Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance

by Rebekkah Ford

“What happened?” Nathan asked. When I didn’t respond, he gritted his teeth and growled. “Did he threaten you?”

  I slipped my hand in his. “No, he didn’t.”

  “Why do you have a horrified look?” He wanted answers, and I knew I wasn’t getting out of this one. I decided to stall.

  “Yay. The sun finally came out,” I said when we stepped into the sunshine. I tilted my chin up, closing my eyes, feeling the warmth on my face. The grass was wet, though, and squished beneath our feet, making the sides of my shoes damp, a subtle reminder of how fast the weather could change here. Reaching down, I wiped the grass and dirt off my sneakers.

  Nathan’s voice rose, his fingers twitching between mine. “Are you going to answer my question?”

  “I’m horrified because I was talking to a dark spirit, and it still scares me to know they can inhabit humans. But what’s weird is when I’m talking to it, I don’t think about it since it sounds like the human it’s occupying. Except for the guy you cast out. Now that totally freaked me out,” I rambled.

  When we reached his truck, Nathan stepped around me and leaned against the passenger door. He crossed his arms over his chest and squinted at me. “Why are you so nervous?”

  I made a quick decision to play dumb. “What makes you think I’m nervous?”

  “Because a minute ago you were speed talking and that’s not like you,” he said with a slight smile, busting me out. “What are you avoiding telling me?”

  I let out a surrendering sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell you on the way home.”

  He opened the passenger door. I hopped in trying to think of the best way to tell him and wondered what his reaction would be. When he started the pickup–without saying a word–and pulled out of the parking lot, I could sense his impatience growing with the long silence between us. I stared out the window, watching an orange VW bus drive by.

  “I told the ‘old one’ I know what he is and there’s no need to keep pretending like I don’t,” I blurted.

  He was gripping the steering wheel. “Were you alone with him?”

  “No, I wasn’t. We were in class when this happened.” Nathan instantly relaxed and let out a slow breath, as if he were holding it the whole time. “I promised you I would keep myself safe. I’m not going to break that promise.”

  “I just thought maybe he cornered you,” he muttered, looking straight ahead. “But why did you say that to him?”

  I smacked my thighs with my fists. “Because I’m tired of these games, Nathan.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He knows I’m marked for immortality, and I know what he is,” I said in a shrill voice. “So why keep pretending like we don’t know?”

  Nathan thought about it. “I guess I see your point.” He stopped at a red light and looked at me. “What did he say?”

  I lifted my shoulders and flipped my palms up. “He said he prefers it that way.”

  “I bet he does,” he grumbled distrustfully, white knuckling the steering wheel.

  “Why would you say that?” I thought it was a good thing.

  He stared at the car in front of us with a savage look on his face. “Because he wants to get inside your head, Paige, and I don’t like it.”

  “But that would have been silly if he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about when I told him I knew who he was,” I said.

  Nathan didn’t say anything the rest of the way home, and I stubbornly refused to speak after that. Instead, I stared out the side window and watched the white lines on the road flash by, thinking he had no reason to be upset. Yeah he had a lot of experience dealing with the dark spirits, but I’d know if the “old one” was trying to mess with my head, and I felt like Nathan wasn’t giving me enough credit. I wasn’t a stupid girl.

  “I’m sorry if I appear to be unreasonable,” Nathan said, turning the ignition off. He was looking at me, but I continued to stare out the window. He touched my arm. “Paige, please don’t give me the silent treatment.”

  “You hurt my feelings, you know. It’s like you don’t trust my judgment.” I watched a tan rabbit hop into the forest and had the sudden urge to follow it, thinking of Wonderland.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, and I do trust your judgment …” He trailed off, then continued. “But I think you don’t realize how deceitful they really are.”

  I turned to him. The expression on his face was urging me to try and understand where he was coming from, that he never meant to hurt me, which I knew he wouldn’t, but my feelings were still bruised.

  “I think I do know because of what he told me.” I stepped out of the pickup before he could reply. When I closed the door, he took my hand.

  “What did he say to you?”

  As we walked toward the house, I began to tell him. He quietly listened until I reached the part where the fight was started on purpose so Aosoth could talk to me.

  “Wait a minute.” He held his hand up. “He told you her name is Aosoth?”

  “Yeah, why? Do you know who she is?”

  He hung his head and peeked at me, nodding. “Remember when I told you sometimes dark spirits like to portray themselves as demons to frighten and toy with humans?”

  “Yeah, you said there’s no such thing as demons. It’s actually a dark spirit, but humans call them demons because of their religion.”

  “Right. Well, they also like to adopt names of demons to fit their identity and sometimes create them, to become historical.” He paused and ran a hand through his hair. “The name Aosoth represents passion and death.”

  I unlocked the door and went inside, my blood running cold. “What do you know about her?”

  “She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants and doesn’t think twice about killing someone if it’ll serve her purpose. She does have a flaw, though, which is her wicked narcissism. She becomes so self-involved she ends up making foolish mistakes.”

  “I don’t understand why she would think I won’t be immortal for six weeks,” I said.

