preface
He’d searched so long for her. Year after year, decade after decade, century after century, millennium after millennium. And now he’d found her. He watched her closely; as closely as he could from where he stood, yards away from her bedroom window. She was reading a book, her black hair, cut to the length of her chin, falling around her face, just barely letting him see her gray eyes, identical to his. A small smile was playing on her lips. It was just barely there—you could almost miss it—unlike his smile, which stretched from ear to ear. Because he had found his other half.
chapter one
I’m not sure what woke me up. But now I’m awake, with someone sitting on the edge of my double bed.
I open my mouth to scream bloody murder, but the person’s hand flies to cover it. “Don’t scream. I won’t hurt you. I promise I won’t hurt you,” his smooth voice says calmly and quietly.
I simply look at him with wide eyes.
“So how are you doing on this lovely night?” he questions casually while removing his hand.
“W-what?” I stutter, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion. Why is he asking me this? Why is he even here?
“So how are you doing on this lovely night?’ he repeats, though a ton slower, like I’m an imbecile or something.
“Uh, a little freaked out that some guy is in my room.”
He laughs.
I scoot away from him. Well, further away from him, that is.
“Emerson, I won’t hurt you,” he assures me.
“How do you know my name?”
He laughs again, not answering.
“I must be dreaming,” I mutter under my breath.
“I can assure you you’re not,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see it in the dark.
“Whatever,” I sigh. “What are you doing here?”
“Visiting.”
“Visiting?” I echo.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because…” he trails off.
After a moment of silence, I prompt him further. “Because why?”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
“So how much else do you know about me?” I ask curiously. I want to know exactly how freaked out I should be.
“Your name is Emerson Audi Austen,” he states.
“And?” I ask.
“Your dad wanted a boy and wanted to name him Emerson after Ralph Waldo Emerson. Even though you turned out to be a girl, he still wanted to name you Emerson. And your mom was too sick and weak to even realize that she was agreeing that your name would be Emerson. She had almost died that night, giving birth to you.”
“And?” I ask again. My voice is strong, but my head is spinning. How does he know this much? How does he now any of this?
“Your mom calls you Em. That is, when she talks to you.”
I cringe. Sad, but very true. “And?”
“Your dad calls you Emerson. And he isn’t the nicest person in the world, which I learned the first day.”
What does he mean by that? The first day? What is that supposed to mean? The first day of what? The first day that he decided to start stalking me? Or what? I’m so hopelessly confused. “And?”
“Your friends call you Audi.”
“And?”
“Those friends are now living in Australia with their dad. They’re triplets, named Auren, Elina, and Zelda, or Zellie.”
“And?” I repeat for the billionth time. I am now officially creeped out by everything that this guy, this complete stranger, knows.
“Everyone else at school calls you Austen.”
I look down at my hands, pale and plain. So he really does know… a lot. A lot a lot. “How much else do you know?” I whisper.
“Too much to tell you now.”
“Well what’s your name?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Later?” I stare up at him. All I can see is a silhouette. No features whatsoever.
“Yes. Later.”
“But…” I trial off as I fist my comforter in my hand. “Why?” I finish finally.
“That’s too much for one night.”
“What do you--?” I’m cut off abruptly.
“Good-bye, Emi.”
And then he disappears.
chapter two
My alarm clock screams angrily at me and I swat at it for a few moments before it finally turns off. That was such an odd dream I had last night. For a split second I wonder if it was real, but I’ve instantly pushed that thought away. It’s impossible. Things like that just don’t happen to me. Or to anyone that I know of, for that matter.
I climb out of bed and pull on some navy basketball shorts, a black tee, and some old, tattered gray shoes. As soon as I’ve descended the stairs, my mom starts shaking her head.
“No,” she says.
“What?” I ask, all innocent-like. I know exactly what. It’s the first day of school and these aren’t my best clothes by far. And I didn’t bother to brush my hair, either. Yes, I suppose I’ve pretty much begged by mother to correct me on this. Ugh.
She motions for me to go back upstairs. I do, and I hear her following close-by.
“Do I have to lay out your clothes for you?” she sighs.
“No,” I mumble.
“Well, apparently you aren’t capable of picking out your own.”
I roll my eyes. Luckily, she doesn’t see it or there’d be hell to pay for sure.
“Here,” she says, handing me some of the clothes she has bought over the summer. “You want to make a good impression on the first day of school, don’t you?”
I shrug. Why should I? I’m a sophomore this year, and everyone already thinks that I’m a freak.
My mom sighs, while I take the pair of black skinny jeans, white blouse, and black flats from her.
“Oh, my God!” My mom’s hand flies to her mouth. “Your hair is long.”
“What?” I ask, automatically touching my straight black hair and searching for the end. And the end happens to be just skimming my waist, while just yesterday it barely touched my shoulders.
“Um, just put it in braids for now. And what’s with your bangs? There’s a white streak in them.” She reaches up and touches them.
I look in the mirror on my dresser and sure enough there’s a streak that’s half a centimeter in width and snow white in color that runs through my bangs, all the way down to my shoulders, on the right side of my face.
“We’ll get it cut… and dyed tomorrow, okay?” my mom calls over her shoulder as she leaves.
“Sure,” I reply faintly; much too softly for her to hear.
After gently closing the door, I dress, brush my hair, and struggle to put it into two braids.
“C’mon Emerson!” my dad yells, annoyed, up the stairs.
“Coming!” I yell back, snatching up my bag and running downstairs to meet my dad, who’s clearly angry and annoyed with my being fifty nine seconds late.
“What took you so long?” he snarls. Yes. He snarls.
“Sorry,” I apologize, my eyes meeting the dirty, off-white carpet.
“Well hurry then!” he shouts.
Sighing, I follow him out of the house. Fortunately, though the drive is short; it’s just two minutes long.
But school is a different story. With my head ducked and my eyes not leaving the floor, I enter the school.
“Hey Austen,” a girl sneers as I pass by. Kennedy, I think is her name.
When I ignore her and keep walking, Kennedy steps in front of me. Luckily—for me anyway—I’m quicker and easily able to dance around and past her.
Once in class, I sit in the back corner of the room and lose myself in a book.
