The Watchers (Book 1: The Watchers Series)

by Lynnie Purcell

“Do not shoot each other with the arrows. Do not point the arrows at each other, even to play around. If you do shoot someone, you’ll be suspended…” Coach kept listing rules, but I blocked him out. His disinterested voice made it easy.

  We were in the gym suffering through a, “don’t-kill-your-classmates,” pre-archery speech. Apparently, there had been incidents in the past. I looked down the bleachers we were crowded on and saw Mark arm wrestling another football player. I rolled my eyes. I could see where any incidents, if they did happen, were likely to come from. Mark really should be listening.

  “Does it say, ‘bad to the bone’?” Daniel whispered from next to me.

  His breath tickled my neck with his closeness. I shook my head slightly and smiled softly. For the past three weeks, he had been trying to figure out what kind of tattoos I had, or if I really had any at all. I wasn’t about to tell him. It was too much fun making him guess.

  “Is it a fairy?” he guessed again, also ignoring Coach.

  “Is what a fairy?” Jennifer asked as she leaned conspicuously close to Daniel on his other side.

  Mark had turned into something of a puppy dog, following me around whenever he could – when Daniel wasn’t around. Jennifer, not happy with Mark’s crush, was trying to get back at me by hitting on Daniel every chance she got. I wanted to explain that we were just friends, so she would stop but didn’t see what good that would do. Besides, there was the fact that every time she flirted with Daniel I wanted to punch something. Like her face.

  Daniel smiled his annoyingly fake dazzle smile and said, “We’re playing twenty questions. You know…guess what object or thing the other person is thinking about?”

  “Oh, I love that game!” she gushed with false excitement. “What have you guessed so far?”

  “I’ve figured out that it is a mythical creature, which has figured prominently in several stories.”

  My eyes widened at the lie. For multiple reasons. His lie was so natural and real-sounding that I had to wonder at his skill. Had he lied to me like that? His lie was also very close to the truth. He gave me a warning look, to keep me from saying anything that would give away the lie. He wanted to keep the tattoo thing between us, an inside thing.

  “Did you ask if it had wings?” she whispered over the teacher’s droning monologue.

  “No, but that is a very good question. Clare, does it have wings?” His eyes danced playfully with mine.

  “Yes.” I replied pressing my lips together to keep from laughing.

  “Does it blend in with people?” Jennifer asked intensely. She was starting to get into this, forgetting about being malicious in lieu of the search.

  “Yes.”

  “Are they good or bad?”

  “They can be either or neither,” I said, shifting uneasily.

  Jennifer was silent for a while as she thought about my answer. Daniel was looking at me funny. Knowing if I said it aloud Jennifer would comment, I asked him with my eyes what his deal was. He shrugged and looked down the bleachers. I eyed him carefully, but with his eyes on the bleachers, I couldn’t get a fix on his emotions.

  Coach finally stopped talking, and directed us to go outside, where the archery targets were set up. We followed the others through the double doors and walked a sharp hill to the practice football field. The morning dew on the grass collected on our shoes as we walked.

  “I don’t know what it is,” Jennifer finally said, admitting defeat.

  “An angel,” a voice floated out of the crowd behind us. I turned and saw Amanda looking at me.

  “That’s right,” I said cautiously.

  She hadn’t responded to my attempts at conversation over my weeks of trying. She had moved away as soon as possible when I had tried to talk to her, her thoughts angry and annoyed at my attempts. Her mental insults about my depravity didn’t hurt as much as her thoughts that I was trying to be nice so that I could be mean later. I hadn’t gotten four words from her. Admittedly, I had stopped trying. If she wanted to hate me, I would let her. That was her choice.

  “In the Bible, angels don’t really have wings. Cherubs do,” she said quietly.

  “I didn’t know that,” I said.

  Flicking her hair in agitation, Jennifer hooked her arm through mine. She pulled me in close, a confidant to her opinion. “Don’t mind her and her crazy opinions. Her dad spends all his time preaching crazy stuff to anyone who’ll listen, but I’m afraid the only person who cares is little Amanda.”

  Jennifer’s face had turned ugly. I unhooked my arm from hers, so she couldn’t control where I was walking. Alex was the only one allowed to do that, and she knew when it was okay.

  “But I do mind her,” I said through clenched teeth. “She’s a person.”

