“Blue?”
“Nope.” I smirked over my bow and arrow. We were in gym again. We were supposed to be shooting arrows at innocent targets. Not much of that was happening.
“Yellow?”
“Double nope.”
“Come on! Tell me.” Daniel demanded, trying out his charm smile.
“I’m looking for a word and that word is….nope.”
He looked down the line of students, his eyebrows creased. “You’re not going to make this easy at all?”
“If I made it easy, you wouldn’t enjoy the answer half as much.”
“What if I didn’t tell you my favorite color?”
I shrugged. “I’m more interested in your favorite book.”
“That’s not fair,” he said, irritated.
He shot an arrow with more force than necessary. It dug into the target deeper than it should have, but I was the only one who noticed.
“That’s my line,” I said knocking another arrow and releasing it.
“Truce?” he asked, ignoring his bow and arrow all together as he turned to me.
“Define truce.”
“If I tell you my favorite book, I get to give you a kiss in front of everyone, and you have to tell me your favorite color.” His eyes were playful.
“That proposition seems weighted heavily in your favor; therefore, I must decline,” I replied.
He had been itching to kiss me in front of everyone since I’d arrived this morning, which I couldn’t understand. I’d never had a guy this serious about showing the world we were together.
“You mean me kissing you in front of everyone would be something only I would enjoy?” he asked, still playful.
I hesitated. “I wouldn’t mind the kissing part…”
“But you don’t want everyone to see.” He seemed hurt by the thought.
“Loner, Punk chick, who loves not to be the center of attention…does that sound like someone who would enjoy having people stare at me while I kiss the most gorgeous guy in school?”
“No. But I can see,” he tapped his temple with one long finger, “that if I kiss you in front of all these good people, not only will we be whistled at, and I will personally enjoy it, but Mark, who is, as we speak, plotting ways of getting you away from me so that he can ask you out, will in turn ask Jennifer, because he thinks it will make you jealous.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this whole kissing in front of people thing and I’ve decided it’s not such a bad idea.” I threw my bow to the ground.
He stepped closer to me, peeking through his lashes in that way he knew was seductively beautiful. “Oh yeah?”
“And not just because it will get Mark away from me,” I said, mimicking his expression. “I think I’d like to let all these girls know that you are officially off the market.” It came out fiercer than I’d intended.
He stepped even closer and wrapped his hands around my hips drawing me to him. “We’re going to get detention for this,” he warned.
“Life’s tough.”
He pressed his body into mine forcefully and kissed me in a way that, if I hadn’t known we were surrounded by people, would have made me think we were alone, in a dimly lit place. I caved in to the kiss, not caring about people seeing, more concerned with the way he felt. A chorus of whistles rang out from Daniel’s friends. The girls cried out in disappointed shock. He released me slowly.
“Green. That’s my favorite color,” I said.
“East of Eden. That’s my favorite book.”
Coach blew his ridiculous orange whistle. “Detention! Adams, you know we don’t allow kissing at school!”
“Sorry, Coach. I, um, forgot.”
I heard giggles and more whistles. Looking down the line, I saw that every single person was staring at us with their mouths hanging open. I heard their thoughts – Daniel wasn’t putting up the shield as requested. Most of them weren’t flattering. But, at least they weren’t about the pool incident.
How did she get him!?
There is no freaking way!
I knew she was freaky.
Slut.
I can’t wait to tell everyone about this!
Figures!
How did she get the hottest guy in school?!
I thought he didn’t date!?
Damn him! And I was going to ask her out today. I didn’t think he was the type to go for a girl just because she’s loose, but I guess we all fall prey to it. I don’t know whether to congratulate him or hate him. I guess I can’t hate him. We had the same idea. At least, I know he’ll get some.
I placed my hand on Daniel’s arm, noticing his face. Impressions of what he wanted to do to Mark floated through my head at the touch, and for a moment, I felt overwhelmed by his anger. His fists clenched eagerly as an image of Mark lying dead on the field floated up. His eyes flashed black and I heard the bow he had picked back up start to crunch.
Daniel! I yelled in his mind, frightened of how close he was to the edge. I don’t care what he thinks about you or me. What matters is that we know the truth!