“Class, please be quiet!” Miss What’s-Her-Name, the teacher, yells in a squeaky voice like she tried to get high on balloons before class started. Great. It’s the first day of school and she’s already fed up with us, plus I’ll have to deal with her voice the whole year.
I look around and note that the chairs surrounding me are empty. Sigh. Of course they are.
“Shut up!” Miss What’s-Her-Name nearly screams. “Please just shut up and listen!”
“Sorry I’m late,” a voice says. The same voice from my dream. The exact same voice. I freeze, not looking up, not moving.
“Whatever. Just take a seat!” Miss What’s-Her-Name snaps.
I still don’t look up, but I hear the guy take a seat next to me, followed by an ugly scraping noise as he scoots closer to me.
“Hello, Emi!” that same smooth voice greets me.
I look up at him finally. He has black hair, with a white streak, identical to mine, running through his hair, and gray eyes with little black flecks swimming in them. Just like mine. I realize that I’m staring at him. I do. But it’s… creepy. He was real last night, wasn’t he?
“Hello, Emi,” he repeats, laughing.
“H-hi,” I stammer. “I thought…”
“You thought what?” he asks, his eyebrows rising.
“I thought that I had been… dreaming last night…”
He laughs again. It’s a light laugh, and his whole face lights up. “You weren’t. I swear that you weren’t.”
“Hmmph,” is all that I can say.
“I see your hair has grown quite a lot. And you have the white streak,” he notes while reaching up and touching the white, his fingers feather-light on my hair.
I don’t respond.
“Prince,” he says suddenly.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“My name. It’s Prince. Prince Lorcan Sawyer.”
“Well… hi, Prince,” I say, nervously biting my lip.
“Well hello to you, too, Emi,” Prince returns, smirking at me.
Flushing slightly, I go back to my book.
“Whatcha readin’?” Prince inquires, leaning over my shoulder.
“Oliver Twist,” I mutter.
“Ooh, I love that book,” he squeals. Squeals. And very loudly, too.
“Prince?” Miss What’s-Her-Name calls out.
“Yes?” he looks up at her.
“Are you done acting like a little girl? I would really appreciate it if I could start teaching.”
“I wasn’t acting like a little girl, I was acting like most of the girls at this school,” Prince declares, his voice loud and firm. “Most of the girls here act like they have an IQ of 20. What’s up with that?” He turns to me. “Do you know what’s up with that, Emi?”
I don’t say anything, but I do bite my lip nervously when I see Kennedy glaring at me. I am going to kill you, she mouths at me. Well, that’s just lovely.
“But no, I am not done acting like a girl. Mainly because I don’t think you should criticize others and how they speak with that squeaky voice of yours,” Prince finishes.
I can’t help but snicker at this.
From my seat, I can see Miss What’s-Her-Name grit her teeth. “Well, Mr. Sawyer, would you like to go to the office, be my guest. And Austen, you may join him,” she says angrily.
“Fine,” Prince nods. “But her name,” he points to me, “Is Emerson.”
“Stupid and ugly name for a stupid and ugly person,” I can hear Kennedy mumble.
“Well then you’ll be happy to know that the meaning of Kennedy is ugly head,” Prince smirks at her before wrapping an arm around my waist and walking out the door with me.
As soon as the door is shut, I push his arm away, hissing at him, “What the hell was that?”
Prince puts his hands up in a surrender-like gesture. “Sorry, sorry. I just thought you’d like someone sticking up for you for once.”
“I don’t need someone to stick up for me,” I counter. With angry tears beginning to well in my eyes, I push past him and disappear into an unused janitor’s office where Auren and I used to hang out. There are two vending machines, an old, ripped up couch, a table, and a few chairs, all pushed up against the side walls.
I can’t say I’m super surprised when Prince bursts in while I’m opening a can of Diet Coke.
“Listen, I’m sorry—”
“I don’t even know you,” I interrupt.
“But I know you,” he says.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know you,” I retort.
“I know that, but still.”
I sigh. “How do you know so much about me?”
This time it’s Prince who sighs. “It’s too soon to tell you everything.”
“So tell me what else you know about me,” I press.
“No. We have to go to the office. And then we have to get back to class. I’ll tell you later,” he says while standing and walking out of the room.
And for the second time, he’s left without giving me any more information on what’s going on.
chapter three
The day’s over. Finally. I spent most of it ignoring Prince. He was in every single one of my classes. Every one. And I doubt that that’s just a weird coincidence.
I’m sprawled out on my bed, reading, when the phone rings. It’s Auren.
“Hello?” I say, unable to hide the eagerness in my voice when I answer the phone. I just haven’t talked to them for awhile (two days) and I was dying to talk to someone. Besides Prince, I mean. Or my parents. Because, frankly, they’re idiots. Maybe not my mom so much, though. She’s alright.
“Hi, Audi! How was your first day of school?” Auren asks, just as excited-sounding as me.
“It was… school. How was yours?”
“Good. Good. Elina and I have all of our classes together. But Zellie, she signed up for a ton of different stuff, so we only see her at lunch. So did you meet anyone new?”
I hesitate. I could tell her about Prince. I should. We tell each other everything, us four, but Auren and I are even closer. “Um… one person.”
“Ooh, good!” she sounds so excited and I laugh mentally. Of course she is. She knows that everyone at school thinks I’m a freak. “What’s their name? Oh! Is it a boy?”
“Yes.” I laugh, rolling my eyes even though she can’t see it. “His name is Prince.”
“Nice name,” she says, and I can hear the smirk in her voice. “So… do you like him?”
“No,” I say curtly.
“Oh.” Auren seems taken aback by this. “Well, is he mean? Does he call you names? Did he try to trip you like that other—?”
“No,” I cut her off, sighing. “He’s not mean. He’s just… odd.”
“Like you’re one to judge,” Auren says with a laugh.
“Hey!” I exclaim. “I am not that weird.”
“Uh-huh,” she mumbles.
“So have you met any boys?” I enquire, quickly and effectively changing the subject.
“No. Sadly. But maybe soon. I dunno. Whatever. Zellie has, though. I don’t know his name or anything, but I saw her talking to him for a bit after school. Elina and I have been teasing her merciless, but she won’t tell us anything about him.”