  I didn’t like people telling me what to think. It was bad enough I had to hear their thoughts, but wanting me to join in on them? Thanks, but no thanks.

  Michelle and Jennifer exchanged a look. I knew, despite not hearing their thoughts, they were thinking the same thing: regret for making me cool and letting me hang out with them.

  Daniel gave me a warning look and casually threw his arms over both girls’ shoulders drawing them close. “My money says Mark shoots himself with an arrow. Who wants to take that bet?”

  Both girls giggled and let him steer them to where Mark was already waiting at the targets, bow in hand. His excited face was comical against Daniel’s comment. Still seething from her awfulness, I watched them walk away. It was all I could do not to follow them and hit Jennifer right between her snobby eyes.

  Watching Daniel steer them to the targets bothered me in another way. I was jealous he hadn’t touched me like that, that he hadn’t touched me at all, even though we’d spent a good portion of our time outside of school hanging out, including the past weekend – when Ellen had left to visit an old friend in Greenville. I was also grateful. Somewhere along the line, Daniel had picked up people skills that I lacked. Or rather, he had picked up the ability to please people, but not let them have power over him. It was another skill he possessed that I didn’t. I was more all or nothing.

  Amanda walked next to me in awkward silence and, as Daniel walked ahead with the others, I was gradually able to hear her thoughts. This doesn’t mean she’s any different. She’s probably just luring me into something. I know how they can be. I used to be like that. I heard a mental sigh. Children always pay for the sin of the parent.

  “I like your necklace,” I said, searching for something to say, wanting to take advantage of the fact she was speaking to me.

  She looked down at her cross necklace she had unconsciously been playing with. “Thanks. My grandma gave it to me.”

  How dare she talk to her! She’ll pay for that!

  I stopped walking, shocked to hear that voice again after a month of silence. I looked around the field carefully, but couldn’t see anything that looked out of place. My heart raced as adrenaline surged through me. I had forgotten about the voice during my weeks here. I wondered if I had missed hearing it because Daniel was around so much, blocking out the others in that strange way of his, or if it just hadn’t been around. A revelation came to me. Could that evil voice have anything to do with the attacks, which were still happening, including a farmer’s entire herd of cows this past week? The voice was evil enough and certainly had murder on the brain.

  Amanda stopped walking, concern coloring her face. What’s she doing? Did I do something wrong?

  For the first time, I realized the mystery voice I had been hearing was male. Not only was it male, but something about the tonal quality was similar to Amanda’s voice. It was as if they had learned to speak in the same place.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, fearing I would lash out at her.

  I bent down and started untying my shoelaces. “Yeah. I think I have a rock in my shoe. You go ahead.”

  She walked off and joined the rest of the class. I peeked behind me, feeling like the woods, which were utterly everywhere in this sma
ll town, were closing in. The vision of the animal I had seen running behind my house became superimposed over the woods I was looking at. Could that explain the thoughts? Was that what I was hearing? Could bears think human thoughts?

  I could kill her now. I could kill her, and Marcus would never know it was me. He said to watch, to figure her out, but I’m done watching. There’s nothing to learn. I could make it look like an accident. He went through different ways of killing me. The thoughts trailed away, but before they did, I heard: Her very presence is an affront to God! She will pay for her sin!

  I felt my stomach drop. Those thoughts meant me. They were just too close to the mark for them to mean anyone else. I looked around – wanting a reprieve from the hatred the voice was funneling my way – and saw Daniel looking at the woods as well. His expression was distant, and his eyes were narrowed. Did that look mean what I thought it meant?

  When he felt my eyes on his face, Daniel’s eyes dropped back down to earth. He smiled and gestured for me to take the spot next to him. Running to his side, I took the bow he was offering and pulled the silence and calm his presence brought around my brain. I wrapped it around me as added insulation against what I had just heard. Was it even possible for normal people to have thoughts that horrible? I took a deep breath to steady my trembling.

  He leaned in close and whispered, “An angel? Where?”

  I couldn’t help but smile, despite my fear. What would he say if I told him he was looking at one? Well, half of one.

  “You’ll only find out by accident,” I replied.

  “I could get the whole class involved in another round of the guessing game…”

  I stuck my tongue out at him and knocked an arrow. Concentrating, I released it with a sharp “twang!” It hit the bull’s-eye.

