"You haven't told me anything," I huffed. "You're sitting in a tree outside my window like a stalker. Why the h.e.l.l would I listen to you?"

"Because I know what you're becoming." He smiled, but there was no humor in it. My knees turned to rubber. I had to grip the windowsill to stop from collapsing to the floor. "I know, because I'm one of them."

"One of what?"

My bedroom door opened and my mom shuffled in. "Salem. It's three in the morning. What are you doing?"

I whipped around, trying to cover my knees and the window all at the same time. "Nothing."

"You're sure making a lot of noise for nothing." She moved further into the room and flipped on the main light. "What are you doing at the window?"

I turned back to the gla.s.s worried that my mom would see Trevor in the tree. But I didn't have to worry. He was gone. Vanished.

I glanced down at the yard and the street beyond, but didn't see his shape walking away. It was as if he misted into the shadows themselves. I shivered again, and then turned back to my mom.

I shrugged. "I thought I heard something outside."

She sidled up to my side to look out the window. "Was there anything?"

"No." I shook my head and ran a hand over my rat nested hair. "I must've been dreaming."

"Okay, hun." Yawning, she patted a hand on my head, in her usual manner. "Back to bed. You have your first day of school tomorrow."

Nodding, I slid the window shut, and then padded across the room to my bed. I slid in between the blankets and pulled them up to my chin. I no longer had to worry about being hot then cold. I was like a frozen burrito through and through.

Mom shuffled to the door and shut off the light. "Night."

"Night, Mom."

She went through and shut the door behind her. But I knew I wouldn't go back to sleep. My mind was racing and my heart pounding. There was no way in h.e.l.l I could close my eyes and go back to dreamland. Not when I was fully lucid and aware, acting in my own waking nightmare.

Chapter 8.

I was bone tired as I made my way down the sidewalk toward the front steps of Boise High. True to form, I didn't go back to sleep after having dropped from the ceiling. I lay awake considering all of my options.

The one conclusion I came up with, was that all of this, all of what I was going through, had something, maybe everything, to do with Malice's after party.

I'd been drugged there. Left as trash in a downtown dumpster, then after rescuing myself I went home and died. After coming back to life, my eyes had gone inky black, I heard words in static, and I seemed to have the ability of sticking to ceilings. Oh, and my peeping tom, Trevor, I'd seen at the after party.

Coincidences maybe, but not likely.

As I neared the white stone steps I saw Chloe and Jamie leaning against one of the metal hand rails waiting for me. It was our senior year and we vowed to conquer it together even agreeing to taking the same electives. None of them we'd ever use again in our lives.

We just wanted to make it through a little smarter, none the worse for wear, and capable of getting jobs. Anything else would be a miracle. I had no delusions of being a doctor, lawyer, or even a dot com entrepreneur. I just wanted a decent job where I could wear what I wanted and be able to listen to music as I labored. Ambition was completely lost on me.

Chloe waved as I approached. "Hey, chica, feeling better?"

"Yeah, just tired." I readjusted my book bag on my shoulder trying hard not to show the dark circles around my eyes. Even copious amounts of makeup couldn't hide them this time.

"Ready for torture and slave labor and degradation?" Jamie asked, running a hand through his mop of platinum blond hair, and then giving me his arm.

I nodded and wrapped my hand around his offered arm. "You bet. High school rocks."

As we mounted the stairs, several of our fellow students turned and looked at us. Although we stood out from a crowd, I had thought that after the past two years everyone would've been used to our wicked ways. There weren't any snickers or jabs in the ribs and pointing rudely. The looks were more curious than mocking. And nine times of ten they were from guys.

Subconscious I patted at my hair, making sure no stray strands were sticking up at their leisure. Inconspicuously, I glanced down at my jeans to make sure my fly was zipped and that no important body part was sticking out of any rip or hole. The laces on my Doc's were done up, so it wasn't that. My happy-skulls hoodie was zipped up and I wasn't wearing a shirt where any cleavage peeked out inappropriately.