“Darn.”
“I know.”
A silence comes over us, and we don’t say anything for a bit.
It’s me who breaks it. “So how’s Australia?”
“The weather’s nice,” is all she tells me.
Okay… “Do you like it there?”
“No.”
“Oh. Why… not?” I hesitate to ask her.
“My dad is…” She breathes in deeply. “He dates a lot. He’s never home. I mean, he’s never home alone, ‘cause I’ve already seen 14 different women in the month I’ve been living here. He doesn’t really pay attention to us at all.”
“Oh,” I say, finally understanding. None of them had wanted to go to live with their dad. They were upset about it for weeks, but their mom insisted, because they had never met their dad. Plus, their mom had met a guy. Auren, Elina, and Zellie don’t know this, because she never told them. The only reason I know is because I’ve seen them all around town together. “I’m sorry, Auren.”
“It’s fine.” She pauses. “I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. ‘Bye.”
Auren hangs up.
I lay there, my phone in my hand, thinking about my day. It definitely hasn’t been the best of days. But it hasn’t been the worse, either.
“Emi?”
I look up, startled, and find Prince in my room, sitting on my window seat that I hardly use. “What are you doing here?” I demand.
“Whoa. Relax. I’m not here to murder you or whatever. I told you last night that I wouldn’t hurt you, didn’t I?”
“So that really wasn’t a dream,” I muse, mostly to myself.
“Nope.”
I sigh. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on here?”
“I still can’t tell you all of it. And trust me, you’ll think I’m crazy.”
“You are,” I mutter under my breath.
Prince laughs softly. “Okay. Well first, do you want me to cut your hair? Because it’s grown.” He pauses and looks at my long braids. “A lot.”
“Why is that?” I ask. “And what’s with the white? You have it too.”
A small smile dances on his lips. “Yes. I do. Now, I’ll cut your hair, and while I’m doing that I’ll explain what’s going on. Deal?”
“Sure,” I agree cautiously.
“Okay, then.” He pulls some scissors out of his pocket. I find that very odd, but I don’t comment. Why bother?
Prince unravels my braids and I soon here the snipping as he cuts.
“So are you going to tell me now? Why did my hair suddenly grow two feet overnight and why do I have this white strip? And how do you know so much about me? And how did you get in here? And—”
“Stop,” Prince orders. I stop.
“Which question would you like me to answer first?”
“How do you know so much about me?”
“I have sources,” he replies, while picking up my bangs to cut them.
“Sources?”
“Yes. Sources.”
“What kind of sources? By sources, do you mean people who stalk me and find out all this stuff?”
Prince laughs softly again. “Sort of.”
“So people have been stalking me?”
“Yes,” he says blatantly. “But don’t worry. We haven’t invaded your privacy too much.”
“Well that makes me feel a ton better,” I remark sarcastically.
“I’ll bet it does.”
“And what do you mean by “we”?”
“That… is harder to explain.”
“Try.”
“I’ll explain that part later. Another question, please.”
“Why is my hair suddenly… like this?”
“Because you met me,” Prince replies. He’s done with my hair, and he slips the scissors back into his pocket.
“W-what?”
“Because you met me,” he says slower.
“I know what you said… but what do you mean?”
Prince sighs and rubs his temple.
I wait, though not very patiently.
He finally says something. “I told you you’d think I was crazy. But it’s complicated. There are 14 of us. You’re one of them. We’re called Creatures.”
I laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.”
The smile slides from my face. “I don’t believe you.”
“I was afraid that you might not.”
“Why should I? It’s insane. You’re insane.”
Prince sighs loudly. “I know that it sounds insane, but it’s true. All of it. I swear to you I’m not lying.”
“Why should I trust you? I haven’t even known you for 24 hours yet. So why should I trust you?”
“I guess you shouldn’t.”
“Exactly. Now go.”
“Emi, I—”
“Please. Just go. I don’t care. Just… stay away from me. Okay? Is that really that hard?”
“Harder than you think,” I hear Prince mutter.
“Please just go,” I plead.
Prince stares at me a moment before nodding and disappearing.
I don’t need this. I don’t need this. I don’t need this. I don’t need him messing up my messed up life. I just don’t. I don’t.
chapter four
Sleep doesn’t come easily for me. I can’t stop thinking about Prince. It can’t be true, can it? But it’s all so weird. I sigh. I don’t want this. I don’t need this. Any of this. I wish it were all a dream. But it’s not…
I wake up the next morning, still exhausted, caused by only getting a few meager hours of sleep. My hair is long again, though not as long. Prince had cut it all to my ears, so when it grew, it wouldn’t be quite so long. And my nails are long, too.
I drag myself out of bed and begin getting ready for the day. I actually care enough to wear something decent—jeans and a black tee. Better than what I really want to wear, but worse probably than what my mom would pick out. But when I go downstairs, she doesn’t say anything. She looks tired out and slightly upset. I don’t bother to ask what’s wrong, instead grabbing a breakfast bar and heading outside. I’ll walk today. I really don’t want my dad to drive me.
The sidewalk is rain-soaked, and the air has a bit of a cold bite to it this morning. It’s only August, and it’s already cold. What is up with the weather this year? The spring was filled with snowy days, and the summer was incredibly hot and humid. Well, the first part of the summer. But now, it’s like autumn’s impatient and trying to come early. I’m too deep in thought about the weather to notice that someone started walking in step with me.
Eventually, I turn to them. It’s Prince. Big surprise. “I thought I told you to leave me alone,” I grumble.
“You did, though perhaps not in those exact words. So how are you doing today?” he questions, looking at me, a concerned expression plastered to his face.
“Lovely.”
“Good. I’m doing lovely to.”
I glance over at him, and he’s smirking at me.
I sigh.
“I have news for you today,” Prince announces.
“Good or bad?”
“Depends on how you look at it.”
“Okay. So then… what’s the news?”
“I’m kidnapping you for the day.”
I laugh, though it sounds fake, and stop in my tracks. “You’re what?”
“I’m kidnapping you. Geez. You’re very hard of hearing, you know that, right?” he teases.
“Shut up. And how do you plan on kidnapping me, exactly, if you’d like to share that with me?”
