Seer

by Ashley Maker

  Closer.

  Closer.

  Until my eyelids flutter and the air between us turns to nothing.

  Everything stops. His lips are on mine, warm and pressing gently. The kiss is hesitant, fragile, wondrous, but it isn’t enough of him, and I suddenly feel like I’ll die without more.

  I push my mouth against his, just a little, and the world unfreezes, my senses unleashing in fragments of Kade. The smell of running and forest and warmth. The firmness of his lips pressing harder, moving against mine. His hand disappearing into my hair while the other presses against the small of my back. My arms around his neck. Smooth skin sliding against my hands.

  We kiss until my lips are going numb. Until I know exactly how he tastes and feels. Until Kade smiles against my lips and my chest rises and falls in ragged pants, trying to remember how to breathe properly.

  Then, after we’ve caught our breath, we look at each other and the world stops all over again.

  28

  Final’s week passes in an awkward and wonderful series of furtive glances and secret smiles with Kade. Most of the students leave by the end of that weekend, taking the worst of the whispering harpies with them. The atmosphere at the compound relaxes after the great exodus of Coras, but apparently, coming into a special training regimen four years late means I don’t get summer vacations. Or any vacations. I’d like to tell the dear old headmaster exactly what I think of that little power play, but he’s been too busy to show his face since the meeting in his office a few weeks ago. I found out about my lack of an educational break through Laila and Kade, both of whom will be staying at the compound to make sure I don’t become a slacker.

  At least my academic tutoring is suspended, thanks to Laila, since she convinced her dad I’m not that far behind the other students. So the first morning of summer break, I run drills and lift weights and jog all over the compound with both Kade and Laila.

  We’re done for the day, sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch, when a topic that’s been bothering me for a few days surfaces, and I say, “Okay, here’s what I don’t understand. The outside world knows nothing about you guys and what you can do. Why are you hiding away on these compounds pretending to be normal humans at a private school? Pretending you don’t exist?”

  Laila leans forward in her seat, eyes shining brightly. “That’s the problem! We shouldn’t be—”

  “Here we go again.” Kade sighs.

  She glares at him. “You know I’m right, and for the record so are the Rogues on this one.”

  Kade glowers back at her. “That’s blasphemous, Laila. Do you really want to associate with Rogue thinking?”

  “Not ‘rogue thinking,’ you big idiot. Revolutionary thinking.” When he rolls his eyes, her voice becomes clipped. “All you have to do is study the history of any equal rights movement.”

  “This has nothing to do with equal rights. Humans aren’t oppressing us,” Kade says. “We have the exact same rights they do. We stay to ourselves because revealing what we are would result in oppression. Even you can’t think we’re strong enough to face off against the United States military.”

  Laila scrunches her nose and looks away.

  Kade gives me a knowing look. “They’d annihilate us. Anyone who survived would be put into labs. The Rogues are arrogant enough to think they can win. So far we’ve kept them contained, but keeping them underground is probably the biggest obstacle we’re up against.”

  “I still think there’s a diplomatic solution,” Laila says. “The Rogues aren’t going anywhere. They’re breeding like cockroaches all over America. If we could just go to the government and find a way to work together—”

  Kade cuts in, “You don’t get it. We are a threat to them. They know who took the serum. How hard do you think it would be for them to find the descendants?”

  “But why?” I ask. “Why would they think you’re a threat? All of you act pretty human to me.”

  “Thank you!” Laila throws her arms out with a victorious expression on her face. “Raised human, and she agrees with me.”

  Kade’s brow furrows deeper as he glares at her. His lips press together, and I can’t help looking at them. They’re gorgeous and tempting, even when he’s frowning. Suddenly, they relax, parting into an amused smile. My gaze flicks up to find him watching me, and I fight the urge to smile back. Getting caught staring should make me blush and fidget, but all I want to do is pull him forward across the table and kiss him.

