Full Summary:

Caleb is handed a chance of a lifetime, a college that helps him find what he wants to do. But between studies he finds out there is more to this college than meets the eye. When he suddenly gets a massive headache and then a stomach flu, he knows something isn’t right. Then he becomes Invisible.

Ivy can’t understand why everything is suddenly falling apart. Her sudden love for Caleb can’t become anything big or else…the world may be destroyed by the people she calls friends. That’s the deal, three powerful Invisible or one of the strongest Invisible in the world next to her. When she finally decides, her world is shaken to the very core and even destiny may shatter.

The Invisibles (NaNoWriMo novel)

Stella Hale © 2009

Growing Pains

“Caleb Rayne, please come to the office,” a loud voice said over the intercom.

Caleb stood up; he was in the police station, again. Draco had serious nerve to call him and ask him to cover for him, again. Caleb walked over the concrete floor and went into the familiar office.

The police chief --Police Chief Hall-- was looking at a photo on the wall of someone holding something. Caleb was too far away to see, but he could see Chief Hall crystal clear. The officer had tiny, golden-brown eyes, dark auburn hair in a classic style, high cheekbones, always wore a grimace, thick and dark eyebrows, pale skin, chiseled features; deep, husky voice, demanding presence, very tall man, and was very broad.

Chief Hall sighed.

“How many times has your friend been called in here?” he asked.

Caleb looked up at the ceiling and counted on his fingers. Then he ran out of fingers, “I dunno, sir,” Caleb said.

“I counted all the reports filed today and got thirty-seven in the past three years,” Chief Hall said sternly.

“So, do I have to pay a bail, if so, you can lock his butt up now,” Caleb said.

Chief Hall cracked a smile. “You’d let your friend rot in jail because he tripped an old lady? Nah, we’re going to let him off with an overnight stay in jail, with a fine his parents will pay,” he explained.

“Good, just make sure Draco doesn’t screw around with that girl in his cell,” Caleb said, standing up.

Chief Hall looked shocked at what Caleb said.

“Seriously, he came back bragging about how he got her good, I suggest you keep a tight leash on him,” he said, turning to leave. “Because I’d like to spare my innocence the gory details, and he goes into detail.”

Chief Hall cracked another smile. “You certainly are a kill-joy for your friend,” he said.

Caleb shrugged. “Let’s just say, that sometimes it’s better to pay attention than let everything slip by.”

“Very good, you may go now, but Draco wanted me to give you this. Said it was important,” Chief Hall said, holding out a slip of paper.

“Sure, thanks,” Caleb said, grimacing. He exited the office and could not get away fast enough. He hated when Draco did something to get himself in jail, but tripping an old woman. Caleb started laughing and was quite glad they had locked him away.

Caleb crumpled up the paper and shoved it in his pocket. He walked down the street toward his home, a bounce in his step, whistling an off-tune song, and admired the autumn leaves that were still around. It was November 1 and apparently, the police caught Draco on Halloween.

Sucker, Caleb thought. The breeze blew his dark hair that came down over his ears and flipped out; the sunlight caught his green eyes and made them sparkle. On the “Not Available”, “Most Wanted Guy” and many other lists, was something he ignored.

He had high cheekbones, crooked smile; thick, rounded eyebrows, pale skin, thin cheeks, tenor voice, straight nose, and was a very guarded person.

Eh, come on, it is a beautiful day, he thought to himself. Don’t muck it up with thoughts of your sorry life.

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. He blinked and looked up at the sky. The sky only had one fluffy, white cloud hanging in the sky, and the yellow leaves were beautifully in contrast with the sky. The air was warmer than usual and the green was still green. The only sound was the breeze and his feet hitting the concrete as he walked through the park. Birds and one duck swam in the fountain dedicated to some war hero

Caleb ignored the hero and kept walking. It was only a few minutes away from his house, and he did not need to worry about getting home soon. His cell phone rang and when he saw the number he had listed as, “Trouble” he knew. He left immediately and wanted to kill Draco. Why did he always call Caleb?

It is not as if he wanted someone to call on him when he or she was in trouble. He was just a teenager for goodness sake, what the hell would he be able to do? Wave his hands or fingers and make the bad people disappear? No, he was the same as every other eighteen-year-old. Average.