  “Nice shot,” he said. His face filled with macho superiority. “But this is how the pros do it.”

  He raised the bow, took aim, and released, all in one fluid movement. The arrow hit dead center.

  “Are you on magic pills that make you good at everything you do?” I asked grumpily.

  I’d learned a lot over the course of our weeks together, including the fact that Daniel was practically perfect at anything he tried. There wasn’t a sport he didn’t play and a skill he hadn’t mastered. And – because I didn’t feel inadequate enough – if his parents weren’t so serious about him having the high school experience, he could be at Harvard by now.

  His voice had laughter in it. “No. If I had magic pills, they’d do more than just make me good at sports.”

  “What would they do?” I asked.

  I released another arrow, trying for center and missing. Daniel shrugged and released his arrow. He didn’t even look at the target, but it hit dead center, almost in the same spot as the first one.

  “They’d let me hear what people were thinking, they’d give me the ability to see the future, and they’d give me super hearing and super strength. They might even give me the ability to heal myself and breathe a long time underwater, if I was lucky.”

  I turned to him, an eyebrow raised. “Is that all?”

  “No, there’s more.”

  “So, even though you’re super athletic and super smart, you’d still like to borrow some of Superman’s abilities?” I said, grinning.

  “Of course, I would. Every guy wants to be Superman.”

  “I second that!” Mark said. He leaned around Daniel to steal an arrow, not wanting to walk the distance to get his, and winked at me. “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s Mark!”

  Daniel laughed that strange laugh, which never quite seemed to reach his eyes. “It’s a mutant! It’s an alien! No! It’s Mark!”

  The girls beyond Mark laughed. Winking at me again, Mark turned back to his target. In an attempt at reclaiming his dignity, he started showing off for the girls. He flexed his muscles as he warmed up for his next shot. I rolled my eyes.

  “I think you should be careful what you ask for,” I whispered to Daniel, so the others wouldn’t hear. “Being able to see the future would be awesome, but I think some of the other things could be very bad.”

  “Like what?” he asked, not even bothering with the targets anymore. Coach was talking to a boy about the basketball lineup and ignoring the class entirely. The only way he would notice we weren’t participating was if a building blew up; if even that would get his attention.

  “Like hearing what people think,” I said cautiously. “I think that would be quite a burden to have to bear. Imagine the silly and spiteful things people would think.” My eyes moved to Jennifer, Mark and Michelle.

  “But I’d be able to control my abilities, so it would be okay.”

  “Oh, I see.” I knocked another arrow to avoid looking at him. “Let me know how that works out for you.” I released the arrow with a spiteful snap.

  “Do you think things like that are possible?”

  I turned to face him. His face was thoughtful and serious. “Anything is possible, I guess,” I said, uncomfortably aware he was looking to start a conversation on the subject.

  He was always looking for conversations like that, testing my ideas and perceptions every chance he got. I had come to expect as much from him, but I didn’t really want to talk about this. Not when it was so close to the truth. I didn’t want to lie. Especially since I knew he would see through whatever story I came up with.

  Daniel took a step closer, bringing his magnetic field with him. “There’s a theory out there that people only use about ten percent of their brains,” he began.

  “I know I do.”

  He smirked then continued very seriously, “Imagine if they used even five percent more…What could they accomplish at twenty percent or thirty percent more? Could things like telling the future, or going back in time, or whatever, be possible if people simply used more of their brains?”

  “I haven’t thought about it,” I said, despite being uncomfortable with the topic we were on. “But I think it’s an interesting idea. I think people spend a lot of their time not tapping into their true potential.”

  “How do you think we could unlock that potential?”

  “I don’t know, maybe by altering people’s genes? We know mutations occur; evolution is proof of that. If we could somehow tap into the genome and alter a person’s basic DNA structure maybe that would allow them to use more of their brain. Force a mutation, you know? If we alter it in the proper way, evolution would take over and people would start being born stronger, using more of their brains. We would have to be careful to trigger the right things, though, or else we could make monsters, or horrible diseases, or something else bad.”

  “You have thought about it!” His eyes were very bright.

  “Not really.” And I hadn’t. I had just spouted off my first thought without pausing to consider it. That happened a lot around him.