  That thought does make me blush, and Kade’s smile widens as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  His smile lingers a few seconds more before disappearing. “We are a threat to them because we possess abilities they’ll never have. We can do things they can’t. No one likes to be disadvantaged. Sure, they might go along with” —his gaze shoots to Laila’s— “working together for a while, but who do you think will become the threat after the Rogues are silenced? Do you really think they’ll stop there? Are you willing to risk your existence on it?”

  “You’re just like my dad,” Laila scoffs. “Always paranoid. It’s so annoying. There must be a better solution. You should talk to my mom sometime. She thinks—”

  “Yeah, well good luck with those theories when agents are hunting you down,” Kade snaps back.

  Laila’s eyes flash, but instead of replying, she sips from her water and leans back in the chair. Laughter filters in from the cafeteria doors. My stomach rolls over when I spot Tarry among the small group of summer students. All through final’s week, I managed to avoid being alone with him, a fairly easy task since Mathias only let him come to class. He wasn’t even allowed to come to the cafeteria for meals, but instead had to eat at the house with Pam. But today he’s ungrounded, and I can tell by the way he’s searching the cafeteria that he’s looking for someone.

  His eyes light up when he sees me.

  I glance down quickly and fiddle with a napkin on the table, scrunching and straightening the rough paper. His footsteps get louder and louder on his way across the wood floor. Hands appear next to my shoulders on the top of my chair.

  “Hey, Blue Eyes,” he says, leaning close to my right ear.

  Every muscle tenses. My eyes meet Kade’s. His jaw clenches, and the look in his eyes becomes dark and fierce. I twist in the seat, putting distance between me and Tarry as I turn to face him. “Hey.”

  So much is unspoken between us. The almost kiss. Him phasing and hurting Aaron. My conversation with Piper and the fact I know things have to change.

  Things have already changed. Tarry just doesn’t know it yet.

  He grins, oblivious to my turmoil. “You’re done, right? You should ditch these losers and come hang with the cool kids.”

  So. Awkward. “Um, I would, but I can’t. Not today, ‘cause…” I stumble over the words, my brain working frantically to come with an excuse. Any excuse. “We’re not done yet. Just taking a break. You see…Laila…” The slack expression on his face, the frozen grin and squished eyebrows, make me cringe. “I have to go back to the girl’s dorm with her.”

  Silence clogs the air all around. Tarry pushes away from the chair and rubs his chin. The edges of his lips finally turn down. “Oh. Okay.” The disappointment in his voice crushes something inside of me. “Maybe we’ll catch up later then.”

  I nod, any words I could say stuck in my throat. I’m saved by Piper, who chooses that exact moment to shout across the cafeteria.

  “Come on, Tare. I’m starving.” She waves a blue tray at him in a hurry-up gesture. Something protective shines in her eyes, dampened only a little by the unenthusiastic wave she offers in my direction.

  I raise a hand to wave back, but the action is as stuck as my words, hovering for a moment before my fingers curl back in, and I drop the hand to my lap. She and I have barely talked all week. We’ve both used studying for finals as an excuse, but I know it’s more than that.

  Tarry lifts his chin to her. Expression open and searching, he looks over my sho
ulder at Laila. I can’t see her reaction, but meeting my eyes again, he shrugs and smiles, each movement precise and tightly controlled. “I’ll catch you later.” Right before he leaves, he shoots a glance at Kade, eyes narrowing while the tight smile slips from his face.

  My breath releases as he walks away. That was hard. So much harder than I’d thought it would be. I turn around slowly in the chair, hesitant to look up. I’m not sure I want to see what could be in either of their eyes. I stare at the crumpled napkin until Kade’s foot bumps mine under the table.

  I peer at him. So many emotions play across his face, what looks like curiosity and satisfaction and concern. I wish whatever’s going on between us wasn’t so complicated. Neither of us have put a term on it, or used the word secret, even though I know that’s what it is. But the bad part about secrets is that they always have the worst timing. I can’t hug him like I want to, not in front of Laila. Not while I’m in the same room with Tarry.

  “Well,” Laila says, drawing the word out, “it looks like you have some explaining to do, roomie.”