And suddenly I’m looking at Prince’s back. “Put me down!” I demand.
“No.”
“I’ll scream.”
“Too bad we’re invisible,” he says.
“What?”
“We’re invisible. Now stop asking me to repeat things. It’s seriously getting on my nerves.”
Ignoring his last comment, I scream as loud as I possibly can. It hurts my own ears, and I look around to see if anyone is coming out of their houses. No one.
“Emi! I think you ruined my ears. They’re ringing.”
“Well, good.”
“Ha ha.”
We walk—well he walks—for a bit longer, and then he sets me in the passenger seat of a car. It has that brand-new car smell.
“So I already called us in sick. Not at the same time, of course,” Prince says.
“So you really are kidnapping me.”
“I said that I was.”
I sigh, sulking into the seat.
“Aw, don’t be sad. Everything will be all right.”
“You’re just going to meet the rest of us so that you can understand things better. Alright?”
I don’t say anything.
“Okay good. There are 12 others. We’re all 16.”
“I’m not,” I mumble.
“You will be on November 19, though.”
“Great. Just another thing that you know about me.”
“I know everything. I already told you that.”
I ignore him, once again, and look at my hand. Mainly because that seems like a safe thing to look at without Prince telling me something about it. But my veins are purple. A soft muted purple, nearing white, but still purple.
“That’s another thing about us. Our veins are purplish-white,” Prince tells me.
“Will you just shut up?!”I explode. “None of this is true! None of it! You’re just making it all up. We’re not Creatures.”
“Try telling that to the other 12,” Prince mumbles.
Ugh. I want to slap him. Very much so. But I don’t, because I am now staring—gaping is more like it—at the most beautiful house.
Ugh. I want to slap him. Very much so. But I don’t, because I am now staring—gaping is more like it—at the most beautiful house.
chapter five
The house is long, and one story. And by long I mean two football fields long. It’s made of a light gray stone, and there are double doors. I’ve always dreamed of having double doors.
“Like it?”
I look up at Prince—he’s about a foot taller than me—and find him smirking, again. But I simply nod at him.
“Well, good. Are you ready to go inside?”
I shake my head softly.
Prince laughs. I love hearing him laugh. Despite how much I hate how I’m so confused because I still know nothing about what’s going on with everything, and despite how much I hate that he stood up for me, and despite how much I hate how he always seems to smirk at me, I love his laugh.
“C’mon, Emi, let’s go.”
“Fine,” I mumble, grudgingly following him to the house.
The inside does not disappoint. And everything is so clean.
“Is she here?” a man’s voice travels through the house.
“Yes, Kem,” Prince calls back, somewhat annoyed.
“Well come here then! I’m in the library.”
I follow Prince further into the house and then into a large room filled with books. I’d love to sit here and read all day. It’d be fabulous.
“So this is her,” the man nods at me. He’s sitting in a large, old-looking red chair, his gray hair messed up and his green eyes friendly.
“Yes,” Prince nods.
“Emerson Audi Austen,” the man, Kem, nods, mostly to himself.
“Yes,” Prince says again.
Kem first says to him, “The others are out. They’ve all decided they’d like to go to Hawaii.” He rolls his eyes. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“It’s fine,” Prince assures him.
Kem then looks more closely at me, leaning forward. And then he sits back again, saying, “She’s not ready yet.”
“What?” Prince stares at him with a confused look on his face.
“She’s not ready yet. Tell her a little bit each day,” Kem answers, shrugging. “Then she won’t faint or anything like that.” He smiles. “She’s like Exa, I think. And Exa didn’t take it well at all. She fainted and, when she had the chance, ran away.” At this, he chuckles. “And we all saw how well that went over with Cas. He went crazy, looking for her. So just take Emerson out for today. Go to a park. Go out for lunch.”
“Okay,” Prince agrees, though he sounds uncertain.
Kem turns to me. “Don’t run away or anything, alright?”
I nod.
“Well, then. Go have fun.” Kem smiles as I turn around and follow Prince out the house.
chapter six
“So I was thinking that we could go out to lunch first. Sound good?” Prince asks, turning to me once we’re in the car and driving.
“Sure,” I say. I really couldn’t care less. I don’t really want to be here. Okay. So that’s a lie. I’m excited that I’m here, with Prince. I don’t want to be at school, and I certainly don’t want to be at home. So this is nice.
“And then what do you want to do after?”
“I dunno,” I shrug. It’s not like I know what’s around here. I go to school, I go home. Don’t I have such an exciting life?
“We could go to the capital. Or we could go to a bookstore,” he offers.
“Okay. Either’s fine.” I’ve never been to the capital before, and I’d love to go. I mean, I know it’s not huge, because it’s just Lincoln, Nebraska, but still. It’d be nice to see it.
“Let’s go the capital.” Prince turns to grin at me.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“I just did. It’s just how it works.”
“How what works?” I press.
“This whole Creature thing.”
“So you can hear my thoughts?” I ask, beginning to get wary.
“No, no. I just know the general idea of what you’re thinking. I can’t just know every single thought of yours. If you’re hungry, I’d know that, but I couldn’t know what you were hungry for. I can also know what you’re feeling,” he explains. Great. Now he can know that I want him to go away and leave me alone because I don’t want to know anymore about any of this. Well, I do and I don’t.
“I can’t leave you, Emi. It just doesn’t work that way.”
I huff loudly. “Can you explain some of it today? Like why you supposedly “can’t leave me”.”
“I’ll give some answers each day. So you won’t faint or run away like Kem said.”
“I told him I wouldn’t run away,” I point out. But if I had the money to just even buy food, I’d totally be out of here.
“Please don’t run away,” Prince begs. He begs.
I laugh mentally.
“Hey. I’m just worried, okay? Don’t make fun.”
“I’m not.”
“Not out loud,” he counters. “In your mind your thinking I’m an idiot and just being plain silly.”
“Whatever,” I roll my eyes.
He sighs. “Here we are.”
It’s an expensive-looking hamburger place. I haven’t had a hamburger for… years. Not even the school’s gross-looking ones. Because my parents don’t give me money to buy school lunches. I only have a small, torn-up wallet in which I keep 20 dollars for emergencies only. Oh, great. I won’t be able to pay for this. “Prince…” I start.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it. I’ll pay. And they have the best burgers, by the way.”
