PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  I messed up his sleep. No, those attacks messed up his sleep, but still, it’s my fault, indirectly. Guilt hits me like a ton of bricks. I push away my guilt for the time being, I can’t explain it to him anyway. “About half a pot last night. Er, earlier this morning. I had a two-hour nap, a blissful two hours of nightmare-free sleep! And right now, I’m working on cup number four,” I beam a large smile at him.

  I resume my goofy dancing and dance towards the pantry to get Cheerios for Alex.

  “You’ve either had coffee and plenty of it, or you scored concert tickets.” I hear Henry laugh from behind me.

  “Yes to the first and I wish to the second.”

  I dance around to the other side of the room to get a bowl and dance my way back over to Alex. I sing to Alex, and he giggles in between bites of his cereal.

  “Breakfast and a show? I think I’ll stay here permanently,” Barry says around a yawn.

  “You could really use some of the secret magic I discovered,” I grin.

  “Um, Pretty Boy isn’t my type,” he spits out.

  I ignore him and pull down a coffee cup from the cabinet, and proceed to pour him some coffee. “I made it extra strong this morning. Have some. You’ll be chipper in no time.” The next song interrupts my thoughts and I continue being a goofball, loving the giggles Alex sings out.

  “If this makes me do that, will one of you please hit me over the head with a frying pan?” Barry says to Leland and Henry.

  “I promise to take a video before anyone takes you out. Personally, I don’t think a frying pan’ll work. We’ll just pull out the couch and give you a shove,” I say, and laugh so hard I begin to snort. Henry and Leland join me with their laughter.

  “Did you show Leland the picture you took?” Henry asks me.

  Leland then proceeds to pull out his phone and show us all his background. Barry jumps up from his chair and charges towards me. I squeal but find myself cornered near the coffee pot.

  “Who else got that photo?!” he shouts.

  “Only Leland,” I giggle harder. “I swear!” Because I’m still laughing he doesn’t believe me. He crouches and begins to stalk me, like a panther that just found his next meal.

  Crap, my only options are attempting to hop the bar or run straight into his arms.

  “Where ya gonna go, Princess?” he taunts.

  I stop laughing and turn away from him. I take a sip of my coffee and put my iPod on the counter, pretending I’m not playing anymore. It works out in my advantage. He straightens and crosses his arms over his chest, leaving his feet about shoulder width apart.

  If I time it just right, I can slip right under him. I set my cup down, lean my hip on the counter and mimic his expression while waiting for the right moment to make my move.

  He opens his mouth, probably to say something stupid, and I dart right for him. His eyes widen in surprise. He readies himself, waiting for me to go left or right. Just outside of the reach of his arms, I drop into a baseball slide and slide right between his legs. Then hop up into a run and dart into the bathroom.

  “We’ll finish this after school, Princess . . . ” Barry yells through the door.

  Since he lives here now, I don’t get a break from him at all. Protector or not, Barry is still Barry, and I don’t see him letting this go.

  Chapter 11

  The Demon Is Outted

  In art, Skeeter and I giggle about Barry and the couch while we work on our paintings. She gave me a list of options to get Seth back for him making me choke on my chicken. The list consists of four options to exact my revenge. One will not be used, ever, one involves a bathing suit, one involves a dirty diaper, and one involves a glass of water.

  Derik slides his chair over when Skeeter goes to the back for different paints. “You seem better today, but you still look like shit,” he laughs. “How ya sleepin’ these days?”

  “Thanks for the compliment, you’re so incredibly sweet. Maybe I will sit with you at lunch after all,” I say, dripping with sarcasm. I give him a fake, sickly sweet smile and bat my eyelashes. I really wish he would just ignore me. My days go fabulously when he does.

  “Sure you will,” he snorts. “Sweet dreams tonight,” he sneers as he shoves the chair back.

  I look at him, really look at him. He looks exhausted, like he hasn’t slept in weeks. He’s got deep purple bags under his eyes, his skin is almost an ashy gray color, and his hair looks oily and flat. He looks like he’s lost some weight in some places, and gained it in others.

