Awry

9

“Scarlet Marie Jacobs!” Heather’s eyes were giant.

Scarlet was caught off-guard when she found Heather, still dressed for the dance in her fluffy blue gown, standing just inside her house when she got home.

“Where have you been?” Heather’s voice sounded angry, but her eyes looked hurt as Scarlet walked through the front door. “You ran out of here babbling about Tristan. And then Gabriel stopped by, but no one knew where you were and he was all freaked out, which freaked me out, and then you didn’t answer your phone for three hours, which freaked me out even more!”

Emotion clogged Scarlet’s throat. If she hadn’t come right back to life, if she’d vanished and not come back for another century…she would have lost Heather forever.

Tears burned the back of Scarlet’s eyes at the thought.

Heather continued, “You could have sent me a text. Or an email. Or a carrier pigeon…something!” Her eyes softened a tad. “We totally missed the dance, Scarlet. W-T-H?”

Scarlet spun around to shut the door behind her before turning back to apologize to Heather. But her apology got stuck in her throat when she saw Heather’s eyes taking in her appearance. Her very dirty, very bloody appearance.

Oh, no.

“Is that…?” Heather took a step back and fully looked Scarlet over. “Is that blood on your dress?” Her eyes widened. “O…M…G….”

Scarlet hurriedly said, “It’s not what you think.”

“You mean you’re not a crazy serial killer?” Heather cocked her head. “Did you get in a knife fight? Fall into a vat of blood? What the F?”

Scarlet looked at Heather, the girl who’d accepted her amnesia without question. The girl who’d cheered her up even when everything was dark. The girl who’d panicked when Scarlet hadn’t returned her calls for three hours.

Heather loved Scarlet and she deserved the truth.

“Okay, I need you not to freak out,” Scarlet said, raising her palms to Heather.

Heather’s eyes stayed wide. “Freak out? About the dried blood all over the back of your dress? Why would I freak out about that?” Heather squeezed her eyes shut. “Please tell me it’s ketchup.” She opened her eyes. “Please tell me you went to get a hot dog and had an altercation with a ketchup bottle.”

Scarlet shook her head and adjusted the black corset top that was squeezing her lungs. “Heather…I love you.”

Heather whispered, “O-M-G, O-M-G.”

Scarlet continued, “I’m going to tell you something that will sound crazy, but just…go with it, okay?”

Heather pressed her lips together.

Scarlet bit her lip, really hoping her crazy friend was just crazy enough to believe her.

“I’m semi-immortal,” Scarlet said, wiping her palms on her skirt.

Heather blinked.

“I die…and come back to life,” Scarlet explained, keeping her eyes on her blond friend.

Heather blinked again.

Scarlet swallowed. There was no turning back now.

“Gabriel, Tristan, and I were born in the 1500s. Gabriel and Tristan are immortal because their mom drank water from the fountain of youth while she was pregnant with them. And, apparently, if you drink fountain water when you’re pregnant, your baby will be immortal.”

“Anyway,” Scarlet blinked, “in the 1500s, I was engaged to Gabriel, but his ex-girlfriend, Raven, cursed an arrow so Gabriel could never know love without me, and then she shot me with the arrow. Tristan jumped in front of the arrow to save my life, but the arrow went through him and hit my heart. Tristan’s immortal blood was on the arrow when it entered my heart, making me semi-immortal. So even though I died from the arrow wound, I still came back to life years later. Because Tristan’s blood is inside me, we’re connected. So now, he can feel my emotions and everything. Which is awkward.”

Scarlet thought about how she had felt the desire in Tristan earlier. She shook her head and continued, “Tristan’s immortal blood is too powerful for my mortal heart. So his blood—blood that pumps through my veins right now,” Scarlet touched a hand to her chest, “slowly kills me. The closer I am to Tristan, the more powerful his blood becomes, gradually tearing apart my heart until I get really sick and…die.”

Did this sound stupid?

“I stay dead for a few decades and then Tristan’s blood brings my heart back to life.”

Heather stared at her.

Scarlet said, “But when I’m alive, Tristan is in pain. Because of the curse, he can’t be far away from me without hurting. The other part of the curse is that Gabriel can never know love without me, so I’m his only chance at true love. So in essence, we’re all screwed.” Scarlet paused.

