Switched

by Аманда Хокинг

  Everyone at school was staring at me like I had three-heads, except for Tegan who refused to even make eye contact. That made me feel a little better, and after spending the night feeling a tad heartbroken about everything, it was a nice pick-me-up.

  Patrick bounded over to me like a golden retriever when he caught sight of me. He threw his arms around me and wrapped me an uncomfortable bear hug. From him, I got the explanation about everybody’s attitude.

  Apparently, Matt had gone ballistic at the school the day I had gone missing, and blamed everyone there for letting in a “bad influence” like Finn. From the start, he had been convinced that Finn had something to do with it, and I was sometimes surprised about how accurate Matt’s intuition was.

  I fed Patrick a similar story to the one I’d told Matt and Maggie. Finn and I had run off to his friend’s cabin on a whim, and then I had come home.

  Patrick tried to press for details about the status of our relationship, but I kept insisting that we were just friends. It pained me knowing that we weren’t even that, but it was the easiest explanation I had.

  The day dragged on and on. It didn’t help that I found myself constantly looking around for Finn. Part of me kept insisting that the last few days had been a bad dream, and that Finn should still be here, watching me like he always did. On top of that, I kept feeling like I was being watched. My neck got that scratchy feeling it did when Finn stared at me for too long, but whenever I turned around, there wasn’t anybody there. At least not anybody worth noting.

  When I walked out to Matt’s car, I was absolutely certain someone was watching me. I looked all over the parking lot for Finn’s car, but there was nothing. At home I felt distracted and ill at ease. I excused myself from supper early and went up to my room. I peered out my curtains, hoping to find Finn lurking around somewhere nearby, but no such luck. Every time I looked for him and didn’t find him, my heart hurt a little bit more.

  By the time I went to bed, I had convinced myself that it must be Finn.

  Before he had left, he said that when I was ready, he would find me. He was probably still tracking me, but because of everything that had happened with Matt, he had to keep at a distance. But he was out there, and I knew it. I tossed and turned all night, trying to decide what to do.

  The horrible truth was that I missed Finn, a lot more than I should. I didn’t know how much longer he’d be hanging around. Even if I was some princess, there could only be so much time he could devote to tracking me.

  Eventually, he’d have to move on and find someone else. I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t like the idea of him moving on when I hadn’t.

  Around five in the morning, I gave up entirely on sleep. I looked out the window again, and this time I thought I saw something. He was out there, hiding nearby. I couldn’t take it anymore. Matt and Maggie were still sound asleep, and it wasn’t like I was running away this time. I just needed to go out and talk to Finn, to make sure he was still there. I didn’t even bother changing out of my pajamas or fixing my hair. Since I was falling for Finn, and he wasn’t feeling anything for me, I probably should’ve tried harder with my appearance, but I was in a hurry.

  Hastily, I climbed out onto the roof. Once again, I tried to grab onto the branch and swing to the ground like Finn had. As soon as my fingers grabbed the branch, they slipped off and I fell to the ground, landing heavily on my back. All the wind had been knocked out of me, and I coughed painfully. I would’ve loved to lay in the lawn for ten more minutes and try to ease the pain, but I was afraid that Matt or Maggie had heard something. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could and rounded the hedges towards the neighbors’ house.

  Nobody was there. The street was completely deserted. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself to ward off the cold that was seeping in and looked around. I know he had been out here. I had seen something. Maybe my fall had scared him away, like he thought it was Matt or something. I decided to walk a little farther down the street, investigating everyone’s lawn for a hidden tracker.

  My back ached from the fall, and my knee felt a little twisted and weird. That left me hobbling down the street in my pajamas at five in the morning. I had truly lost my mind.

  Then I heard something. Footsteps? Somebody was definitely following me, and based on the dark chill running down my spine, it wasn’t Finn. It was hard to explain how exactly I knew it wasn’t him, but I knew it just the same. Slowly, I turned around.