He struggled for a moment more, then he nodded. The darkness and the scenes of death disappeared. I released his arm. He took another deep breath and uncoiled his hand.
“You look much better when you don’t have murder on the brain,” I said, trying to hide my fear at seeing him that close to losing it.
His grin was tainted by guilt as he went back to shooting arrows. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed our strange exchange. People had started up their own conversations and were ignoring us.
“Hey, I wanted to ask you about…you know…what happened yesterday. About Susan.”
“Nobody came around. I guess they knew I was there. I got to…talk to Susan some. I’ll tell you everything I found out at lunch.”
“You mean I get to see where you magically go every day?” I asked with false excitement.
“Yeah. But you’ll have to ride on a rainbow and put up with some really angry leprechauns to get there.”
“Sounds fun.”
“All right! Everyone back to the lockers! Leave your bows and arrows where you found them. Adams! Michaels! Get over here.”
We turned and walked shoulder to shoulder to get our penance for finally getting Mark to leave me alone.
Time has a funny way of messing with your head. When you are most eager for it to fly by, you notice it the most, and that’s when it slows down to the point where it feels as if it’s not moving at all. It definitely wasn’t moving now. I tapped my pen on the desk in front of me in agitation, knowing where Daniel had picked up the habit. He was always waiting for time to catch up with him. I could hear each tick of the clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. It was driving me insane.
“Clare? Do you know the answer?”
I looked up at the Spanish teacher, hearing the proper answer in her thoughts. “Vivo, Vives, Vive, Vivimos, and Viven.”
Huh. I could have sworn she wasn’t paying attention. Maybe, next time… “That’s right, Ms. Michaels.”
Her lips clenched over her large front teeth. She kept trying to trip me up, not impressed that I always had the answers. It was annoying. I went back to staring at the clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
I wonder if she really kissed Daniel this morning. Jennifer said she just attacked him. That doesn’t really seem like her. I may not talk like the others do to her, but I wouldn’t think she would just attack someone. Sounds to me like Jennifer was just jealous. Davis was walking with me to lunch. We always walked together from Spanish to lunch, though he rarely spoke.
I chuckled at his thoughts and shouldered my bag to hide the sound. “Did you see that movie I was telling you about?” I asked him.
We maneuvered our way through the swarming people, breaking apart and coming back together again.
“No. I was sort of…” he paused shyly. Wanting to ask Alex to it.
An idea formed. An idea that was as beautiful as it was simple.
“I was thinking
about taking a bunch of people to go see it this Friday. Would you want to come?”
“Who were you thinking of inviting?”
“Daniel, Alex, other people. What do you say?”
His eyes lit up. “That would be cool.”
We walked into the cafeteria and our conversation cut off as the swarm of thoughts battered at me. I felt an instant migraine threatening. I had been so intent on playing cupid that I had forgotten to prepare myself. Not that my preparation ever did a lot of good. I resisted the urge to put my hands over my ears, but only just. Davis gave me a funny look, wondering why I suddenly looked hurt.
Before I could form an excuse, the sound cut off. An arm was thrown over my shoulder by way of explanation.
“Hi,” Daniel whispered in my ear. “Penny for your thoughts?”
I laughed and looked over at him. “My thoughts are worth a quarter, minimum.” He laughed as I added, “Did you know that you whisper in my ear a lot?”
“Yes,” he whispered again, tickling my neck.
“I’m going to go and…” Davis gestured vaguely toward the lunch line. He walked into the milling crowd that was standing around waiting to be fed and watered.
“You’re for sure coming Friday, right?” I called after him.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
Davis ducked behind a line of seniors, disappearing from view. I wondered if he was embarrassed because he had seen through my scheme to get him on a date with Alex, or if we were being too affectionate for his tastes. I knew he harbored a minor sort of crush on me, nothing compared to his Alex crush, but the feelings of jealousy lingered.
“Are you feeling Puckish?” Daniel asked, steering me toward the line.
“How do you mean?” I asked innocently as I played with the hand draped over my arm.
“You’re trying to get Alex and Davis together.” It wasn’t a question.
I looked away, embarrassed at being caught. I wasn’t one to stick my nose into other people’s private lives – I had enough of everyone’s private lives, thank you very much – but I wanted to share the love.