I smile at him. “Thanks.”
He shrugs. “It’s not a big deal.”
But it is. To me, anyway.
Once we’re seated and our drinks are on the way, Prince smirks and says, “So this is like our first date, huh?”
“No,” I say tersely. “This is not a date. Remember? You said you were kidnapping me for the day.”
“Right, right.”
I look at the menu for a bit.
“It is so a date,” I hear Prince mumble after a minute.
“It isn’t.”
“Here are your drinks,” the waiter says, setting down our Cokes. “Are you ready to order?”
“Yep,” Prince says. “I’ll have the cheeseburger with a side of fries.”
“And you?” he asks, turning to me.
“I’ll have the same, please.”
He nods, taking the menus and leaving.
“When’s the last time you’ve had a burger?” Prince questions, eyeing me curiously.
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “Can’t remember,” I mumble the last part.
He smiles. “You’re going to love it.”
“Hmm.”
“What’re you thinking about?”
“Shouldn’t you know?” I tease.
“You just seem distracted.”
“I guess I am. It’s just…”
“Confusing?” Prince guesses.
“Yeah. I just don’t understand any of it.”
“Well what would you like to know first?”
“What’s with the hair?” I ask, fingering the ends which are now barely touching my elbows.
“I told you. It’s because you met me. My hair’s doing the same thing, but I just cut it a few times a day.”
“Well why are you so worried about me running away?”
He sighs loudly. “Can we avoid this question for… a few days?”
It’s my turn to sigh now. “I suppose.”
“Any other questions?”
“Of course.” I laugh. “I’m just trying to figure out which one you would actually answer.”
He waits.
“When were Creatures created?”
“Near the beginning of time. I’m not sure of the exact date, but—”
“Here’s your food,” the waiter says, setting plates in front of each of us.
For a long time, I just stare at it, not wanting to destroy it. I know it sounds silly. After all, it’s just food, but I haven’t seen anything up close besides breakfast bars, salad, and apples for years.
“You can eat it, Emi. I promise to buy you more burgers in the near future.”
I look up and find Prince smirking at me.
I feel red creep up on my face, just a little bit, and I pick up the burger and take a bite. It’s so good. The sauce stuff they put on it drips a bit onto my chin, and when I reach for a napkin in the middle of the table, I see Prince staring intently at me.
After wiping my chin, I ask him, “What?”
“Is it good?”
I nod enthusiastically, earning a laugh from him.
“I’ve never seen someone get so excited over a burger,” he laughs. “It’s funny. Not in a bad way or anything. It’s just… funny.”
“Well I’m glad that I amuse you. Now are you going to continue to watch me eat, or are you going to actually eat your own food?”
“I’d rather watch you eat, but I’m assuming that you wouldn’t like that.”
“Your assumption is right,” I say, picking my burger up again and taking another bite. I honestly think that this is the best food I can remember having.
I inhale the burger in fries, and after I’m done I find that Prince still has a bit of his burger and all of his fries left.
“Do you want some?” he asks, pointing to the fries.
I nod, grabbing a handful of fries and shoving them all in my mouth at once.
Prince laughs and I glare at him, though I can’t help to smile as I swallow the fries.
A minute later, after I’ve finished eating his fries, we leave, heading to the capital.
“So, we were talking about when Creatures were created,” I start.
“Mm-hmm.”
I wait.
“I guess you want me to continue then, huh?”
I nod.
“We were created near the beginning of time. Not exactly sure when, but just… awhile ago. Kem created us. He’s immortal, though he’s never told me, or anyone, how exactly he pulled that off. He created seven of us, all boys, and all ages 16. And we wouldn’t ever grow or age, physically, anyway. I don’t understand it all, even after all this time. But he somehow managed to make it so seven girls would be born sometime later.”
I nod slowly, letting this little part sink in. It does and doesn’t make sense at the same time. I understand what he’s saying, I understand what happened, I just don’t understand how it’s possible.
“We’re here,” Prince announces.
I crane my neck to look up at it after I get out of the car. I remember having seen it from different places in town, but it’s so much bigger when you’re right next up to it.
“We can go inside, you know,” Prince says.
“I think I like the view from here.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him smile.
After another couple of minutes, he finally just grabs my arm and pulls me up the large amount of steps and then inside.
The elevators scare me. They just seem so old and unsteady. Prince assures me they’re fine, but I simply roll my eyes at him. The view from the very top is cool, though.
“You want to drop a few pennies and see what happens to the people down there?” he inquires, gesturing to the large group of people down below.
“That’s our school!” I exclaim. “Look, there’s Kennedy. Ugh. And our English teacher. Prince! We have to get out of here.”
“Why?” He looks at me, frowning.
“Because we can’t have them seeing us.”
“And why not? We’re not in school, we can’t get in trouble.”
“But they can call our parents.”
“I don’t have any, and yours don’t care.”
I push past him and head to the nearest restroom, my eyes never leaving the ground, and locking myself in a stall as tears burn in my eyes. I know they don’t care, but he doesn’t have to keep pointing that out.
“Emi, please. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” I hear Prince sigh.
“Why are you in here?”
“Why are you?” he counters.
“To get away from you. But why are you in the girls’ restroom?”
I hear Prince chuckle. “Sorry to break it to you, but this is the guys’ restroom.”
“No it’s not.”
“I’m pretty sure it is.” I hear him chuckle again.
I groan, turning beet red. Leave it to me to go into the wrong restroom.
“You know, part of our powers is to be made invisible,” Prince says after a long few moments.
I swing open the stall door and shove him backwards, though he hardly stumbles. “You idiot! Why didn’t you mention that before?”
“I forgot,” he shrugs.
“Well then let’s get out of here,” I say.
And so we leave.
And so we leave.
chapter seven
Prince ends up taking me to Holmes Lake. No one’s there except a lady who looks to be in her early thirties. She’s running around the lake over and over again, and giving us dirty looks each time she passes the bench where we’re sitting.
“So why did Kem create the girls and boys at different times?” I question, picking at the hem of my shirt.