  A girl was standing there, a few feet behind me. In the glow from the streetlamp, she looked ravishing. Her hair was cut in a short brown pixie cut and stood out all over. Her skirt was short and her black leather jacket went down to her calves. A wind came up, blowing back her coat a bit, and she reminded me of some kind of action star, like she should be in The Matrix. But the thing that caught my attention the most was that she was barefoot.

  “Okay… um, I’m going to go home now,” I announced. She was just staring at me, so I felt like I had to say something.

  “Wendy Everly, I think you should come with us,” she said with a sly smile.

  “Us?” I asked, but then I felt him behind me.

  I don’t know where he had been before that, but suddenly, there was presence behind me. Cautiously, I looked over my shoulder. A tall man with dark, slick-backed hair was staring down at me. He was wearing the same jacket as the girl, and I thought it was neat that they had matching outfits, like a crime fighting duo. He smiled sinisterly at me, and that’s when I decided that I was probably in trouble.

  “That’s a really nice invitation, but my house is like three houses down.” I pointed towards it, as if I didn’t think they already knew exactly where I lived. “So I think that I should probably just get home before my brother starts looking for me.”

  “You should’ve thought of that before you left the house, shouldn’t you?” the guy suggested wickedly. I really wanted to take a step forward so I’d be away from him, but I thought that would only make him pounce on me. I could probably take the girl, but I wasn’t so sure about him. He was like a foot taller than me.

  “I just needed a little breath of fresh air,” I explained lamely. The girl laughed lightly, and I couldn’t stop thinking of her bare feet. I suddenly thought of Elora, and the way she’d been barefoot, and the way I had no shoes in my closet. “You guys are trackers?”

  “You’re a quick one, aren’t you?” the girl smiled wider at me.

  “But I already told Finn I wasn’t going back!” I protested, feeling irritated. Finn had promised me that he’d respect my decision, but apparently he’d run and narced on me, so they’d sent these two clowns to bring me back.

  “I want nothing to do with you guys or Elora or anything.”

  “Finn?” Her smile twisted into something surprised and pleased. She licked her lips and looked past me at the tracker standing behind me. “I told you it was her.”

  I might have said too much. These two were trackers, but maybe not the same kind as Finn. Maybe they were bounty hunters or kidnappers or just big fans of chopping up girls into little pieces and disposing of them in a ditch.

  Fear was creeping through me, but I tried not to let on. If they were actually tracking me, they would be able to sense my distress anyway, but I did not want that at all.

  “Well, this has been a blast, but I have to get ready for school. Big test and all that.” I started taking a step away, but the guy’s hand clamped instantly on my arm in a very painful fashion.

  “Don’t damage her!” the girl insisted, her eyes flashing wide. “She’s not to be hurt!” Not to be hurt. Okay. That’s a good thing. I can work with that, at least. Maybe I could use it to my advantage.

  “Yeah, easy on the merchandise!” I tried to pull my arm from him, but he refused to let go.

  I had already decided that I wasn’t going wherever these two wanted to take me. Even if it was just back to Förening with Elora, I still didn’t want that, especially if I was going to be forced. Since they were
under some kind of instruction not to hurt me, I thought I might have some leeway with fighting them. I only had to get a few houses down, then I’d be at home, and Matt kept a gun under his bed. He was ridiculously protective of me.

  I elbowed the guy in the stomach as hard as I could. He made a coughing sound and doubled over but didn’t let go of my arm. I kicked him in the shin and raised my arm so I could bite his hand that was gripping me. He yowled in pain, and then the girl was in front of me. He had let go of me, and she tried to grab me, so I punched her. Unfortunately, she dodged it, so my fist just connected with her shoulder. Then I was off balance, and the guy grabbed me around the waist. I started screaming and kicked at him as hard as I could.

  Apparently he got tired of that, so he dropped me on the ground. I was on my feet instantly, and he grabbed my arm again and turned me so I was facing him.

  He raised his hand and slapped me harder than I had ever been hit before.

