The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) Read online

  ‘Come on, Amanda. I have to show you something!’ I ran out of the car, through the house, and into the training area.

  ‘Summer, it is cold, and you are wearing nothing!’ She chased after me.

  ‘I am fine.’ When we both arrived, everyone stopped and looked at me- one, because I was back, and two, because I was wearing hardly anything in freezing weather.

  ‘Summer, you are going to get sick! Get changed first, then you can show me.’ Amanda was trying to make me go inside, but I wouldn’t budge.

  ‘Please, let me show you.’ I ran to the middle of the training ground and broke out into a mild fury.

  ‘See? Told you I wouldn’t be cold.’ I could feel myself heat up as I held the fury. Everyone had stopped and was watching me. I placed my hands in front of me, and felt for the rain droplets on the leaves. I moved them in front of me and soon had sixteen droplets floating around.

  ‘That is beautiful,’ someone said.

  I then closed my eyes and thought of snow. I opened my eyes and looked into the sky. Tiny white snowflakes started to fall, and my rain droplets were now tiny bits of snow floating in the air.

  ‘It’s snow, everyone…snow!’ Everyone was so fascinated by the snow that they didn’t realize I was rearranging the whole place so that everything looked more like a training place, instead of just dummies placed randomly around the clearing.

  ‘Ok, people, back inside. Summer, stop the snow, ok? It’s not meant to be snowing yet, so don’t mess with things that you shouldn’t.’ Lauren sounded jealous of what I could do. I stopped the snow, and I noticed someone just beyond the trees, waiting for me.

  ‘Summer, come inside,’ Amanda said.

  ‘Yeah, just a minute, ok?’ I waved her off, but she watched as I went into the woods.

  I made sure no one had followed me before I called Michel’s name.

  ‘Why, hello, friend. Long time no see.’ He was grinning at me.

  ‘Why, yes, it has been a long time. How were your holidays? Mine were such a bore,’ I said in a posh accent.

  ‘Same here, Miss Burns. I heard your plane trip back was delightful.’ We were both being silly, speaking in posh accents.

  ‘Why, yes, kind sir. My plane trip was very pleasant, indeed. No people snoring. In fact, it was only me in a row of three.’ I walked around Michel.

  ‘That is very good to hear, miss. Did I tell you that I had a very good holiday myself, with a friend up in Italy? Why, yes. It was a great time. What a shame she is back in Italy.’ We were both trying hard not to laugh at how ridiculous we sounded.

  ‘Why, she sounds like a handful, but who ever said she stayed back in Italy?’ That’s when we both burst into laughter.

  ‘Dude, you sounded ridiculous. We can clearly see you will never do rich,’ I said with a smile.

  ‘I could say the same about you.’ We were both laughing again.

  ‘Summer, where are you?’ It was Amanda’s voice.

  ‘You have to go.’

  With a wink and a grin, he was gone.

  ‘There you are. I heard you talking to someone, and then I heard laughing, and I was worried because…well, I couldn’t read your thoughts, so I came over.’ She was looking around for the other person.

  ‘Nope, just me. I was told by Liam that I need to role play to, well…umm…’ I really couldn’t explain, but Liam did say role playing would help me, so I wasn’t exactly lying.

  ‘Ok then, but we have serious stuff to talk about. For example, these two pictures. One before you went to the club, and the one after.’ She was showing me the pictures on her phone. I could also hear Michel laughing up in the trees.

  ‘Ok, let’s go inside. I am starting to get cold.’

  ‘Ok, Summer. For starters, what were you even thinking? Going clubbing in what you were wearing, and going by yourself?’ The bomb hit the moment we stepped into the bedroom. Amanda was at me like a tiger that had been waiting for the kill.

  ‘I went with someone from where I was staying. He was really nice, come to think of it. He was cute as well.’ I was staring out the window at the thin layer of snow outside.

  ‘Oh, that makes it so much better. And then you got drunk! What were you thinking?’

  ‘It was experimenting. Someone told me that fairies can only get drunk after, what, I think about fifty drinks. I was testing.’ I knew the moment the words left my lips that it would backfire.