  “Because she knows I won’t do it and is probably keeping Anwar occupied so he’ll stay away from you.” He sat on the edge of the couch, resting his elbows on his knees, hunching his shoulders. “What else did he say?” He sounded tired.

  I sat on the coffee table in front of him and told him the rest. But then right in the middle of him talking about the “old one’s” contempt for humanity, I remembered the last part.

  “Oh, and he tried to touch me, but I ducked his touch and glared at him.” I grinned, proud of myself for my quick reaction, until I noticed Nathan’s eyes turning hard. Uh-oh.

  “What do you mean?” His voice rumbled from deep within his chest.

  I hesitated, but when he raised his eyebrows, I knew I had to finish what I started.

  “He reached out like this”–I stuck my hand out toward his face, like I was going to touch it–“and when I pulled back, he admitted he misses my company.”

  A blaze of anger whipped across his eyes, and he wiped a hand over his face. “I don’t want you talking to him anymore.” A blurry streak went by me, and he paced the room. “I realize you have class together, but it’s obvious he’s fond of you, to what extent, I don’t know. So I’m asking you not to engage in further conversation with that monster.”

  I looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “Why? I’m perfectly capable of keeping my distance. Besides, I want to ask him who he is because maybe that will help us.” I couldn’t believe I didn’t ask him that and was kicking myself for it now.

  He stopped pacing and stared at me. His face was solid as stone, cast in frustration.

  “What?”

  “Please don’t.”

  “But he told me about Aosoth, and now we know who she is. Don’t you think that’s helpful to us?” I didn’t want to get into an argument, but I thought this was a chance I should take. I’m sure I could find out more information if I were to talk to him some more.

  “Listen to me.” He took a deep
breath to calm himself. “I admit what he said is beneficial to us, but why would he tell you that?”

  I shrugged.

  “Because he knows you’re going to tell me, and he has a reason behind it. You see, you have to start thinking”–he jabbed his finger on his temple–“like them instead of allowing your human to get in the way of your decision making.”

  “But I want to know his reasons, and if I play him at his own game I can find out.”

  He blew air out his nose, shook his head, and looked at me. “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course,” I said, as if that were a silly question for him to ask.

  “Then please let it go. Don’t talk to him anymore.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Fine.” I was done with this conversation, knowing it would only lead to a pissing match.

  He appeared in front of me, making my shoulders jump back. I could tell by the discontent on his face; he wasn’t satisfied with my answer.

  “I mean it, Paige. He has his own agenda behind all of this, and you need to stay clear of him.” He tried skirting around the fact he just slammed his foot down, but I could hear it in his tone, see it in his eyes. What he really meant to say was, “You will stay clear of him.”

  He stepped back when I abruptly stood up and followed me into the kitchen. I opened the cupboard and grabbed the coffee canister and filter.

  “I don’t mean to be overbearing,” he said above the sound of water pouring into the coffee pot. “But I need to know you will not talk to him.”

  I poured the water into the coffeemaker, then scooped grounds into the filter, biting my tongue, afraid if I opened my mouth, I might say something rude.

  “Paige.”

  I shoved the coffee pot under the filter holder. The bottom of it made a loud clunking noise against the burning plate. Clicking the button on, I faced him. He stood there with his legs spread apart, hands on his hips, waiting for my reply.

  “I told you I won’t talk to him. What else do you want me to say?”

  “Why are you mad?”

  “I’m not mad. I’m irritated because I disagree with you, but I will honor your request and not talk to him. Unless, Mr. Harrin makes us do a project together.”

  He took my hand, and drew me into an embrace. I melted against him and breathed him in, which instantly took away my irritability.

  “I want you to be safe,” he said.

  “I know, but let’s talk about something else, like what did you do today?”

  He pulled back, but kept his arms around me. “I do have some good news.”

  “You do?” I could feel the excitement and hope surfacing on my face.

  “I spoke to Anwar, and he promised he’ll be here within three weeks.”

  I leaned my head on his chest. “Thank God.”

  The aroma of fresh coffee filled the kitchen. I reluctantly tore myself away from him to get us some. We still had to search the attic, and I needed a jolt of caffeine before I could attempt a project like that.

  “Did you find anything out about the ring or my father?” I asked, pouring coffee into two mugs. I was starting to doubt my father had actually known where it was.

  Nathan made an appreciative sound when I handed him his coffee. “No, and personally I don’t think the ring exists because it’s been sought after for thousands of years, and no one has found it.”

  “Have you ever seen The Lord of The Rings?”

  He nodded while taking a sip of his coffee. “Yes, I know. This ring reminds you of that movie, but unfortunately this is real. Anybody can look up The Seal of Solomon on the internet and see for themselves the legend behind it. So it’s realistic to believe the possibility of its existence, where Tolkien’s story is pure fantasy, an excellent one, but not real.”

  “Well, even if the ring doesn’t exist, I think we should start looking in the attic to see if we can find anything,” I said, setting my mug on the counter.

  “I agree.” He took one last swig of coffee and followed me up to the attic.