Oblivion

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  she was getting herself into.

  Dee had human friends before, but they were more like acquaintances, people she wasn’t entirely close to. Kat was different. If she didn’t live next door and so close to the colony, then maybe she wouldn’t pose such a problem.

  Maybe I wouldn’t think twice about her.

  But none of that was either here or there. With school back in session, there were other people that Kat could buddy up with. Dee would eventually get over it. And everything would go back to being normal.

  Time for me to stop screwing around with this.

  It was close to eight when I knocked on Kat’s door. Her mom’s car was gone from the driveway, and for some reason, as I walked over to the porch railing, I wondered if that was why Kat was so into reading. With her mom never around, I imagined she had to be lonely.

  Or maybe she just enjoyed reading that much.

  The door opened, and Kat stepped out. I opened my mouth, but immediately closed it. Kat had changed since school. And it wasn’t just the missing cast, which was thankfully off her arm now. She also had a dress on—a pale blue dress with tiny straps and a lacy hem that showed off her legs and the slope of her shoulders.

  Her hair was still down, cascading down her back, and as she closed the door behind her, I had a hard time focusing on what the hell I was doing over here.

  She walked over to me, and moonlight sliced over her cheek as she lifted her gaze to mine. “Is Dee home?”

  “No.” I glanced up at the stars blanketing the sky. Dee would be home soon, though. “She went to the game with Ash, but I doubt she will stay long.” I turned to her. “I told her I was going to hang out with you tonight. I think she’ll come home soon to make sure we haven’t killed each other.”

  Kat looked away, but I saw the grin. “Well, if you don’t kill me, I’m sure Ash will be more than glad to do so.”

  “Because of spaghetti-gate or something else?” I asked.

  She shot me a long look. “You looked mighty comfy with her in your lap yesterday.”

  “Ah, I see.” I pushed off the railing. “It makes sense now.”

  “It does?”

  “You’re jealous.”

  “Whatever.” She laughed as she turned away, walking down the steps. “Why would I be jealous?”

  I followed her, enjoying the view. “Because we spent time together.”

  “Spending time together isn’t a reason to be jealous, especially when you were forced to spend time with me.” She paused and then shook her head. “Is this what we need to talk about?”

  I shrugged. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

  Her hands smoothed over her dress. I wondered if she wore that for me. “It’s kind of late, don’t you think?”

  “I think and talk better when I walk.” Meeting her gaze, I held out my hand. “If not, I turn into the dickhead Daemon you’re not very fond of.”

  “Ha. Ha.” Her gaze flickered to my outstretched hand. “Yeah, I’m not holding your hand.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m not going to hold hands with you when I don’t even like you.”

  “Ouch.” I placed my hand over my chest. “That was harsh.”

  She snorted. “You’re not going to take me out in the woods and leave me there, are you?”

  I grabbed my chest as if wounded. “Sounds like a fitting case of revenge, but I wouldn’t do that. I doubt you’d last very long without someone to rescue you.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  I grinned at her, but it quickly faded. There would be no more grins between us after tonight. We walked in silence, crossing the main road and into the woods, where the moonlight barely cut through the thick trees. We walked side by side, and it was hard not to be aware of her.

  “Ash isn’t my girlfriend,” I said finally, and I don’t know why I was telling her this. “We used to date, but we’re friends now. And before you ask, we’re not that kind of friends even though she was sitting on my lap. I can’t explain why she was doing that.”

  “Why did you let her?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, honestly. Is being a guy a good enough reason?”

  “Not really.” She was watching where she walked.

  “Didn’t think so.” I stepped around a broken tree limb. “Anyway, I’m…I am sorry about the whole lunch thing.”

  Kat tripped.

  My hand snapped out, catching her good arm. Once she was upright, she backed off, folding her arms across her waist. Her expression was shadowed but pained.

  “Kat?”

  She glanced in my direction. “You embarrassed me.”

  “I know—”

  “No, I don’t think you do know.” She started walking, her hands cupping her elbows. “And you pissed me off. I can’t figure you out. One minute you aren’t bad and then you are the biggest ass on the planet.”

  I stared at her retreating back for a moment. All of this would be so much easier since she was mad at me. I deserved that anger, but none of it settled well on me.

  “But I have bonus points.” I easily caught up to her, keeping an eye out for rocks and exposed roots. “I do, right? Bonus points from the lake and our walk? Did I get any from saving you that night?”

