Текст книги "Onyx (A Lux Novel)"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Chapter 6

The branch hung there, hovering as if it were tethered by an invisible string. My breath pawed at my chest, not quite making it out. I stopped the branch– Idid that. Panic and power rushed through me, leaving me dizzy.

Blake was staring at me, his eyes wide with what? Fear? Excitement? He stepped to the side and lifted his gaze. The rush of power left me at once. The heavy branch crashed, cracking the pavement like it would’ve done to Blake’s skull. My shoulders slumped as I dragged in air. Sharp, slicing pain erupted behind my eyes and I winced.

“Wow…” Blake ran a hand through his spiky hair. “That would’ve killed me.”

I swallowed, unable to speak. Shock rippled through me, lapping at my sides. I felt and recognized the warmth tingling across the nape of my neck, but I couldn’t move. This little “event” had sapped me of energy, and my head…it throbbed something fierce—a kind of scary pain that signaled something was very wrong.

Oh, God, was this it? Was I having an aneurysm?

“Katy…it’s okay,” Blake said, stepping forward as his eyes darted behind me.

A warm, strong hand curled around my arm. “Kat.”

I sagged at the sound of Daemon’s voice. Turning to him, I lowered my head, shielding my face with my hair. “Sorry,” I whispered.

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

“Yes. She’s fine. The falling branch scared her.” Each word sounded like he spoke it through gritted teeth. “That’s all.”

“But—”

“See you later.” Daemon started walking, taking me along with him. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, staring straight ahead. Everything seemed too bright for a cloudy day. Too real. The whole afternoon had been perfect. Normal. And I’d ruined it. When I didn’t answer, Daemon took my keys from my numb fingers and opened the passenger door.

Blake called out my name, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I had no idea what he must be thinking, but I knew it couldn’t be good.

“Get in,” Daemon said almost gently.

For once, I obeyed without question. When he climbed in on the driver’s side and moved the seat back, I snapped out of it. “How…how are you here?”

He didn’t look at me as he turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking space. “I was driving around. I’ll have Dee and Adam get my car.”

Turning in my seat, I saw Blake by his car. He was still standing there like we’d left him. Knots twisted my insides. I felt sick. Trapped by what I’d done.

“Daemon…”

His jaw worked. “You’ll pretend like nothing happened. 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.”

Understanding seeped in. “I need to act like you did in the beginning?”

He nodded curtly. “What just happened back there never happened. Do you understand me?”

Close to tears, I nodded.

Silence ticked away the minutes. Halfway home, the headache eased up and I felt almost normal, except it was like I had pulled an all-nighter. Neither of us spoke until he pulled into the driveway of my house.

Daemon yanked the keys from the ignition and sat back. He faced me, eyes sheltered by a long wave of hair. “We need to talk. And you need to be honest with me. You don’t seem surprised you just did that.”

I nodded again. He was furious, and I couldn’t blame him. I’d possibly exposed them all to a human—a human who could go to the press, who could talk at school, and who could catch the attention of the DOD. They’d find out that the Luxen had special abilities. They’d learn about me.

We went inside my empty house. The central air was blowing heat from the vents, but I was shivering uncontrollably as I sat on the recliner. “I was planning on telling you.”

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

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

“With a boy?” he spat, eyes flaring an intense green.

“Yes, with a normal boy!” Why did that sound so surprising? I took 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.”

His frown went so deep I thought his face would crack. “You have friends who are normal, Kat.”

“It’s not the same thing!”

Daemon seemed to get what I wasn’t really saying. For a second, his eyes widened and I’d swear there was a flicker of pain in them, but then it was gone. “Tell me what’s been happening.”

Guilt shot through me, pulling behind it spiky barbs that dug in deep. “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.”

“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.” I sighed. “My room was a mess.”

A snicker escaped. “Nice.”

My 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 changedme, 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?”

Daemon blinked and was suddenly beside me, sitting on the arm of the chair. Our legs touched. His breath stirred my hair. I shrank back as my heart rate picked up. “Why do you have to move so fast? It’s…wrong.”

