Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 23 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

Chapter 7

Kat was acting…weird in class on Monday. Weirder than normal. Like she expected someone to jump out of thin air in front of her. She was quiet through trig, and I worried that she was getting sick again, even though she appeared to be fine.

Classes dragged. As usual.

I hit the cafeteria at lunch and immediately wished I’d gone out to grab something to eat. The slab of meat on my plate appeared to be Salisbury steak and gravy. Maybe. Wasn’t sure.

As I turned, I started toward where Kat was sitting with Dee but drew up short. Adam was with them, as were Lesa and Carissa. My gaze shot to where we normally sat. Ash looked bored, her short blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Andrew looked nuclear.

Considering I hadn’t really talked to Andrew since I planted his face in the table, I should probably try being less of a douche.

I sat down next to Andrew, dropping my plate. The other Luxen jerked. “Hey,” I said, sitting down.

He shot me a look as he stabbed his plastic fork in the mashed potatoes. “Thought you’d be over there today.” With his back to the table Kat was at, he directed his thumb over his shoulder.

“I like to spice things up,” I replied.

Ash twisted toward me. Under the table, one of her long legs brushed against mine. She smiled when I arched a brow at her. “It’s got to be super boring over there. You missed us.”

I didn’t respond.

“Actually, I think they’re talking about the party you’re having on Friday.” Andrew shoved a fork full of mashed potatoes into his mouth. “Thanks for the invite, ass.”

My lips curled up on one side. “You’re welcome.”

“It’s not his party. It’s Dee’s.” Ash moved again, and this time I felt her foot brush against my calf. “But we’re invited. I’m not going to miss the first-ever party at your house, not with your parents not in town.”

Since others were at the table, I saw right through most of what she was saying. I shifted my leg, moving it away from her. “Yeah. It’s going to be awesome.”

Her eyes narrowed.

Andrew leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Do you think a party is a good idea?”

“Nope.” I bit into the gravy-covered steak. Tasted like flour and sawdust, sort of like Kat’s pancakes.

“And you’re okay with it?”

I sighed, forcing myself to eat the crap. “Not really.”

Andrew started to say something, but high-pitched laughter from the table caught his attention. He glanced over my shoulder and I looked behind me. It was a girl—a cheerleader, I think. Kimmy? Kami? Tammy? No clue.

“She’s such a slut,” the girl said, wrinkling her nose. “She went after Simon.”

I had a really bad feeling about this conversation.

The guy sitting next to her, one of the football players, grinned. “From what Simon says, Katy knows how to use her mouth. Maybe you should take some lessons from her.”

My vision damn near turned red as the girl responded angrily. Hands fisting, I started to turn around and pick up one of them, if not both of them, and throw them into the wall.

Ash put her hand on my arm and spoke with her voice low. “Don’t. You need to not do whatever it is you’re planning to do.”

“I’m not planning to do anything,” I gritted out. What in the actual hell was Simon saying about Kat? It was total bullshit.

Ash jumped in, distracting me before I could say anything. “Leave it alone,” she warned. “It’s just people being dumb.”

More like people just being seconds away from being blasted into next week. Forcing myself to turn back around, I promised that I would so deal with that shit later.

Her bright blue eyes fastened on her brother. “Anyway,” she said, tipping her chin. “Have you heard from Uncle Lane or Uncle Vaughn recently?”

My brows lifted and I almost choked on my spit. Uncle Lane and Uncle Vaughn? Shit. That was actually almost funny, except… “Come to think of it, no, I haven’t heard from either of them.”

“Neither have we.” Andrew had finished off his potatoes and was eyeing mine. They may have been instant and tasted like paste, but I’d shank him if he reached for them. “Kind of strange, isn’t it?”

Yeah, that was strange. Our DOD babysitters hadn’t gone longer than two weeks without checking in, and it had been… Shit, how long had it been since I’d last seen one of them? A while. Their absence, now that I thought about it, didn’t sit very well, especially after the light show that had gone down on Halloween.

