9 Chapter 8
As the moon was high in the sky, screams woke Haylee.
She jumped off the bed. This time she hadn't dreamed of them. She heard them loud and clear.
She reached the window. The screams came from Byron's house, it was his voice, she was sure of it.
Without waking her mother, she ran out and knocked on the neighbor's door.
No reply.
The screaming seemed to have stopped.
But she knew what she had heard. She hadn't imagined them.
She knocked again. «Byron are you there?! Are you ok?»
No answer again.
She went to the window and tried to see inside.
Two red flashes in the shadow made her jump.
She could still hear moans, as if someone was trying to stifle the screams.
Haylee looked around undecided about what to do. She finally broke the glass and walked in through the window.
She was in the living room. She walked over to the sofa and was finally able to see clearly. Byron was on the ground. He was writhing in pain. His bones seemed to move under his skin, almost as if they were about to tear it apart, at any moment.
Haylee was paralyzed.
He saw her. «Just go away!» he screamed between his teeth.
But Haylee advanced towards him.
She could sense the excruciating pain Byron was going through and just wanted to ease it. She didn't know how, but her hand reached out to his aching face without her being able to control it.
Byron pushed her away. «Stay away!» I don't want to hurt you, he didn't have the strength to say it aloud. That pain was driving him crazy and it wasn't easy to control himself.
«I'm not leaving you here alone.», Haylee sat there all night. She knew there was nothing she could do to help him, but she thought that just being there she could somehow help him get through the night.
But she couldn't keep her eyes open until the following morning unfortunately. She fell asleep after a few minutes, despite Byron moaning a few feet away from her.
When Carter came back at the crack of dawn, Byron grabbed Haylee and hid her behind the sofa. She woke with Byron's hand covering her mouth. «He doesn't have to see you.» he whispered.
He had worked all night. At least once a month it happened. And Byron knew that when he got back he would go straight to the bathroom to take a shower.
As soon as the water started flowing, Byron let go of Haylee. «Quick, get out.»
«But– »
«We will talk later. Come on, go away, or your mother will notice your absence.»
Without another word Haylee reached the door. She looked at him one last time and then went out.
She ran into the house before her mother saw her. Luckily, she was still asleep. If Hailee had told her she had gone for a run, she wouldn't have believed her, seeing her still wearing her pajamas.
Haylee waited for the alarm to bell and took her time to get ready
When she came down for breakfast, Percy was there, sitting at the table in the kitchen. They were arguing but trying not to raise their voices too much.
«I don't just take care of Haylee, you are her Keeper. Make sure you keep her away from him. I can't make up for your mistakes.»
«He didn't have to move here in the first place. Who allowed it?»
«Don't worry, we've already taken care of her. And if you don't want us to get rid of you too, do your job. I've been already having enough problems with Josh lately.»
Haylee walked silently up a few steps and walked back more noisily for Percy and Rachel to hear her and change the subject.
As soon as Percy saw her he ran to her and tried to apologize in a thousand ways. «I tried to call you but my cell phone was dead.»
Haylee played her part well. «Do you really think I believe you? I'm not a fool. This was your plan from the start. But it went wrong for you. As you can see, I'm not desperate under the blankets.»
Rachel left them alone, not to intrude.
«I didn't deceive you, give me another chance and I will prove it to you.»
Haylee sighed. She couldn't give up too soon. «I don't know... give me some time to decide. We'll talk about it tomorrow at school.»
«Alright.»
Percy left. «Damn!», Haylee heard him say.
«Honey, try to give him a chance. He apologized, coming all the way from downtown.», Rachel went back to the kitchen.
«I want to give him a second chance, but first he has to suffer a bit.» Haylee said, as a perfect seventeen year old girl would have done. «I like him, but I can't give in too soon.»
Rachel smiled. «You are right. Good girl. Now finish your breakfast.»
«Yes. Later I'll go to Selene's house. I need to get back some books I lent her.»
«Amy will be there too?»
«I think she will. Selene must have called her for sure.»
«Good.»
Amy was a Keeper too, otherwise why Rachel would have asked it that way. She wanted her to be there to keep an eye on both Haylee and Selene.
But actually Haylee was planning on meeting only Byron, to talk about the night before.
