Casting - Volume 1.1: Drained, Page 2

  *

  I knew that I was going to pay for dropping Courtney off as unceremoniously as I did. There were few things in this world as savage as a pissed off, horny cheerleader, which I unfortunately knew from far too much experience. Right now, I didn’t really care, though. Nothing mattered to me as much as being with Vanessa and Grant. Besides, if it came to it, I’d just get Courtney a bottle of slutty-smelling perfume, and some crap by Taylor Swift – that ought to buy her over enough for at least another date.

  When I got to Grant’s, I barely got through greeting his dad at the door, before I bounded up to his room. At this point, none of our parents question when any one of us drops by, even when it was as late in the night as it was now. They’d either gotten too used to it, or too exhausted of complaining about it without anything changing, so they now just accepted it without pause.

  In his room, I found Grant sitting on the right side of his bed, murmuring to a figure lying with their back towards the door. I crossed over to them to see Vanessa curled beneath a thick blanket, her face pale, and her brown hair damp and messy. She looked up as I approached, and gave me a weak smile, and I swear to God I felt my heart almost literally break into pieces. Vanessa was a beautiful girl – any of the dozens of guys at school who had tried and failed miserably to score with her could tell you that – but tonight, I was too distraught by how weak and fragile she looked to even notice her usual prettiness.

  ‘Hey, Ness,’ I said softly, bending over to press my lips lightly to her forehead. She seemed so tiny curled there that I felt as if I would break her if I weren’t gentle enough. ‘How you feeling?’

  ‘I’m ok,’ she replied, even though she didn’t sound it. ‘I’ve had worse. This Drain feels like a twenty-four hour one, max.’

  ‘It had better be,’ I said with pretend vengeance, ‘or else it will have me to worry about.’

  She giggled for a moment, which turned into a trembling cough, and I instantly felt that shitty feeling again.

  ‘Good call on not letting her mom see her,’ I said to Grant, who nodded in agreement.

  ‘Yeah, I called her and told her that Ness would be spending the night over here to finish up the Geography papers we’ve got due tomorrow. That’s kinda half true.’

  Shit. I hadn’t even started that paper yet, though I made sure not to say it. Grant, who’d really had his completed weeks ago, had been harping on me to get on mine, and I’d kept assuring him that I would. I tried not to sigh as I realized that I’d have to pull an all-nighter when I got home. Still, there were worse things in the world… seeing Ness right now kind of confirmed that.

  ‘So, who did we pull you away from tonight?’ asked Ness, when her cough had subsided. ‘Amanda Lauria? Stacy Brooke? Tara Norse?’

  ‘Courtney Gainsfield,’ I answered, almost sheepishly, and a look of surprise came over Vanessa’s face.

  ‘Courtney?’ she repeated. ‘I thought she had herpes!’

  I recoiled in horror at that announcement, and it was only when another laughing-cough fit overtook Vanessa that I figured out she was just messing with me, and I grinned, more out of relief than anything else. Grant, however, wasn’t amused, and he just kept stroking Vanessa’s hair, looking concerned. This was not lost on either of us, and our short-lived merriment instantly vanished.

  ‘I’m sorry that I got myself Drained,’ Vanessa apologized, sounding miserable. ‘I was stupid to not pay attention to how far –’

  ‘It isn’t your fault,’ Grant interrupted her firmly, right before I could. ‘I’m sure the same thing would have happened to either Ry or myself if we’d seen what you did.’

  Vanessa didn’t look entirely convinced, but Grant’s reassurance seemed to work enough, because she didn’t argue the point, and settled more comfortably beneath the blanket.

  ‘What did you see, anyway?’ I asked.

  I knew that she was in no condition to rehash what had happened to her, but I still had no idea what had really happened – and the truth was that I was dying to know.

  ‘Honestly, I’m not even sure,’ Ness said weakly. ‘I was just messing around online when a bunch of images started flashing in my head. I can’t remember what most of them were, but I know for sure that Stephen was there… he kept appearing the most.’

  ‘Hang on,’ I said. ‘They started flashing in your head? You mean, you didn’t invoke it?’