“Yeah, well, it would be selfish for me to find happiness and not share it with my best friend. I’m certain that’s a friend rule. Number sixteen, I think”
“Share what with your best friend?” Alex asked, catching my last words as she came up to us. “Hiya, Daniel.”
“Alex.” He smiled and gave her a nod. “Keeping everyone in line today?”
“I’ve been trying.” She smiled back then turned to me. “Share what with your best friend?”
“A movie. This Friday,” Daniel answered for me. “We’re going with some people.”
She looked between the two of us. “At the new theater in Asheville?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“All right. I could use some city living for a night.”
Jennifer came bouncing up, bubbling with good humor. “Guess what!”
“Banana Republic is having a sale?” I asked sarcastically before I could stop myself.
Daniel smiled.
“The Jonas Brothers are coming to Asheville on their tour?” Alex grinned at me.
Jennifer made a face. “No! Mark just asked me out!”
“That’s awesome!” I said, meaning it.
She started talking a hundred miles a minute, going over all the details, and Alex took pity on us. She started guiding Jennifer back to their normal table, nodding occasionally and offering words of encouragement whenever Jennifer paused for a breath. I felt a surge of affection for Alex as she walked away, glad that I had her on my side. Glad, too, that she had picked up on the fact we weren’t going to be sticking around for lunch. I picked out the first things I touched and paid without caring what it was. I ate my food as we walked back out into the hall.
His lips tickling my ear Daniel said, “Alex really is a cool girl, but I’d like to figure out how she sees so much.”
“No kidding.”
“She was trying to tell you things with her thoughts by the way.”
I’d forgotten that she’d figured out I could read minds. Everything else that had happened had distracted me.
“What was she saying?” I asked cautiously, worrying what his reaction would be.
“‘I told you so’ and my name figured quite prominently.”
I rolled my eyes. “What…” I started to ask.
“I know that Alex won’t say anything,” Daniel assured me. “She hasn’t said anything about me yet and she’s known I’m weird for a long time.”
“I thought we talked about you blocking out the other’s thoughts,” I said.
“I forgot.”
“Buying a pet rock is the sort of thing people try and forget...not this.”
He laughed. “I’m sorry! Call it instinct, but I can’t help but want to protect you from…all that. You can’t get mad at me because I care!”
“I bet I can,” I said in a combative voice. He laughed, and I made a face. “It’s helpful, I admit, but…I just want to take care of myself as far as that’s concerned.”
“You want to take care of yourself as far as everything is concerned.” He shook his head in exasperation. “Are you done eating? We need to go.”
“Yep.” I threw my banana peel in the trashcan. We were next to a large door that led out into the woods. “We’re going outside?”
“Yes.”
He pushed open the door. Tall pine trees were across a short, empty gravel lot. I wasn’t sure of the lot’s real purpose, but it was certainly useful. I could hear the thoughts of kids who had sneaked out back to smoke, and Coach, who was hiding in his car so he could drink his whiskey. Daniel’s feet were silent on the gravel. I tried to be just as quiet, but failed miserably. Luckily, the others were too interested in not getting caught to be curious about the noise. It took only seconds to reach the safety of the woods.
“I thought I wasn’t allowed in the woods,” I said as the shady branches arched above us. They were a canopy of protection against the bitter, blue sky.
“Alone,” Daniel clarified.
Pine needles created a thick carpet to our steps, allowing us to pass virtually unnoticed. Daniel set the pace for our walk, his long legs eating up the distance. We walked for about five minutes, but it was five minutes too long. Even though I was with Daniel and knew I was safe, I couldn’t stop my sense of fear. My eyes scrutinized every fallen tree and odd limb for the dog-like shape of the Nightstalker I had learned was every Watcher’s worst nightmare. My encounter with the living nightmare was still too fresh for comfort.
“Here we are,” he said releasing my hand.
I looked around. The trees had thinned, but this part of the forest looked like every other part. What was special about here? Rope stairs descended from a tree almost in response to the thought. I looked up. Jackson grinned down from an artfully concealed structure. “A tree house?” I asked. “Do I need a secret password?”
“No. Passwords are too easily learned. We have retinal scanning up here,” Jackson said.
I frowned at him, trying to decide if he was serious.
“He’s kidding,” Daniel said. “Jackson thinks he’s funny.”