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

My heart ached. Why did everything I say lately come out as a criticism?

“You’re not dying,” he said.

“How do you know?”

His eyes latched onto mine. “Because I’d never let that happen.”

He said it so strongly that I believed him. “What if I’m turning into an alien?”

A look crossed his face, like he wanted to laugh, and I could get why. It did sound absurd. “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

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

He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me when this first happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said, unable to look away. “I should’ve. I don’t want to put you guys at risk. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose.”

Daemon leaned back. His pupils turned luminous. “I know you aren’t doing anything on purpose. I wouldn’t have thought that.”

My breath caught as he held my gaze with his strange eyes. The prickly feeling was back, spreading over my skin. Every inch of me became painfully aware of him.

He was silent for a moment. “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?” I whispered.

“We don’t heal humans.” Daemon paused, pursing his lips. “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.”

I swallowed. “So I amturning into an alien?”

“Kitten…”

All I could think about was the movie Alienand that thing crawling out of the dude’s stomach, except mine would be a glowing ball of light or something. “How do we stop this?”

Daemon stood. “I want to try something, okay?”

My brows rose. “Okay.”

Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath. His form flickered and faded. A few seconds later, he was in his true form, radiating a powerful red-white light. He was shaped like a human, and I knew he would be warm to touch. It was still strange seeing him like this. It drove home the point—the one I forgot sometimes—that he wasn’t from this planet.

Say something to me, his voice whispered in my thoughts.

In their true form, Luxen don’t speak out loud. “Uh, hi?”

His chuckle tickled inside me. Not aloud. Say something to me, but not out loud. Like what happened in the clearing. You spoke to me then.

When he’d been healing me, I’d heard his thoughts. Would it happen again? Your light is really pretty, but it’s blinding me.

I heard his ghost inhale. We can still hear each other.His light dimmed, and he was standing in front of me again, solid, eyes troubled. “So my light was blinding you, huh?”

“Yeah, it was.” I fiddled with the chain around my neck. “Am I glowing now?” It usually happened when they went into their true form, leaving a faint trace behind.

“No.”

So that had changed, too. “Why can I still hear you? 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.” He stretched idly as his gaze roamed across the room. “You have books everywhere, Kitten.”

“That’s really not important right now.”

One hand outstretched. A book flew off the arm of the couch and into his hand. As he turned it over, his brows rose and his gaze moved over it quickly. “His touch kills? Really, what is this stuff you’re reading?”

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

“Uh huh,” Daemon murmured.

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

His gaze settled on me. “I’ll figure out what is happening with you. Just give me some time.”

I nodded, hoping we had enough time. There was no telling what I’d accidentally do next, and the last thing I wanted was to expose Dee and the others. “You do realize this whole thing is why you…”

He arched a brow.

“It’s why you suddenly like me.”

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

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

“True,” he admitted. “And I’ve already said I’m sorry for the way I treated you.” He took a fortifying breath. “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.”

Daemon 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 red-headed stepchild for months. I’m sorry if I have a hard time believing that whatever you feel is real.” I sat on the couch. “And it has nothing to do with what I feel.”

His shoulders tensed. “Do you like that guy you were with?”

“Blake? I don’t know. He’s nice.”

“He was sitting with you today at lunch.”

My brow arched. “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.”

It took me a few seconds to respond. “He’s in my bio class. Maybe he just felt comfortable with me, because we’re both sort of new.”

Something flickered across his face, and then he was standing in front of me. “He kept staring at you. And obviously he wanted to spend time with you outside of school.”

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

Daemon’s eyes darkened to an evergreen. “I don’t think you should be hanging around him until we know what’s up with you moving stuff. 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?”

Daemon smiled. “Anyone human, yes.”

“Whatever.” I shook my head, standing. “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?” His hand shot out, tucking back a strand of hair behind my ear. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

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

Challenge filled his eyes. “If you say so, Kitten.”