  Daniel stepped even closer. I had to lean back to be able to breathe normally. “What if, instead of altering the genes through experiments, we altered the genes through basic inheritance?”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Someone who uses more of their brain mates and has kids. Their kids, because of simple genetics, would be born with enhanced abilities and strengths. And if those kids mated with other kids that used more of their brain…you get the picture?”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Finding a person or people with those abilities in the first place would be the trick I think.”

  “Sort of like the chicken and the egg dilemma?”

  “Yeah. Which came first, the super human, or the super human powers?” I chuckled darkly.

  Daniel didn’t join in with my laughter. His eyes were still sparkling with curiosity and interest. Then, he noticed Mark and Jennifer eyeing us curiously and moved away. We were silent for a while, shooting at the targets and listening to the people near us horsing off. I was frantically trying to figure out if Daniel somehow knew about me, if he had noticed me responding to someone’s thoughts
. No, that wasn’t possible. I couldn’t hear people when he was around. I wasn’t comfortable with his talk about inheriting genes from super humans, though. It was too close to the truth.

  My muscles tensed with a familiar fight or flight response. When people got too close to the truth, we ran. It was instinct now. It was what Ellen and I had spent over a decade perfecting. My stomach sank as I thought of Ellen. She was fitting in so beautifully here. She had friends, and Sam had been over twice more for dinner without me having to play Cupid. She had laughed more with him than I had seen her laugh in years. She was settled, finally able to relax after a life spent in one big move. She thought, hoped, our running was through. This place had turned into a refuge; had turned into a home. Could I take that away from her? Was it right for me to overreact to every innocent conversation? I didn’t want to be found by the others, but I didn’t like Ellen having to give up so much for my sake. It wasn’t fair to her.

  Admittedly, I had more selfish reasons for not wanting to run. I found myself liking King’s Cross. It was quiet and unabashedly remote, but there was a certain peace I needed. There was calm I had never experienced in the city.

  I thought about Daniel’s parents and relaxed, my muscles unknotting. They were a plausible reason for his interest. They were scientists, so they probably talked to him about such things. From his vague descriptions, I gathered that they were constantly interested in the ‘why,’ always taking things apart to understand them. Maybe, they longed to take humans apart, to see how their brains worked.

  “What’s your parents’ field of study?” I asked over the tension that had sprung up between us. I’d not asked him that yet.

  He hesitated before releasing his arrow. “Genetics is their main focus, but they play around with all the fields. They love to invent things.”

  “Ah.”

  “Why?”

  His face was twisted into a question, but his eyes were on the woods again. I wanted to ask him if he saw anything there. The evil thoughts I’d heard had come from near where he was looking.

  Instead, I said, “I was just wondering why you would have such weird thoughts about superpowers and the like.”

  “You think it’s odd?”

  “Wanting to be more than we are is human nature, but dwelling on it doesn’t seem healthy,” I said seriously. “Especially when those things, as far as you’re concerned, aren’t possible.”

  “Hm. Good thing I don’t dwell on it.”

  “Back to the lockers! Leave the bows and arrows where you found them!” Coach called over the talking students, a look of disinterest in his bloodshot eyes.

  I walked with Daniel towards the gym in mutually thoughtful silence. I sensed he didn’t feel like talking, but I didn’t take offense. Over our weeks together, we had developed a respect for each other’s silent moments.

  Though we were silent, my mind was far from peaceful. I glanced back to search the woods for some sign of the evil thoughts and noticed Amanda, her shoulders hunched, at the back of the crowd. She was looking down, but something in the crease of her forehead worried me. It went way beyond thoughtful silence.

  “Daniel?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do me a favor?”

  “Yes.”

  “Walk away.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Just go walk up with the others about 100 feet away from me,” I said. “Please.”

  I sounded strange, but I didn’t care. I needed to be able to hear. My gut was telling me it was important. He walked off without a word, though his odd expression spoke volumes. The voices started swirling again, starting out muffled, but gradually increasing in volume until they were at normal level. I sorted through the visions and chatter until I found Amanda’s voice.

  I’m just sick of all this. Why can’t I just have one thing that works out? She had broken her bow accidently and had spent the whole class unable to join the fun. Does God hate me? God hates me. He knows about my mother. He knows about my father. I’m being punished. Oh, what’s the point?

