I notice his hand move slightly closer. Our hands are nearly touching now and I can feel charged electricity racing between the small gap between them. Does he feel the same thing that I do?
He slowly reaches out and pulls my hand into his. My heart races as he grips it firmly and slowly traces his thumb along the edge of my fingers. I feel like I’m about to self-combust and all he’s done is lightly touch my hand.
I sneak a glance at him again and find he’s watching me intensely. His blue eyes are charged and I struggle to look away from him.
I try to remember all the reasons why I’ve been keeping my distance from him. How messed up I am right now; how I don’t want to risk losing him again if we allow ourselves to get too close. But, in this moment my reasons don’t seem strong enough. I should drop his hand and look away, but the line I’d drawn in the sand between him and me has been blurring and it’s a struggle to continue fighting the pull I feel towards him.
His eyes suddenly look down from mine at our hands that are clasped together and I gasp. I’ve somehow made them glow a soft warm yellow colour. I quickly let go of his hand and pull mine back to me. It immediately stops glowing, thankfully.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I stutter.
Sebastian shakes his head. He pauses the movie and turns back to me. ‘Don’t be sorry, it didn’t hurt. I wouldn’t mind you telling me when you decided to stop wearing your cuff though. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen you using your talents recently.’
I sigh and try to stop the tears from falling from my eyes. I’ve been so pent up trying to keep it secret and trying to keep my talents under control.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,’ I say.
‘I understand that you want to keep it to yourself. I figured it out about a week after we got here when I was passing your carriage and found the handle had been frozen solid. I think you’re the only person here who can do that.’
I drop my head into my hands. ‘I’ve tried so hard to keep it down. I wanted to be the person you believed I could be. I wanted to embrace who I’ve become, but it’s useless. I still have no control.
‘What about your senses,’ he asks. ‘Your hearing and sight?’
‘They are easier to control,’ I respond. ‘But they can still be unpredictable. I’m not worried about them. They can’t hurt anyone…’
Sebastian gently places his hand on my back. ‘You don’t have to be so secretive,’ he says. ‘I want to help you in any way I can; you don’t have to suffer this alone. But look at how far you’ve come. When you first came out of the hospital you never would have believed you could go an hour without the inhibitor band let alone live without it. You’re already doing it.’
‘For now I am, barely, but it’s only a matter of time before I truly hurt someone.’
Sebastian pulls me into him and holds me close. His slow, deep breaths calm me and I concentrate on listening to the beat of his heart, which I can hear so clearly in his chest.
‘These talents can be overwhelming, but only if you let them be,’ he says. ‘I’m still only coming into my own with my talent and there was a time when I was ruled by it. Any time I got angry or upset or frustrated I would teleport without warning. It was usually only a few meters away, but it scared me. I feared my talents when I couldn’t control them, but the fear only makes the lack of control worse.
‘While I know it’s nowhere near to what you’re going through, the only way I could control myself was to become mentally strong. You have to move past the fear if you want to overcome this and learn control.’
I sigh. ‘I know what I have to do. It’s just, it’s one thing to know and something else completely to actually do.’
‘I know we’ve practiced together a few times, but maybe we need to step it up a little?’
I pull back to look at him. ‘You think that would help?’
‘You fear them because you don’t know them or understand them. Maybe if you understood your talents better and spent more time using them you’d have better control? You keep bottling things up and it only makes everything worse for you.’
I frown as I consider his words. Could he be right? Could repressing my talents make it harder to control them? ‘Are you sure you don’t mind. What if something goes wrong?’
‘It won’t,’ he says. ‘We’ll make this work. I promise.’
I give him a small smile. I don’t want to cause him any trouble, but this is something I struggle with alone.
His eyes suddenly light up. ‘I nearly forgot…’ He stands and moves towards the door.
‘Forgot what?’
‘The best bit of your surprise. Wait here, I’ll be back in a sec.’
I wrap my arms around my knees and wait in the security office for his return. My thoughts quickly drift back to my talent. Sebastian is right. I am terrified of using my talents and my fear only seems to make them worse. I just don’t want to hurt anyone and I don’t know how to overcome that fear.