“The best way to undo the curse is to find the fountain of youth. Water from the fountain is what gave Gabriel and Tristan their immortality and I thought it was the only thing that could cure me, but Tristan found out that if he managed to die his immortal blood inside my body would die as well, so I wouldn’t get sick again. And that’s what he tried to do tonight.” Scarlet blinked, feeling the fear of losing Tristan skitter through her limbs.

”Tristan tried to kill himself with a special arrow and I…I sorta got in the way.” She pointed to the bloodstains on the back of her dress. “The arrow hit me instead of Tristan and I died.” Scarlet hurriedly added, “But I came right back to life. I’m all healed. See?” She turned around to show Heather her smooth back and braved a very forced smile.

Please believe me.

Heather said nothing.

Scarlet cleared her throat. “So I’m not sick anymore and Tristan is alive. But we still need to find the fountain of youth. Until then,” Scarlet shifted her weight, “I’m semi-immortal.”

Heather had listened without moving. She was like a statue.

A blond, well-dressed statue, with red fingernails.

Regret crept into Scarlet’s head, admonishing her for dumping five hundred years of unbelievable information on her friend in the span of five minutes.

Scarlet felt her palms begin to sweat. She waited. She wiped her hands on her skirt again.

Eventually, Heather opened her mouth. “Are you…are you telling me the truth?”

Scarlet nodded. “I swear.”

“You’re not lying to me? Or joking?”

Scarlet pursed her lips and shook her head.

Heather blinked. “Gabriel and Tristan are immortal?”

Scarlet nodded.

“And you’re semi-immortal? And all of you are cursed?”

Scarlet nodded again. “I know it sounds insane.”

Heather looked scared. “And are you…are you dying right now? Are you sick?”

Scarlet answered, “Not this time. Not yet. My death tonight reset my body.”

Heather stared at Scarlet and nodded. “Um….” She swallowed. “Um….”

This was it. Scarlet was about to lose her best friend. Heather was probably going to run out of the house, screaming bloody murder, and Scarlet wouldn’t blame her.

She watched emotion fill Heather’s eyes and, suddenly, Heather’s arms were wrapped around Scarlet, hugging her until the corset was no longer Scarlet’s biggest breathing obstacle.

“I love you,” Heather said, her voice shaky. “And I don’t want you to die. Ever. I don’t care about any curse or fountain. All I care about is you. You can’t die.”

Relief filled Scarlet’s heart. “Hey…” She hugged Heather back, more grateful than ever for her crazy friend. It felt so good to tell Heather the truth. To confide in her and be accepted. “It’s okay. I’m not going to die. I’m going to find the fountain and everything will be okay.”

Maybe.

Heather squeezed Scarlet one last time before releasing her and wiping her wet eyes. “You better. Because I need you.” She added, “And I’m so happy you’re not some crazy serial killer.”

Scarlet nodded. “Me too.”

Heather furrowed her brow. Confusion crossed her face, followed by a look of pure joy. “Oh!” She took a step back, looking at Scarlet’s outfit, and smiled. “You’re not from this century!”

Scarlet raised her eyebrows.

“You’re brand new! Modern day life is a whole new world for you!” Heather laughed, clasping her hands together. “No wonder you don’t know how to dress yourself!” She laughed again with a sigh. “Oh, I’m so happy. You’re fashionably-impaired, but it’s not your fault. Wow. It all makes so much sense now.” She smiled, putting her hands over her heart. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am.”

Scarlet shook her head.

She had just told her best friend that she was a semi-immortal girl on the hunt for the fountain of youth, and what was Heather’s response?

Relief. Because Scarlet’s lack of fashion sense was justified.

“You’re crazy,” Scarlet said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Heather nodded, looking Scarlet over again. “But I’ll love you a lot more after you take a shower and wash the death smell out of your hair.”

Scarlet sniffed her hair. “I do not smell like death.”

Heather wrinkled her nose. “Well, you certainly don’t smell like roses.”

“Fine. I’ll go take a shower.”

As she made her way upstairs, Scarlet tried to take a deep breath. She had another chance to break the curse. To live.

And this time, she would do both.