“You really thought you were that clever?” David hissed.
My God. How did he find us? He pressed the pistol harder into Walter’s back, forcing a quiet groan from him.
“What name did you give her?”
“What are—?”
“What name, James?” he yelled out. “I saw you sitting with a girl. What name did you give her?”
I took a deep breath, feeling the truth being torn from my lungs. “I told her—Aidan. Aidan Summers.”
Why couldn’t I lie? How was it The Sevren still had such power over me? So much power that I felt guilty for my treachery?
“The gun, David,” I breathed, my voice blocked and difficult to hear. “Please.”
His face was twisted into fury, but he put the gun down.
“Our laws no longer apply to you, James,” he said. “I will kill you with a gun if I wish. You are not deserving of a personal kill. I will destroy you with any vile weapon I choose.”
I knew he couldn’t kill me. David was a lower ranked member than myself. He wasn’t sent here for that. Walter, however, he could easily kill with nobody having a second thought.
“Abraham is enrolling you in school.”
“What?” I bellowed.
“Shut up!” he spat. “You and Mike are going to North Bend High. The Callahan family is here—in Oregon. No need for you to go gallivanting off to California and disappear. Your mission is here now.”
No! It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be her. Jane Callahan? The sister of Daniel? My head spun. She would surely despise me now no matter what was to happen in the following days. It didn’t matter. If only I could have left her alone. If only she didn’t bewitch me so effortlessly. Oh God. I was going to kill her.
“Be smart, James. Make her trust you first. The kill will be all the sweeter.”
I nodded robotically. He shoved past me and out the door before I was able to say another word.
Chapter Nine
It was the last day of summer break, and all I could think about was how angry Luna would be and how angry Walter was for becoming part of my problems. We were lucky Walter’s involvement with The Silver Wing had not been revealed. The resistance against The Sevren was not as strong as Walter wished to believe.
As far as everyone knew, he was my uncle and legal guardian. I had a social security number and was in the system as seventeen-year-old Aidan Summers. How could I pull off a carefree, seventeen-year-old junior in high school? None of that was me. I was twenty-year-old Clement Thortan going by the name of James West, carrying twelve IDs and credit cards all issued to different names and social security numbers. “Genius,” my father always said, didn’t he? I could figure this out. I had to. Jane was in my blood now. I had to protect her. That’s what I vowed to do the second David threatened me with that vile gun. The goddamn bastard. A gun of all things? Such a sick, man-made torture device. I shuddered and brushed off the thoughts. This would work itself out. I was sure of it.
School was a haze the first day. I knew I had to stay as far away from Jane as possible. Mike passed me in the hallway a few times, acknowledging me with a nod or a stare. I knew what he was saying—it starts now. I pretended like I was doing my job and more than prepared to kill Jane and her parents when the time came. Maybe if I stayed away from her, they wouldn’t know who she was. David had seen me with Becky; couldn’t they believe she was Jane until I figured out a way to get the Callahans out of North Bend? It seemed a perfectly logical idea.
Mike was masquerading as a sophomore, meaning we would have no classes together—all the better to conceal our association. It was all done well, and the only thing left were my orders. I was not James West any longer. I refused to be. I would never harm an innocent again. Every time a kill reflected in my memory, I saw Daniel even when I strained to remember the others—they were all him. It was driving me mad. Why him? Why did it have to be him I couldn’t forget? Why must I live with the guilt of his death weighing on my shoulders when I was intrigued and infatuated with his sister—the girl I was supposed to murder.
Before I raveled out of my thoughts, the day was already halfway over. I walked by myself to the lunch room, noticing the stares and whispers about the “new guy.” I spotted Becky happily snapping pictures of Jane as Jane desperately tried to hide her face.
“Come on,” I heard Becky squeal, full of energy just as she was when I first met her. “You look adorable.”
It seemed the perfect opportunity to be seen speaking to Becky, my false, make-believe Jane. I was sure Mike was watching from somewhere in the cafeteria.
“Hey,” I said, just loud enough to be heard.
“Oh, hi,” Becky answered.
I saw Jane slowly move her eyes to mine. I glared at her and averted my gaze. I couldn’t let her know what was going on. I had to pretend she meant nothing to me. I didn’t know her anyway, and I couldn’t let myself. I had to leave her alone, which was what she had asked for from the start. I chose a table by myself as far away from Jane as I could get. I could see she was mumbling something to Becky. Becky let out her usual perky response, rendering her at best intolerable.
I tried to look away, but just as it had always been, it was almost impossible not to stare at her. I couldn’t keep myself from noticing the looks she had unintentionally passed my direction. I had no idea what she was thinking, no idea what was going on behind her delicate, elegant face. My God, she was stunning.
My infatuation with her irritated me deeply, and I tried to shake it off. I could feel the actual annoyance creeping into my features, and before I even realized I was uneasy, I found myself glaring at her again.
“What did you do?” I heard Becky grumble. The rest of her words were too difficult to perceive, but surely enough, Jane looked over at me and quickly looked away. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but it was better than getting her killed.