Folding my arms, I sighed. “This isn’t a game.”

“I know, but if it were, I’d win.” He flickered out and appeared by the entrance to the foyer. “By the way, I’ve heard what Simon has been saying.”

Heat swept over my face. Another problem, but less important in the grand scheme of things. “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.”

Daemon’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not okay.”

I sighed. “It’s no big deal.”

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

Chapter 7

I didn’t get much sleep that night, so trig the next day sucked worse than normal. There was a six-foot-three alien behind me. Not talking to me, just breathing softly against the back of my neck. And no matter how far I scooted up, I could still feelhim. I was hyperaware of him—when he moved, when he wrote something down, when he scratched his head.

Halfway through class, I debated making a run for the door.

It was also day two of no pen pokes.

On the other hand, Simon kept glancing over his shoulder throughout class. Needing a distraction, I glared at his head. A slow flush crept over the back of his neck. He could feel me drilling holes into his head. Ha. Jerk-face.

Brown hair curled against the faintly flushed skin. He normally kept it cut close to the skull. I supposed he was in need of a haircut, since most boys around here didn’t let their hair grow more than an inch or two. The dull gray shirt he wore stretched over his broad shoulders as he tensed under my stare. He glanced over his shoulder at me.

I arched a brow.

Simon turned back stiffly, and his shoulders rose as he took a deep breath. Annoyance flared and my fingers burned. The tool had half the school thinking I was easy. My attention fell back to the book in front of him.

The heavy English text flipped off the desk, smacking Simon right in the face.

My mouth dropped open as I sat back. Holy crap…

Jumping up, he stared at the book now lying on the floor as if it were some kind of creature he’d never seen before. Our teacher’s eyes narrowed as he searched for the source of the disruption.

“Mr. Cutters, is there something you would like to share with the class?” he asked in a tired, bored voice.

“W-what?” Simon stuttered. He looked around frantically, and then his eyes settled on the book. “No, I knocked my book off the desk. Sorry.”

He let out a loud sigh. “Well, then pick it up.”

There were a few scattered chuckles from the other students. Simon was beet red as he swiped the book off the floor. He placed it in the middle of his desk and continued staring at it.

After the class settled down and the teacher turned back to the chalkboard, Daemon poked me with his pen. I twisted around.

“What was that?” he whispered, eyes narrowed. There was no mistaking the amusement in the tilt to his lips, though. “Very bad kitty…”

…

Blake arrived to bio minutes before the bell. He was wearing a vintage Super Mario Bros. shirt today. “You look…”

“Like crap?” I supplied, resting my cheek on my fist. I had no idea how to prepare myself for seeing him after the branch issue. Playing it cool wasn’t something I was particularly skilled at.

“I was going to say tired.” His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Look, about yesterday? I’m sorry I freaked out. The branch—”

“Scared you?” he said, eyes locked onto mine. “It’s no big deal. It shocked me, too. It all happened quickly, but I’d swear that branch stopped.” He tilted his head to the side. “Like it was suspended for a few seconds.”

“I…” What was I supposed to say? Deny. Deny. Deny. “I don’t know. Maybe the wind caught it or something.”

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, the big party is coming up.”

I smiled faintly, relieved at the change in topic. Would it be that easy? Damn. I was a better liar than Daemon gave me credit for. “You coming?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Good.” I toyed with my pen, remembering what Daemon had said about not hanging out with Blake. Screw that. “I’m glad you’re coming.”

Blake’s smile was infectious. We chatted for a little while about the party, waiting for class to begin. A couple of times, his hand brushed mine. I doubted it was on accident. And I liked that. There wasn’t anything forcing him to do it, except that maybe he wantedto touch me. He seemed to like me all on his own, and that made him a thousand times more attractive. And, well, that boyish smile of his helped. I could see him shirtless, surfing the waves. He was totally dateable.

Taking a deep breath, I did something I rarely ever did. “You can stop by my place first, before the party, if you want?”

His lashes lowered, fanning his golden cheeks. “That sounds cool. Like a date?”

