The Watchers

by Lynnie Purcell

  “You’re sort of pushy,” he teased, his lips still touching mine.

  “Yep.”

  He lightly traced the side of my face with the tips of his fingers, his face still very close. “Goodnight.”

  “Night.”

  He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Normally, you say something smart when I say goodbye.”

  “I’m saving up my smart replies for when I can think straight,” I told him.

  He laughed and kissed me again, a brief goodbye kiss. My happiness faded. “Be careful with whatever you’re doing tonight. But don’t let them get Susan. I couldn’t bear the thought of them killing her after she was strong enough to survive…”

  He reached out and touched my necklace then moved his fingers along my collar bone like he was thinking of the right thing to say. “Trust me.”

  I nodded, and opened the screen door slightly. “I do.”

  His voice stopped me before I could go inside. “Clare?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You make my jacket look hot.”

  I rolled my eyes, secretly pleased. He grinned, knowing how I liked the compliment then left. He walked back to his Audi, his hands tucked in his pockets. I waited at the screen-door for him to leave, wishing I could see him in the dark-tinted car. I waved when he drove off, his red tail lights the only light on the dark street. Not knowing if he had waved back, I went inside. I shut and locked the door after me, checking the deadbolt twice to be sure.

  Ellen was sitting on the couch to my left, bundled up in her favorite afghan. Her shoulders were hunched forward as she watched the television. I smiled, realizing why the house was lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “Hi,” I said walking into the living room.

  “Ahhh!!!” She jumped and slid off the couch in shock, looking absolutely, and wonderfully, ridiculous. I laughed and went over to help her up.

  “You’re a spazz.” I looked at the TV “Which one is it? The guy that never dies or the guy that attacks you in your sleep?”

  “Neither of them dies, that’s why there are so many sequels, but it’s Jason this time.” She put a hand over her heart and looked at me sheepishly. “What are you doing home so early?”

  “Are you complaining that I’m early and I follow your curfews, or are you upset I scared you?”

  She stuck her tongue out. “I just thought you would want to make the most of your time with your new boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend, Mom.”

  “If you say so, sweetie.” She smirked. “Nice jacket. A friendly gesture I take it?”

  I kissed her on the cheek, not able to hide my good mood any longer. “I love you,” I told her, “even if you are a pain in the…”

  The phone rang, echoing through the house with a sharp, startling, noise. Her wide eyes returned to the television to watch as someone else died in a morbidly creative way. “Get that will you, sweetie?” she asked.

  “Yeah. It’s probably Alex. I’m expecting her call.”

  I ran to the kitchen and picked the phone up. “Hello?”

  “If you ever do that to me again, I will de-friend you quicker than you can say southern-fried-chicken, do you understand me?” The words sounded as if they were being forced through clenched teeth.

  “Hi, Alex.”

  “You had no right to go wandering off into the forest like that. And you certainly had no right including me in your ridiculous plan. Are you aware of what’s been happening to people? Did you know the woman you found has a broken arm, internal bleeding, a concussion, and was in the beginning stages of hypothermia? Are you aware that could have been you? What do you know about hiking? Did you even go prepared? I bet you were wearing that stupid jacket of yours. And those shoes! Do you have any idea of how worried I’ve been? You didn’t even tell me what you were planning! I can’t believe you! Of all the stupid things!”

  I smiled into the phone as she continued to shriek, knowing she was this mad because she cared about me, and I had worried her. As she spoke, I fixed a sandwich, my hunger increasing now that I was home. When she finally stopped and demanded an explanation, I gave her mine, not sharing everything, but explaining my desire to do some good, knowing she would forgive me.

  As I sat down at the table with my food, my lips flying over my explanation, I felt an amazing surge of warmth. I had thought that moving here would be hell. I had thought that nothing could compare to the places I had lived in and loved, but this place had somehow managed to creep up and surprise me. I’d never been happier.

  Happy, except for the fact that I was perched on the edge of a coming storm.

  Chapter 13

  “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 D
aniel’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 me or you. 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, glad I didn’t have to feign enthusiasm.

&n
bsp; 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, 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 trash can. We were next to a large door that led out into the woods. “We’re going outside?”