Arielle Immortal Awakening (3 page)

She was so relieved to talk with someone she loved so very much, and to have shared her secret.

She and her father continued to take private walks often, during which they talked about all kinds of things, including Arielle’s dreams for the future. Often her parents would ask her to sit down and play the piano for them and she was always happy to do that. Playing the piano powerfully influenced her emotions and gave her a deep sense of enthrallment and genuine pleasure.

It was on a Monday morning in mid-May, very close to the time of their commencement exercises that Gabrielle and Eva suggested that they should throw a graduation party. Arielle thought this was a great idea, so they went to talk to the Queen of Parties: Arielle’s mother.

Chapter 2

T
he commencement party was to take place at Arielle’s house. Her mother loved giving parties, so the girls let her handle all the details. She filled the rooms with beautiful flowers, she had the ballroom floors polished, and decorated with impeccable taste.

Everyone that was invited showed up almost at the same time. It was pretty amusing to watch the variety of fashions and all the different hairdos. Gabrielle, Eva, and Arielle welcomed everyone and made small talk with each person who arrived before letting them go and mingle on their own.

After a while, people started to gather on the dance floor, and everyone seemed to have a grand time. Tall, lean, good-looking Jack Wallace, who had been Eva’s favorite guy for two years now, walked up to where they were sitting. He had a warm smile on his face and to Eva’s delight he asked her to dance.

She seemed eager to be in his arms, and Arielle was pleased to see the old Eva back without the gloomy, troubled look in her eyes. When the music stopped Jack kept Eva in his arms, whispering in her ear until the next song started. It was at the end of the second song that they watched them walk away holding hands and looking at each other in complete and utter bliss. Eva looked back and sent a quick playful look to her best friends. Then she lifted her hand and waved at them just before Jack pulled her through the balcony doors.

Stony silence fell between Gabrielle and Arielle, trying to figure out what was happening out on the balcony. “What in bloody hell was that?” Gabby exclaimed, and abruptly they both exploded into laughter.

Gabrielle danced with Stefan Broderick, whom Arielle had always thought was the best looking guy in school. If he had asked her out, she would have been delighted to accept, but she had a strong feeling that he didn’t like her very much.

Stefan had come to their school during the beginning of secondary school, and he had smiled at Arielle every day when they crossed paths. She was sure that one of those days he would have asked her out, but then suddenly he started going out of his way to avoid her. She tried not to let it bother her, but the feeling was strange and bitterness settled in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like to be rejected. However, Andrew Boyer was one of her dearest friends in school, so when he asked her to dance she was delighted. When the song was over she thanked him and walked away to welcome some more friends who had just walked in.

“What a great party!” Arielle heard Stefan’s voice very close behind her and to her surprise he was talking to her. He was standing practically next to her and as the next song started, he moved even closer without taking his eyes off of her. Just as he was about to speak, Andrew grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the dance floor. She was completely startled.

“You promised this dance to me,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and ignoring Stefan.

Arielle laughed because she liked Andrew so much as a friend. But she would have preferred to dance with Stefan and find out why he disliked her so much. She was deep in thought about this when she realized Andrew was talking again.

“I’m so happy to be here,” he was saying. “This is a great party! I know that I can’t dance very well, so if you want to sit down, I’ll understand.” They both laughed and embraced joyfully.

She was sad to hear that University of Brighton had not been Andrew’s choice, and that he was going away to another university.

By the time the party was coming to an end, Arielle had danced with several boys and she was almost ready for the party to be over. She saw Gabrielle talking with James Drew, one of the guys she had gone out on a couple of dates with during their school year, but nothing earthshaking. The music had stopped and people were leaving the party slowly, hugging, laughing, and showing what a great time they’d had. The party was a complete success, and Arielle had her wonderful mother to thank for that.

“Thank you, Arielle, I had a wonderful time,” Andrew said, heading for the door. “Oh, Andrew, thanks for coming,” she replied, and waved.

As she was about to walk toward Gabrielle, she was startled to find Stefan standing right next to her again.

“Arielle…I was wondering if we can talk for a moment?” he said, and gave her an alluring smile.

Ignoring the look of surprise on her face and not waiting for her answer, he took her hand and pulled her toward the balcony.

“I know that you’ll never believe me if I told you that I wanted to ask you out the first moment I set eyes on you three years ago,” he said.

Arielle blinked in surprise. “I do find that hard to believe. So why didn’t you?”

“I lost my nerve. I thought you would turn me down.”

“Well, you were wrong,” Arielle said a bit petulantly.

“Well,” he continued, ignoring the tone of her voice. “When I finally got the nerve to ask you, the guys at school changed my mind.”

“What? How did they do that?” she asked.

“I became friends with them, and there was talk…”

Arielle was absolutely horrified, automatically thinking the worst.

“What kind of talk?”

“The guys said that you had turned down every guy that asked you out, and they were waiting to see who the next loser was going to be.”

“You’re joking,” she said. She was completely surprised, but thinking back she suddenly realized that what he was saying was absolutely correct. She
had
turned down several guys, but that was only because none of them were right for her.

Stefan’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts again.

“No, I’m not joking. I was not going to be the loser; I didn’t want everyone to laugh at me.”

Arielle frowned. “Stefan, it had nothing to do with any particular innuendos and rubbish talk. I just didn’t want to go out with any of those guys, and so I turned them down.”

“What about me? Did you like me?” he asked cautiously.

“Maybe then, but it’s too late now,” she said evenly.

