Human Page 2

  I opened it and found myself staring into Devin's cerulean eyes. It was his file, a small picture of his pretty face attached to it. My pulse sped up as I scanned through the file to find the date of the inscription. I froze. No, it couldn't be. The date was exactly the same as mine. I blinked, stared at the file again, but nothing changed. I couldn't have been going with him to school for three years and not remember him!

  The file stated Devin's parents were Valdas and Melissa Teneroli. I frowned. Melissa? The pregnant woman I had seen in my vision? But she was dead and some weird being with red wings. There was no indication that Devin's mother was dead. It was just another stupid coincidence. It had to be, or I was completely losing my mind. Maybe it was time for me to find a lawyer and sue the school for all the stress. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

  I looked back at the paper. Apparently, Devin's birthplace was Salem, Oregon, and that didn't mean a thing to me. The current address field was empty. Great, these files probably hadn't been updated. I returned the file back to its place and went to sit on the bed. Closing my eyes, I tried to recall as many things about this school year as I could, but none of my memories included Devin. God, I even knew some of the old exam questions, funny things people had said in the class, titles of different projects… but no Devin.

  Was I having selective amnesia? Just thinking about it made me laugh. My life wasn't some movie where aliens visited our planet, kidnapped someone and returned them after wiping their memory clean. I was sure aliens hadn't kidnapped me. Except I wouldn't know it then, would I? Uh oh, and what if Devin was an alien and had everyone else under his spell? Maybe I should go up to him and ask him… and embarrass myself till the end of days. I sighed; I was most likely losing my mind. Yeah, that would be just my luck.

  Chapter 02

  Italia and I walked out of the nicely warm school building into the freezing winter air. No matter how much I pulled my coat tighter around myself, I was still feeling like I had fallen into a lake covered with ice. A snowball flew inches away from my face, and I gasped, wondering why everyone seemed to love snow so much. Italia cursed at the person who had thrown the snowball, taking me by the arm and hurriedly leading me towards the black Honda Civic her brother was driving.

  She opened the front passenger door, smiled at her brother and stepped aside. I must have looked completely shocked because she actually rolled her eyes at me.

  "Come on! We're going to freeze!" She made a motion with her hand for me to go inside. I couldn't believe she was forcing me to sit right next to her brother. Not to mention I was already embarrassing myself by hesitating. Ugh, she was going to pay me later for this. I got into the car, and she closed the door, trapping me inside with her gorgeous brother.

  "Hi, Ariel," he said, a lovely smile stretching his lips. "Heard you passed out. Nice way to avoid class."

  "I wasn't really avoiding class," I said, blushing like an idiot. Luckily, I could blame the cold air for the redness in my cheeks. Italia slid into the back, placing our things on the seat next to her. In all the excitement about seeing her brother, I'd totally forgotten she had both of our backpacks.

  "Sure you weren't." The tone of Amadeo's voice was telling me he didn't believe me. Oh, well, it would have been so much better if I had been faking it.

  "You know where Ariel lives, right?" Italia pushed her head between the seats as I fumbled with my seatbelt.

  "Sure, sis," Amadeo said, bringing the engine to life. "Now would you mind putting your seatbelt on?"

  "Yeah, whatever." She settled back into her seat. "So, you can get me home first because I need to do something, and then you can take Ariel."

  "No prob." He steered the car out of the school's parking lot. I glanced back at Italia, trying hard to calm my jumping heart. How could she do this to me? There was no way I was going to stay alone in the car with Amadeo. Just no.

  "Isn't my house in the wrong direction?" I said. "I mean, you'll have to drive back and all?"

  "It's fine. I have to do something out of the town, so your house is just on my way," Amadeo said, his warm brown eyes melting away all the coldness I was feeling. Why did he have to be so beautiful? His skin looked tanned even in the middle of winter, his cheekbones high and his lips so kissable. But what I liked even more than his full lips, thick dark eyelashes and brown eyes, was his soft wavy dark brown hair, which always looked like he had just washed it. He was born to do a shampoo commercial. I bit my lip, wondering what it would be like to run my fingers through his hair and pull him in for a kiss.

  When Amadeo gave me a curious look, a playful smile curving his lips, I realized I was staring. I looked away, focusing on the scenery outside. Oh my, this was going to be a long ride.

  Italia jumped out of the car, grabbing her backpack and saying goodbye to us. She winked at me before she disappeared behind the front door of their huge white house. The car suddenly seemed too small for Amadeo and me.

  "Time to get you home," he said, getting the car back on the road. I kept my mouth shut, unsure what to say. Luckily, the radio was on and the music didn't leave space for any awkward silences.

  "Are you feeling all right?" Amadeo glanced at me, concern glowing in his eyes.

  "Umm, yeah," I said. "I'm fine. It's just something that happened at school and…"

  "What happened?"

  "Nothing special," I lied. Why did I always have to blurt out something stupid?

  "It is something," he said, his face serious. "You don't look like a fainting type."

  "Is that a compliment?" I smiled, trying to change the subject. I wasn't going to admit to this hot guy that I was becoming a lunatic.

