, raced over and placed our sodas down in front of our plates.

  "Are you okay?" he asked, brown mustache twitching with concern. I nodded, grabbed the orange, plastic straw between my lips and drank deeply.

  "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Thanks." I smiled and resisted the urge to point out the mismatched name tags. The man smiled back at me with his thin, wide lips before retreating again. "You can't say things like that," I mumbled, twisting the straw around my glass.

  "Why not?" Caleb asked, grabbing his own soda. "I meant it." I rolled my eyes.

  "Don't you have a girlfriend or something?" I snapped, just a little more fiercely than I'd meant. I liked what he'd said. I just didn't think he should be saying it. Even if the legend was true and in some past life or something we'd been lovers, we didn't know each other now. The quick kiss we'd shared in the hallway surfaced in my brain for just a moment before I pushed it away again. That talk could wait till later.

  "No, how about you?" I stared at him.

  "Do I have a girlfriend?" I asked. He glanced up at me, green eyes suddenly shy.

  "Or a boyfriend?"

  "Nope. Never had either. I don't even have a date for prom." I hadn't meant to say that, but there it was. Caleb remained silent. "You?" He shrugged and put his fork down, grabbing a piece of bacon with his fingers before examining it and putting it back. I wished I'd been that smart.

  "Just one. This girl from my parents' church." He glanced up at me quickly, looking for some sort of reaction. I didn't give him one. I didn't really care. Or did I ... I stabbed a bite of egg and put it to my lips. "But we didn't ... do anything except hold hands. It was kinda lame." So I was his first kiss, too? I wondered but refused to voice anything out loud.

  "Caleb," I began but stopped abruptly, dropping my fork to the table. A wave of cold air drifted over me. I shivered and grabbed at my upper arms. He was up in an instant and scooting onto the bench next to me.

  "What is it Eevee? Is it them?" he asked. There was no doubt in my mind about it this time. I nodded. He grabbed the wallet from his pocket and tossed several bills onto the table. "Come on, let's go." I let him help me up with a hand on my elbow. I was having even more trouble with the heels now that my toes were frozen. Caleb nodded his thanks to the waitress who grunted rudely and immediately counted the bills on the table before suddenly flashing us a grin and waving.

  The old man gave us a concerned look as we hobbled by and the twin girls giggled and pointed. I could care less what they thought. The cold was coming on fast this time, and it was more intense than what I'd felt before. We practically ran across the parking lot, and I don't think I would've made it if Caleb hadn't been supporting the majority of my weight.

  I practically fell into my seat and wasted no time in ripping the heels from my feet. If, for some reason, I needed to run again, I'd rather do it barefoot. Caleb raced around the front of the van and hopped in, turning the keys, and backing out of the parking lot before I'd even gotten my seat belt fastened.

  "Which one is it?" I asked him as we pulled back onto the highway. "You can sense them, too, right?"

  "I can but not as early as you can. I still don't feel anything." He glanced over at me, and with the way the sunshine was hitting his face, I was able to see the slight swelling on his jaw again.

  "Then why am I so c-cold?" I whispered, teeth already beginning to chatter. Caleb kept one hand on the wheel and reached behind his seat for a moment, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for and presented me with a red hoodie. I took it gratefully and slipped it on, reveling in the super soft, fuzzy inside and the way the arms were so long that they even warmed my hands. It smelled like Tide laundry soap and mint ice cream. I breathed it in and wrapped my arms around myself.

  "The higher the number, the stronger the Wicked," he said, pushing the pedal nearly to the floor. "Another one must have risen. There's no way the First could've caught up with us yet."

  "Oh, great," I whispered. "So they're all going to come after us now?" Caleb nodded as he was forced to slow down a bit to turn a particularly sharp corner. "And we have no idea where the sword is. Great." Even as I was speaking, Caleb's eyes were beginning to glaze over. Just when we needed answers, they came. It was kind of like past life recall on demand. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to grab the wheel as I watched another memory sweep over him. To Caleb's credit though, he continued to make each sweeping turn carefully and managed to pass an RV, all without blinking.