Caleb picked his way home and even got around to calling his friends and let them know he was heading him. They understood and did not complain; he snapped the phone shut and continued home. His whistles echoed back to him and took control of his attention. High C, low D, middle E…his song continued like this until he entered his subdivision.

He waved to his neighbors and said hello. A little girl, Jamie, ran up to him and begged him to play dolls with him. He flicked his glance at the discarded Barbies on the ground and grimaced. He agreed and he spent the remainder of his afternoon playing with Jamie and her dolls.

“So, you’ll play with dolls, but not bail your friend out of jail?” a voice asked.

Caleb paused and closed his eyes. Jamie touched Caleb’s cheek and then ran inside. Caleb stood up and dusted himself off.

“Yeah, because I’d rather play with dolls than bail a friend out of jail for the thirty-seventh time,” Caleb said.

Draco Bones stood on the sidewalk, his ears and eyebrow piercings glittering in the late afternoon light.

Draco had sandy blonde hair, perfectly spiked backward and gelled into place; dark brown eyes, prominent cheekbones; thick, impish eyebrows, sun-tanned skin, thin face with hollowed cheekbones, a deep voice, lanky and tall, and he was a guarded yet outgoing person.

“Thirty-eight, but who is counting?” Draco corrected.

“I don’t care, Draco, this is stupid. If you ever call me when at the station again, I swear to goodness--”

“Swear to the big man, it goes places--”

“I will kill you,” Caleb finished.

Draco’s eyes darkened and narrowed. “Kill me? Killjoy Caleb? Oh!” he mocked putting on a high voice, “Killjoy Caleb is coming to kill my joy!”

“Shut it, man. I’m not joking. I want you to leave me out of this; Chief Hall and I are almost on a first-name basis. Do you know what would happen if people found out I was friends with the police chief?!” Caleb asked, panicking.

“Girls would swarm around you, dude.”

“Girls wou--! Oh, yeah I told you about that,” Caleb said, trying to get a grip. “Like I need anymore girls hanging around, and one gave me her number at the station…she was secretary!”

“Dude!” Draco exclaimed. “Hitting on the older ladies, I feel so…connected to you all of a sudden.” He wiped away a fake tear.

“Draco, not now,” Caleb hissed.

“Well, then you can thank me or give the number to someone who will appreciate it more than you,” Draco said, holding out his hand.

“Draco,” Caleb said sternly, knocking Draco’s hand away.

“Killjoy.”

“Draco, grow up,” Caleb said, turning and walking home. He ignored Draco’s yell for him to come back and went straight into his home.

“Mom!” he called. “I’m home!”

“Who is home?” Mom asked, confused.

“Caleb Rayne, your son?” Caleb said, playing along with her pathetic memory.

She could remember everything except her son at times. Cassandra Rayne was the brightest woman in retaliate. However, naturally, Caleb’s mother always forgot she had a son, but as soon as she saw him, she would remember.

Caleb walked into the kitchen and watched recognition cross his mother’s beautiful features. Cassandra Rayne was beautiful, long brown hair, flawless green eyes, sun-tanned skin, she was the reason most girls were chasing Caleb. He got his looks from his mother, but he got his hair from his father.

Caleb crossed over to the kitchen and kissed his mom on the cheek. The doorbell rang and he knew exactly who it would be.

“Oh, the college called,” his mother said.

“Really?” he asked, excitedly.

“Yes, they wanted to know if you could answer the door when they came,” she said.

Caleb ran to the door and pulled it open. There stood four people, all of them familiar, Chief Hall, Maggie and Margret Silverwing, and Draco Bones.

The twins looked the same, only they held themselves differently. Margret was doll-like and liked to help people. Maggie was harsh and liked to destroy things.

Maggie had icy blue eyes, blood red curls, flat cheekbones, full lips with thin upper and fuller lower; faint, crooked eyebrows, very pale skin, oval face, morbid voice, curved down nose, tall, and had a dark aura about her.

Margret had dark blue eyes; straight, blood red hair, flat cheekbones, full lips with thinner upper lip; faint, small eyebrows, creamy skin, oval face cheery voice, flat nose, short, and doll-like.

“Yo, man,” Draco greeted, “you signed up too?”

Caleb ignored him and looked at Chief Hall. His natural sternness was almost overwhelming in the dimming light. Caleb’s eyes wondered and scanned each familiar face, and then only thought that ran through his mind was, what the hell?