  ‘Fifty drinks? How many did you have the first night? And please don’t tell me you did it again after that!’ She was irritated with me, but not exactly mad, and I was starting to think that she might have been jealous that she wasn’t there with me.

  ‘Umm, the first night…twenty-five before I was out. Then the best I got to was around thirty drinks, I think.’ I shrugged my shoulders.

  ‘Don’t shrug your shoulders at me! Thirty drinks is heaps!’ She kept going on and on about me and the club, but I began zoning out when I heard a whisper of voices, saying my name over and over.

  ‘Summer, are you even listening to me?’ Amanda was right up in my face.

  ‘Shhh,’ I said, and put my finger to my lips. I listened to the sound and tried to follow it.

  ‘Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer…’ It was all they kept saying. I tilted my head so I could hear the voices. ‘What do you want?’ I asked out loud.

  ‘Summer, who are you talking to?’

  ‘Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer…’

  ‘Stop, please! Why now?’ I looked around, but all I could see was a very puzzled Amanda.

  ‘Summer, what is going on?’ The voices had stopped, and it was so quiet you could hear the crickets.

  ‘I thought I heard something.’ I heard a knock on my door.

  ‘Amanda, Lauren wants you.’ Ethan came into the room.

  ‘Fine, but Summer, this is not over!’ Amanda pointed her finger at me.

  ‘Whatever.’ I threw up my hands and flopped down onto my bed.

  ‘Summer, wakey, wakey. Time for school,’ someone annoying was whispering. I didn’t even remember going to sleep, but I must have been so tired that I didn’t even go see Lauren when she sent Ethan to get me. She was going to be pissed off. ‘I am up,’ I said, with my eyes still closed.

  ‘Not until I see you up, ok? So get up.’ The voice was getting louder.

  ‘Alright, I get the point.’ I sat up in my bed, and let my eyes adjust.

  ‘Oh, Ethan, it’s you.’ I was surprised. We hadn’t said much since I got back. In fact, outside of what he said to me at the airport, he hadn’t really spoken to me in months.

  ‘I was told to wake you. We are going to be late.’ For the first time in a long time, he used the word we.

  ‘So I am allowed to catch a ride with you, then?’ I asked, jumping out of bed.

  ‘I guess so.’ And he walked right out of my room. I got dressed for school in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. When I walked outside, people from the house were welcoming me back, but I could hear a couple of girls gossiping, too.

  ‘Did you hear? Apparently she had a mental breakdown in Italy.’

  ‘Well, I heard that she only went there to go to a crazy camp.’

  I walked straight past them.

  ‘Good morning, Summer. Are you glad to be home?’ Lauren asked, giving me a look of concern.

  ‘Yep, sure am. I can’t wait to get to school to see everyone.’ I knew I shouldn’t have said that, since- well, I get the feeling that Lauren doesn’t approve of me mingling with my old friends.

  ‘That’s nice. Oh, Summer, you are late.’ She smiled and went back to whatever she was doing. I looked at the clock to see that I was really late. I rushed out the door and into Ethan’s car.

  When we were at school, most of the volleyball team was waiting for me. ‘I will be right back.’ I gave a hug to Amanda, and I could see the hurt in Ethan’s eyes. Good, because the rift between us was his fault.

  ‘Hey, guys! How was your holiday?’ I asked them. After
we talked for a while, they left to go inside while I waited in the car park for a bit, hoping to see Michel.

  ‘Well, look who it is.’

  I groaned when I heard Amber’s voice. ‘Hi, Amber. I suppose you had a good holiday, banging every boy you saw.’ I gave her a fake smile, and started to walk away when I was stopped by one of her friends. Great. First day back, and I was already catching hell.

  ‘No, not really. Only those I find pretty.’ She flicked back her hair. ‘But enough about me. We have some unfinished business from before you left. Thought you could run away from your problems, did you?’ Amber and her friends had blocked my path into the school.

  ‘You know, Amber, I am sick of you and all this, ok? So just drop it already. This has been going on for far too long, over what- lunch, when we were in year one? We don’t need to hold a grudge forever.’ I brushed past her and into the school.

  ‘Summer, wait up! You’re right.’ And she did the one thing I never thought would happen- she gave me a huge hug. I stood, amazed, for a bit, until she punched me right where my scar was, the one weakness I had. I fell to the ground, and could hear something crack. ‘That is for everything, ok?’ Then she started hitting herself in the eye.