“All right, I’m out.” Ash stood, leaving her plate on the table. “See you losers later.”

I had no idea where she was going, but my mind was whirling around the officers’ absence. Normally the DOD would be all up in our business after something like that, and all I’d seen was the black tinted-out Expedition at the hospital when…when Kat had been there.

I glanced over at Kat’s table, and all thoughts of the DOD dropped to the wayside. My hand tightened around the plastic fork.

Some guy was sitting next to Kat. No—wait. I’d seen him before. He was the guy I’d almost run over in the hallway Friday. Kat knew him? The guy smiled at something she said. Kat tipped her head back. Strands of long dark hair fell back over her shoulders as she laughed.

The plastic fork snapped in my hand, startling me.

“Whoa.” Andrew eyed me. “You’re not going to slam my face into the table again, are you?”

“Do you know who that is?” I asked instead.

“Who?”

I jerked my chin over at the table. “That guy.”

Frowning, Andrew looked over his shoulder. “The guy sitting next to Katy?”

“Yeah.” I let the shattered pieces of the fork fall to the table.

Andrew turned around, facing me. “I have no idea, man. He must be new.”

The guy laughed this time and then he leaned in against Kat, bumping her shoulder with his like he was her new best friend.

What. In. The. Hell.

Something in my chest fisted. This bitter, acidic sensation shot through my veins as I watched Kat and this guy. I didn’t know what it was, couldn’t put a name to it, but I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

I shouldn’t even be paying attention to this. The whole thing with the absentee DOD was far more important. Should be top freaking priority, but I couldn’t stop staring at their table. Every time this asshole laughed or Kat smiled, I wanted to walk over there and toss the dude through one of the glass windows. Probably would get into some trouble over that, but I was seriously debating it. There was a damn near primal urge to claim what was—

Kat looked over at my table, and even though there was a sea of bodies between us, our gazes connected. The fisting in my chest increased. I don’t know how long we stared at each other, but the only thing that broke it was the warning bell ringing overhead, signaling the end of lunch.

Standing up quickly, she picked up her plate and started to reach for her bag. The guy beat her to it. Picking it up off the floor, he draped the strap over her shoulder. Blood roared in my ears.

“Yo. Dude.” Andrew leaned across the table and clamped his hand on my shoulder. My head swung sharply in his direction. His voice was low. “Your eyes.”

I blinked, forcing the whitish tint from my vision as I pulled back from Andrew. Rising to my feet, I looked over at the table. Kat was gone. So was the guy. And that sour feeling was burning a hole right through my gut.

I waited for Dee outside her last class. She stepped out, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Spotting me, she raised her dark brows. “Whatcha doing here?”

Pushing off the wall, I fell in step beside her. “Maybe I just wanted to walk my sister to her locker.”

Dee snorted. “Yeah. Okay. And I’m not going to my locker. Don’t need to.”

“Perfect.” Having already dropped my stuff off at mine, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “What are you doing now?”

“Not sure. Might go see Adam. Might go home.” Stepping sideways to avoid knocking into a smaller boy, I carefully edged past the crowd. It was a mass exodus. “You’re not hanging out with Kat?”

“Uh.” She focused straight ahead, her eyes wide. “No.”

I wet my lips as we hit the double doors. I opened them with my elbow, letting Dee pass through. “And why is that? You two not BFFs anymore?”

Her lips pursed. “I think she’s busy today.”

A boulder formed in my stomach. “Kat busy? Doing what?”

“You say that like she doesn’t have a life,” she said, sliding me a pinched look as we left the sidewalk and cut across the grass toward the parking lot.

I started to defend myself and then realized that I kind of did sound like that. “Sorry,” I muttered. “I just meant that she’s usually with you.”

“Well, you do know she has other friends, like Carissa and Lesa.”

Relief pecked through me as a gust of cold wind smacked into us. “Is she with them?”

“No.” Dee sighed as she stopped at her Jetta. Opening the car door, she threw her bag in and faced me. “I’m not even sure why I’m telling you this, because I have a feeling you’re not going to be happy, but she went with someone to Smoke Hole diner.”