So, what was everyone staring at?

When we neared the doors, both Jamie and Chloe were noticing the attention, and were glancing around also checking to see if they had anything vulgar sticking out of any piece of clothing.

"What's everyone looking at?" Chloe whispered to me.

I shrugged, not having the faintest idea.

"Hey, Salem."

I nearly tripped on my own boot as Josh Kirby, the most popular guy in school, smiled at me. He reached out to steady me. His hand lingered on my arm a little longer than was necessary. But he smelled nice, so I didn't mind one bit.

"Ah, hi?" I said, confused as h.e.l.l why he would be talking to me. In all the years we'd been going to the same school, he'd never talked to me. Not once. Not even an "excuse me" after b.u.mping into me in the hall.

"How was your summer?"

"Fine?" Although I sounded like a dork, I couldn't stop the questioning in my voice. I was in total shock and really couldn't be held responsible for what I said and did.

Both Jamie and Chloe were in equal states of shock, so they just stood there and watched the exchange with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

Josh was about to say something else, when the SS, Silicone Set, named so for their bouncy b.o.o.bs which we all thought were fake, consisting of Heather, Megan and Lauren, stepped in between us. Heather was Josh's ex-girlfriend and a complete replica of Britney Spears, but without any talent.

She glared at me, daggers of ice flying from her baby blues. "Is it be nice to a freak day or something? Did I miss the text message?"

Megan and Lauren laughed with her, but surprisingly Josh didn't, nor did his best friend, Pete. Maybe I was still dreaming. I ran a hand over my arm and pinched my skin hard. Nope, I was wide awake because that hurt like a b.u.g.g.e.r.

"Shut up, Heather," Josh said.

The little crowd that had gathered around us gasped in surprise. If my lower jaw hadn't been attached, it would've fell to the stone step and shattered into a million pieces.

"Excuse me?" Heather stammered.

"You heard me." Josh swung his book bag over his shoulder and, with Pete joining him at his side, moved toward the front door. He smiled at me again, this time with a salacious wink. "I'll see you later, Salem."

He disappeared into the school leaving a whirling confusion in his wake. The murmuring crowd began to break up but not without glancing my way again once or twice as they made their way into the school.

Heather and her crew were the last to leave. "This isn't over, freak," she spat at me.

"Hey, I'm just as confused as you are. Take it out on Josh, not me."

"Whatever." After swinging her sunny blond hair over her shoulder, she straightened her shoulders and, her crew by her sides, strutted through the school doors.

That left me, Chloe and Jamie standing outside, immobile with shock.

"What just happened?" Chloe asked.

"I have no idea," I answered.

"That was really weird." Jamie shook his head. "Do you think he's punking you?"

"Maybe." I shrugged again. But I wasn't so sure. When Josh had touched me, I felt strange, different. His smell was strong in my nostrils. He smelled like candy. Tasty and sweet. It was odd to think of him like that, as something edible. But the sensation was there. My stomach even clenched a little at the thought of licking the side of his face.

Whatever was going on, I sensed it had something to do with all the other changes in me. But at least this one was pleasant. It didn't bother me one bit if Josh Kirby was attracted to me. I liked it. A lot. It gave me a feeling of power I'd never experienced before. Power to persuade. Power to seduce.

Feeling a whole lot better and not in the least tired, I readjusted my bag on my shoulder and went into the school, happy as a pig in c.r.a.p to be going in. Chloe and Jamie trailed after me.

Maybe my senior year of high school wasn't going to suck. Maybe it was going to be a life changing event. One where I'd never be the same again.

After a morning of getting cla.s.s schedules, coveting lockers, and wandering the campus looking for cla.s.srooms, Chloe, Jamie and I were sitting in Lava Java, a coffee shop not far from the school, drinking cafe mochas with whipped cream and tiny chocolate bits on top. It was our usual lunch time snack.

Our main topic of conversation-why Josh Kirby was flirting with me.

