Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) (5 page)

“If today is Halloween,” I began. “Then yes,
my birthday was three days ago.”
Three days ago, really? I
forgot my own birthday. Dante forgot my birthday.

“That could be why the Alliance is after
you.”

“What does me turning eighteen have to do
with anything?” I asked.

“Before you’re eighteen, it’s impossible to
transfer your powers.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It just is.”

“So what are you suggesting?” I
questioned.

“Never ever use your powers anywhere that
anyone you don’t trust could see.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “I just don’t see why this
is such a big deal.”

“You can imagine anything. You could do
anything, and so could they if they got ahold of it.”

“Wait,” I said. “I can be invisible, so what
if every time I want to use this power, I go invisible?”

“That could work, but you still need to be
very careful.”

“Okay, can we go back to having fun now? All
of this is really starting to freak me out.”

“Yes, I just needed to make you aware. I’m
sure everything will be fine.” She started walking away.

“Wait,” I called after her. “So, I could…
theoretically, put on one of these necklaces, and then I would be
normal?”

“Scarlett,” she sighed. “Nothing will ever be
normal again.”

“I have nothing left to lose,” I
reasoned.

“If you keep saying that, all these people
here that care about you are going to start getting really
offended.” She walked away. I ran up behind her and gave her a
hug.

“You have been more of a mother to me than my
mother was in my lifetime,” I explained. “I just wish I had a
chance at a normal life.”

“You never will. I’m sorry, but it’s the
truth. You have all of us. We are all here for you; you just need
to get the hang of things,” Elizabeth assured.

“Yeah, you’re right…what if I can’t though?
Have you ever known anyone that couldn’t get used to this?”

“No, I’ve met people that—like you—were
afraid at first, but you know what? They always turn out to be the
strongest.”

“Thanks Elizabeth,” I smiled.

“Come on,” she said, smiling back.

There were a few tables in the house; they
were all covered with gold tablecloths. Elizabeth brought out
another box of lights for inside. There was a huge net with white
lights all over it. It was as big as the room.

“Where does this go?” I wondered.

“On the ceiling,” she laughed. “Go ahead,”
she insisted.

I imagined it hanging from each corner of the
ceiling drooping down toward the middle. She set three candles on
each table. There were strings of pink lights that I used around
doorways, windows and anywhere else I thought would look nice.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Turn off the lights.” I did. It wasn’t as
dim as I expected, she lit all the candles, and I could see her
across the room. “Go get ready,” she smiled. “And please, try to
have fun.”

“I will have fun,” I promised.

I walked out the door. I had forgotten about
Elizabeth sending everyone else away. It was obvious that she
forgot, too, because we never told them they could come in.

“What was going on?” Annabelle demanded.

“Oh nothing, she just wanted to talk,” I
answered.

“About?”

“My power, it really was nothing. We should
get ready now.”

“Yay! Let’s go,” Annabelle shrieked,
forgetting about everything else.

“Hey,” Dante whispered as he came up behind
me. “Elizabeth insists I get ready over here, and come pick you up
for the party.”

“Okay,” I said, getting a little excited. It
would be kind of like a real date.

“I’ll see you around nine?”

“Alright,” I replied, unable to wipe the
smile off my face.

“Come on,” Annabelle said as she pulled me
away from him.

I walked in the door and grabbed my dress. My
shoes were sitting by the door; Dante must have gone to the beach
and grabbed them for me.

“What are you doing?” Annabelle was getting
impatient.

“Getting my dress…”

“Ugh do you want to get makeup all over it?
Who’s first?”

“I’ll go first,” Lily volunteered.

“Okay, let me see your dress.” Lily took it
out of the bag and held it up. “I know what I’ll do.”

When Lily came out of the bathroom, she had
light-green eye shadow and thick, black eyeliner. She looked great;
I wasn’t too crazy about dark makeup though. I started getting
nervous.

“You’re up,” Lily said as she walked past. I
walked into the bathroom, looking around at all the makeup
scattered on the counter.