When I finally got to my last class, I was beginning to think ignoring Jane would be much easier than I originally thought. That thought lasted only until I saw her enter the classroom. She was late, so she rushed to the first seat she could get to before the bell rang. I noticed the sickness on her face when she realized she took the seat next to me. My face burned. She was so close to me now. All I had to do was reach out and touch her.
“Hey,” she murmured.
There was no way she would be speaking to me. I turned to look at her, forcing myself to pretend like I was angry, pretend like I wanted nothing to do with her.
“Oh, you’re talking to me now?” I snapped.
“Well—”
“Don’t bother.” I broke eye contact.
I wanted to say something to her so badly. What are you thinking? How do you like North Bend? What are you about, Jane? I clenched my hands into fists and gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to speak to her. I kept glancing over at her even as I tried not to. Oh God. This would be harder than I thought. It was like I wanted to kill her, while at the same time, I wanted to protect her—I wanted her. I wanted to take her beauty and her innocence. She was made for me, wasn’t she?
NO! Of course not. Abraham was wrong. He has always been wrong. You are not James West!
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I answered, sarcastically. “I’m sure you care so much more than you did a couple days ago.”
“Really, Aidan—”
The bell rang, and I grabbed my books and raced out of the classroom as fast as I could.
The next day was the same as before. I could barely keep myself away from her. I ended up staring at her more than I had the day before. Sometimes my thoughts would turn insane and senseless, back to the thoughts of killing her. Of course, there was no way I could. Even when I wanted to, the thought of actually doing it made me sick. The day ended quickly, and Becky approached me in the parking lot. Perfect. Maybe Mike would notice.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi,” I stuttered.
“You know, you really s
hould have accepted Jane’s apology.”
“You don’t say.”
“Look, she really is sorry for acting that way in the bookstore. She understands you were just being friendly. I’ve known Jane since first grade. We met during the summer when we were kids. I know she comes across as rude sometimes, but once you get to know her, she’s really great.”
I was sure of that already. “Okay.”
“You know, Aidan, it is okay to be friends with people.” She smiled.
I saw Jane striding our direction, so I left, quickly walking to my car.
Friends. That was not a logical idea was it? Every day it was getting harder and harder to ignore her. The next day, I failed altogether.
“Hi,” I said a little too cheerfully, smiling at her.
“Hi.” The look on her face made me uneasy.
“I didn’t realize you knew Becky for so long,” I said. “She mentioned you were summer pals since the first grade.”
She nodded.
I was hoping she wouldn’t think I was crazy. It wasn’t a good idea to be speaking to her at all, but I couldn’t help it.
“Well…she’s nice.”
“She is.”
We didn’t talk much after that. She seemed to be avoiding conversation. It was for the best, and I often found myself glaring at her or clenching my hands into fists to keep from touching her.
When I got home that day, Walter instantly knew something was wrong.
“Okay,” he started, sitting down on the couch. “Come here and tell me what’s wrong.” He smoothed back his white hair and smiled at me.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said to him. “I can’t kill her, Walter.”
“The girl? You’ve found her?”
“I knew who she was before I started school,” I confessed.
He sighed. “And now?”
“She isn’t at all social. I’m hoping nobody else will know.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
“I said ‘hi.’ That’s about it. It’s hard not to, Walter. You should see her. She’s so…amazing.”
“Amazing?” He burst into a sputtered laugh. “That’s a little heavy, don’t you think?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. There’s just something about her. It’s almost impossible to stay away.”
“Being friends might make things easier for you,” he answered.
“Yes, but can I be her friend while still being able to protect her?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Only you can decide that.”
I couldn’t sleep that night. I lay in bed, driving myself crazy with thoughts of Jane. I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I focused on staying as far away from the clearing as possible and just walked along the trail. My mind was more relaxed as I focused only on my breathing and the movement of my steps.
Suddenly, something pierced my senses. I remembered the night I had been mugged in the alleyway on my way to work, the night when I first realized I could sense danger. Now it was almost suffocating me. I could feel clouds of troubled and uncontrolled emotions collapsing around me. Something was wrong.
I continued walking through the trees, following the danger that was, by then, almost bringing me to my knees. I tried to fight off the fear that was pulsing through my veins and find out what was going on. Why was I walking toward danger? I couldn’t even think about it. All I knew was I had to. Something was telling me to follow my senses and keep treading through the mud. I was nervous over the rain that had begun to fall rapidly. The very sound of the water hitting the trees was as if I was being taunted by mother-nature herself.
I kept moving until I heard footsteps—panicked footsteps. I followed, picking up my pace. I saw the shadow of a figure about twenty feet away, running aimlessly into the trees. I followed still, chasing the silhouette through the darkness.
I heard a muffled thud and a groan as the stranger fell hard into the mud and leaves. I froze and peered into the eyes and knew at once who it was. I would recognize that face anywhere.
“Jane?”
“Aidan?” Her voice was muffled, and she almost sounded relieved to see me.
“What are you doing in the woods?” I asked.
“What are you doing in the woods?”
“Oh my God, Jane!” I whispered, kneeling down and looking at her ankle. It was clearly swollen, and I could tell even in the dark that it was turning colors.