  Biting back a groan, I swivel toward her. “You’re not going to let this slide, are you?”

  Her lip curves up on one side. “Not at all. You’re the one who brought me into it. Now fess up. What’s going down between you and my idiot brother?”

  This time I do groan. “Nothing.”

  She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow in a way that screams I don’t believe you. “Yeah, right. I have eyes and ears, and that was not nothing.”

  “No, I mean…the nothing is the something, you know?” I hold my hands up as if that will explain everything.

  She squints and her head draws back. “No wonder he looked so confused.”

  Another groan. Shaking my head, I lean forward until my forehead touches my hands on top of the table.

  Kade nudges my foot again. “It sounds like he likes her, but she doesn’t like him,” he says with a definite note of satisfaction in his voice.

  “Oh,” Laila says, her tone darkening, filling with understanding. She puts a hand on my shoulder and shakes lightly. “Clare, I need to talk to you. Alone.”

  I raise my head to look at her, but she’s frowning and glaring at Kade, and he’s staring back at her, completely unabashed. My heartbeat becomes sluggish. “Um, sure. Just let me throw my trash away first.”

  Kade starts to stand. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No.” Her hand snatches out and grabs mine before I can touch the tray. “Let him do it. You and I need to talk.”

  “Okay?” I bite my lip and frown.

  Kade is frowning, too. The three of us are one big frown-fest staring at each other across the table. With one last glare at Kade, Laila drags me toward the cafeteria doors. I glance back over a shoulder, and Kade shrugs before picking up the abandoned trays and mouthing the word Later. I nod and turn forward to keep from tripping.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, but Laila just yanks the door open and hauls me down the path a few more steps before dropping my hand.

  “I thought you liked Tarry.” She gives me a once over, like she’s never seen me before. “I was stupid. So, so stupid. I should have gone with my gut and talked to you about it when I first suspected.” Her voice rises in frustration. “But you were spending so much time with Tarry.”

  She’s striding over the cobblestones so fast I can hardly keep up without breaking into a jog. My voice bobs from all the motion. “Tarry’s my friend. I—”

  Her white-blond hair whips to the side as she twists toward me. “Do you like him?”

  I press my lips together. This is dangerous ground. He’s her brother, after all. “Of course I like him, but…only as friends.”

  She blinks and makes a disgusted sound. “I knew it. But you don’t like Kade as a friend, do you?”

  My feet tangle together, and I stumble a few steps before regaining my stride. I reach for my hairband, tighten it, then play with the ends of my ponytail. What am I supposed to say? I’m not sure I can answer without giving everything away. “Kade…understands how I feel about things. I think I could like him, yeah.”

  “No!” she growls before sucking in a deep breath. Her hands shoot up between us in a pleading gesture. “You can’t like him. You can’t.”

  The vehemence in her voice almost pulls me up short. My steps falter and slow. “Why not? Do you still have feelings for him or something?”

  Laila tips her head back. “Arghhh. No, I do not have feelings for him. I have no desire to go down that road again, and I don’t want you to either, okay? I know we’re just roommates, but I care about you. You need to like someone else. Anyone else. Tarry would be good for you.” She fixes me with a serious look and shakes her head furiously. “The nerve of him! I’m going to have to say something. This is so not right. Just—just trust me on this. If you don’t, you’re only going to get hurt.”

  My hand lifts to my mouth. The knuckles press against my lips. I try to think of what to say, but all that comes out is a sound of disbelief. I jerk my head back and forth, unable to process anymore of her jealousy. So what if she doesn’t think I should like him? She can’t dictate that part of my life.

  I’m so sick of being told what I should and shouldn’t do around here. My personal life is mine. Mine. Not theirs. They can tell me what I have to wear, and what I have to do every day, and that I can’t leave, but they can’t tell me how to feel.

  “Clare…” Her voice drips with barely suppressed pity.

  “Don’t,” I warn her. “Just stop. I know you think you’re helping me, but you’re not. If you really care about me, then stay out of it. I’m not doing anything wrong, and it’s none of your business even if I was.”