“Don’t worry; I know exactly what I’m going
to do for you.”

“What?” I asked with uncertainty.

“It’s a surprise. You’re going to love it,”
she said as she turned me away from the mirror and makeup.

First, she put on eyeliner, then a lot of
mascara, some lipstick and I was done, in record time. I didn’t see
what shade of lipstick she put on, she insisted I didn’t look. I
was nervous to look in the mirror, but when I did, I was pleasantly
surprised. It looked pretty natural except for the crimson red
lips, but they made me look three shades paler, which I would have
thought was impossible.

“I’ll do your hair in a few minutes, send in
Grace.”

“Grace?” I said as I walked out the door.
“Annabelle wants to do your makeup.”

She got up and headed to the bathroom without
a word, I could tell she wasn’t happy. At least she was going along
with this; it was better than I had expected. Lily was waiting
downstairs already in her dress.

“You look so pretty,” I complemented.

“Thanks,” she smiled.

“Are you sure Annabelle won’t kill you for
getting in your dress? She still wants to do our hair.”

“No, she said it was fine. Get in yours.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost eight,” she replied. I felt
butterflies in my stomach.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,”

I stood in front of the mirror for a few
minutes. I looked nothing like myself. The dress was amazing. It
hung off my shoulders, and the sleeves were three-quarters long,
though they wouldn’t keep me warm. The skirt only went down to my
upper thighs, but that was the worst part about it, besides that it
wasn’t slutty-looking at all. I put on my shoes and headed out into
the hall.

Grace walked by, her makeup was dark, but she
looked really pretty. Her short, brown hair was still in knots, but
I had no doubt that Annabelle would fix that. Annabelle grabbed my
arm as I walked by.

“I’ll do your hair first. It shouldn’t take
long, I’m just going to straighten it.”

Once she was finished, I went downstairs and
sat on the couch. It was eight forty-five; Dante would be here any
minute. Grace came down the stairs. Her hair was curled, which made
it even shorter. She looked angry as she sat across the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked as nice as I
could.

“Nothing.”

“I can tell something is bothering you. You
can talk to me,” I offered.

“Yeah well maybe you can’t trust me,” she
looked away.

“I never said that,” I snapped.

“I know you didn’t. I did,” Grace
mumbled.

“So why can’t I trust you?” I asked, raising
my eyebrows.

“You really shouldn’t trust anyone,” she said
as if it was nothing.

“And exactly what do you mean by that?”

“Your own mom betrayed you, and you don’t
think anyone else will?”

I didn’t answer her. We sat there in silence
for what seemed like an eternity. All I could think about was
Dante, the fact that this was almost like a date, and how weird
this actually felt. I mean, we slept in the same bed, and this was
our first date. It wasn’t like we had done anything, but still, it
felt a little backwards. The doorbell rang, and I jumped up to
answer it.

I opened the door and Dante stood there in a
black suit, with a red tie. He held out a single red rose. Grace
looked him up and down a few times and then left to the other room.
Annabelle came rushing down the stairs.

“Is anyone else out there?” She asked.

Dante looked behind him. “No.”

She hoped Cooper would follow Dante’s lead. I
understood, but it all was a little silly; the house was less than
three hundred feet away.

“Do you know if Cooper was going to come over
here and see Annabelle?” I whispered.

“He kept talking and talking about her all
day, so…”

“Annabelle?” I called.

“Huh?” she said as she came around the
corner.

“Wait here a few more minutes okay?”

“Okay,” she smiled and ran up the stairs.

Dante grabbed my hand and led me over to the
party.

“You look…” he stopped and grabbed my other
hand. “Words can’t even describe how beautiful you look.”

“Yeah, right,” I laughed. He kissed me,
running his hands through my sleek, red hair, then down my
back.

He took a deep breath, “let’s go.”

We ran into Cooper a little ways from the
house. He looked nice.

“Hey are you going to see Annabelle?” Dante
asked.

“No, why would I?”

“Then what are you doing? She wants you to
walk her over here,” I explained.