  Vanessa shook her head slowly… very slowly. ‘It was a spontaneous vision,’ she drawled, sounding like she was about to fall asleep at any moment.

  This shook me.

  ‘But we learned to stop those three years ago,’ I said, feeling rising dread within me.

  Grant made a grunting sound. He had obviously known about this before I had, but didn’t look any more at ease at the fact. I was about to ask Vanessa how she had even managed to Drain from a vision, but when I turned back to face her, I saw her eyes shut, her mouth slightly agape, and her breathing deep. Asleep, her face no longer portrayed the pain she was in, and I was able to appreciate both her fragility and her beauty. I could have spent the entire night just watching her sleep peacefully like this, but there was far too much going on for that to be an option. Not wanting to wake her, I grabbed Grant by the arm and pulled him away from the bed; he followed without protest.

  ‘A spontaneous vision?’ I hissed, when we were securely out of earshot. ‘How the hell did that even happen? How could it happen?’

  ‘I don’t know, Ry. But it had to have been really strong to get through to her. This is Ness we’re talking about – visions are her thing.’

  ‘Exactly! She could have stopped an incoming spontaneous vision in her sleep! For it to have actually reached her… can you imagine how strong it must have been?’

  Grant nodded, no hint of his worry leaving his expression. I knew how he felt.

  ‘It was still only a vision, though,’ I continued. ‘That doesn’t explain how she ended up Draining.’

  ‘She kept trying to invoke a proper vision afterward. She must have been at it nonstop for hours; I can’t imagine me or you Draining from visions, let alone Ness.’

  ‘But she didn’t get anywhere, I'm guessing?’

  Grant shook his head, frowning.

  ‘Stephen…’ I whispered the name, not realizing that I would, unable to stop myself. ‘You think he’s really alive?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Grant softly. A look of pain so intense shifted across his face that the only reason I could really appreciate it was because I was sure it mirrored what I felt inside.

  ‘Ten months…’ I let my voice trail off, and Grant nodded in understanding. ‘Should we go to the cops?’

  Grant gave a humorless snort.

  ‘Oh yeah, I'm sure they’d be really psyched to see us,’ he said wryly. ‘Besides, what would we tell them? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think they’d buy the whole “vision” thing.’

  I knew he was right. The cops in our city didn’t like us very much. We’d been involved in too many inexplicable situations when we first started Casting, and it had made them mistrust us a lot. Things got even worse when Stephen vanished, and our constant trips and reports to the station were both a nuisance and an insult.

  After a moment of neither of us speaking, Grant cleared his throat nervously.

  ‘I thought of trying to invoke visions myself,’ he said, sounding unsure. ‘But I didn’t know what I’d be looking for… and I was afraid I might Drain also. I mean, if it happened to Ness… Maybe I was too much of a pussy.’

  I shook my head vehemently.

  ‘No, you definitely made the right decision avoiding that shit,’ I assured him, and saw relief instantly flood his face. ‘It wouldn’t have done any of us any good if you couldn’t look after Ness.’

  ‘So, what do we do?’

  This was exactly the question I didn’t know how to answer… but the one I most wanted an answer to.

  ‘I don’t know, man. I don’t know if
there’s much we can do right now. I say we wait until Ness has recovered, and then we try to invoke a vision – all three of us, together. With any luck, we’ll get a hit on Stephen. Grant, if he’s still alive…’

  Again, my voice trailed off but I knew that I didn’t have to finish the statement. Grant knew all too well what I was thinking. He put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a tight, supposed-to-be comforting smile.

  ‘Try not to stress about it, Ry. I'll take care of Ness. Go home and get some rest… we’ll figure this out tomorrow.’

  Without hesitation, I pulled Grant into me and hugged him tightly. The two of us were like the closest brothers imaginable, and actions like that never left either of us feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable.

  Just as I was about to step out of his room, Grant said to me disgustedly, ‘And as much as I appreciate you had a good time with Courtney, do something about that hickey on your neck, will you? The fuck is this, junior high?’