  Everything went white and there was a ringing in my ear. He let go of me, so I collapsed backwards on the grass behind me.

  “I said not to hurt her!” the girl hissed.

  My neck ached from the force of his hit, and my jaw screamed painfully. The back of my eye had a spreading pain, but I knew I couldn’t just take it laying down. I tried to stagger to my feet. She kicked me, not hard enough to really hurt, but enough so I’d fall back. I laid on my back and stared up the lightening sky and realized that I didn’t stand a chance against them.

  “I didn’t! I was subduing her!” the guy growled and looked down at me. “And if she doesn’t knock it off, I’ll subdue her again, but harder this time!”

  “Let’s just get her to the car,” she sounded exasperated.

  He bent down to try and pick me up, but I hit away his hands. I was laying on my back, and I lifted up my legs. I wasn’t really trying to kick him, but I was going to use my legs to push him back if he came near me. In response, he hit my calf hard enough to give me a Charlie horse, which I just gritted my teeth through. He put his knee on my stomach, holding me down so I couldn’t fight as much. When he tried to grab me, I pushed him back with my hands, so he grabbed my wrists, pressing them tightly together with one hand.

  “Stop!” he commanded. My eyes were welling with tears because I knew I couldn’t really fight him off, and I had no idea where he was going to take me or what he would do with me. I tried to pull my hands free, but he just squeezed tighter and my bones felt like they were about to snap. “Just stop!

  We’re going to take you no matter what!”

  “Like hell you are!” Finn barked, his voice coming from out of nowhere.

  I swiveled my head, trying to see around the guy that had me pinned to the ground. The girl stood just to the side of us, but between her and the guy I could see Finn, and I had honestly never been so happy to see anyone anymore.

  Tears of relief spilled over my cheeks, but I didn’t even care. From where I was laying and the way the street light him, Finn looked glorious towering over everyone.

  “Oh, dammit,” the girl sighed. “If you hadn’t spent so much time fighting with her, we’d be out of here by now.”

  “She was the one fighting with me!” the guy insisted.

  “Now I’m the one fighting with you!” Finn growled, glaring at him.

  “Get off her! Now!”

  “Finn, can’t we just talk about this?” She was trying to sound sultry and flirty when she took a step closer to Finn, but he didn’t even look at her, making him score even more points with me. “I know how you feel about duty, but there’s got to be some kind of arrangement we can come to.” She took another step closer to him, so he pushed her back, so hard she stumbled and fell backwards.

  “I hate fighting with you, Finn,” the guy muttered, and reluctantly, he let go of my hands and took his knee off my stomach. I took the opportunity to try and kick him in the nuts, and reflexively, he whirled on me and smacked me hard again.

  Before I could even curse him for hitting me again, Finn was on him. I had rolled onto my side, cradling my repeatedly injured face, so I could only see part of what was going on. My attacker had managed to get to his feet, but I could hear the sounds of Finn punching him. The girl leapt on his back to stop him, but Finn elbowed her in the face, so she collapsed to the ground, cradling her bleeding nose.

  “Enough!” The guy had cowered down, putting his arms over his face to protect himself form anymore blows. “We’re done! We’ll get out of here!”

  “You better fucking get out of here!” Finn shouted, sounding angrier than I had even known he was capable of. “If I see you anywhere near her again, I will kill you!”

  The guy walked over to the girl and helped her to her feet, then they both turned and headed down the street to a black Porsche parked nearby. Finn stood on the sidewalk in front of me, watching them until they got in the car and sped off down the road. When he was certain they were gone, he smoothed out his black hair and turned to me.

  I was still laying on the ground, and he knelt down next to me. Tears were drying on my cheeks, but I didn’t even bother trying to wipe them away.

  Gently, his placed his hand on my cheek where I had been slapped, and the skin was tender, so it stung a little, but I refused to show it. His hand felt too good to push away. His dark eyes were pained when he looked me over, and as terrible as everything had been up until this moment, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything because it led to this, to him touching me and looking at me like that.