I hear footsteps in the corridor and turn to them.
‘Close your eyes,’ Sebastian calls out. I oblige and close them, but my curiosity is killing me. What does he have planned?
I hear him move around the cushions and then settle down on the ground beside me.
‘And open,’ he says.
I open my eyes and Sebastian holds a cupcake out in front of me with one candle burning at its centre. ‘Happy birthday,’ he says.
‘But my birthday’s not for…’ my voice trails off. I haven’t kept track of the date since before I was in the hospital. ‘Is it really my birthday?’ I ask, completely dumbfounded.
‘Yes,’ Sebastian laughs.
‘I could have sworn…’
‘Elle?’ I glance up at him. ‘It’s not every day you turn eighteen. Make a wish.’ He nods at the burning candle.
I smile and blow the lone candle out, closing my eyes as I make my wish.
‘What did you wish for?’ he asks, his eyes burning with curiosity.
‘I wished that we had another cupcake so I didn’t have to share this one,’ I reply, poking my tongue out.
He laughs and pulls out another one from behind him. ‘Your wish is my command.’
I grin and take one of the cakes from him and take a bite. It’s incredibly delicious and I can’t remember the last time I had cake.
‘Where did you get this?’ I groan, enjoying every bite.
‘The market the other day,’ he says. ‘I saw a stand selling them and couldn’t resist.’
I smile and take another bite. I chew slowly, wanting to savour every mouthful.
‘What did you really wish for?’ he asks, quietly.
I sigh. ‘I can’t tell you, because this is one wish I really want to come true.’
He looks at me gravely, but then his eyes spark with a hint of mischief. ‘Maybe it’s about to,’ he says, with a smile.
He leans in towards me and I’m about to lean into him, when a scream shatters the silence from down the corridor. We both freeze, our faces so close I can feel his breath on my lips.
The scream comes again and we jump up, both racing for the door. That voice sounded like it was April.
CHAPTER SEVEN
We rush along the corridor and burst out into the entrance foyer of the station. April stands against one of the walls, cowering away from a large, mangy looking animal that heaves and pants at her.
‘What the hell is that!’ she yells, almost trying to push her body into the wall.
‘It’s a dog,’ I respond with certainty, though I’ve never seen one in real life. I move towards the animal cautiously. It has a dark russet coloured fur with two large white patches on its back and a small white mark on its ear. It wags its tail and looks at each of us, excitedly. It doesn’t appear particularly dangerous, but it has got really sharp looking teeth.
Sebastian stays next to me as we move closer to the dog. The animal is no higher than my knee but we still approach it cautiously.
‘Where did it come from?’ Sebastian asks.
‘I-I don’t know,’ April says. ‘When I came in I was attacked by the thing.’ She slowly edges her way along the wall, attempting to get further and further away from the dog.
‘I don’t think it’s dangerous…’ I hedge. I crouch down and hold one hand out towards it. The dog slowly approaches me.
‘What are you doing Elle?’ April hisses.
‘It’s fine,’ I respond. ‘I saw this in a movie once. I think this is how you approach them.’
‘Are you sure?’ Sebastian asks, coming to crouch beside me. Instead of reaching his hand out to the dog, he lightly holds one hand on my back as if waiting to teleport me away from the animal if it decides to use its razor sharp teeth on me.
The dog sniffs my hand, inspecting it before panting and giving it a slobbery lick. I giggle. ‘I think it’s friendly.’
I move closer and lightly place my hand on the dog’s head. Its fur is thick and a little matted. The animal nuzzles its head into my hand as though it enjoys being touched.
‘It likes you,’ Sebastian says, grinning beside me and slowly reaching his own hand out towards it. The dog eyeballs him, but allows Sebastian to pat him with me.
‘Are you guys crazy?’ April asks. ‘It looks like it’s about to attack.’
I laugh. ‘April, don’t worry. He’s just a little dirty.’ I was just as dirty a couple of hours ago.