I pa.s.sed him twice in the hallway and both times he smiled. Not a random obligated smile, but a warm inviting s.e.xy grin that did interesting things to parts of my lower anatomy. Since I'd never really thought much about Josh in the past, my reaction to him was unexpected. He'd always been popular as the cliched captain of the football team, an A student and all around golden child. He even looked golden with his perfectly messy tawny-streaked hair, and gold flecked green eyes. He had perfect white teeth, that had to be bleached I'm sure at least twice a year, high sharp cheekbones and a strong jaw. He was as sickening good-looking as a top New York model, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Josh could strut down a runway with the rest of them.

He was so far off my radar that I never really thought about him. Especially not as potential boyfriend material. I preferred my guys to be tall, dark, and emotionally disturbed. They also had to wear too much black and like pain-I mean it did hurt like a son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h to get a tattoo and to get your tongue pierced. I know. I'd been through both. Anyone who says different is lying through their teeth.

So, I suppose it was hypocritical of me to all of sudden find him attractive. But I couldn't deny that I did. I could deny it to my friends, which I fully intended to, but I couldn't lie to myself.

"I just don't get it." Jamie said as he chewed on his straw. "It's not that you're not, you know, cute Salem, but I really don't think you're his type at all."

"Thank you Jamie, for your insight." I sipped my drink.

"Hey, I'm just saying."

Chloe slid the straw out of her drink and used a spoon to scoop out the whipped cream. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway, why Josh is interested, because it's not like Salem's interested back." She eyed me curiously when I didn't say anything right away. I knew she was expecting me to agree with her. "Right?"

I nodded vigorously, although my heart wasn't into the agreement. I was sort of interested. "Right. I'm not interested at all. He's a jerk."

I didn't think she was convinced of my vehemence because she asked, "If he asked you out, you'd say no, wouldn't you?"

"Of course." I avoided her gaze as I said the words. Instead, I concentrated on picking up a piece of chocolate with the tip of my straw.

She nudged me in the arm, and my chocolate flake dropped onto the table. "Salem. I can't believe you're considering going out with him."

"Holy c.r.a.p, Chloe, he hasn't even asked me out." I dabbed at the chocolate on the table with my napkin. "Why are we even discussing this?"

"Because we basically have nothing else interesting to talk about," Jamie said.

"That new band Supernatural is coming to town," Chloe offered, as she licked whipped cream off her chin. "We should go."

Jamie smirked. "I hate those guys."

"What? You just downloaded their latest CD," she said.

"Yeah, that's why I hate them. It sucked donkey b.a.l.l.s."

Chuckling, I stood. "I'm going to hit the head."

I made my way over to the ladies' room in the far corner of the shop. Both stalls were empty when I entered and I quickly used one, humming a little tune as I did. But when I came out the tune stuck in my throat and I nearly choked.

Trevor sat on the counter near the sink, a cafe mocha in his hand. He sipped it, his gaze never leaving my face.

I gaped, my mouth opening and closing like a guppy. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing in here?"

"Trying to help you."

I went to the sink, turned on the water and washed my hands. As I dried them with the paper towel, I scowled at him. "How did you get in here anyway? Is the men's room all full or something?" I tossed the wet towel in the garbage.

He motioned toward the door. "I came in through the door, genius. I placed an out of order sign on it and locked it so we aren't disturbed."

"You can't just pop in here uninvited and expect me to be all grateful and happy about it."

"I don't, but I do expect you to listen at least."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm going to tell you the whole truth but only if you promise not to freak out."

"Dude, I'm already freaking out. How much worse could it get?"

"Oh, it's going to get a lot worse, trust me."

"Well, that's the thing, I don't. I don't have any idea who you are."

"I'm the band's roadie. I've been with them for three years now."

My heart sped up and my palms went all sweaty. Panic was starting to settle inside. I didn't think I wanted to hear what Trevor had to say. He was going to tell me what I feared had happened that night. He was going to confirm that I'd been raped.

"You can tell Thane that I don't remember what happened that night. I'm not going to go to the cops or anything."

"The cops couldn't help you anyway."