  An image of a beautifully sheltered spot next to a large river floated through my head. I didn’t recognize it, but it made me feel uneasy, as if I had witnessed something horrible there. Before her vision changed back to thoughts of her next class, I noticed a small bridge with graffiti on it and a road made of dirt and gravel trailing along the edge of the water.

  The poor kid really was depressed. Even though Amanda wouldn’t talk to me, and hated me for my ‘popularity,’ I wanted to help her. With Alex and Daniel as backup, I could probably get Jennifer to leave her alone and give her some peace from the teasing. Despite Jennifer looking and acting the part of the queen bee of the high school, Alex and Daniel were really the ones in control. Alex’s power resided in the respect everyone had for her, and her ability to keep secrets. Daniel’s power was because he was beautiful, charming, and quite possibly the most brilliant person to walk the school halls. Not that I was biased in any way.

  I caught up with Daniel again as we were passing the large structure that housed the pool, my curiosity sated. I would find a way to help Amanda, even if she didn’t know I had a hand in it. It gave me purpose. The pool bordered the back of the school, flush with the woods and looked odd against the brick of the main buildings. It was a donation from Daniel’s parents, so he could form a swim team. I had heard he had led them to State. Go team.

  “The Shadow was way cooler than Superman,” I said as if I hadn’t just forced him to walk away from me without an explanation.

  He stopped abruptly and ran a hand through his hair. His face said I’d caught him thinking about something especially serious. He hid his gravity with a mocking smile. “Where on earth did you get that reference from?”

  “Oh, come on! You don’t know who the Shadow is?!”

  “The superhero off 1930’s radio. His superpower was hypnosis. He could make people not see him, in effect turning invisible,” he answered promptly.

  “What evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows!” I said in a deeply dramatic voice. “You do know him, then?”

  “Of course, I do, but how do you know about him?

  “Why can you know about him, but I can’t?” I asked.

  “Because I’m into that type of thing, and you’re not,” he said calmly.

  “You’re into science fiction! Ha! I wouldn’t have figured you for it!” He didn’t rise to my teasing, just waited patiently. I hated that tactic. Mostly because it worked so well. “I went through a phase where I listened to nothing but old radio broadcasts. The Shadow was one of many programs I liked. That was also when I fell in love with Jazz and Orson Welles.”

  I waited for him to make some kind of teasing comment, to continue our banter, but he didn’t. His eyes had gone distant and strange, our conversation obviously not his top priority. The others had pulled ahead of us, leaving us to the solitary company of the pool. I knew we were going to be late to our next class, but I wasn’t worried. Being late to class wasn’t exactly new to me, and Daniel’s expression – a far-away stare – was something I’d seen him doing a lot. It made me curious. I had shut off a lot of the questions I had about in him in lieu of being his friend, but I couldn’t shut them all down. He was still a curiosity to me.

  I stepped closer, totally engrossed in the play of emotion in his eyes. I hadn’t registered until now how strange – otherworldly – it made him look. A familiar swirl of inky black swelled up and covered his green irises for a long moment. A vein throbbed in his temple at whatever he was thinking about. His eyes cleared, and he turned abruptly. He opened the pool house door with a jerk, the metal groaning in protest at his touch.

  “Get in!” he demanded, his free hand clenching into a ball.

  “What?” I balked at the door, not understanding. I’d never seen his face so intense…so terrified.

  “For once, don’t argue with me!” he said fiercely.

  Angry at his tone, but aware of his fear, I walked t
hrough the door. “What’s your problem?”

  The words were barely out of my mouth when everything went from mildly strange to incredibly deadly. Without warning, a ball of fire surged towards us from directly outside the door we had just entered. It was coming out of nowhere and fast. I gasped in astonishment. My brain stopped working. I knew I should move or try to duck, but the shock had me frozen in place. How did fire come out of nowhere?

  Before I could react, Daniel reached forward and wrapped one arm around my waist. My hands slid around his waist in reflex, my heart pounding harder at his touch. The fire roared at us, shattering the glass. Running out of space, Daniel threw us backwards into the pool. We hit with a loud splash and all the air surged out of my lungs. With Daniel’s added weight, I sank to the bottom very quickly. His hand under my head was the only thing that kept me from hitting my skull on the hard concrete.