  "Yeah. But I still want to know what happened."

  Ah, great. I was sure that if I opened my mouth, I'd say something that wouldn't even make sense; a lie that would only bury me deeper into the ground.

  "I was worrying too much. It's just… my classmate," I said, playing absently with the lock of my hair. Couldn't this damn car go a little bit faster?

  "Love trouble?" He chuckled.

  "No!" I was glad that the seatbelt held me in place, or I might have jumped. "Nothing like that. I just can't remember hi… something he said."

  "Ah." Amadeo eyed me suspiciously, his face darkening. Had I done or said something wrong? Well, I was saying wrong things all the time, but why would that bother him?

  "What's his name?" he suddenly asked. "My sister talks so much about school that I kind of know most of your class. Not to mention they also come to see me perform."

  "Devin," I said, carefully inspecting his face for some sign. If he knew the guy, then I might as well start googling my symptoms as soon as I got home. "Devin Teneroli."

  "Never heard of him." Amadeo frowned. "What does he look like?"

  "Umm, short black hair, dark blue eyes…"

  "Impossible. Ita would have told me about him." He tightened his hands on the wheel. "You said dark blue eyes?"

  "Yeah," I said. "I mean, more like sky blue going to darker in the shadow."

  "So you've been hanging out with him?" There was something strange in his voice, but I dismissed it. This day was already full of strange, no need to add to the list.

  "Not really," I said. "Except we wrote a paper together… I guess."

  "Maybe you should stay away from him."

  "Why?" I looked at him in surprise. He didn't know the guy, so why would he tell me to stay away?

  "Well, you fainted because of him," he said. "That can't be a good thing."

  "I didn't exactly faint because of him." I wanted to bang my head against the wall or something. While trying to avoid telling what had really happened to me, I managed to make Amadeo think I was obsessing so much about Devin that I'd fainted to get his attention, or God knows what he thought.

  "I know," he said, pulling the car into my snow-covered driveway. "But he must have added to it. Made you more upset than you had already been."

  "Possible, yeah." I nodded. Amadeo's wo
rry for me touched me deep inside, chasing away all the uneasiness I'd been feeling.

  "Then stay away from him." He smiled. "Ignore him. Don't let him drive you mad."

  I looked up into his warm dark brown eyes, suddenly feeling like he knew what was wrong. But how could he?

  "Thank you for the ride," I said, unfastening my seatbelt.

  "Are you coming to see my band this weekend?" he asked so sweetly that it was impossible to resist him.

  "Sure," I said, getting out of the car and grabbing my backpack from the backseat. I offered him a smile as he brought the engine back to life and waved at me. This turned out better than I'd expected. Amadeo wasn't thinking I was crazy, at least not completely, and there was a chance that maybe, just maybe, Devin was some creature out of space who had toyed with people's brains this morning before I got to school.

  "I'm fine, Mom," I said for God knows what time. "It was nothing. I was cold and wet, and got into the hot classroom and fainted. The nurse didn't want to risk anything, so I just stayed in the infirmary. But I'm fine, really."

  "Are you sure, honey?" My mom's green eyes were full of worry. "Your sister is feeling better, but maybe you got it from her… We should take you to the doctor."

  Yeah, probably. Just not to the ordinary doctor, more like a psychiatrist or something.

  "No, there's no need," I said, breaking off a big piece of chocolate and stuffing it in my mouth. "I'll go if I start feeling sick."

  "All right." My mom sighed, going for the stairs. "I'm going to check on your sister."

  I settled on our soft cream couch in the living room and turned on the TV, switching through the channels. But I couldn't get Devin out of my thoughts. Who was he and why had he come here? And more important, how had he made people believe he'd been with us all the time? I closed my eyes. Did I believe in magic? I wasn't sure. What if things like this had happened before and I wasn't even aware of it?

  A beautiful woman with a long red hair and huge blue wings with golden strikes walks across the white marble floor, her long white dress fluttering in the wind. She looks up at the clear blue sky, the sun caressing her olive skin. A tall man with the wings identical to hers and a short dark brown hair approaches her, wearing something similar to a toga.

  "He's working on it," the man says, putting his hands around her waist.

  "I don't want our son anywhere near that demon," she spits out, her body shaking with anger.

  "He won't go near, but he'll get the girl."

  "Good. But do you think she'll believe him?"

  "He is smart, our boy. He'll know what to do."

  She turns around, her violet eyes boring into his. "Why did it take us so long to find her?"

  "We couldn't have known. She was too young, our blood in her veins too weak to show." He runs a finger down her face. "But what bothers me is that we can't find out who her parents are."

  "What about her sister?"

  "We don't know. Our son hasn't been in contact with her yet, and I doubt it they are real sisters."

  "The girl could as well be a half-breed. Our kind loves to mingle with dirty humans." She snorts. "Maybe that is why she wasn't raised here or made known to us."

  "We'll find out, my dear." The man kisses the top of her head. "We just have to be patient."