  “You got a lot of bonus points for your sister,” she said. “Not for me. And if they were my bonus points, you’ve lost most of them by now.”

  “That blows. It really does.”

  She stopped walking. “Why are we talking?”

  “Look, I am sorry about that. I am.” I let out a long breath. “You didn’t deserve the way we acted.”

  In the increasing darkness, she studied me. A moment passed. “I’m sorry about your brother, Daemon.”

  I stilled, caught completely off guard. I never talked to her about Dawson. Obviously Dee would have at some point, but I knew Dee wouldn’t have told her everything. How I should have warned him to stay away from Bethany. How it was all my fault for not keeping my brother safe. “You don’t have any idea what happened to my brother.”

  “All I know is that he disappeared—”

  My hand opened and closed at my side. Disappeared? Was that what Dee had told her? It didn’t matter. “That was a while ago.”

  “It was last year.” Her voice was gentle. “Right?”

  “Oh, yeah, you’re right. Just seems longer than that.” I cast my gaze to the slices of dark sky peeking between the thick branches. “So how did you hear about him?”

  There was a moment before she responded. “Kids were talking about it at school. I was curious why no one ever mentioned him or that girl.”

  So Dee hadn’t brought it up? Interesting. “Should we have?”

  “I don’t know.” Her response was quiet. “Seems like a pretty big deal that people would talk about.”

  I started walking again, my movements stiff. “It’s not something we like to talk about, Kat.”

  “I don’t mean to pry—”

  “You don’t?” Familiar frustration rose. I knew I shouldn’t take my anger out on Kat, but maybe this was the perfect lead-in to pushing her away for good. “My brother is gone. Some poor girl’s family will probably never see their daughter again, and you want to know why no one told you?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that everyone is so…secretive. Like, I don’t know anything about your family. I’ve never seen your parents, Daemon. And Ash hates my guts for no reason. It’s weird that there are two sets of triplets that moved here at the same time,” she continued, proving that someone had been talking to her. Probably the girls in trig. “I dumped food on your head yesterday, and I didn’t get in trouble. That’s plain weird. Dee has a boyfriend she’s never mentioned. The town—it’s odd. People stare at Dee like she’s either a princess or they’re afraid of her. People stare at me. And—”

  “You sound like those things have something in common.”

  “Do they?”

  “Why would they? Maybe you’r
e feeling a little paranoid. I would be if I’d been attacked after moving to a new town.”

  “See, you are doing it now!” she all but shouted as she followed me deeper into the woods. “Getting all uptight because I’m asking a question, and Dee does the same thing.”

  “Do you think maybe it’s because we know you’ve been through a lot, and we don’t want to add to it?” I threw back at her.

  “But how can you add to it?”

  I slowed down, taking a deep breath as we hit the clearing and the lake came into view. This was all going way off track. “I don’t know. We can’t.”

  Kat shook her head as she stared at the water. Stars reflected off the still surface, and I hated that I brought her here to do this. No longer would I look at this place as a haven of comfort or peace.

  “The day at the lake.” My voice was low. I wanted her to know this. Not that it would matter when this was over, but I needed her to know this. “There were a few minutes when I was having a good time.”

  She twisted toward me. “Before you turned into Aquaman?”

  My shoulders tensed as I lifted my gaze to the sky. For the first time in a long time, I thought about home, our real home, and how different things would be—should be. “Stress will do that, make you think things are happening that aren’t.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” she said firmly. “There is something…odd here.”

  “Other than you?”

  Irritation rolled off her. “Why did you want to talk, Daemon?”

  I lifted my arm and clasped the back of my neck. It was time to get this over with. “What happened yesterday at lunch is only going to get worse. You can’t be friends with Dee, not like the kind of friend you want to be.”

  Kat stared at me. “Are you serious?”

  I lowered my hand. “I’m not saying you have to stop talking to her, but pull it back. You can still be nice to her, talk to her at school, but don’t go out of your way. You’re only going to make it harder on her and yourself.”

  A long moment passed. “Are you threatening me, Daemon?”

  Lowering my gaze to hers, I braced myself. “No. I’m telling you how it’s going to be. We should head back.”

  “No,” she said. “Why? Why is it wrong if I’m friends with your sister?”

  My jaw tensed. This was a mistake, because I didn’t like this—no, I hated doing this. I had a mean streak the size of the equator, but this…this wasn’t me. Frustration rolled into a burst of heated energy, stirring the fallen leaves and tossing Kat’s hair.