“It was an experiment.” He takes a deep breath like a diver would before plunging into the water. “Don’t ask me how he did it, but he managed to make it so that we’d fall in love with a girl. Maybe it sounds corny to you, I don’t know. But he wanted to see if each one of us guys could find their “other half”, as he puts it. He that we had to find the girl by the time she turned 16, or else she would die, with the guy following closely behind. He made it so that when we met both of us would go through all these changes—being able to turn invisible, the hair, the veins… He made it so that when the two met, they—we—couldn’t leave each other for very long. That’s why you can’t leave,” he finishes.
I sit there for a moment, dumbfounded and completely speechless by his words. But when I finally can form a coherent sentence, this is what I come up with: “You are a psycho! You just made that all up! I don’t know how you came up with it, because it’s a great story, really, but you’re insane!”
And with that, I stand, turn on my heel, and run. Because that’s what I do. I run. And when I’m sure that Prince isn’t following me, I slow to a walk. It’s started to drizzle. Nope. Now it’s pouring. That’s great. I see a McDonalds ahead and hurry inside, quickly taking a seat at a booth like I belong there.
It’s not long until a worker comes up to me, saying, quite rudely, “Pay or get out.”
I think of my emergency money. I could stay here, I could go home, or I could wander the streets. I glance outside and find that it’s hailing. And home is definitely out. Meh. This is as much of an emergency as any. I pull out my wallet, telling the grumpy old man, “Yeah, I’ll pay.”
He nods and grumbles something I don’t quite catch.
I go up and order a coffee for a dollar, and begin to slip at it slowly.
Five hours, a lot of coffee, and a ton of thinking later, Prince arrives. He doesn’t look mad as he plops down in the booth. “So how many coffees have you had?”
“I dunno. Ten… maybe more…”
“You’re not going to sleep tonight, are you?”
“Not at all,” I laugh, somewhat nervously. Though I am slightly tired, surprisingly.
“Listen. I’m sorry that you don’t believe me. I’m sorry I’ve sprung this all up on you. I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to run away.”
“I didn’t run away!” I protest. Prince raises an eyebrow. “Not in that sense. I just… came to McDonalds and spent all my money on some black coffee… which I hate, by the way.” Then, as an afterthought, I mutter, “Though you probably already know that.”
“Yes, I do. You like your coffee with vanilla Silk. Half of that and half coffee.”
I sigh. “Yup.”
“You ready to go home?”
“Nope.”
“You can stay at my place…well, Kem’s place, tonight,” he offers.
“My parents will worry.” Hopefully. I have my fingers crossed, but I highly doubt that’s doing a thing.
“They don’t know,” he tells me softly. “They haven’t…realized…”
“Of course they haven’t,” I shrug, trying to downplay the whole ordeal; trying to pretend like it doesn’t matter. But it does. Of course it does. And Prince, being Prince, knows this.
“I’m sorry, Emi.”
I nod.
“Ready to leave?”
I nod again.
He nods back, and we stand. He snakes an arm around my waist and we leave McDonalds.
chapter eight
“We’re here,” Prince says, sounding distant as he shakes my shoulder gently to get me to wake up.
I blink a few times, slightly disoriented. Despite the coffee, today has been exhausting and I still can sleep. Amazing.
“I’m surprised that you slept with all the coffee. You must be so tired.” He pauses. “Only Cas and Exa and Ryder and Drew are home, and Kem, too.”
I nod sleepily.
“I’m assuming they’ll want to meet you.”
I groan, quietly.
“But don’t worry, it will be quick.”
I nod again.
“You do realize you’ll have to talk though, right?”
I force my eyes to open completely. “Fine.”
Prince chuckles softly.
I get out of the car and walk up with Prince. Even though I’ve only been here one other time, it already seems like home to me.
The door is open, and four figures hover around. I can see that they all have the same hair and eyes, just like Prince and me.
“I’m Exa,” the girl with short hair introduces herself. Her hair’s probably only an inch long, and spiky, but by tomorrow morning it will be past her shoulders.
“Hi,” I smile at her. “I’m Emerson.”
“And I’m Cas, her other half,” the guy standing next to her says. His hair is on the short side, too, though it’s not even as short as Exa’s. It sounds so weird to me, hearing someone saying, “And I’m Cas, her other half”, but the way he says it makes it seem like it’s a natural and usual introduction.
“And I’m Ryder,” the other guy offers. “And this is my other half, Drew.”
They both smile warmly at me.
I return the smile.
I note that, rather than having shorter hair, Ryder’s hair is touching his shoulders, and Drew’s is a few inches shy of touching her waist.
“Have you guy’s eaten yet?” Prince questions over my shoulder.
“Nope, not yet. We figured you might come and decided to wait,” Exa replies.
“We were going to make fettuccine alfredo,” Cas adds in.
“Sounds good,” Prince says.
I nod in agreement.
So about an hour later, all seven of us, including Kem, are sitting around a long table and eating the best fettuccine alfredo I’ve ever had and some weird orange fruit I’ve never tasted.
“They’re peaches,” Prince tells me quietly, gesturing to my small plate of them.
I nod, plopping another slice into my mouth. “They’re good.”
“So how’s Lyle doing?” Prince asks, more loudly so everyone can hear.
“He’s still looking for his other half ,” Ryder sighs. “He’s been looking for her for ages. I talked to him, and he’s a wreck. He doesn’t know where else to look. He met up with all of his people who have been helping him search. There’s 20 total, yet know one has been able to find her.”
“It’s like she’s living in a cave or something,” Kem mutters.
“Perhaps she is,” I say quietly.
From the corner of my eye, I see Prince smiling. “Yes, maybe she is,” he says.
“But how do you know she’s even been born?” I inquire.
“All seven girls were supposed to be born no later than the twentieth century,” Kem explains. “If she was born in 1999, considering it’s 2007 right now, she could only be eight, but we still need to find her.”
“Oh. So if she reaches the age 16…?” I trail off.
“They both die. Lyle and his other half. They both die,” Drew states blatantly.
“We’ve had close calls before,” Prince points out, obviously trying to stay hopeful. “I mean, I didn’t find Emerson until she was a little bit older than 15.”
“Yes, but it’s still worrisome,” Exa sighs, looking down at her barely touched food. “I just wish it was easier.”