And all the relief was gone in an instant. “With that guy from lunch?”

Dee nodded, and she exhaled loudly. “And he’s coming to the party Friday night.”

I stared at her. “What in the actual fu—?”

“I didn’t really invite him. The girls did, and you know, it’s not a big deal. He is actually pretty nice and he’s normal,” she said, meeting my eyes. “And I think Kat needs—”

“She doesn’t need normal,” I snapped.

Her emerald eyes brightened. “Then what does she need, Daemon?”

Me.

I wanted to shout that from the top of Spruce Knob, scream it in everyone’s face. Not weird or anything. But I was pissed. Stepping around Dee, I left her standing there and headed toward my car. I got in behind the wheel and cranked the engine.

Pulling out of the parking lot, I headed toward the house. I wasn’t going to the diner. It would be messed up even for me to do that. Once I hit the highway, I reached into my pocket and dug out my cell phone. Tapping on the screen, I hit the contacts and started scrolling until I found the contact I was looking for.

Kitten.

I started to hit her name, but cursed under my breath. Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I focused on the road ahead. I should go see Matt and ask if he’d heard from Uncle DOD recently. That was important.

Except once I got all the way home, I sat in the driveway for a damn eternity and then peeled out of it. I wasn’t even kidding myself. I knew where I was going. I was that messed up. But it was like I had to see it for myself that she was really at a diner with some ass who just waltzed into town.

I pulled into the parking lot of Smoke Hole and killed the engine. Seconds away from opening the car door, having no idea what I was doing, I felt the warm shiver along the back of my neck. My gaze cut across the parking lot and I saw them standing under a tree talking. Branches shook above them, scattering dried leaves. I reached back, rubbing my hand along the nape of my neck. If I felt her, didn’t she—

The guy leaned toward her just as a loud crack echoed through the parking lot. A thick, skull-crushing branch broke free, spiraling down on them. I was out of the car, my heart dropping and my eyes never leaving them. If that branch hit Kat, it would…

Kat shot toward the guy and a rush of power rippled over the parking lot, lifting the hairs along my arms, and the branch.

It stopped.

It froze, suspended in midair.

And I hadn’t done it.

Chapter 8

The branch hung as if tethered by an invisible string until the guy stepped aside. Crashing to the pavement, the branch cracked the cement.

“Wow…” I heard the guy say. “That would’ve killed me.” He stepped toward Kat, reaching out to her. “Katy…it’s okay.” The guy looked up, spotting me. He stopped moving.

Shock and anger warred inside me as I wrapped my hand around her upper arm. “Kat.”

Her shoulders sagged as she turned to me, lowering her head. Long dark strands fell forward, shielding her face. “Sorry,” she whispered.

Pressure clamped on my chest.

“Is she okay?” the guy asked, sounding worried. “The branch—”

“Yes. She’s fine. The falling branch scared her,” I gritted out. “That’s all.”

The guy stared at us. “But—”

“See you later.” I didn’t have time for this. Turning Kat, I walked her back toward her car. “Are you okay?”

Kat stared straight ahead and nodded. She didn’t speak as I gently pried the car keys from her fingers. I heard the guy call out her name, but it didn’t seem like she heard him. I opened the car door.

“Get in,” I said quietly.

Surprisingly, Kat obeyed me without a fight. She slipped into the car, and I closed the door behind her. Sparing the guy a brief glance, I started around the front of the car. He was still standing there, staring at us. My jaw clenched as I got in her car. Thoughts raced at a rapid clip. I didn’t stop that branch. That guy sure as hell wasn’t Luxen. That left one person.

Kat.

It was impossible. Stopping the branch was something only a Luxen could do. An Arum might’ve pulled something like that off if it had recently fed, but Kat…Kat was human.

Was.

Dammit.

The inside of her car smelled like damn peaches. She turned wide gray eyes on me and when she spoke, her voice was hoarse. “How…how are you here?”