I flushed. “Yeah, kind of. I guess you can say that.”

Blake leaned in, his breath surprisingly cool on my cheeks. Minty. “I’m not sure I like the ’kind of’ thing. I like the idea of calling it a date.”

My gaze flicked up, meeting his. The little specks of green in his eyes were nowhere near as vibrant as Daemon’s—why was I even thinking about him? “We can call it a date.”

He sat back. “Sounds better.”

I smiled, glancing down at my notebook. A date—not dinner-and-the-movies kind of date—but a date nonetheless. We exchanged numbers. I gave him directions. Excitement bubbled through me. I snuck a look at him. He was watching me with a crooked smile on his face.

Oh, the party just got a whole lot more interesting.

I refused to think about what Daemon would do when he saw me arrive with Blake. A small part of me wondered if I’d asked Blake just to find out.

…

Curled up on my couch after school on Thursday, Dee toyed with a ring on her finger and kept her voice low due to Mom sleeping upstairs. “The new boy seems to really have the hots for you.”

I plopped down beside her. “You think so?”

Dee smiled, but it was off. “Yeah, I think so. I’m surprised you’re actually okay with him coming to the party. I really thought…”

“You thought what?”

Her gaze skittered away. “I just thought there might be something between you and Daemon.”

“Oh, no, there’s nothing between us.” Besides a whacked-out alien bond and all our secrets. I cleared my throat. “Let’s not talk about your brother. What’s up with Adam?”

Crimson swept across her pale cheeks. “Adam and I have been trying to spend more time together, you know? Everyone expects us to be together, and there is a part of me that likes him. The elders know that since we’re both eighteen already, we’re coming of age.”

“Coming of age?”

She nodded. “Once we reach eighteen, we’re old enough to be mated.”

“What?” My eyes bugged. “Mated? Like, marrying and making babies?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “We usually wait until we’re done with school, but knowing that we’re getting close, Adam and I are trying to decide what we want to do.”

I was still stuck on the whole mating thing. “Do the elders tell you who you can be with?”

Dee frowned. “Not really. I mean, they want us with another Luxen and to reproduce as soon as possible. I know that sounds messed up, but our race is dying off.”

“I get that, but what if you didn’t want to have kids? What if you fell in love with another boy or…a human?”

“They would outcast us.” She faded and then was standing on the other side of the coffee table. “All of them would turn their backs on us. That’s what they would’ve done to Dawson if he…if he were still alive and with Bethany. And I know he would still be with her. Dawson loved Beth.”

And her brother’s love had ultimately led to their deaths. I lowered my gaze, feeling for the remaining siblings. “Would they force you to leave or something?”

She shook her head. “They’d make us want to leave, but we can’t, not without the DOD’s permission. It’s a lot of pressure.”

No doubt. I had to worry about what college to pick. Not about getting knocked up as soon as possible. And Daemon really wanted to risk all of that to be with me? He had to be on crack. “What happened with you and Adam?”

Stopping in front of the TV, she ran her hands through her curly hair. “We had sex.”

“Come again?” Up until five seconds ago, I was positive Dee wasn’t even attracted to Adam.

Dee’s small hands fluttered to her sides. “Yeah, shocking, huh?”

I blinked. “Yeah, that’s shocking.”

“I didn’t know how I felt about him. Like, I totally respect him, and he’s good looking.” She started pacing again. “But we’ve only been friends, really. Or at least, I’ve only let him be a friend to me. I don’t know, but anyway, I decided I wanted to see if we, you know, could even do it. So, I told him that we should try to have sex. And we did.”

Wow, that sounded real romantic. “And how was it?”

Her cheeks flushed again. “It was…it was good.”

“Good?”

Dee appeared beside me, sitting on the couch, hands twisting together. “It was more than just good. A little awkward at first—okay, a whole lot of awkward at first, but things…worked out.”