  I didn’t move for a second, dazed, my mind trying to catch up to the situation. Awareness came with a flood of panic. I struggled against the weight and the panic. Water rushed into my mouth at my frightened scream. I tried to kick back to the surface, back to air. Daniel held me down, though, not allowing me to kick off. More air bubbles escaped with my curse. Was he trying to drown me? Even as I struggled, I knew I couldn’t fight against him. He was too strong. I felt his strength as he held my arms. His eyes met mine, and he pointed up for an explanation. The top of the pool was completely on fire. We had no other options.

  I looked at him, pleading with my eyes for him to help me, instinctively knowing he could. Even though the pool was chaos and the chlorine made everything fuzzy and distorted, I could see his eyes clearly. They stood out like a beacon of light. As my plea reached him, they softened.

  He moved closer, pressing his body into mine. He leaned even closer and gently pressed his lips against mine. Air surged into my mouth as our lips met. I gasped, not because he was acting like a human air tank and I could suddenly breathe, but because of the visions swirling around my head. I closed my eyes and let him give me oxygen, the visions demanding that I watch.

  I saw a small boy wandering the streets of New York, but it was a different New York than the one I knew. It was dirty and dank, the glass buildings and outrageous high-rises nowhere to be seen. The tiny boy begged and stole in order to survive. He was very good at surviving; he was a master of thieving and telling lies. He was a creature of the streets, a product of abandonment and abuse. My heart clenched at the idea of so young a person facing the harsh violence of streets so indifferent and cruel.

  I saw the same boy, a little older, fighting to protect his friends who were getting beaten up for their food. But he was unable to save them – he was too small, too weak. I saw him become bloodied and bruised as he was beaten almost to unconsciousness. A tall woman with auburn hair that framed her round face perfectly appeared on the dirt street like a shimmering mirage of hope. The boy stared at her even as the other boys kicked him brutally. His eyes begged her to help him. She came closer, her appearance scaring the older boys off. The boy noticed her eyes darken at the sight him lying there, but the darkness cleared as she caught eyes with him again. The woman smiled at the battered boy and whispered reassuring words as she picked him up from the ground. She didn’t see his friends hiding in fear around the corner as she walked off with him cradled to her chest.

  Her words promised the boy a new life. She kept her promise. The boy flourished under the woman’s loving attentions, his days on the streets ending as suddenly as daylight in a cave. It was a time of peace, the sort of peace he had never found on the streets.

  I felt his heartbreak when he got word that a boy he knew on the streets, a boy he had thought of as a brother, had been murdered. The boy had grown, but he was still young, still close to his life on the streets. The darkness threatened to engulf him. He wanted retribution. He wanted blood.

  Was life only pain?

  The vision disappeared. I opened my eyes blearily, trying to focus on my location. Was I in the past or the present? Daniel’s face blurred in and out of my vision. His eyes were the same eyes of the boy I had seen. The faces merged in my brain. I blinked again and cleared away the confusion.

  The pool was in ruins. The door and its connecting wall had fallen from the blast. Rubble lay everywhere. Daniel and I were on the face of the pool, our bodies bobbing in time to the water. He was no longer breathing for me, but I felt tied to the rhythm of his breathing as if he still was. He was gasping heavily, harder than I was. Patches of the water still danced with fire, but he had brought us up in a clear spot next to the edge. He forced me to take hold of the edge, which I did out of instinct.

  How long had we been down there? Seconds? Days? Years? The visions swirled around my brain. I felt again and again the pain and the fear, the longing and the regret. It was like a knife cutting into my heart. Not able to help it, I started crying. I’d never been one to cry. Being serious and dependable meant not crying or acting like a baby when things went wrong. I’d learned to fix problems rather than worry about them. It had toughened me. But now, I let the tears come, feeling a sense of release around the pain in my chest. It almost felt good, as if being out of control wasn’t as unbearable as I thought it would be.

  Daniel wrapped one arm around me and pulled our bodies together. I resisted at first, not wanting to see those visions again, but he carefully kept a layer of fabric between us.

  “I’m sorry. It was the only way…It was the only way.” he whispered into my ear over and over again.

  I couldn’t answer. I was too busy crying. He rested his chin on my shoulder and let me cry.

  I sniffed into his wet shirt and asked, “Was that you?”