I pulled out of the parking spot. “I was driving around. I’ll have Dee and Adam get my car.”

Kat looked at the passenger window, at that boy. A shudder rocked her. “Daemon…”

My jaw worked as I waited for traffic to clear so I could pull out. Obviously, she wasn’t too shocked by what had gone down, and that meant one thing. Kat was keeping a whole lot from me. There was so much wrong with this situation that I barely knew where to start.

“You’ll pretend like nothing happened,” I said. “If he brings it up, you’ll tell him that he moved out of the way. If he even suggests that you…that you stopped that branch, you laugh it off.”

“I need to act like you did in the beginning?” she asked.

I nodded curtly and pulled out onto the road. “What just happened back there never happened. Do you understand me?”

Kat nodded.

Silence ticked away the minutes as I drove. Neither of us spoke on the way back to her house. My knuckles ached from how tightly I was gripping the steering wheel. I had to ease off so I didn’t damage it. I used the time to gather my thoughts and figure out what the hell happened and how we were going to deal with this.

I didn’t speak until I parked the car in her driveway and slipped the keys out of the ignition. Sitting back, I looked at her. “We need to talk. And you need to be honest with me. You don’t seem surprised you just did that.”

Kat nodded.

Anger rolled off me. I opened my mouth, about to demand why she hadn’t come to me with something so damn important, but I shut it and shook my head. We climbed out of the car and headed into her empty house, warmed by the central heat kicked on high.

Kat sat in the recliner and wrapped her arms around herself. “I was planning on telling you.”

“You were?” I stood in front of her, hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. “When, exactly? Before or after you did something that puts you at risk?”

She flinched. “I didn’t plan on this happening! All I wanted was to have a normal afternoon with a boy—”

“With a boy?” I spat, anger flaring.

“Yes, with a normal boy!” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I did plan on coming to you tonight, but Blake asked me to grab something to eat with him, and I just wanted one freaking afternoon with someone like me.”

Blake? That was his name? Forget that. I frowned. “You have friends who are normal, Kat.”

“It’s not the same thing!”

Understanding hit me. She didn’t want normal friends. She wanted a normal guy. Yeah, that stung like a bitch. “Tell me what’s been happening.”

Her eyes met mine, and then her gaze dipped to her hands. “I think I did get alien cooties, because I’ve been moving things…without touching them. Today, I opened the door to Mr. Garrison’s classroom without touching it. He seemed to think it was a drafty hallway.”

Tension brewed inside me. “How often has this been happening?”

“On and off for around a week. The first time it was my locker door, but I thought it was a fluke, so I didn’t say anything. Then I thought about wanting a glass of tea, and the glass flew out of the cabinet and the tea started pouring itself in the fridge. The shower turned itself on, doors opened, and a couple of times, clothes flew from my closet.” She sighed. “My room was a mess.”

A snicker escaped. “Nice.”

Her hands balled into fists. “How can you think this is funny? Look at what happened today! I didn’t mean to stop the branch! I mean, I didn’t want it to hit him, but I didn’t consciously stop the damn thing. The whole healing-me thing—it changed me, Daemon. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I couldn’t move things before. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I get a splitting headache and feel exhausted afterward. What if I’m dying or something?”

Dying?

I moved toward her, sitting down on the arm of the chair. Kat shrank back, plastering herself against the chair. “Why do you have to move so fast?” she demanded. “It’s…wrong.”

“Sorry, Kitten. For us, moving fast is natural. It’s actually more effort to slow down and appear ‘normal,’ as you put it.” I paused and then spoke the truth. “I guess I just forget I have to pretend around you.”

She winced and looked away. Her mouth moved, but there were no words spoken out loud. I sighed as I resisted the urge to touch her. “You’re not dying.”

“How do you know?” Kat lifted her gaze to mine.

“Because I’d never let that happen,” I promised.

Her breath caught. “What if I’m turning into an alien?”

Turning into an alien? I wanted to laugh, but managed to stop myself. “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

“Moving stuff with my mind shouldn’t be possible.”