“He’s about as funny as getting hit in the knees with a baseball bat,” I replied.
Margaret appeared behind Jackson, her beautiful face bland and unemotional. She didn’t look at me. “Did you tell her?”
“I was about to.”
Daniel held out the stairs for me to climb. I clambered up, feeling as if my childhood dream of having a tree house was falling short. I could have never imagined a tree house this cool looking. Jackson helped me up on the platform then held the wood door open for me. Daniel followed quickly, walking on my heels as I entered. My jaw dropped at what I saw inside.
The tree house was beyond cool. It was elegant. It was expensively decorated, complete with a small sofa and two chairs. There were paintings on the walls and thick carpets on the ground. The roof was ti
n and arched over the decorations with a strange grace. It was the Better Homes and Gardens of tree houses.
Daniel laughed at my stunned expression. “Impressed?”
“Totally.”
“I figured if I was going to come here every day, I might as well be comfortable.”
He gestured for me to sit on the couch.
“Does this make Margaret and Jackson the angry leprechauns?” I asked.
He snorted with laughter as they followed us in and sat down. The room got warmer as they sat, like someone had turned up the sun. I relaxed into the sofa, the tension from clenching at the cold leaving my body.
“Thanks Margaret,” Daniel said.
She nodded at him and took Jackson’s hand. Thanks for what? Glaring?
“I think I have some answers about who is tracking you,” Daniel said to me. “Some answers and infinitely more questions.”
My eyes stopped roaming around the room. “Are you sure they’re not after one of you?” I asked hopefully.
“Gee, thanks,” Jackson said dryly.
“Definitely you,” Daniel answered quietly.
“Oh, just show her,” Margaret said. “She’ll just keep asking stupid questions until you do.”
“Sixty years old and she still hasn’t learned patience,” Jackson joked, kissing her hand. I watched as all Margaret’s irritation melted, and I knew that she didn’t have to learn. He was her patience.
Daniel moved closer to me and put out his hand, palm up, as he’d done yesterday. I took a deep breath, still a little uneasy with the visions and thoughts I had encountered so far. They seemed so foreign and vast, like a whole ocean, compared to the baby tide I was used to dealing with. I placed my hand on his and closed my eyes. His thoughts were immediate. This will look funny because I saw it through her distorted memories and she was on painkillers at the time, he warned me. Just…Just try not to freak out about what you hear.
Okay.
Everything went dark then blurred with color.
I was in the forest. I could feel the wind, which was crisp and bitter as it beat against my face, but everything was slightly distorted, as if I was looking through cellophane or water. There was a moment where I felt separated from Susan, then there was a strange merging of thought.
She bent down and touched a leaf that was dripping with slime and drool. Next to the leaf was a footprint, a human one. She investigated it closer and realized there were more.
Next to the human footprint was another print. It looked like a cougar, but it was too big, the toes too far spaced, the claws too large. She followed the direction they were pointing, noticing two more tracks on the bed of the forest about five hundred yards away. They were the same and were very obvious, like whoever had made them didn’t care if they were seen.
She bent down to examine the tracks further, and as she did, she heard the sound of arguing. She froze, and I could hear her thoughts of interest and curiosity. Setting her pack down, she started to creep forward, her first instinct one of caution. She stopped at the crest of the mountain she had been climbing.
In the distorted haze of color and movement, I saw three human figures and two Nightstalkers. Two of the three human figures were exceptionally tall and lean. The third was stooped but broad shouldered – a result of years of hard labor and unyielding hard knocks. Their faces, because of the distortion, and the distance, were fuzzy and difficult to see. I thought one of the tall figures had to be a woman, because of her curves and the blonde hair down to her waist. The other tall figure appeared to be a man with short brown hair. The stooped man had his back to us, and I couldn’t see anything beyond his shoulders and short, grey hair. Susan held her breath and listened.
“Marcus doesn’t care about your excuses, old man. Marcus cares about results. Selene had to kill that man because of a moment of carelessness on your part and now more humans are on to us. You have risked everything we’ve spent the last two years building. Two years of following the girl almost ruined! You have yet to prove to us that your promises of capturing and learning more about the girl are real. Is this how you repay the gifts we give? Or have you simply outlived your usefulness?”