The dog pauses and almost raises one of his eyebrows as if to say, ‘it’s really not my fault.’
I smile and raise my other hand to pat its head. ‘I know you couldn’t help it. It’s not very nice outside.’ I feel myself getting lost in the dog’s deep brown eyes. ‘How did you survive out there?’ I ask aloud.
April whimpers. ‘Elle, the dog’s feral. You need to put it outside.’
The dog lets out a soft growl in response. I look behind me at April who has picked a rotting plank of wood from the ground and holds it out between her and the dog.
‘Don’t be silly. He’s fine.’
‘Yeah April, he seems really friendly,’ Sebastian agrees. ‘What should we call him?’ He turns to me to ask.
‘Don’t even think of naming it,’ April says. ‘Naming it means you intend to keep it and I won’t have that thing staying here!’
Sebastian and I both ignore April’s comment as we both back and forth with different names for the dog.
‘Max,’ Sebastian suggests.
‘Lucky?’ I counter
‘Jack?’
We continue to try different names, but none of them seem right. I shake my head and look deep into the dog’s eyes. Then it comes to me.
‘How about Copper,’ I say, lifting my eyes to Sebastian’s.
He smiles in response. ‘Copper,’ he tries the name aloud. ‘I like it. Are you a Copper?’ Sebastian asks the dog, ruffling up his fur with his hands.
The dog jumps up and licks Sebastian’s face causing us to laugh. ‘Well, that’s settled,’ we both agree.
‘You guys aren’t keeping him…’ April says, but I barely hear her words. Something about Copper being here feels right and he keeps a smile plastered across my face as we continue to pat him.
‘We should go show him to Kels, she’s going to flip!’ Sebastian suggests. ‘She’s just down in Mia’s carriage.’
I grin in response. ‘She’s going to love him!’
We both jump up and call Copper to follow us downstairs. I hear April groaning behind us, but it’s a groan of begrudging acceptance. She may not like the dog, but it’s clear Copper is here to stay.
Kelsey does flip out when she sees Copper. The dog is gentle with her, even when she’s a little rough with patting him.
‘Where did you find him?’ Mia asks us, as we watch Kelsey playing with the dog.
‘Actually, he found us,’ Sebastian responds.
She frowns. ‘But where did he come from?’
‘We don’t know,’ I say.
‘Well, wherever he came from, he looks like he’s had a bit of a rough run. It’ll be nice to have a dog around again.’ She smiles down at the dog. I’d never really thought about how families used to keep pets. The concept had always seemed strange to me, but after meeting Copper I totally get it.
We spend a while chatting with Mia about things we need to do to look after the dog. She used to have one and her eyes become sad as she talks about it. They wouldn’t let anyone in the ARCs keep their animals when they came in, so a lot of people lost beloved pets on the day of impact.
I take Kelsey with me when we leave Mia’s carriage and we head along the train tracks to our own. Sebastian walks us to the door and Copper follows, keeping close to my heels.
I let Kelsey and Copper into the carriage but pause before I enter myself. I turn to face Sebastian who stands right behind me. ‘I didn’t thank you for tonight,’ I say to him. ‘I absolutely loved it.’
‘No problem. I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish the movie.’
I shrug. ‘I wasn’t really watching it anyway,’ I say, with a smile.
He grins back at me, causing my heart to flutter.
‘Well,’ he says, lifting one hand up to my face to slowly tuck a stray hair behind my ear. ‘Happy birthday.’
He leans forward and gives me a kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes and breath in deeply, wishing he could stay close to me for a moment longer.
He pulls back and I open my eyes to him, smiling. ‘Thanks.’ The word gets stuck in my throat, as I catch his gaze. His eyes are smouldering as he watches me, and my heart races as tingles work their way down my arms. For once, they are nothing to do with my talent.
I hear movement in the tunnel and look over to see April creeping towards the carriage next to ours. She clamps one hand over her eyes. ‘Just pretend I’m not here. I know I am,’ she says, rushing to get into the train.