I didn’t know if I should be happy for her or not. “So what does all of this mean?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. I like him, but I don’t know if I like him because I’m supposed to or if it’s real.” She flopped onto her back, one arm hanging off the couch. “I don’t even know what love is. Like, I thought I loved him when we were doing it. But now? I don’t know.”

“Damn, Dee, I don’t know what to say. I’m glad it was…good.”

“It was great.” She sighed. “Want to know how great it was? I want to do it again.”

I laughed.

One jade-colored eye opened. “But now I have all these…knots in my tummy. I can’t stop thinking about him, wondering what he thinks.”

“Have you tried talking to him?”

“No. Should I?”

“Uh, yeah, you just did it with him. You should probably call him.”

Dee sat up, her eyes wide. “What if he doesn’t feel the same?”

It was strange seeing Dee like this, having such a…human reaction. “I think he probably feels the same.”

“I don’t know. We were just friends and nothing more. We didn’t even want to go to homecoming together.” She was on her feet again. “But I’m not sure if he felt that way because of me and how I’d acted. Maybe he’s always felt more for me.”

“Call him.” That was the best advice I could give, since I had no experience in any of this. “Wait. Did you guys use protection?”

Dee rolled her eyes. “I’m so not ready for a baby Dee. We totally used protection.”

Relief flooded me. She hung around a little longer then left to go call Adam. I was still shocked that Dee had sex. It was such a big step, even for…aliens. At least it was great. But to have sex just to find out if you liked someone? Where was the romance in that? Of course, who was I to judge? I asked one guy to go out, I was pretty sure, just to see if another noticed. Yeah, I was totally not the go-to person for relationship advice. Poor Dee.

Mom woke up and we ordered pizza before she had to leave for work. While waiting, we chilled on the couch like we used to, before Dad died.

Mom handed me a cup of steaming cocoa. “Don’t forget I have you all day Saturday until I go into work, so don’t make any plans.”

I smiled, wrapping my hands around the warm cup. “I’m all yours.”

“Good.” She threw her slipper-covered feet onto the coffee table. “I wanted to run something by you.”

Taking a sip, I raised my brows.

She crossed her ankles and then re-crossed them the other way. “Will wants to do dinner with us on Saturday, for you birthday.”

“Oh.”

A faint smile curved her lips. “I told him I wanted to check with you first and make sure you were okay with it.” She paused, crinkling her nose. “You are the birthday girl and all.”

“I’ll only turn eighteen once, right?” I grinned. “It’s okay, Mom, we can do dinner with Will.”

Her eyes narrowed.

I took another drink of cocoa. “Should I dress up for this? Since he is a doctor and all. Oh! Are we going to a fancy dinner and will we talk politics and current events?”

“Shush it.” She smiled, though, settling back. “I think you’ll like him. He’s not stuffy or overbearing. He’s really like…”

My heart did a funny thing. “Like Dad?”

Mom smiled sadly. “Yeah, like Dad.”

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. Mom had met Dad her first year of nursing residency at the hospital in Florida. He’d been a patient, having fallen off the deck and broken his foot, trying to impress some girl. But according to my dad, the moment he’d looked into Mom’s eyes, he couldn’t even remember the other girl’s name. They’d dated for six months, got engaged, and married within the year. I came shortly thereafter, and there hadn’t been two people more in love than them. Even when they’d argued, love fueled their words.

I’d give anything to have that kind of relationship.

I finished off the rest of my cocoa and wiggled closer to Mom. She lifted her slender arm and I snuggled in, inhaling the apple-scented body lotion she always wore during autumn. Mom had this habit of changing her perfumes and lotions with the seasons.

“I’m happy you met him,” I said finally. “Will sounds like a really nice guy.”

“He is.” She kissed the top of my head. “I like to think your father would approve.”

Dad would approve of anyone who made Mom happy. I’d been there the day hospice had told us it wouldn’t be much longer. Standing outside their bedroom, I’d heard him tell Mom to love again. That was all he wanted.

I closed my eyes. That kind of love should’ve been able to beat sickness. That kind of love should’ve conquered anything.