  And he thinks I look like crap?

  I wonder if he’s okay, health-wise. He’s never been my favorite person, but I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

  On a whim, I quickly ask him about it. “Derik, are you okay? Is something wrong?”

  He half smiles and I can see a hint of surprise in his eyes. It’s gone as quickly as it came. He has now reverted back to jerk face.

  “I’m fine,” he says with a sneer. He walks away mumbling and goes over to some guys in the corner.

  Luckily, he takes an empty seat with his friends and starts working on the assignment Mr. Becker has given us.

  “Alrighty then, sorry I asked,” I mumble to myself.

  “Don’t worry about him. He’s been snippy with everyone for a few days now,” Skeeter says, sitting in her seat again.

  Well, whatever’s bothering him, I hope he figures it out soon. I won’t let Derik ruin my day. I swallow my odd worry for him and look to Skeeter and smile.

  “Revenge Option Three,” I say, and she starts laughing.

  “Yes!” She gives me a fist bump. “I so cannot wait for lunch now!”

  As we work on our paintings, I hear some snickering from behind us. I glance over my shoulder, and see that Derik has fallen asleep, face down on his canvas and one of his friends is painting something on his face. I shake my head.

  When the bell rings, I find Barry just outside the door, like usual. Maybe he knows what’s going on with Derik. There has to be a reason. Maybe he has a terrible home life.

  I yank on Barry’s shirtsleeve to get him to lean down to me.

  “Look at Derik. Is he having problems at home or something? Do you think he’s sick?” I ask him.

  He twists his head around to find Derik, and does a double take. His biceps flex and the veins on the side of his neck bulge. He grabs my arm and yanks me through the halls, until we arrive at the locker room.

  I assumed he would let go and tell me what’s gotten into him.

  Leland always says never to assume anything. You tend to make an ass out of yourself.

  In this case? I think the ass is Barry.

  He throws open the door to the locker room and drags me in with him.

  Here we stand, in the girl’s locker room, with him gripping my arm like I’m an escaped convict.

  I glance around, and see a few girls stare at Barry and me, with surprise written all over their faces.

  I huff. “Barry! Get . . . ”

  “You will wait here for Flynn,” he cuts me off. “You will not leave alone, and whatever you do, don’t be alone at all, period.”

  I’m confused. I only asked him what was wrong with Derik. What, is he contagious?

  I open my mouth and he glares at me. So I swallow my questions and just nod. He turns for the door and gives me one last look before leaving.

  As I change into my uniform, I think about what just happened. That look he speared me with before he left, I can’t figure it out. It was worry, or maybe regret. But what would he be worried about? Or regret?

  I glance around and notice the class is filing out to the gym. Shit! “Hey, Heidi!” I shout. “Wait up!”

  She smiles and waits near the door as I jog towards her.

  “What’s up with you and Barry? I thought you were with Seth?” She asks, when I reach her.

  “Barry is my brother’s best friend. They just think I need to be escorted everywhere. Losers,” I say in annoyance. It’s not the whole
truth, but it’s not a lie either.

  “Your brother and his friends are as hot as they are weird,” she laughs.

  “You can say that again,” I say distractedly. “The weird part,” I wave my hand when she laughs.

  All through gym, I try to ignore the nagging feeling that something is happening and something is wrong. Barry wouldn’t react that way, if it wasn’t in my best interest.

  I stay close to Heidi and her friends, something I don’t usually do. I’m polite to them, but I tend to stick to myself. A few of the girls seem to not mind that I’m normally a loner, and just ramble about this and that. Favorite make-up products, who they’re crushing, gossip about other classmates, all kinds of girly stuff. I’d tune them out, but they’re providing me with a perfect escape from my worries.

  “Did you hear about that senior girl, Gretchen?” Sarah asks. I shake my head.

  “That red head that was all over Henry?” another girl asks.

  “Henry who?” I ask.

  Sarah rolls her eyes. “Your brother, silly. Keep up.”