  Laila jerks back like I slapped her. She barks out a laugh and tilts her gaze to the sky. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, or what you’re in for. Trust me, little girl, you do not want to get involved with Kade.”

  Pain shoots through my jaw when I clench my teeth. Heat flushes along my veins, and there’s a pounding in my ears. Needing to do something with my hands, I yank at the long sleeves of the bodysuit until they’re halfway up my forearms, but the material is still too hot against my skin. I’ve just started yanking at the sleeves again when Laila’s hand lands on my arm, halting both of us. Eyes narrowed, I follow the line of her arm up to her tense frame, expecting more pity, or maybe even anger, to be etched all over her face.

  She’s not looking at me at all. Her brow is furrowed at the girl’s dorm down the path. I follow her gaze and frown. A maintenance man in a gray jumpsuit is hovering over the dorm’s keypad, the one that’s locked every night after curfew. He has a spread of tools on the ground at his feet and some kind of fancy screwdriver in his hand.

  “Who is that?” I ask in a low whisper.

  Laila’s frown deepens. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. Dad hasn’t said anything about hiring someone new.”

  “Could he have?”

  “Maybe. Only one way to find out.” Shoulders thrown back, she marches forward.

  At our approach, the man looks up and steps out of the way so we can go inside. But Laila doesn’t. She lifts her chin and assesses the man from the top of his dark shaggy hair to the soles of his black boots. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  He gives her an equally probing up-and-down look. His voice has a bit of a southern drawl when he says, “Fixing the lock, ma’am.”

  “Since when was it broken?”

  The man sighs irritably. “I got the call this morning.” His gaze flickers over to me, lingering on what’s visible of my arms. I resist the urge to pull the bodysuit’s sleeves back down to my wrists. Something about the way he’s looking at the scars makes my stomach knot uncomfortably. Everyone knows it’s rude to stare at someone’s scars.

  Laila must not like it either. She steps in front of me and crosses both arms over her chest. “Who gave you clearance to work on it?”

  “The headmaster him
self,” the man says with a level of condescension in his voice, as if he thinks we aren’t worth his time. His attention returns to the keypad.

  “The headmaster is my father. He didn’t say anything about the keypad needing to be fixed. I’m going to need to see your ID pass.”

  Without even turning around, the man reaches into a back pocket and pulls out a leather wallet. Producing a card, he thrusts an arm out behind him in an impatient gesture for Laila to take the pass. Laila grabs it and glances over the information. She looks up slowly and says, “Who are you and what are you trying to pull?”

  He glances back. “Excuse me?”

  I try to peek over her shoulder at the card, but she pushes me back with one hand and gives a very pointed stay there look.

  Her voice is practically a snarl. “I know Tim Noble, and you’re not him. So, I’m going to ask you this one more time. Who are—”

  The man bursts into motion, spinning around and slamming a fist into Laila’s jaw. She stumbles back. I grab her arms to steady us both, but she pushes me away as the man suddenly lunges forward again, a flash of steel swiping upward with his hand.

  She raises an arm to deflect the knife, but it’s a fraction of a second too late. He steps in close and jams the blade in deep. An awful, guttural sound gurgles from Laila’s throat before she slumps to the ground right in front of me, both hands clutching her abdomen.

  My stomach plunges so fast I almost puke. The blood fast staining her pale skin matches the red, beaded streaks on the man’s knife. A dark smile twists his face when he catches me looking. I want to run, but I can’t. All I can do is stumble backward a few steps that don’t put nearly enough distance between us.

  The man advances, stepping over Laila’s fallen body without even looking at her. His attention returns to my arms. He points the knife at my scars. “Shame you’re such a pretty thing, darlin’. I bet there ain’t many girls here who have scars like that. I’d love to hear how you got them.”

  I fall back a few more lurching steps. My arms windmill in an attempt to stay upright. He’s probably some freak serial killer who likes scars and cutting people up.