There are murmurs of agreement around the table.
I stifle a yawn as we head out of the dining room a few minutes later.
“Ready for bed?” Prince questions.
I don’t answer out loud, simply thinking yes.
He nods, walks upstairs, and leads me into what I’m assuming is his room. It’s pretty simple. The walls are painted a light tan color, and the bedding is all black on the king-sized bed he has. There are a few bookshelves, packed with books, but that’s it.
“You take the bed,” he points after seeing me standing in the middle of his room, not moving.
I begin to protest, but he cuts me off.
“I’m going downstairs to talk to Kem for awhile, anyway. Take the bed, say thank you, and go to sleep. Alright?”
I nod. “Thanks, Prince.”
He smiles before leaving, shutting the lights off as he goes.
I burrow under the covers and sleep. chapter nine
I wake up to find Prince’s face only a couple inches from mine.
I scream, jumping backwards and somehow managing to bonk my head on the headboard.
Prince bursts out laughing, and I shoot him a glare, rubbing the back of my head.
After a long moment, he sobers up. “Sorry,” he apologizes.
“Nice way to wake me up,” I say sarcastically.
“Wasn’t it great?” He gives me a crooked grin.
“Just lovely.” I roll my eyes.
“Well, it is breakfast time, and I figured you wouldn’t want to miss it,” Prince explains, smiling widely.
“What time is it?” I question, stretching.
“10:00.”
“Hmm… I usually only sleep in until around 8:00 on the weekends.”
“That is your definition of sleeping in?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
While shrugging, I nod.
“I’ll leave you to get dressed. There are some clothes Drew left for you in the bathroom,” he says, pointing to a door. “You can use anything you want in there; it’s yours. And everyone is back from Hawaii.”
“Okay,” I nod, watching as he leaves.
I get dressed in the simple pair of jeans and gray long sleeve v-neck Drew left me and brush my teeth and hair with the stuff I find in the drawers.
When I go downstairs, I find Prince waiting for me. “You’re parents have finally realized you’re gone,” he informs me. “They’re having a fit.”
“Really?” I ask him. I hear the surprise in my voice and it’s sad. Parents should be freaking out when their kid is missing… right?
Prince nods.
But he’s lying. I don’t know how I know this, but I just know. “Well, then I guess I’d better get home,” I say slowly.
He nods once again. “I’ll drive you.”
chapter ten
I buckle my seating belt as we begin to drive towards my house. “Prince?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you find me? Of all the people…? And the years…?”
“Well, some of the other Creatures helped, and I hired people I’ve trusted to look for you.”
“And how did you know so much about me?”
Prince’s grip on the steering wheel tightens. He doesn’t want to tell me, but I really don’t care. “I, and a few others, followed you around for a bit,” he answers finally, reluctantly.
“You spied on me?! You stalked me?!” My voice has raised ten or so octaves.
Prince cringes. “Yes. I suppose you could call it that.”
“What else would you call it?!”
He pauses.
“I’m not overreacting!” I nearly shout.
“I didn’t say you were,” Prince says slowly.
Silence fills the car for a long moment. And then? And then Prince bursts out laughing.
“What?” I ask when he’s sobered up.
That just starts a fresh round of laughing.
“What?” I repeat.
“You’re sensing my thoughts and feelings,” he says in a teasing, mocking tone.
“Am not!” I protest.
“Sure. Whatever.”
“You ready to go in?” he asks, suddenly serious, when we eventually stop in front of my house.
“No.”
“Want me to come with?” It’s hilarious how hopeful he looks.
“Sure.”
“Yay!” he squeals, like a girl. Again.
I walk, incredibly slow, up to the house with Prince trailing close behind. I don’t have a key or anything, so I ring the doorbell.
“Oh. Hi,” my mom greets. “Who’s this?”
She didn’t notice. Wow. She really didn’t notice I was gone. And if she did, she obviously doesn’t care.
“Hi. This is Prince. I stayed at his place last night,” I say, slowly, gauging her reaction. No shock, no worry.
Prince, though, lightly kicks the back of my leg. He’s screaming silently at me to shut up.
“Fun,” my mom says. “Well, come on in. If you haven’t had breakfast, help yourself. We have some whole grain cereal with 100% of your daily fiber and flax seed. Oh! And we have bananas! They have fiber, too. And potassium.”
“Lovely,” I hear Prince murmur softly; too softly for my mom to hear.
“Thanks,” I say to her.
After eating a bowl of cereal and a completely brown banana each, with my mom staring at us the whole time, Prince and I go up to my room.
chapter eleven
“You have an iPod?” Prince questions after closing the door to my room.
“An MP3,” I mumble.
“Can I see it?”
“It’s on my bookshelf,” I tell him, staring out my window, looking down at the street. My dad’s car is gone. It’s Friday. He doesn’t work Fridays. He never leaves on Fridays. He never leaves when he’s not working. But his car is gone. He’s gone.
“You have three songs on this thing. Andrea Bocelli, Brandi Carlile, and Frank Sinatra,” Prince states.
“I know.”
“It’s just that it doesn’t seem like a ton of teenage girls listen to their music.”
“Well I guess I’m not a ton of teenage girls,” I say.
He pauses. “I’m going to get you an iPod with a ton of songs.”
“Please don’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not your charity case,” I grumble into the window.
“No. You’re my other half.”
“Besides, I don’t need a ton of songs.”
“C’mon, you must get tired of listening to the same three songs over and over again. And you must know them by heart, for sure.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Will you sing one for me?”
I laugh bitterly. “No way.”
“Fine.”
It’s silent for a few more minutes. “I’m still going to get you an iPod.”
“No.”
“I’ll get it for you for your birthday.”
I sigh.
Another few minutes of silence. And then Prince taps me lightly on my shoulder, and I turn to face him. He leans down, slowly, his eyes not leaving mine. He’s going to kiss me. Oh, crap. I turn my head at the last second, giving him my cheek.
“You know it’d really mess up Kem’s experiment if you hated me,” he says, smirking down at me.
“Too bad.”
“I don’t think he’d like you too much.”
“Hmm…”
“So should we go to school today?”
“You’re immortal,” I blurt out suddenly.