  He pulled away slightly, so he could look into my eyes and gauge my reaction. “Yes.”

  What did I say to that?

  I heard the sound of screaming, and pulled away from him to find the source of the noise. Through the destroyed wall, I saw kids from our gym class, as well as various teachers, running across the grassy slope towards us. I pulled away for another reason. I wanted Daniel to kiss me again, and I didn’t like feeling that way. Not when he’d just thrown a whole pile of weirdness at me. He released me reluctantly.

  Sighing, he pushed against the edge of the pool and lifted his body out of the water. Water dripped off his clothes and hair onto the cement ground, the sound incredibly loud to my alert ears. His eyes moved to the woods surrounding us, and his face contorted with anger. I was too tired to focus on his anger. I would think about it later. I would think about everything later. Wanting to get out of the cold water, I tried to climb out, but discovered my arms had turned to jelly.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, refocusing on me as I pulled my exhausted body towards the small rung of stairs at the other side of the pool.

  “I can’t pull myself out,” I said irritably.

  The feelings that had been forced on me were starting to fade. Worry and my own fear crawled up in my chest, making it feel tight and hard to breathe. That feeling made me irritable.

  “That happens too.” He offered me his hand to take. I looked at it, not trusting what our touch could do. “It won’t happen this time. I’ve got it under control.” I still didn’t take his hand. “Trust me?”

  His emerald eyes were impossibly vulnerable. In those eyes, I saw the boy I had befriended rather than the mystery of what had just happened. I reached out and took his proffered hand, hoping my instinct was right. He pulled me out, his arms barely contracting with the effort. There were no visions this time, but our touch created a spark of electrical feeling between us. I dropped his hand as people started to swarm through the broken wall, shouting questions and contradicting orders.

  “Clare, do you like me?” Daniel whispered.

  “Is this really the time for that discussion?”

  His face was serious, but I could see a hint of his boyish smile. “It’s important.”

  “Do you like me?” I countered, not wanting
to answer.

  “I asked first,” he said.

  “Why are you asking at all?”

  He leaned towards me, talking very quickly. “Because I’m going to lie my ass off, and I need to know that you like me well enough to lie with me, or at least keep your mouth shut.”

  “I have questions,” I warned.

  “So do I,” he retorted, mocking my tone.

  I made a motion like I was zipping my mouth shut and locking it. Then I handed him the pretend key. He pocketed it.

  The others had finally reached us. Their questions were immediate.

  “What happened here?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Did a bomb go off?”

  Daniel had his best charm smile on. He looked up through his long lashes – a look he knew was attractive – and the people surrounding us stopped talking to listen. With his voice full of just the right amount of fear and excitement, he started to explain. “We didn’t see what happened. We just heard this noise, and the next thing we knew we were in the pool.” He gestured down at his wet clothes. “I think the blast knocked us back. It probably saved our lives.”

  Jennifer forced her way to the front of the crowd. “But what blew up?”

  Daniel shrugged. “We just felt the blast. We didn’t see what did it.”

  I nodded. I didn’t have to lie to agree with him on that. Whatever had caused the fire had come out of nowhere.

  “Come on, let’s get you guys out of here,” Coach said, his tired voice not even excited.

  “An ambulance is on its way, Coach!” Mark yelled as he ran up. He held a cell phone in his hand. He was enjoying the drama – almost as much as Jennifer was.

  “We don’t need an ambulance!” I protested. “We’re not hurt.”

  “You just got blown up!” Jennifer argued. “You need to be checked out!”

  “We weren’t even touched!”

  “Don’t argue,” Daniel whispered into my ear.

  “But…”

  “Don’t. Argue,” he said spacing his words so they became a command.

  I clamped my teeth together and glared at him. I would make him pay for taking that tone with me. But would I? Would I continue our friendship? I wasn’t ignorant to the many things in this world that were strange and peculiar, but I had never heard, nor seen, anything like what had just happened. Fire coming out of thin air, Daniel breathing for me, those visions, the way his skin had felt; they all added up to something other. And in my world, ‘other,’ meant danger. He was dangerous.

  I was overwhelmingly thankful he had saved my life; that he had risked his own life to save mine, but at what cost? Would there be consequences? Was he like me? If he wasn’t, what was he? If he was like me, did I have to start running again? Was anywhere safe?

  Chapter 8