  ‘What do you think you are doing?’ I spat at her.

  ‘Getting you out of this school. Freak people like you don’t deserve to be here! You don’t deserve a boyfriend or friends! What you deserve is a mental home! That’s where you belong!’ She kept hitting herself in the eye. I could see it bruising already.

  ‘Amber, stop! You are hurting yourself!’ I moved to stop her and try to heal the damage, but her friend pinned me down.

  ‘You see, Summer, once you are gone from this school, Ethan can be mine. What do you think happened when you went away? Why do you think he never answered when you called? Because he was hooking up with me!’ Her words were spiteful, but for some reason, that didn’t bother me. Maybe because Ethan and I hadn’t spoken more than a sentence to each other in months. So why would I care who he was banging over the holidays?

  ‘Come on, ladies, what is going on here?’ The voice took them all by surprise, because there stood Michel, with his hands in his pockets.

  ‘Look what she did to me! She attacked me for no reason!’ Amber started bawling her eyes out, and ran into Michel’s arms. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

  ‘You know, Amber, you should become an actor. You would be great at that. You would have the audience believe whatever you throw at them, and you’re spoiled and bitchy like all stars are, so you would fit in just fine.’ I smiled, but I felt someone’s foot kick me in the side.

  ‘That is for her face, which you ruined yet again,’ Amber’s friend said.

  ‘Look at me, look what she did!’ Amber looked up into Michel’s face.

  He touched her eye and said, ‘What am I looking at? I see nothing.’ He took a step back.

  Amber quickly pulled out a mirror to look at her face. ‘But I swear I hit myself enough,’ she grumbled to herself, then turned to where Michel was standing. ‘You know, if you ever want to go out, here’s my number.’ She tried to give it to Michel, but he pushed her hand away.

  ‘Sorry, not interested. And I would hurry up if I were you. I heard your teacher is handing out detentions today.’ That sent the girls running to class, because a detention meant no cheerleading.

  Michel walked over to me and gave me a hand up. ‘You ok?’ he asked when I was steady on my feet.

  ‘Sure, nothing new there. Thanks, by the way.’ I brushed myself off and grabbed my bag. ‘See you later, then. I am already late as it is.’ I gave Michel a hug before I headed into the school, and saw Amanda waiting for me at the door. I was pretty sure she had just seen Michel.

  ‘Summer, what just happened?’ She looked into the distance, but found no trace of Michel.

  ‘Nothing, just Amber being Amber. I am fine.’ I looked around to make sure no one was watching, then placed my hand on my wounds and healed them. ‘See? All better.’ I twirled around. The bell hadn’t gone off yet, but people were all inside, as it was cold outside.

  ‘Who was that you were with?’ We headed inside together.

  ‘That was no one,’ I said, and grabbed my books from my locker.

  ‘Didn’t look like no one.’ She gave me the look that told me she was not buying it.

  ‘I don’t know, but I thought I would hug him because he helped me.’ That sounded good enough for Amanda to buy. ‘Ok, let’s go.’

  Chapter 18

  When I was in roll call, Mr. Timberwood was waiting at his desk. When I walked in, that’s when I felt it- the strong emotions came at me like a tidal wave. Happiness, boredom, excitement, love, and more. I knew where it was coming from. I looked at the desk where Mr. Timberwood was sitting. I knew now why I recognized him. He was a fairy. When I was in Italy, I was taught that some fairies hide the warm feeling, but they can never hide their mark of fairy, and I did not know how to read until Liam taught me. I was getting the reading of Mr. Timberwood- his fairy’s mark. ‘Summer, let’s go.’ Amanda was nudging me into the room. I took my place, but I couldn’t take my eyes off our teacher. He was a fairy. When the bell rang for the first class, I stayed behind. I walk up to his desk, and he looked up, seemingly surprised to see me.

  ‘What can I do for you, Summer?’ he asked as he packed up for his next class.

  I leaned closer to him and whispered, ‘I know what you are.’ I smiled at him and backed away from the desk. He looked very surprised that I figured it out.

  ‘What gave it away?’ He looked worried that someone else might pick up on his secret.