“I’m fine,” she said. She was a terrible liar.
“I’ll carry you.”
“Ha!” she burst out. “You most certainly will not. I can walk.”
“Jane, your ankle is broken. You can’t walk.”
“Watch me.” She gave me a hateful look and stood to her feet, but she couldn’t hide her accelerated breathing and the pain in her expression.
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Don’t complain. I’m just trying to help.”
I lifted her into my arms, and she felt almost weightless. She was very small and tender. I felt anxious to touch her with my strength. I would never want to hurt her.
“Put me down!” she screamed.
“Don’t be a baby.”
“Put…me…down!”
I followed my senses but still almost forgot North Bend and was thinking I couldn’t find her house. I just kept walking, slowing my pace so I could feel her warmth for a little longer. When I spotted the house, I recognized it instantly. I had seen it before on my normal walks. The man who lived there was a doctor. Oh good God—he was Jane’s father. I set her on the porch and moved aside, away from the light of her house.
“Oh! Jane, where have you been?” her father demanded as he stepped outside.
“I just went for a walk in the woods,” she said, turning to look at him. “I think I broke my ankle.”
“All right. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared inside the house.
I moved back out of the shadows.
“You don’t have to hide.” She looked like she was trying to smile.
I smiled back.
“Um…thanks,” she said.
I quickly moved into the darkness again, not wishing her father to know anything about me. The fewer people who would recognize me, the better.
“I don’t think it’s broken,” I heard him say, “but you twisted it something terrible.”
I watched as she withdrew into her house. I stood there, almost wishing I could stare through her windows. I shook my head and laughed at myself. No need to get weird and creepy.
Chapter Ten
I got home late that night and ended up with a few hours of sleep. School was a haze until lunch. I found Becky and Jane, but there was somebody else. I recognized him as one of the students in my history class, the only class I had with Jane. I tried to fight back the unexpected sting of jealousy. I felt as if I had to break her attention away from the other guy, whoever he was. I sat across from her.
“How’s your ankle?” I asked.
“Fine.”
“What did you do to your ankle?” Becky interrupted.
She didn’t look up, just shook her head mechanically.
“Well, you certainly did a number on it,” I said, trying not to laugh. Annoying her was what I was trying to avoid.
“Really, it’s fine,” she said, refusing to look up at me. “It only hurt for an hour or so.”
I didn’t care if she was lying or not. I just wanted to keep her attention on me.
The boy laughed. “Do things like that happen to you a lot?”
Becky laughed back. “She’s been a tomboy her entire life.”
“I never had any sisters, except maybe for you, Becky.”
“I know,” she answered. “Still true.”
She continued staring down at her almost empty plastic tray, not making eye contact with anybody.
The lunch bell rang, and I watched hatefully as Jane and the new boy walked together to her next class.
I daydreamed through science. The lessons were noth
ing I didn’t already know. Abraham could have at least put me in advanced classes. It would have kept me a bit more interested.
I was anxious to get to history next, to make sure I kept the new guy away from Jane. I walked in, seeing him ready to take the seat next to her. I nearly shoved him out of the way and took the chair. I almost felt bad when I saw the look on his face.
“You can sit here,” Jane said to him, gesturing to the seat at her other side.
He shook his head. “It’s all right.”
He moved closer to the front of the room. Jane glared at me for a split second before covering her face with her hands.
“Hi,” I said. “I hope I didn’t upset him.”
“Aaron.”
Aaron. At least now I knew his name.
“Yes,” I answered. “Nobody has been very friendly to me, save for maybe Becky.”
She chuckled.
“What?”
“It’s nothing,” she answered but was still laughing.
I didn’t blame her for laughing. Becky was a plucky, promiscuous teenager who truthfully drove me crazy more often than not. Of course she was friendly to me.
“Becky is friendly to anybody of the male species,” she said.
I smiled. “I thought you’d say something like that.”
“Did you?”
I changed the subject. “How’s your ankle?”
“I already told you—it’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
She just nodded.
“You can tell me if it’s bothering you.”
“Aidan, please!”
I immediately regretted trying to get an answer from her. I didn’t have to speak to her to keep Aaron away. She looked tense and anxious. I couldn’t help but to ask her one thing.
“Are you all right?”
She locked her amber eyes into my own, and her pale cheeks blushed lightly.
“If I were to tell you yes, I am guessing you’re going to ask me if I’m sure.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
She was out the door right as the bell rang. I walked slowly, watching her in front of me. I saw Aaron catch up to her in the parking lot. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and it drove me near mad. Her brave little suitor was making me almost furious. It was becoming an unhealthy obsession. She was beautiful and different, and I could tell now just as I could the moment I met her…she was also worth it. I wasn’t sure how, but I knew she was. I wanted her. I wanted Aaron gone. I halted my thoughts when my mind flashed with pictures of me with a knife and Aaron strapped to that stone. I shook my head to erase the visions. I couldn’t kill Aaron. Not for her. I wasn’t James West, right? I didn’t want to be—and she couldn’t make me!
Summers' Shadow (Hunters Trilogy Book 2) Page 7