Once the door is closed behind her we both let out a laugh. ‘I guess that’s my cue to go to bed,’ I say.
Sebastian takes a step back and I feel colder now that he’s moved away from me. ‘See you in the morning?’ he asks.
I nod, sad to see our night end. I don’t want to say goodbye right now. ‘See you then,’ I reply. I turn to my door and let myself into the carriage, softly closing it behind me.
I lean my back against the door, waiting for my heart to stop racing. The dog is already settled on the end of our makeshift bed and giving me a puzzled look.
‘You better not snore,’ I tell him, pushing myself off the door and getting into bed. Copper snoring is the last thing on my mind though, as I find my way under the covers. All I can think about is what would have happened with Sebastian if April hadn’t interrupted us.
The station is a flurry of activity in the morning as April prepares everyone for M’s retrieval mission. I want to help, but April thinks it will look bad if I’m involved in the planning.
The people here don’t trust me and she’s already struggling to keep them all in line. She doesn’t want to push against them and cause any discord, so I’m left completely out of the loop. Instead of getting in the way, I head to the clinic to help Aiden and Henry.
Copper seems to follow me everywhere I go, but when we get to the clinic he gravitates immediately towards Jane’s room. I follow him in and find him sitting at the end of Jane’s bed with his head resting on top of her feet. I pull a chair over and pat him. ‘I still think she’ll get past this,’ I say, hopefully.
Copper almost seems to nod in agreement with me and I know he feels the same way I do. I rest my head on top of his. ‘She’s going to be okay,’ I whisper, mostly to myself.
‘I heard we had a new addition to the group’ Aiden says, from the doorway.
I lift my head to look at him. ‘Yeah, sorry. I hope it’s okay I brought him here. He seems to like it.’
‘It’s no problem’ he responds, smiling and coming to sit in the chair on the opposite side of Jane’s bed. ‘I once read a study on how companions
hip could help patients become stronger. Maybe he’ll help her.’
‘Maybe,’ I respond. I hesitate before continuing and asking the question I’ve been dreading. ‘How is she Aiden?’
He sighs and rubs the ridge between his eyes tiredly. ‘She’s not doing so well today. Henry thinks it’s a waste of resources to continue searching for a way to help her, but I can’t just give up.’
I look at Jane, wishing I had the knowledge to help her. ‘What’s been the problem? Why isn’t she waking up?’
‘She’s been dosed with talents, like you were in the hospital, but she doesn’t have your ability to adapt so her body rejects it. The talents they injected are like a strong infection. Her body’s trying to fight it, but she’s not strong enough and she’s losing. If we can’t neutralise them or treat them, she will die.’
I chew on my lower lip as I watch her. ‘And my blood samples haven’t helped?’
He shakes his head. ‘What you have is so unique, I’m not sure it can be replicated. Henry thinks we can find a way to stop the cells from mutating any further, but we can’t reverse what’s happened to them. In Jane’s case, the damage is already done. He doesn’t think it’s possible to reverse it.’
He pulls Jane’s hand into his own, clasping it tightly. His eyes are wet with unshed tears.
I look away and focus on Copper. His eyes seem sad as he looks up at me. ‘We should go,’ I say, as much to the dog as to Aiden. ‘April’s going in for M tonight. I want to be there when she leaves.’
Aiden nods, but doesn’t look my way. His eyes are totally focused on Jane.
I don’t need to tell Copper to get down. He hops off the bed and follows me from the room as though he can sense it’s time to go.
The station is quiet when we return and as I walk in through the entrance Copper growls. I look behind me to see Luke following me down the stairs. He must be returning from a stint on lookout.
He smirks as he looks at Copper, like he doesn’t believe the dog could hurt him. With Luke’s talent for creating fire, he’d probably be right, but I’m sure Copper could get in a few choice bites if he ever needed to.
I turn away and continue down to the staff entrance, ignoring the creepy feeling I have on the back of my neck. I can tell Luke’s still watching me.
Destined (The ARC Book 4) Page 7