“Hello Caleb, we came for you college interview. If you’ll come with us, we can give you each the interview.”

“Ok…?” Caleb muttered, confused.

“Don’t worry, Caleb, I’m in charge and I’ll make sure these two--” gesturing to Draco and Maggie; “--won’t bite.”

Maggie opened her mouth and snapped her mouth shut, making a loud sound.

Chief Hall looked back at Maggie, and she stiffened. “Sorry, we’re heading down to the local coffee shop to do the interviews.”

“Okay, let me get my jacket,” Caleb said, still in shock.

“Good thing, we were going to be sad if you skipped out,” Margret murmured in her doll-like voice.

“Yeah, we’d love to have Kill-joy Caleb going to school with us,” Maggie muttered sarcastically, earning a fist-bump from Draco.

“Be right back,” Caleb muttered, closing the door.

Ivy Fields was sitting back in a recliner, trying to fix her long, dark hair into her ivy green ribbon. She reached for the ribbon in her mouth, as Matt burst through the door with an excited expression.

“Gallows went to ‘interview’ the newcomers!” Matt said, gesturing for the invisible quotation marks.

Ivy blinked and then fastened her hair. She sat forward and crossed her ankles. “Yeah, I saw one of them today. Ugh, why today?” she muttered, yawning. “I’m not in the mood to meet anyone new.”

“No, they’re moving in on Wednesday. It’s supposed to be a college that starts late in the season. I swear it will be great having new people around,” Matt Rose said.

Matt was the most compassionate guy any of the Shadow Cross kids had ever seen before seeing him. He was good-looking, caring, and not an ounce of evil in him.

Matt had golden eyes, brown hair gelled up into a slight Mohawk, broad face, thin eyebrows, sun-tanned skin, boyish face, deep voice, straight and broad nose, and can be very goofy.

Matt sat down on the black couch near Ivy. Ivy sat silently, chewing on a pencil that had been left in the seat.

“Hey, is that Helen’s pencil? You wouldn’t want to do that, especially when she’s having her moods,” Matt advised seriously.

Ivy’s green eyes flicked to the pencil she was chewing on and she tossed it at the dartboard across the room. It hit the bulls-eye. Ivy stood up and put her hands on her hips, looking down at Matt. “Matt, do I look like I care if Helen has a hissy fit about a pencil?” Ivy asked.

Matt sheepishly looked down at his foots and started scooting it along the floor, awkwardly. “No, but you probably should for her sake.”

“Yeah, I should, but I don’t,” Ivy said softly.

She went over to the dartboard and pulled out the pencil, which left a huge hole in the bulls-eye. She clicked her tongue and examined the board. “Damn,” she murmured. “I’ve done a heck of a lot better.”

Matt laughed, startling Ivy.

Ivy looked at Matt and shook her head. Gosh, Matt could be annoying. He was always so perfect and good. What was she? Guarded, and she preferred to stay that way.

Ivy went back to her recliner and sat down, just as Helen walked in.

“Has anyone seen my pencil?” she asked, her violet eyes skeptically eyeing Ivy.

Ivy held out the pencil lazily and then jerked it back when Helen reached for him. “Give it, you annoying toad!” Helen hissed, yanking the pencil from Ivy’s grasp.

“That’s no way to talk to your leader,” Matt interjected.

Ivy and Helen ignored him and kept on fighting for the pencil. Helen was screaming curses at Ivy and Ivy remained silent, this was her practice for fighting hand-to-hand. Ivy managed to keep the pencil away from Helen, when a broad hand came in and took the pencil away from her.

“Way to go, Jason,” Matt said, clapping.

“At least I can do something right,” Jason said, gloomily handing the pencil to Helen. Helen stuck out her tongue and retreated from the room.

Jason flopped down next to Matt for his rant session. Ivy stood to leave, but Gallows had entered the room holding Helen by her arm. He released Helen and she went to sit next to Jason. Ivy settled back into her recliner for progress report on the newbies.

“This group is good,” Gallows stated. “They are all up to stat and they’re parents are slowly forgetting them.”

The other three were mildly happy about that, but Ivy was distressed. Her expression fell and she felt like someone had knocked the wind out of her. She glanced at the others and saw them staring at her. She looked at Gallows and wished he could cringe at her glance like Jason did whenever she glared at him. Gallows stood tall and grinned evilly at Ivy.