The voice was smooth and honeyed. It was a poison that tasted sweet until the bitterness of death consumed you. It was issuing from the blonde woman. She shifted like a lion on the prowl as she spoke, her anger obvious. From the way she moved, I could tell she was a Watcher. Her grace was too alien, too precise, to be human.
“Lady Cassandra, she is being protected!”
A sliver of fear the Forest Ranger didn’t know went through me. I knew that voice! It was the voice I had been hearing all over the place. It was the voice that hungered for my death.
“Enough with your excuses! If we find out the fire at that school was you, we will not be happy,” the brown-haired Watcher said. “You were sent to watch – to find a way to get close to the girl – not to extract your own form of justice. You had best remember that.”
“I am loyal to our cause,” the old man said. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I would never risk what we are working for in a moment of anger.”
The old man must have had some ability to block them out at will, or had learned it, because they obviously weren’t reading his thoughts. From the tone of their voices, this fact irritated them. But then why had I heard him? More importantly, why did he hate me so much?
“You had better be certain of that,” Lady Cassandra warned in her viciously sweet voice.
“I am, Lady! Most certain!”
There was a pause in which the demons behind the Watchers shifted hungrily. Their red eyes trained on the old man with a blood lust that chilled me to the bone.
“Mistress, may I ask…why are we watching her, or bothering to learn about her at all? Why not just kill her? I heard Marcus say…”
“You do not speak of Marcus!” she hissed. “You are not worthy to even utter his name in your most desperate hour!”
He flinched. “Sorry, my lady.”
She started pacing, like a lion trapped in a metal cage. “Marcus has his reasons. He has a reason for everything, even if he doesn’t choose to share it with you. Your job isn’t to question that purpose, but to obey. That is the price you pay for the gifts we have given you.”
She didn’t know either. This Marcus didn’t give her explanations, just orders.
“Of course,” the old man said. From his tone of voice, I knew he wasn’t fooled.
“Now go!” Lady Cassandra commanded. “I want a way to get close to her by tonight. Do not fail me…”
“I won’t fail.” The old man bowed low then walked off through the woods. I cursed the memory I was in, wishing I could see his face. See the face of my enemy.
“What would he say if he knew where we had gotten that blood from?” Cassandra’s counterpart asked with mocking laughter in his voice.
“He is not to know,” she hissed.
“I know that,” he retorted, his veneer of malice replaced by petulance and a bitter sarcasm. “Do you really think he will find a way? He’s crazy…and not to be trusted.”
“We have our orders to stay back and not get involved. Marcus said to trust the humans in this.”
“Perhaps, the old man was right…can’t we just kill the girl? She doesn’t seem that special to me. More like a hassle than any kind of new beginning.”
“Are you questioning Marcus?” Her anger increased. “Are you questioning me?”
He bowed mockingly. “No, my Lady Cassandra.”
One of the Nightstalkers nuzzled the woman. She touched it fondly, stroking it on the snout. Her anger disappeared at the touch. “Quite right, Selene,” Cassandra said.
“What does she say?”
“She says we should stop arguing and let her have the human at the top of the hill.”
“Of course. We let it linger here too long. And I know how your mother loves a fresh kill.”
The man was laughing at the thought. I
was appalled. That beast was Cassandra’s mother?
I couldn’t see their faces, or any other form of precise detail, but I could see Cassandra’s eyes when she looked up at Susan. The Ranger’s memories were strong on that point. They were coal black and deader than the darkest pit of hell. They were the only vivid thing on her face. They burned into my brain, etching lines of terror into my memories.
Susan scrambled away from the hill and started running. She didn’t understand what was happening but knew that death would arrive on swift wings if she didn’t get away.
Daniel dropped his hand and I gasped. My return to the present was not as smooth as previous ventures into the past. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I warned.
Susan’s fear was just too immediate, her emotions having merged too much with mine. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and my muscles tensed around the churning in my gut.
“Take her outside,” Margaret demanded.
Daniel rushed me to the door. Pulling me into his arms, he leapt to the ground and gently set me down again as soon as he landed. I immediately collapsed to all fours and threw up.
When my lunch was on the carpet of pine needles, I sat back on my haunches. I turned to stare at Daniel, appreciating his dark features, taking courage from the pain he had endured over long years. Needing comfort, I pulled him into my arms. He held me tightly, creating a shield against the world.