  “I’m sorry it took me so long.” He pursed his lips tightly, blaming himself for not getting here sooner. “I was sleeping, and I didn’t wake up until you were completely panicked.”

  “You sleep in your clothes?” I asked, looking at his usual dark jeans and button-up shirt combo.

  “Sometimes,” Finn admitted, and he pulled his hand from my face, much to my dismay. “I knew something was up today. I could feel it, but I couldn’t pinpoint it because I couldn’t stay as close to you as I would’ve liked. I never should’ve slept at all.”

  “No, you can’t blame yourself.” I tried to sit up and Finn took my hand, helping me up. “It was my fault for coming out of my room.”

  “What were you doing out here?” Finn looked at me curiously, and I looked at the ground, feeling embarrassed.

  “I thought I saw you,” I admitted quietly. His face went dark again and he looked away from me.

  “I should’ve been here,” he said, almost under his breath, and then he got to his feet. He held out his hand to me and pulled me to my feet. I grimaced a little, but what hurt the worst was my back from falling from the tree. “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I forced a smile. “A little sore, but fine.” He touched my cheek again, just with his fingertips, sending flutters through me. He was looking at my injury very seriously, and then his eyes met mine, dark and wonderful. It was at that moment that I knew that I had officially fallen for him.

  “You’re going to have a bruise,” Finn murmured dropping his hand.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I insisted. “It’s mine. I was being an idiot. I should’ve known…” I trailed off. I had been about to say that I should’ve known it was dangerous, but how would I have possibly known that? I had no idea who those people were. “Who were they? What did they want?”

  “Vittra,” Finn growled, glaring down the road as if they would appear at the sound of their name. He tensed up as he scanned the horizon, then put his hand on the small of my back so he could usher me away. “Come on. I’ll explain more in the car.”

  “The car?” I stopped where I was, making him press his hand harder on my back until he realized I wasn’t going anywhere. His hand stayed there, and I had to ignore the small pleasure of it so I could argue with him. “I’m not going in the car. I have to go home before Matt realizes I’m gone.”

  “You can’t go back there,” Finn was apologetic but firm. “I’m sorry. I know
this is directly against your wishes, but it’s not safe for you there anymore.

  The Vittra have found you. I will not leave you here.”

  “I don’t even understand what this Vittra is, and Matt is…” I shifted uncomfortably and looked backed towards my house.

  Matt was tough, as far as people went, but I wasn’t sure what kind of match he would be for the guy that attacked me. And even if he could take him, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to bring that element into the house. If something happened to Matt or Maggie because of me, I could never forgive myself.

  “Wendy, we must hurry, before Matt awakes and in case they decide to come back,” Finn insisted urgently. Reluctantly, I nodded and let him take me away.

  Apparently, he’d run to rescue me this morning, because his car was still parked at his house two blocks away. It was really starting to lighten, and I knew that Matt would be getting up any minute, so I quickened my pace. That pleased Finn who wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.

  “It’s going to break his heart.” I swallowed hard and refused to cry again, not so soon after I had just cried. I hated what I was turning into. In the past five years, I had cried less often than I had in this past week.

  “He’d want you to be safe,” Finn assured me, and he was right. But Matt wouldn’t know I was safe. He wouldn’t know anything about me.

  “Do you have a cell phone?” I asked hopefully, looking up at Finn.

  “Why?” Finn kept glancing around as we approached his car. He pulled his keys from his pocket and used the keyless entry to unlock it.

  “I need to call Matt and let him know that I’m okay,” I said. Walking in front of me, Finn held the passenger door open for me and I got inside. As soon as he got in the driver’s seat, I turned to him. “Well? Can I call him?”

  “You really want to?” Finn seemed kind of surprised when he started the car.

  “Yes! Of course I do!” I exclaimed.

  Finn threw the car in gear and sped off down the road. The whole town was still asleep, except for us. He glanced over at me, debating. Finally, he grudgingly dug in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. When he handed it to me, I smiled gratefully.