“They are all very excited to meet you, Ivy, Jason, Matt, Helen. They know about you, so do not go poking around their houses anymore Ivy. I saw you there today,” Gallows warned.

“I wanted to see if they were worth the visit,” Ivy replied.

“They will be worth it in the end,” he remarked.

“For what? Are they so worth it that you’re willing to rip them from the families that still know they exist?” Ivy growled quietly.

“What was that?” Gallows said, putting his hand to his ear. “I didn’t hear you.”

“I said,” Ivy said louder; “are they worth the friggin’ visit or what?”

The others stared at her in shock. No one went against Gallows if they valued their lives. Not even Helen would go against Gallows, and she was constantly rebelling against Ivy and the others.

Gallows frowned, his eyes creasing and narrowing.

“You leave that to me,” he snapped. “I don’t want your awfully big nose getting into things…not meant to be seen, again,” Gallows said mysteriously.

Ivy felt a sinking feeling in her gut as his words rang through her. “Damn you,” she hissed, standing up. She walked past Gallows and went straight to her room, not wanting the others to see her angry at something as stupid as thing. What did it matter that four more teens were going to been taken away from their families to become something else entirely?

It meant the world to her.

Caleb went upstairs, unnerved by what Chief Hall had talked. Saying they had gotten a full scholarship because of their disease. What kind of BS was that? The disease was not fatal and it did not even effect life, so why the sudden notice in it?

Caleb packed his clothes and then went downstairs, seeing his mom had fallen asleep at the table. Caleb leaving soon had stressed her out and that he would not be around anymore. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake.

“Mom, I’m home,” he whispered.

“Who?” Cassandra gasped, startled.

“Caleb,” he replied softly.

“Oh, goodness! Caleb, I had forgotten you--or that you had gone out,” she corrected.

“Yeah, yeah, you fell asleep again, why don’t you go up to bed?” he suggested.

“Yes, a goodnight sleep sounds wonderful,” she mused, standing up and heading to bed. Her slow drawn out climb upstairs was almost music to Caleb. Alone at last. He had no one to pester him about growing up. That is why he had chosen the college he had, they would help you find out what you wanted to do.

It was almost too sweet of a deal, but Caleb had saved up and then they told him he had won a scholarship? Now it was too good to believe. He had not signed anything, but he had taken the contract home with him. What did he want to be? If he had known growing up would be like this, he would have enlisted a fairy helper and thrown on some tights. Peter Pan made it seem so easy.

Caleb went over to the cupboards and searched for something edible. He settled for some mac-and-cheese and grabbed a laptop from the living room. He started it up as he poured the noodles into the boiling water. He set the timer and then waited for the computer to start up. Once it was up, he turned it to a song that always helped him think through things, especially when he did not want to grow up.

Most guys grew up for girls; he was growing up because it was either that or nothing. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused on the lyrics, picturing the fantasy scenes before his eyes; lightning bugs, flying all around in the darkened sky and Caleb standing in the middle of a field watching them.

DING!

Caleb turned off the noodles and then poured them into the strainer. Then he continued on to eating it direct from the pot, having cooled the pot when he had poured out the noodles.

He talked to some of his friends on the internet, more aware than ever that they were all in college or were just waiting to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. Nothing could be more frustrating than not knowing what you wanted to do with your life.

Caleb finished cleaning up and then leaned against the sink, focusing on what he wanted to do. This college was the opportunity of a lifetime. He had to take it. He had to give up on Peter Pan, and just get on with growing up. If he had to do it, he would go holding his head held high.

He went over to the table where he had set down the papers. He read them over and then signed his name on the dotted line.

A/N: Please review! Thanks!

Stella

Caleb is handed a chance of a lifetime, a college that helps him find what he wants to do. But between studies he finds out there is more to this college than meets the eye. When he suddenly gets a massive headache and then a stomach flu, he knows something isn’t right. Then he becomes Invisible.

Ivy can’t understand why everything is suddenly falling apart. Her sudden love for Caleb can’t become anything big or else…the world may be destroyed by the people she calls friends. That’s the deal, three powerful Invisible or one of the strongest Invisible in the world next to her. When she finally decides, her world is shaken to the very core and even destiny may shatter.