  “You aren’t like us,” I said, and then I really went there. I crossed every line that I knew to drive the point home. “You are nothing like us. Dee deserves better than you, people that are like her. So leave me alone. Leave my family alone.”

  Kat jerked as if I’d delivered a physical blow, and truth was, what I had done was far worse than anything physical. She took a step back, blinking rapidly.

  Then I sealed the deal. “You wanted to know why. That’s why.”

  “Why…?” Her voice cracked. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  My control slipped for a moment, and I flinched. I didn’t hate her. God, I wished I did, but I didn’t, and seeing the tears building in her eyes killed me.

  And then, because she was anything but weak, she rallied. “You know what? Screw you, Daemon.”

  I looked away, my jaw working “Kat, you can’t—”

  “Shut up!” she hissed. “Just shut up.”

  She stalked past me, heading back down the path we’d taken. It was too dark for her to make it without busting her ass. “Kat, please wait up.”

  Unsurprisingly, she didn’t listen.

  “Come on, Kat, don’t walk so far ahead. You’re going to get lost!”

  She picked up her pace, and then she was running. The urge to go after her was hard to ignore, and I would’ve easily caught up, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out she wanted as much space between us as possible.

  I’d hurt her, really hurt her this time, cutting deep. Anything I’d said to her before was nothing compared to what I’d said this time. I had a feeling I’d finally accomplished my mission, but I didn’t feel a single ounce of satisfaction.

  I heard her stumble up ahead and grunt. Concern flared to life, and I picked up speed. “Kat!”

  She ignored me once more and rushed forward. The road was up ahead, and she broke into an all-out run. I was closer to her now, only a few feet behind, and I saw her lift her hands and wipe them across her face.

  Kat was crying.

  I’d made her cry.

  She hit the road and my heart stopped. I shouted her name, but there was no way she’d be able to react fast enough. It was too late.

  Kat had stepped out in front of a truck.

  Chapter 14

  Two bright headlights enveloped Kat’s form, and the truck’s loud roar filled my head. Her arms were thrown up, as if she was trying to shield herself. I saw her in my mind, broken and destroyed on the hot asphalt. The fire and life in her gray eyes dulled forever, and rage enveloped me.

  I didn’t hesitate.

  Summoning the Source, I shattered every rule of our kind in a nanosecond. For Kat.

  The burst of energy was so powerful and raw, it heated the air around us. Thunder cracked, reverberating through the valley. And the truck stopped. Everything about the vehicle and inside it simply stopped, suspended in time. The ground shivered under my feet and traveled outward.

  Strained, I held the vehicle back, calling on everything inside me. Tiny bursts of light sparked around the truck. The driver was frozen. Time was frozen except for me and Kat.

  My body began to tremble with the effort, and the world took on a whitish tint.

  Kat lowered her hands and slowly turned around. Her eyes were wide as she lifted her hand to her chest. She took a step back. “Oh my God…”

  I couldn’t continue holding the truck back while in my human form. I knew my eyes were glowing by then, iridescent. I had a choice. Any second now I was going to lose control and the truck would continue its original path and barrel into Kat. Or I could endanger Kat and Dee and my race even more by exposing us. But at least Kat would still be alive, for however long she survived the Arum. I didn’t hesitate in my choice.

  The shift happened almost immediately, starting with my veins first. Intense white light filled them and then washed over me, replacing my clothing and human skin. The tremble moved past my arms, over my chest, and down my body. Power rippled out, gliding over to her.

  And then I was completely in my true form, lighting up the whole damn road.

  Kat was seeing me for what I really was.

  Off in the distance, I heard Dee shouting, but I couldn’t afford to lose focus. Not until after I got Kat out of the path of certain death.

  Kat looked back at the truck. The vehicle was shaking, as was the driver. I wouldn’t be able to hold it back much longer or keep the driver suspended. He would be traced—hard-core traced. So would Kat. I couldn’t worry with the driver, though. His out-of-state tags meant once he was unfrozen, he’d be long gone.

  The engine in the truck screamed, trying to push through, and I reached out for even more of the source. As the energy coursed through my form, a ball of intense heat grew in my belly, threatening to burn through me. Our kind could channel energy in the form of light, but even we had limits.

  Just when I thought I was surely going to lose control, Kat came unstuck. She spun around and took off. I pulled the Source back and it slammed into me, knocking me back a step as the truck roared past and sapping the last of my energy. The street was empty.

  Shit.