“They’ve been hunting me for two years! What if they hurt Ellen…what if they hurt you? They’re going to figure out all they have to do is threaten you to get whatever the hell they want.” I pushed him away. “I can’t let them do that!” Backing away, my eyes wide with fear, I continued, “I won’t let them hurt you! We can’t be together anymore…if they see how crazy I am about you…”
I felt a weight in my chest and I wondered if I could follow through with what I was saying. A part of me doubted it. But another part, a part that wanted to do everything I could to protect him, told me that I would at least try.
Daniel grabbed my arms to stop my retreat. “I didn’t have to show you that, but I thought you should know. I thought we could decide what the best thing is to do. I thought I would give you that chance. If you leave me because you’re afraid they’ll hurt me, you’ll end up killing me yourself.”
Some of my fear lessened at my skepticism. “You won’t die from heartbreak, if that’s what you mean. That’s ridiculous.”
He ignored my comment. “We know they want you, we know that they are willing to do anything to get you. But we also know they want to study you, rather than sell or kill you. That gives us time to form a plan to take them out first. If we can figure out who this stooped man is, what his weaknesses are, we can find a direct line into what they want.” He shook me in frustration and I felt my brain rattle. “You can’t be Ms. Independent and shut me out, not now. Not after I finally found you.” His usually melodic voice was rough with anxiety.
I reached up and touched his face, surprised by the hint of dark stubble. He was letting his normal look of perfection slip a bit. I rested my hand there for a moment then gave him a light slap, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him.
“Don’t shake me like that again,” I warned.
He started laughing. “I’ll take that to mean you’ll help me figure this out, instead of running away?”
I thought about it, trying to decide what was best. “Yes...Thank you for being honest with me.”
He shrugged. “I respect you too much to lie, and keeping secrets only keeps you ignorant. And keeping someone ignorant isn’t protecting them.”
“Amen,” I agreed. “What’s our first move? How can we make sure everyone stays safe? How do we find out what these people want without letting them get close?”
“They aren’t the only Watchers in town,” Daniel said emphatically. “Whereas they only know how to hunt and use people for their ends we know…” he picked up a rock off the forest floor and made it disappear, “magic.”
Jackson and Margaret dropped down behind Daniel. “Beatrice and Han have also agreed to put away their science and watch over your mom and the other humans you have befriended until this situation is resolved,” Jackson said to reassure me. Pretending to swing a bat he added, “So, we’ve got all the bases covered.”
“You’ve got to go back. The bell is going to ring in five minutes and thirty-two seconds.” Margaret said.
“I know,” Daniel agreed.
Jackson gave me a funny little wink before he and Margaret walked off in the opposite direction of the school. I spotted two four wheelers in the distance and was instantly jealous about their mode of transportation.
“Five minutes and thirty-two seconds?” I asked sardonically.
“Internal clock,” Daniel said. “You have no idea what a century is like with an internal clock.”
I shivered at the thought.
“How do you know them? Jackson and Margaret.”
“Ran into Jackson during the 1940s. Literally. The first time we met, he knocked me down. Accidentally, of course. He’s been a good friend. He found Margaret a little later. They help me protect people; they call me when strange murders happen elsewhere and they need help... or don’t have the time to look into it. They don’t stay here very often. They prefer cities. But…”
“They’re helping you protect me,” I finished for him.
“I can’t be everywhere at once. And I trust them to do what needs to be done. I trust Beatrice and Han with my life, but they’re pacifists. I hate to ask them to fight.”
“Pacifists? Really?”
“They don’t like violence,” he said.
“I can see why,” I replied.
“Non-violence is good, but sometimes you have to fight…if the cause is a good one,” he said firmly.
“I know,” I said.
He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder. I glanced back at the tree house, wondering how such an unassuming structure could house so much change. As I stared, a strange feeling of familiarity settled into my stomach. It was almost as if I had known the tree house was there all along.
Our thoughts on what we had learned from Susan, we walked back to school – and our very normal literature class – where scary monsters and terrifying demons didn’t exist. Not for real, at least.
Chapter 14
The Watchers (Book 1: The Watchers Series) Page 14
