Exaltation (Insight #11)(86)

“This is Miss Thelma Ray. I told you about her, remember?” Raven said a sweetly as she could.

Before he could utter a word Miss Thelma Ray spoke. “You have an old soul, son,” she said, glancing to Saige who had to decided to linger a bit close to Rydell.

Rydell nodded once.

“I see a warrior in your eyes.”

Rydell’s polite smile fell somewhat. “I fight for what’s right.”

“All the time?” Thelma Ray asked with a lifted brow.

“When I can,” he admitted.

“You fancy the swamp?”

Rydell moved his head ever so slightly back. Just then he was assaulted with emotion—good and bad—and it was daring him to open up closed parts of his soul he didn’t have time to fight.

“I take that as a yes,” Thelma Ray said as she glanced at Saige. “Ever get flashbacks of old wars?” Thelma Ray asked.

Rydell narrowed his stare. “I put wars behind me where they belong.”

“Thelma Ray, what’s this about?” Raven asked, not getting where she was going and clearly seeing that Rydell didn’t either. In Raven’s mind whatever tiff was between the covens was not Rydell’s or her fault, they were just kids.

“Just curious. You remind me of someone I know, respect.”

“Who?” Raven asked.

Right as Thelma Ray went to answer, Saige stepped up. “Rydell, come with me. I’ll get you a fresh piece of pie.”

Thelma Ray shook her head as Rydell went with Saige.

“What?” Raven said to her.

“Nothing, child. I was trying to be blunt, and your aunt disagrees with my methods.”

“Blunt about what?”

“Old souls have old memories,” she said, patting Raven on the shoulder as she got up.

Raven swallowed somewhat nervously as she glanced around. All the originals in the coven were looking at Rydell with a glint of odd awe in their eyes, and that was bothering her. Reincarnation was something the coven not only believed in but looked for in new births.

Raven had to wonder if Rydell’s coven believed in the same, if maybe these witches that had lived forever saw someone in him. Raven shook off the thought, and asked Rydell to take her home to her dad’s house. He picked her up the next day, too, to take her to school.

Raven never really bargained out the guidelines of having Rydell in her life, but the guidelines appeared. During the week, if she wasn’t working he could stay over until ten and her homework had to be done, which always took at least until nine thirty anyway. If she did work Rydell usually picked her up and took her home.

He had filled Raven’s life so quickly, so flawlessly, that she had no idea how she didn’t miss him before he arrived. She also knew she would’ve never been able to stuff the ghost boy Cashton down deep inside of her without him either. At least once a day she thought of Cashton and then chased the thought away with Rydell.

The next two months went by in a blur. A blissful rush. Raven was sure she was starting to fall for him in a deep kind of way. At the very least he was a best friend she knew would always be a part of her life. He just seemed to get her the way the twins and Soren did. He knew she was not normal but made her feel that way.

Every time he kissed her sweetly Raven tried to go a little further but he managed to keep them innocent. Which only made Raven want him all the more.

***

Raven slammed her laptop closed. She’d typed until her fingers were numb on the paper due in Mr. Berries’ class. The worst part was that she knew she was going to get an F because she disproved every theory he wanted her to prove. She did swallow her pride and typed an additional paper that proved the theories as well. She hadn’t decided which one she would turn in, or if she would turn them both in.

“You all right?” Rydell asked as he closed the book he was working out of.

Raven rubbed her eyes. “Just need a release.”

He glanced away, a sinful smile ghosting across his lips. They were alone in her father’s parlor, and the temptation had been staring them in eyes for hours.

“Hey, did your family teach you how to get into The Realm?” Raven thought that would be fun, that maybe she could even teach him to skate if they went there, though she was pretty sure you could not manifest talent, but it was worth a try. Or not. His entire body tensed.

“Yeah,” he breathed as his eyes met hers.

“You want to go?” Raven asked, shoving her books away.

“Why would we want to go there?” Raven had never seen him this on edge.

“It’s just fun, we can make anything, pretend anything. I was thinking skating but we could do something else.”

“Raven, that is not a fun place. Surely your father told you that.”

Whoa, serious Rydell was present and accounted for, Raven thought.

“I had a crash course, and it was fun in the end.”

“I’m sure it felt that way because your dad was protecting you, blocking out the bad so you could practice using vim.”

“Yeah, I guess he was.”

“Why don’t we go to the Veil instead?” he offered. “That might help with your paper, find more points to prove Berries wrong on.”

Now Raven was the one that was tense. She vowed never to go there again.

“And you don’t think the dead are dangerous? What kind of coven do you come from?” Raven asked with an awkward grin as she shoved the thoughts of ghost boy away.