  I nod. “I don’t keep track of his fan club, so I have no idea which one she is, or was,” I raise an eyebrow.

  “Well, word has it, that they’re going on a date,” she giggles.

  What? My brother is dating? “News to me,” I shrug.

  I don’t know what’s worse. Listening to the worries inside my head, or these girls gossiping about how hot my brother is. I glance up to the clock on the wall after helping set up equipment. Only forty more minutes of listening to them.

  I groan and move with the group.

  ***

  When the bell rings, I make sure to walk out of the locker room with a group of girls, and meet Flynn at the end of the hall. He ushers me to the cafeteria door, where we always meet up for lunch. I get an ominous feeling as I see everyone there, waiting. The guys look pissed, and Skeeter looks like she might cry. I yank my arm away from Flynn, and go to Skeeter.

  Just as I open my mouth to ask her what happened, we’re both ushered out the door towards the student lot.

  “Follow me,” Barry says to Seth, as he unlocks his Jeep.

  “Can I ride with you?” I whisper to Seth. He nods.

  “It doesn’t matter who you ride with,” Barry glares at me. “Let’s just go, now!”

  What crawled up his butt?

  I climb into the passenger seat of Seth’s car, and we follow Barry away from the school. I look out the windshield and notice the guys in the Jeep seem to be having an animated conversation. I’m kind of enjoying the quiet ride in Seth’s car.

  Well, mostly quiet. Skeeter is sighing and making agitated noises, like the car just isn’t going fast enough. And Seth is tapping his fingers on the gearshift.

  “Will one of you tell me what’s going on that everyone’s in some kind of frenzy?” I finally ask.

  “We figured out the answer to who and why,” Seth says, absently.

  I wait for him to continue, because I’m lost and I have no clue what he’s talking about. After a bit, I can tell he isn’t going to elaborate unless I ask. “What do you mean who and why?” As soon as I say it, it dawns on me. The attacks in the forms of dreams and the stalker! “Oh! Well, tell me! Who? Why?”

  “I can’t believe we never guessed. It’s Derik,” Skeeter informs me.

  I suck in a breath and turn in my seat to look at her and Seth both.

  “The why, is obviously your first day here. You embarrassed him, turned him down, and then chose myself and shape-shifters over him,” Seth says.

  Well, I suppose I really did bring this all on myself. I’m endangering and inconveniencing my friends, my boyfriend, and my family, too.

  Perfect.

  I turn back in my seat and look out the window. “Is he working alone?” I ask.

  Who knows, Derik could’ve gotten a whole fleet of them to go after me. All I did was tell him no and put him in his place. I don’t think I was even that rude to him. It couldn’t have damaged his image in school or even with any of his buddies. There has to be something more to it than this.

  “Two of his friends in school are Devuxen. That’s all we got so far,” Seth says.

  The more I think about it, the more I don’t understand it.

  I can see being rude or spreading rumors around school because of what I said. He’s immature that way. But what I don’t understand is why he would actually want to hurt me because of this.

  Those dreams, yes they’re scary, but he could’ve done worse from what Athan said about them. Yea, I did feel like I was actually choking . . . I don’t even know anymore.

  I growl and tug on my hair. “I don’t get it,” I say, and turn in my seat. “I’m Devuxen enemy number one, because I wouldn’t sit with him at lunch and I won’t be his fling for a day. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and I live with Barry now!” I nearly shout in my confusion. “According to Fane and Athan, he’s basically saying that I’m not safe with anyone, and he’ll take out everyone I’m near, just so he can what, eat my soul because I said no?” I blow out an annoyed breath and wait for one of them to attempt to enlighten me.

  “Devuxen can compel humans. Most humans can’t turn down a devux for anything they ask. That’s why he is doing this, and I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t tried taking it further, yet. You, a human, told him no and embarrassed him in front of his buddies and other peers. He’s the known ladies’ man. Just ask Skeeter,” Seth says.