“Yes…” he answers, slowly.
“Am I?”
He nods.
“So what’s the point of going? What’s the point of staying here?”
“Um…”
“Well then, let’s leave. My parents won’t mind.”
“They—”
“So I’ll stop growing once I’m 16?”
“Yes.”
“Then can I get a job?” I question.
“Kem’s a trillionaire. And he dies as soon as the last halves meet. He’s leaving each Creature 50 billion, and then the rest is going to charity,” Prince explains.
“Wow. There are going to be some pretty happy charities.”
“And we won’t be so bad off either,” he laughs.
“So then let’s leave.”
“But, Emi, we can’t just pick up and go. Your mom…”
“Watch,” I say, glaring at him.
And then I head downstairs to tell my mom that I’m going to go with a boy named Prince who’s my other half and a Creature that was created centuries ago. Well, I won’t tell her all of that.
chapter twelve
“Mom?” I ask when I see her at the kitchen table, a newspaper laid out in front of her. Her eyes are all glazed over, and it’s easy to tell she’s somewhere else in her mind.
“Yeah?” Her glassy eyes focus on me.
“I’m leaving.”
“What do you mean you’re leaving?” She’s not angry-sounding, she’s completely calm. And that completely bugs me.
“I’m leaving with Prince.”
She waits, telling me silently to continue.
“I’m going to live with him and his… family.”
“Okay.” She pauses. “Do you need help packing?”
“Umm… no, I think I’m good. Thanks.”
“Okay.”
I back out of the kitchen, and end up slamming into Prince.
“So she’s letting you go?” Prince questions softly.
“Yeah.”
“Well… then let’s go pack.”
I nod, and follow him back up the stairs.
“I don’t think that you should leave,” Prince blurts as I’m zipping up my bag.
I laugh. “What?”
“I don’t think you should just leave your mom. She does care about you.”
“No she doesn—”
“Yes. She does.”
“Did it sound like she did? She offered to help me pack.”
“I know, but—”
I cut him off. “It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving.”
“I still think that you’re making a mistake.”
“Oh, well.”
Prince sighs. “Well, I guess we can go then. Here, I’ll carry your bag for you,” he offers, picking it up and walking downstairs, with me following.
“So you’re really leaving?” my mom asks when she sees me.
I brush some of my waist-length hair out of my face while nodding.
“Okay. I hope you… have a good life.” She gives me a wide smile.
Tears threaten to spill over, but I push them back. I won’t cry in front of her. I won’t cry in front of Prince. I can’t let either of them know that as much as I want to leave, I want my mom to beg for me to stay. And if she did that, I wouldn’t hesitate to unpack and never leave with Prince.
“You too,” I say after taking a deep and quite shaky breath.
“’Bye.”
“’Bye,” I call after her weakly as she leaves the kitchen.
chapter thirteen
After a long moment of the only sound of the TV in the living room, Prince pipes up. “Are you ready to go now?”
I nod, numbly.
“Okay…” he says slowly. “Then let’s go…”
Following him outside, I look to see if my dad’s home. He’s not. Big shocker. I guess I figured he’d leave eventually. No, wait. That’s not true. I thought that it would be my mom who would leave.
“Do you want to wait and see if your dad comes home?” Prince inquires.
“No,” I reply, sharply. We’d be sitting out here for hours and days and years and for… well, eternity, I suppose, if we actually never leaved until he showed up, because he’s not going to come home, ever. And besides, he was a jerk. The king of jerks. And he also was an idiot. I don’t want to see him again. I just feel bad for my mom, because dad has left, and I have left, and she’s all alone. But I guess she wasn’t exactly the nicest person in the world either, and she certainly isn’t going to be winning any Best Mom awards. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t feel bad for her, right?
For the first part of the ride over to Prince’s house, neither of us talks. I’m too wrapped up in thought, and Prince is letting me think for a bit.
“Lyle is back, so you and I will head to Ireland, England, Scotland, and then Wales to look for his other half.”
“So we’re going to be looking for one girl out of millions of people?” I ask him, incredulous.
“Yes,” Prince nods. “That’s how it works.”
“Well that’s going to work out well.”
Prince smiles, saying nothing more.
“So are we still going to your house?”
He nods. “Just to drop by to eat lunch. Only Kem is there.”
“Okay.” I pause for a moment. “When did you learn all of this?”
“After we got in the car. You were very deep in thought.”
“Oh.” Wow. That’s kind of sad, and embarrassing, not noticing a person within two feet of you talking on the phone.
“It’s fine. No need to be embarrassed. You just left your parents today, and your house. That’s not not a big deal.”
Prince pulls up to the house and we go inside.
“What would you like for lunch? Sandwich? Soup? Spaghetti?”
I shrug. “Anything’s fine.”
“Umm… let’s do soup. What kind of soup would you like? We have vegetable soup, chicken noodle soup, nettle soup, pumpkin soup, tomato soup, split pea soup, stone soup, taco soup, clam chowder, beer soup, wine soup, cream of tomato, cream of mushroom, cream of broccoli, cream of celery, cream of chicken, cream of potato, cream of apple—”
“Prince!” I exclaim. “Anything is fine.”
“We also have some cheese soups. Arizona tortilla, apple cheese, four cheese, wedding cheese, Wisconsin cheese—”
“Prince! Anything is fine,” I repeat.
“Fine, then.” He turns to the pantry. “Oops. We’re out of soup. The others must have taken it all.”
“All of it?”
“Well Ryder and Drew are going to Antarctica to search for Lyle’s other half,” Prince explains.
“Antarctica? I really don’t think that Lyle’s other half is going to be found in Antarctica.”
“That’s where Ryder found Drew,” he shrugs.
“Wow. And by the time they get back, I bet they’ll hate soup.”
Prince bursts out laughing. “Creatures can never hate soup! It’s some odd thing Kem decided to put in. Don’t ask me how he did it, but, yeah, Creatures are pretty much designed to be addicted to soup.”
“That’s just weird.”
“Have you ever had soup?”
“No. My mom said it was weird.”
“Well she’s weird,” I hear Prince mutter.
Kem suddenly comes bursting in, holding four bags in each hand. “I got some more soup.”