Good point. “Why didn’t you tell me when this first happened?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted quietly. “I should’ve. I don’t want to put you guys at risk. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose.”

Her silence on what was happening was a product of her trying to protect us—Dee. Me. And she feared that I’d think she was doing this on purpose? Damn. That got me in the feels. Straight sucker punch. My vision changed, washing the room in a whitish light. “I know you aren’t doing anything on purpose. I wouldn’t have thought that.”

Her chest rose sharply as I held her gaze. A moment passed and I said, “I don’t know if it was a product of my healing you those times or when you connected with us during Baruck’s attack. Either way, it’s obvious that you’re using some of my abilities. I’ve never heard of this happening before.”

“Never?” she whispered.

“We don’t heal humans.” I pursed my lips, thinking back to the time when Dawson had come home, blood on his torn clothing. It hadn’t been his. Bethany. Had something happened to Bethany and he’d healed her? This wasn’t the first time I’d wondered about this, but what if he had? Did it matter in the end? I shook my head. “I’ve always thought it had something to do with exposing our abilities, but now I’m wondering if it’s more than that. If the real reason is because we…change humans.”

She swallowed. “So I am turning into an alien?”

My lips twitched. “Kitten…”

“How do we stop this?”

I had no idea, and it wasn’t like I could ask someone, but an idea occurred to me. Our hearts were beating at the same rate. That was established. She was somehow using some of my abilities. Just how connected were we? I stood. “I want to try something, okay?”

Her brows rose. “Okay.”

Closing my eyes, I let myself shed my human form. A few seconds later, I was in full Luxen mode, casting the room in a white-red light. I reached out to her mentally. Say something to me.

She glanced around the room. “Uh, hi?”

I chuckled. Not aloud. Say something to me, but not out loud. Like what happened in the clearing. You spoke to me then.

Her eyes widened at that. It was something neither of us talked about it. Then again, we rarely had moments of talking. We were either arguing…or kissing. A few moments passed, and then I heard her voice in my thoughts, soft and sweet.

Your light is really pretty, but it’s blinding me.

I gasped. There was no stopping that. We can still hear each other. I shifted back into my human form, uneasy. “So my light was blinding you, huh?”

“Yeah, it was.” She fiddled with the chain around her neck. “Am I glowing now?”

It usually happened when we went into our true form, leaving a very faint trace behind, almost unnoticeable, but there was nothing around her. Oh man. “No.”

“Why could I still hear you?” she asked. “You act like I shouldn’t.”

“You shouldn’t, but we’re still connected.”

“Well, how do we get unconnected?”

“That’s a good question.” Lifting my arms, I stretched as I glanced around the room. My brows rose. “You have books everywhere, Kitten.”

“That’s really not important right now.”

I stretched out a hand, wanting to distract her for a few moments. I could feel how fast her heart was racing. A book flew off the arm of the couch and into my hand. Turning it over, I quickly read the back. “His touch kills? Really, what is this stuff you’re reading?”

She shot from the chair, snatching the book away and holding it close to her chest. “Shut up. I love this book.”

“Uh-huh,” I murmured.

“Okay, back to the important stuff. And stop touching my books.” She placed it back where I’d found it. “What are we going to do?”

I watched her. “I’ll figure out what is happening with you. Just give me some time.”

She nodded, worrying her lower lip. “You do realize this whole thing is why you…”

I arched a brow, waiting for her to say what I already knew she was going to say.

“It’s why you suddenly like me,” she finished.

“I’m pretty sure I liked you before this, Kitten.”

“Well, you had one hell of a way of showing it.”

“True,” I admitted. “And I’ve already said I’m sorry for the way I treated you.” I squared my shoulders. “I always liked you. From the moment you first flipped me off.”

“But you didn’t start to want to spend time with me until after the first attack, when you healed me. Maybe we were already starting to, like…morph together or whatever.”

I frowned. “What is it with you? It’s like you need to convince yourself I can’t possibly like you. Does doing that make it easier to tell yourself you don’t have feelings for me?”