  “I had no idea he was a demon, I mean a real demon,” she huffs. “The girls that hang around Derik are all . . . Well, honestly they’re dip shits,” she pulls at her seatbelt and looks over to me. “I don’t have any girl friends for this reason, except for you, Jazzy. Now I understand why they’re all about Derik, and follow him everywhere. They can’t help it,” she says sadly.

  “Half the school’s female population is soulless then?” I ask in surprise.

  “Not exactly,” he mumbles as he flips his turn signal to follow Barry. “They survive a few weeks to a month by taking little pieces of a soul at a time, sometimes from several,” I gasp, and he reaches his hand over to pat mine for a second. “If they took a whole soul each time they fed, there would be a large amount of deaths and it would cause too many problems,” he scowls and takes a deep breath before continuing. “When they take small portions of a soul, it slowly changes the victim. It’s like losing a piece of who you truly are and not getting it back or knowing it was taken.”

  The blood drains from my head as I process this information. I’ll be one of the soulless morons, if Derik doesn’t drain me. I won’t even know if he’s taken anything from me.

  “But he has to be physically there for it to happen, so he can’t take your soul in a dream attack,” Seth explains, which calms my fears almost instantly.

  “When he figures out that I can sleep without his interference, he’ll probably be pissed, right? Will he try something more than the dreams?”

  “He’ll figure it out soon enough, but he won’t have the chance to do anything else,” he white-knuckles the steering wheel. “He won’t be able to get to you. I’ll make sure of it,” he growls, and I swallow. Derik wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Why is he provoking Seth by coming after me? He has to have help. He can’t be that stupid to go at it alone.

  Skeeter interrupts my thoughts. “He was the one who turned Steven, didn’t he?” Seth nods his answer.

  “How can he change a human into a devux? What, you bite someone like a vampire?” I snort.

  “I don’t know. It has something to do with the soul of the victim,” he shrugs. “The process kills the victim, but somehow, some change. They aren’t exactly the same person after that,” he answers.

  I nod and stare out the window. The landscape is unfamiliar to me. “Uh, where are we going?”

  “Pack House. The Elders are meeting us there, too. It’s easier to get the whole Pack together on their turf,” he says.

  “Okay,” I sque
ak. More new people, yippy.

  He reaches over and rubs my leg for a minute. I focus on the tingles, trying to calm my growing anxiety. I understand our bond better now, but it still amazes me that it’s real and not just some strange emotion conjured up in a fantasy section of my brain.

  We turn down a bumpy, twisting, dirt lane, lined with trees.

  No wonder Barry has a Jeep. Seth’s Mustang is not built for this type of road.

  A large white house comes into view. It’s huge. The front door is French doors, and the porch stretches the length of the house. It’s a beautiful house, just extra large. I wonder how many rooms there are. My uncle’s six-bedroom home pales in comparison to the size.

  As we get closer, a few A-frame houses, and some sheds, or maybe they’re shacks, come into view. There’re two large fire pits a few yards from the first A-frame house. It’s like community living. I wonder how much of the pack live here, Tony and Flynn don’t. Actually, I have no idea, but this isn’t where we picked them up this morning.

  Barry motions us to park near a weeping willow on the left side of the pack house. When we walk towards the house, Henry pierces me with a furious stare. He literally looks like he’s having a hard time containing his anger. He’s ready for a fight.

  I feel like I’m forgetting something, something important. But Barry and Flynn seem to be about two seconds away from shoving us into the house. I don’t have the time to think about anything other than not tripping over my own two feet.

  As the giants hustle us through the room, passing dozens of angry, concerned and worried faces, I try my best to become invisible.

  I caused this.

  We stop moving, I peek around Seth’s shoulder, and see Fane and Athan in deep conversation near the corner of the room, both looking worried.

  It’s like Fane felt me watching him. He turns to face me and instantly my heart aches, he reminds me of my father. Not his appearance, but the way he looks at me, like I’m important to him and he cares.

  I can’t hold his stare, so I look past him and spot Seth’s parents, Claire and Luke, talking with another shifter and Bastian. Sam, Seth’s brother, is to their left talking to someone I don’t recognize.