  "I only hope demons won't get to her first. There's a rumor they will try to take an angel to Hell. And what is easier than getting an unprotected one from the human world?"

  "True. It can't be a coincidence that a demon appeared there right now. But there is nothing we can do if we don't want to start a war. We can only put our hopes into our son. After all, he grew up in the human world. He'll know what to do."

  "I have a feeling we are being watched," the woman says, shuddering.

  I woke up with a gasp and found myself still lying on the couch in the living room. What was going on with me and winged creatures? Just who were these people and what had they been talking about? It must have been a dream since my mind was still stressed out from today's events. I got up and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.

  Christina was sitting on her bed in her favorite pink pajamas with little red hearts on it, looking healthier than ever.

  "Were you actually really sick at some point?" I frowned at her. Mom was downstairs making dinner, so we didn't have to worry that she would overhear us.

  "Of course I was," she said indignantly. "I'm feeling much better now."

  "Your friend called you, didn't she?"

  "So? She just wanted to know how I was feeling." She crossed her arms defensively. Oh yeah, there was more to this.

  "Did she tell you about a certain party this weekend?"

  "Party? What party?" Her face looked completely innocent, but her eyes betrayed her.

  "You know what I'm talking about. Ita's brother sings in the band that will play there."

  "You're going, right?" She looked at me hopefully.

  "Yeah, I am. But that doesn't mean I'll drag my little sister with me."

  "Don't worry," she said, reaching out for her pillow and squeezing it. "I'll be with my friends anyway."

  "Do you really think mom's going to let you go?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

  "Sure she will."

  "Well, I'm glad you're not sick anymore." I smiled and went for the door. Just as I was about to close the door behind me, I glanced back at my sister and froze. Her green eyes were violet, almost identical to the eyes of the people, or whatever they were, that I'd seen in my dream. Only a heartbeat later, her eyes were back to normal and assessing me curiously. I closed the door before she could ask anything.

  I was trying really hard to concentrate on studying when my cell phone rang, its distinctive melody announcing it was my best friend, Italia. Instantly relieved that I could pause studying for a moment, I grabbed my cell phone in a flash and answered it.

  "Hey, just wanted to check how you're feeling," Italia's cheerful voice filled the line.

  "I'm fine," I said, feeling like a parrot. Maybe I should get one and teach it to repeat 'I'm fine' all over again. But the question was, was I really fine?

  "Glad to hear it." There was a short pause. "Umm, listen, my brother mentioned something related to Devin."

  "What?" My shoulders stiffened instantly as I waited for her to say something. She hesitated, and that couldn't be good. "Just tell me."

  "This might sound crazy," she said, "but my brother asked me who Devin was, and I must have mentioned him to my brother at least a thousand of times. I remember it. Besides, I wrote this paper with Devin and I have it here, but my brother swears it was Alice who worked with me and not Devin. He actually remembers Alice being here at my place, but I don't."

  "Did Amadeo tell you anything else?" I didn't know what to think. If Amadeo was sure of what he was saying, then there really was something strange going on and not just in my head.

  "No." She sighed. "I'm waiting for mom to come home so I can ask her what she remembers."

  I bit my lip, debating whether I should tell her or not. After all, she was my best friend and would do anything to help me. So even if I was losing my mind, I wanted her to be my support.

  "There's something I need to tell you," I said, "about Devin."

  "What?" Her voice was spiked with curiosity. Was she going to laugh at me when I told her? Well, only one way to find out.

  "I don't remember Devin. Not even a tiny little detail," I said. "I think I haven't seen him before at all. That's why I asked you if he was new."

  There was no laughter on the other end of the line, but there wasn't any sound either. I had to strain my ears to hear Italia's soft breathing.

  "What do you mean you don't remember him?" she finally said.

  "I don't know him, and I don't know anything about him. It's like he appeared out of nowhere, and everyone seems to know him except me."

  "I know what this is," she said, annoyed. "You and my brother decided to play a trick on me! I shouldn't have lef
t you two alone in that car, should I? Well, you almost had me fooled."

  "Ita…"

  "Oh, you're not going to convince me the whole school is under some kind of mass spell except you."

  "I'm telling you the truth!" I said, feeling a bit desperate. "If your brother is lying, then I might as well be having memory problems or losing my mind. I also have these weird dreams or visions or whatever they are, and it's all freaking me out. You have no idea how that feels!"

  There was an edge of hysteria in my voice, and I was confident Italia knew I wasn't such a good actress to pull that off, even over the phone. Every time I tried to play a prank on someone I ended up laughing like a maniac and ruining everything.

  "You are having visions?" I could almost picture Italia's eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise at that. "You're joking, right?"

  "I wish I was," I said, sprawling on the bed.

  "So, what did you see? The future? Is the world going to end? Oh, the questions of our next exam?" She sounded hopeful for the last one.

  "Nothing like that," I said. "Only some creatures with red and blue wings, with feathers and all."

  "Angels?"

  "Could be, but these didn't look friendly," I said, the image of that man killing Melissa still fresh in my mind. "They didn't even seem angelic."