“I wish I could go back and do it all over again,” he murmured.

“I actually thought you didn’t like me at all,” she said in a low voice.

“What would ever give you that idea?” he asked, seemingly confused.

Arielle didn’t try to mask her surprise. His question was utterly absurd. “Stefan, you wouldn’t talk to me for three years, and you avoided being anywhere near me. I thought that was a pretty good indication of where I stood with you.”

“Well, like I said, I was always afraid that you would turn me down, so I stayed away from you.”

He reached out and tried to pull her closer, but she pulled away from him and smiled, letting him know that this was really not a good idea. In spite of all the bad feelings she had about him and the anger she held inside for his rejection, she was happy about this turn of events. Unfortunately, she didn’t really hold the same feeling for him anymore.

Stefan winced at her reaction. “I’ll be leaving for college in a couple of months and I wanted to find out if maybe there could be something between us now that we are out of school,” he said softly.

She smiled at him, but she didn’t find it difficult to tell him that she wasn’t interested in a relationship. He looked frustrated and hurt, but he too kept a smile on his face.

“I don’t feel anything romantic for you, but I do like you,” she said. Stefan was tall and stunningly handsome, even somewhat irresistible, but she felt sure that by the end of the summer she would probably have forgotten all about him.

As he started to walk away, she heard his voice, low but clear.

“Maybe you’ll change your mind over the summer.”

Then he was gone, and she stood there staring into the night, thinking about what-ifs.

Gabby was now walking towards her, and Eva was coming back inside the house alone, all flustered, a wide smile on her face.

“What happened?” they both asked Eva.

Her smile got wider and her eyes were sparkling.

“Oh, nothing, I just had a great time with Jack. He’s such a great kisser,” she said, looking as if she might drift away. Then suddenly she broke into a soft chuckle. Gabby asked Arielle what had happened between her and Stefan.

“Oh, he wanted to ask me out,” she said with a dry voice.

“Are you joking?” Eva and Gabby exclaimed simultaneously.

“No, not at all,” she said thoughtfully.

“Would you have gone out with him?” Gabrielle asked.

“I think I
would
have liked to go out with him a long time ago, but not now. He’s not the guy I’m waiting for.”

“I hope you told him to get lost,” Gabrielle said.

“I did, in a nice way,” Arielle chuckled. “I really don’t think of him as someone I would fall in love with,” she added. “He just doesn’t fit the blueprint of the man I have in my head. Anyway, by the time we get back from our holidays he won’t be here anymore. He’s going away to another university.”

They changed the subject, discussing the success of the party and all the gossip they had gathered during the night. They were staying overnight, so they went upstairs to get ready for bed. Arielle was happy about that. She was the first to go brush her teeth and wash her face. When she walked out of the bathroom, she saw Gabrielle and Eva sitting on the bed whispering back and forth, pretty animated.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Eva and I are talking about witchcraft and her powers. I want to know what she can do and if she considers herself a witch,” Gabrielle said.

Arielle walked over and sat on the bed with them. She looked at Eva.

“Well,
do
you think of yourself as a witch? I’d like to know about that as well.”

Eva was quiet for a short moment. She took a deep breath and appeared to be trying to find the right words to explain her powers.

“I don’t think that I’m a witch. All I know is what I’ve learned by reading the spell books I purchased,” she said. “I’m trying to understand the powers I think I may have and try to use them to make contact with the Spirit World. Sometimes I’m in sync with some unpredictable and maybe dangerous spirits, and that scares me. I know now that there is this alternate plane that exists, parallel to our physical world. But I don’t understand it.”

“So… are you saying that spirits come to you even if you don’t call on them?” Gabrielle asked.

“Yes, that’s what makes me uncomfortable about this whole thing.”

“What can they do to you?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve read that some spirits are very manipulative, and they may seek to use me for their own ends.”

“Oh my gosh…” Arielle muttered under her breath.

“I want Eva to do something with her powers,” Gabrielle persisted, looking at Arielle as if for approval.

“Gabby, I thought we were going to help Eva
stop
doing spells and witchcraft. I’m sure that isn’t a good idea,” Arielle said.

“Come on, Arielle, aren’t you even a little bit curious? I’ve been thinking about it ever since that day on the beach. We are together, so how bad could it be?”

Arielle had to admit that she was a bit curious, but she was also scared. She looked at Eva, who was looking down at her hands.

“I don’t want to do anything that might bring my visitor back. I’m a little scared of her, even though she has never done anything to hurt me,” she murmured.

“How can you be scared when you are spending so much time at the cemetery alone and summoning dead people?” Gabrielle pressed.

“That’s my father; I’m not scared of my father.”

“Come on, Eva, we are all here together. Nothing is going to happen.”

“I don’t have any of my spell books, and I can’t remember any of the spells.”

“Well that’s that, let’s just talk about other things,” Arielle said, standing up. She wanted to change the subject.

“Wait…” she heard Gabby saying as she jumped out of bed and sprinted to Arielle’s closet.

“I know you have the Ouija board we used when we were kids. Let’s just use that. There are no spells involved, and it may not work at all.”

“I’m not sure I like that idea either,” Arielle said. “That board starts out pretty innocent, but soon it becomes addicting and you can’t stop. I remember talking to a lady in St Jean de Luz who told me that it’s very dangerous to use this board as a portal to communicate with the dead. She said there are spirits out there that are prowling around, looking for innocent people, waiting to devour their minds. I don’t want to do that. I’m scared.”