“You treated me like a redheaded stepchild for months. I’m sorry if I have a hard time believing that whatever you feel is real.” She sat on the couch. “And it has nothing to do with what I feel.”

My shoulders tensed as I thought back to that guy. “Do you like that guy you were with?”

“Blake? I don’t know. He’s nice.”

“He was sitting with you today at lunch.”

She arched a brow. “Because there was an open seat and it’s a free world where people can pick where they want to sit.”

“There were other seats open. He could’ve sat anywhere else in the cafeteria.”

Kat didn’t respond immediately. “He’s in my bio class. Maybe he just felt comfortable with me, because we’re both sort of new.”

Oh, I did not like the sound of this. She was willing to accept that some strange dude was simply comfortable around her while she thought there were a million nefarious reasons as to why I was interested in her. What the hell? “He kept staring at you. And obviously he wanted to spend time with you outside of school.”

“Maybe he likes me,” she said, shrugging. “Lesa invited him to the party on Friday.”

A muscle spasmed along my jaw. “I don’t think you should be hanging around him until we know what’s up with you moving stuff.” Part of that was actually a valid statement, but I could admit to myself I was totally using that as a perfect excuse to cut the douche bag out of the picture. “You doing that thing with the branch was only one instance. We can’t have a repeat of that.”

“What? I’m not supposed to date or hang out with anyone now?”

I smiled. “Anyone human, yes.”

“Whatever.” Kat stood, and a chunk of hair fell across her cheek. “This is a stupid conversation. I’m not dating anyone anyway, but if I were, I wouldn’t stop just because you said so.”

“You wouldn’t?” I caught that damn piece of hair and tucked it back behind her ear. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

She stepped sideways, keeping distance between us. “There’s nothing to see.”

Challenge filled my entire being. “If you say so, Kitten.”

Folding her arms across her chest, she faced me. “This isn’t a game.”

“I know, but if it were, I’d win.” I moved around the room and then stopped. I watched her grab hold of her hair and start twisting it nervously. She was stressed. Understandable. I had done something to her, maybe irrevocably, like I had feared when she had gotten sick. For some reason, as I watched her, I thought about what I heard at lunch. My hands closed into fists. The last thing she needed to worry about was the shit Simon was spewing about her.

“By the way,” I said. “I’ve heard what Simon has been saying.”

Pink swept over her face. “Yeah, he’s being a douche. I think it’s his friends. He actually apologized to me, and then when his friends showed up, he told them I was trying to get with him.”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s not okay.”

“It’s no big deal,” she said, lowering her gaze.

“Maybe not to you, but it is to me.” I paused, my shoulders squaring. “I’ll take care of it.”

Kat plopped down on the couch, her back to me. “You always do that, don’t you?”

“Do what?”

One shoulder rose. “Take care of things.”

I drifted toward the couch quietly.

She peeked at me through her lashes. “You took care of things after…after Dawson. You took care of things with me—before and after I found out the truth. And now? You’re going to do it again.”

“I…I don’t look at it that way.”

“Of course you don’t.” There wasn’t an ounce of rancor in her tone. Her brow wrinkled as she opened her hands and flipped them palms up. She stared at them. “It’s just got to be a lot of responsibility.”

My mouth was open and wordless.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to mine as her fingers closed, pressing into her palm. “I just…I know you don’t need this—whatever this is with me—and I’m—”

“Don’t apologize,” I bit out harshly. Her eyes widened. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Kat. Nothing. You saved Dee’s life. You saved my life, and in return, I’ve done…I don’t even know what I’ve done to you.”

Her head tilted to the side. “You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Does my lack of intent matter?” I asked her, a hundred percent serious.

Thick lashes lowered, shielding her beautiful gray eyes. “I guess not, but…but I know you’ll help me.”

That was true. I wanted to help her—I would help her, but most importantly, I wanted Kat to trust me. Now, more than ever, she needed to, because I had a feeling that stopping the branch and moving a glass of tea without touching it were just the tip of the iceberg.