  ‘Nothing, sir, but your mark- I felt it when I came in. Only those that know how to read it can tell.’ I started to walk away, but he stopped me.

  ‘It is a great honor to meet you at last, when I don’t have to hide, Summer.’

  I nodded my head at him, and walked out of the class, feeling like I had won a million dollars.

  The day flew by, and before I knew it, we were in the last class of the day, which was world history. ‘Ok, students, today we are working on…’ Our teacher outlined what we were doing that day. She was tall and beautiful. To me, it felt like everyone was in this class. There was Amber and her friends, plus Ethan, Amanda, Perry, Sarah, Amy, and a few other people I didn’t know too well. We all listened to the lecture our teacher was giving us when I heard the voices.

  They were louder than usual. They were screaming my name. I placed my head on the table to try and shut out the noise, but it didn’t work. They voices kept going and going, getting louder and louder I let out a small moan, but the moment I did, the place went silent. When I lifted my head, I placed my hands on my ears. Everything was shaking and people were screaming. Blood dripped from the board. Words were forming as the voices got louder. By the time the message was complete, the entire class had gone hysterical.

  Your life will be at an end soon.

  The voices were now pushing against my head, and I let out the most high-pitched scream in the whole class. Windows started to shatter, one by one, until all the windows had been blown out of the classroom. The light bulbs had shattered, leaving us in darkness. Papers were flying everywhere, and people were screaming. Over the din, I heard Amber’s voice. ‘Summer did this! She wants revenge on me! She is going to kill me- she told me before!’

  I may not have been able to hear much but I sure heard that. Where was Michel when I needed him?

  ‘Summer, you need to stop- and wait, why are you thinking of Michel at a time like this? Was that guy Michel? Summer, how could you? You are with Ethan!’ Amanda had grabbed me by the arm, and was leading me out of the room with Ethan.

  ‘Amanda, go help everyone else. I will deal with Summer,’ Ethan told her.

  My hands were still on my head as the voices faded away into nothing but silent air.

  'Summer, what was all that for? I know you don't like Amber, but there was no need to break every wind
ow in class and write that blood message.'

  We were outside in the cool air, but my blood was boiling. ‘So you are going to believe her over me? I see how it is, but I guess that is what happens when you spend all holiday banging her!’ In my head, I could still hear the voices calling my name.

  ‘What? Why would you think that? Never mind. I don’t know what to believe anymore, Summer.’ Ethan was looking at me like I was a freak- which he had always said I wasn’t.

  'I didn't do it. I heard the voices, Michel. The voices are back.' I was shaking at what had just happened, and at the message. What it said sent shivers down my spine.

  'Michel? Why did you just call me Michel?' He sounded furious. 'Summer, who is Michel?' He had grabbed me by the shoulders.

  'Let me go, Ethan!' I tried to shake him off, but he had a iron grip on me.

  'Fine, if you won't tell, I will find someone who can. You know what? I don't even recognize you anymore. Ever since the attack, I knew you would change, but not this much- and when you got back from Italy, you changed again!' He still had me in his iron grip, which was starting to hurt.

  'Do it then, Ethan! Do it! Break up with me if you think I have changed!' I managed to shake him off me.

  'No, Summer, I won't, because I do love you.’

  'You do? Well, I don't really feel your love. If you really loved me, you wouldn't question who Michel is, and what does it matter to you, anyway? We haven’t spoken in months! You left me alone in the woods, and you expect me to now tell you everything!' I could feel tears threatening to come up, but I held them down.

  'I wouldn't care if you hadn’t just called me by someone else’s name- someone I didn’t even know about until now!'

  'You really want to know who he is? Fine! he is my best friend, ok? He is there for me when no one else is. He understands me. The one time I needed you, Ethan, you were nowhere to be found. Did you even get my twenty thousand voicemails I left you? No, I guess not, because you were probably too busy screwing with Amber!' I could feel the wind pick up, and I knew it was because of me.

  ‘What? Why the hell do you think I would be screwing with Amber? The only person I have been screwing is myself, thinking that you would come back the same Summer that I met at the beach, the same Summer I fell in love with!’ He took a step closer, but I put my hand out, stopping him from advancing any further.