“That seems kind of silly,” Cooper
surmised.

“Do you like her?” I questioned.

“Well, yeah—”

“Then if she wants you to, it seems kind of
silly not to, am I right?” I retorted.

“Alright, alright,” he said as he headed over
to the house.

“Have fun,” I called to him as he walked
away.

The outside tables were filled with children
in costumes. All the adults were inside the house. We walked in,
and it looked even more amazing than it did when I left. The lights
illuminated everything perfectly. Elizabeth walked around in her
extravagant gown and poured wine for everyone. When she got to our
table, she poured some for us as well. I looked up at her.

“What?” She asked. “It’s fine. You’re safe
here, and you won’t be driving.”

“Okay,” I said before I took a sip.

“You guys have fun tonight,” she smiled as
she walked away.

“That was weird,” I laughed.

“Yeah,” he said as he stared into my
eyes.

“What? You act like you’ve never seen a girl
in a dress and makeup before.”

“You really have no idea how gorgeous you
are, do you?”

“What is up with you tonight?”

Annabelle and Cooper came through the door
before he could answer. They sat at the table with us.

“Hey,” Annabelle said as she sat. Lily came
through the door seconds later.

“Where’s Grace?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I thought she left before us,”
Annabelle answered.

“We should check on her,” I insisted.

“Yeah, we probably should,” Dante agreed, as
he stood up.

A phone rang, but I wasn’t sure where it was
coming from. Dante pulled a phone out of his pocket.

“Where did you get that?” I wondered. He
didn’t have it before.

“I was talking to George about how you were
concerned about my family. He agreed, and he gave me this.” The
phone stopped ringing.

“Well, who was it?”

“Oh, it was my mom. I called her earlier… I
should probably—” The phone rang again.

“You take that, I’ll go find Grace.”

“It has to be important, I told her about the
party so….”

“It’s fine, I’ll be back in a few,” I assured
him.

“Be careful.” He said as he walked out the
door. “Hello?” I heard him say as I followed him out.

First, I decided to check the house, in case
she had forgotten something. I searched the entire house, but she
wasn’t there. I walked out a little ways into the woods. I heard
some leaves crunching and Grace giggling. I peeked out from behind
a tree, and there she was—with Dante. He whispered something in her
ear and then kissed her.

I stepped back. “No,” I whispered to myself
as I stared wide-eyed. “No.” I felt my lip quiver. I put my hands
up to my forehead. I stepped back again. My heel caught a root, and
I fell.

“What was that?” Dante asked nervously.

Now I knew what Grace meant when she said I
shouldn’t trust anyone. Why she told me that, I still didn’t
understand. Dante came over and held his hand out to help me
up.

“Your mom, huh?” I said as I got up and ran
away.

I almost reached the house when I tripped and
fell again. I closed my eyes and disappeared with ease. I lay there
crying. Grace deceiving me, I could believe, but Dante, no. I never
truly believed it was him with Grace before, but now? Now that we
were together, now that him sneaking around with Grace meant
cheating on me. I would never have believed it if I didn’t see it
with my own eyes, but I did. I went visible. I didn’t want to hide
from this anymore. If he had something to say to me, I would like
to hear what excuse he thought would explain this.

“Scarlett,” someone said as they came up
behind me. I turned around.

“Oh, Cooper. What are you doing out here?
Where’s Annabelle?” I asked as I tried to compose myself.

“Looking for you, I saw what happened.”

“You saw? What were you doing out here?”

“I figured I would follow you and help you
find Grace,” he answered.

“Cooper,” I cried as I grabbed onto him and
hugged him.

“Did you hear that?” He asked.

“No, what?”

“Someone was over there,” he replied as he
pointed towards the woods.

“It was probably Dante and Grace.”

All of a sudden, I felt dizzy. I felt my feet
give out from under me, and two strong arms catch me before I fell.
The lights up above were nothing but colorful swirls as my eyes
rolled in the back of my head.

“Have you eaten anything today?” He asked,
concerned.