«I'm sorry I scared you.» was the first thing he said.
«I wasn't afraid. If I had, I wouldn't have broken the window to get in. By the way, how did you explain that to your father?»
«I told him someone threw a stone.»
«And he believed you?»
«He pretended to. He's aware of my transformations as my Keeper, I guess. So every full moon night, he stays at "work" on purpose. He knows it was a lie. But this doesn't matter. You are surely wondering what is going on…»
«Well after that magical beam of light, on the day of the prom, I am no longer surprised by anything. Are you a werewolf right?»
«Yeah… »
«But you can't transform here. Your body tries to but you cannot become a wolf.»
«Right.», Byron was blown away by how smart Haylee was. «This is why it hurts a lot more. I really feared I'd hurt you. I could have lost control as much as the pain was driving me crazy.»
«Sorry. I know I should have left but I didn't want to leave you alone.»
«You have been quite reckless.»
«It seems that helping others is my mission. Even at school.»
«Don't forget about Percy tomorrow, you have to try to– »
«I have already solved the problem. He came to my house this morning. I played hard to get and tomorrow I will forgive him.»
«Good plan.»
«I think Amy is one of them too. But… what are they exactly? What is a Keeper?»
«I'll tell you when Selene and Mark are there too. We will meet tonight. In the woods there's an old abandoned house, in the diary it's written that it's a safe place.»
«Alright. Let's believe the diary.» Haylee said sarcastically.
«That diary is all we have.»
Haylee turned serious. «I know, I know. I have to go now or Rachel will get suspicious. See you tonight, after dinner.»
«See you.»
Byron watched her leaving. He waited a while before returning home.
Carter was on the sofa reading the newspaper while a man was replacing the window.
Byron greeted his father and went upstairs to his room.
From the window he could see Haylee's room. She was at her desk. Writing. Maybe she was doing her homework.
He stood staring at her dazed waiting for the end of that day to be able to be next to her again.
There had to be something wrong with his head. His memories were stuck somewhere and didn't want to come out. But she was his Haylee, there was no mistake.
Mark got there first, that evening.
Selene came after him, along with Haylee. She had parked her mother's car next to Haylee's and then they walked towards the woods, pretending it was just a walk. They chatted and laughed as if they were having a friendly conversation. So Rachel, who was looking at them from the window, wouldn't have suspected anything.
Byron was the last to arrive, he brought the diary with him. He had waited about ten minutes, after seeing Selene and Haylee leaving.
«Remember when I told you, you should have been separated?»
«Yes.» Selene and Mark answered in sync.
«That's why we're here. Our parents entrusted us to the Keepers to help us "heal" from our feelings. Once brought here, they erase our memory and split us so that the detachment is for good.»
«This is absurd.» Haylee said. «Such an intricate plan for such a trivial reason? There must be more.»
«Selene, Mark you should tell her who you are for her to understand.»
«In the real world, outside of Blackbones, I am a vampire. Mark is a sorcerer.»
«And a sorcerer like me, should kill vampires, not fall in love with them. For this reason we ended up here.»
«Yes, I understand this, but... what do they gain from it?» Haylee asked.
«I looked for answers, but my mother couldn't know anything else. They told her that I would be safe, that once I was cured I would go home, she wrote.»
«Well after the way things have turned out, I doubt they will send us home.» Mark said. «Maybe we would have done better to stay quiet. At least they would have freed us.»
«Now that you remember your feelings for Selene, would you really have preferred it that way? Get out of here, but without her, without any memory of her?»
Byron was right. Mark never wanted to leave without Selene. The day they got separated, he had fought but there was no escape. The presence of the Keepers nullified their powers, just like in that city.
Mark grabbed Selene's hand. «If I leave here, I will leave with her.»
«It's not enough to go away.» said Haylee. «They would take us back.»
«Yes, Haylee is right. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again.» Byron said.
«There's one more thing you need to know.», Amy opened the door and walked in. Behind her were Luna and Josh.
Mark held Selene tight to him.
Byron stepped in front of Haylee and pulled her back. «How did you find us?»
«I followed Selene and called Luna and Josh.»
Haylee, Byron, Selene and Mark looked at each other worried.
We're doomed, they thought at the same time.
