Consume

by Shelly Crane

  Ariel and I on the other hand were just listening. And I was being enlightened an awful lot. Number one: Ariel was freaking in love with Patrick. Number two: Patrick was a clueless fool. Number three: I wasn't the only one who noticed Ariel's penchant for the group's fearless leader. Eli tried repeatedly to ask what Ariel thought, but she just shrugged and Patrick just kept going. He did however keep a steady eye on Sarah. I felt bad for Ariel…and Patrick. No matter how much attention he showed Sarah, no matter that she had a crush on him forever, her reputation was the most important thing to her and for some reason, she was convinced that it all revolved around Dee. It didn't of course, but I didn't see Sarah coming to that realization anytime soon.

  So I tried to engage Ariel in another chat to distract her, but the bell rang. We all made our way down the hall to our classes. Eli asked the kid next to me in Math - asked, not used Devourer persuasion - if he could switch seats with him. He was fine with it and now Eli was my new neighbor. Which was fine with me because I sucked at Math.

  Math and I were not on speaking terms.

  ~ ~ ~

  In Art, we were supposed to paint today. Grrr. Paint and I weren't on speaking terms either. I never left painting with my clothes unscathed, no matter the amount of protective clothing. As I slipped my apron on, I laughed a little out loud at Eli. His apron was purple, making his eyes so much brighter, but not matching. He was glorious with his uniform on and apron, all ready for teacher's instructions.

  "What's so funny, Miss Hopkins?" he said and quirked a pierced brow while continuing to attempt the tie of the apron. "You laughing at me?"

  "Let me do it," I said with fake disgust. I tied it loosely and stayed close when he turned.

  "Thanks," he breathed. "So, where do you want to go tonight?"

  I knew he meant in the reverie. "Surprise me."

  "Do you mean that?" He grinned. "Because there're lots of places that I've never taken you that I'd like to." I must've looked confused so he clarified. "They have nothing to do with this po-dunk town."

  "Aah," I trailed off. "Well then take me away, Calgon. I'm game."

  "Calgon?"

  "Never mind." I smiled. "Something my mom used to say."

  "Ok," he said softly. "I'll surprise you then. But you'll have to stay awake after Ariel goes to sleep."

  "Or you could just come over and watch vamp shows with us," I suggested, but I could practically mouth his rebuttal.

  "Girls and vamp shows? No thanks." He played with the ball in his tongue ring with his teeth for a second. "But you gals have fun," he said sarcastically.

  "We will," I retorted and bumped his hip with mine. "We don't need the likes of Eli Thames to have a fantabulous time," I spouted as I pulled my plastic gloves on.

  "I'm offended," he said and held a green gloved hand to his heart. I laughed loudly just as the teacher turned. She glared at me with her precisely manicured eyebrows and I cringed in embarrassment. She always caught me doing crap in her class.

  Eli chuckled. I straightened and went to stand at attention at my side of the desk, waiting for instruction. After that I sat and watched Eli as he started on -no doubt- another masterpiece.

  ~ ~ ~

  Ariel met me eagerly at my locker. She lived near me somewhere, so she said she'd run home and meet me at my house in a few minutes. I agreed, and after stuffing my books into my locker, I slammed the door. The noise was so loud, resounding painfully in my ears.

  I covered them with my hands and waited for the ringing to pass. It did after a few seconds and I looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. Everyone just walked around me and acted normally. Weird.

  I brushed it off and headed for the street. Eli said he'd let me and Ariel hang out and didn't come walk me home. He said the bird was acting strangely anyway and he wanted to get home as soon as possible.

  So I headed home. I walked passed Mike. Some freshman girl was eating up his attention and just thankful to be in his general vicinity. I rolled my eyes and he yelled at my back. "Got a problem, Miss Goody Goody?"

  "Nope," I yelled over my shoulder and waved flippantly.

  I looked back to the street and was blinded. I squinted and threw my hand up to shield my eyes, but my eyes still burned and hurt. I turned and even felt myself crouch down. Then it stopped, just like that. I looked up and around, but no one was acting different. A couple of people were looking at me though, and I felt like a freak. Something was going on with me. I stood quickly to bolt across the street.

  I didn't look in my haste.

  The car didn't have a chance to stop before it was too late. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact…

  It never came.

  I looked up and saw the car had stopped. The woman's face behind the windshield was frozen in her fear of hitting someone. I turned in a slow circle to see that everyone else has frozen, too. No one moved, no one breathed, no one blinked.

  I was so confused until I felt a presence behind me. I turned around quickly and was met with a boy, his face covered in the shadows of the oak tree he was standing under. It reminded me so much of when Eli had first started invading my consciousness. He had always hidden himself in shadow…

  "Who are you?" I asked, because just standing there staring at him seemed a little unproductive.

  "My name is whatever you want it to be," he said sweetly. "What's your name?"

  "Somehow, I think you already know."

  He laughed a deep chuckle. "Clever girl. You are Clara. Nice to meet you. I'm Finn, and you almost passed out on the sidewalk, Clara."

  "What?" I looked around and saw nothing or no one but him and me. "How do you know that?"

  I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, "Call me Mister Know It All."

  "This is a reverie," I realized.

  His body visibly tensed. "How do you know what a reverie is?"

  I thought about how to answer that. Something was going on. "You're a Devourer, aren't you? And this is a reverie? Eli won't like you going into my head, you know."

  He cursed and turned quickly, punching the tree trunk. "Eli, you idiot," he said quietly.

  "How do you know him?" I asked, but I knew exactly how.

  "Let's just say that I'm looking for him," he drawled and stepped out of the shadows. He was a pretty guy, with thick lashes and creamy skin. "Tell Eli for me will you?"

  I noticed he had no accent and no piercings. He wasn't snarky either. He was different for a Devourer. "Sure," I said and immediately came aware on the sidewalk. I was still crouched there and breathing deeply to keep from passing out. Just like he said.

  I glanced up to see Eli running across the quad and parking lot. There were a few people who had stopped to stare at me, but no one asked me if I was ok. The closer Eli got, the more I could see his anger.

  "Show's over," he growled to everyone. "Or you could just stand around like idiots and stare at her instead of helping her!" he shouted just as he reached me. That got people's feet moving.

  He didn't crash into me. He slowed just in time to ease himself into my personal space. He gathered my face in his hands gently. "What's the matter, baby?"

  I couldn't help it, I grinned. He looked confused by that and asked, "Did you hit your head?"

  "No," I said through a small laugh. "You called me baby. You've never called me that before."

  He smirked, but tried to tame it down. "Come on. What happened?"

  "I met a guy named Finn-"

  "Finn was here!" he almost shouted. He smiled, like he was truly happy about something. "Where? What happened?"

  "He said to tell you he was looking for you."

  "He talked to you and then just left?"

  "No. He told me in the reverie I had when I-"

  Eli was no longer smiling. I stopped speaking because I was confused by the sudden contained rage on his face. "He brought you into a reverie?"

  "Yeah," I thought back, "he pulled me in when I got blinded by the sun. But it wasn't just bein
g blinded it was painful and way too bright to just be that." I shook my head. "Anyway, I crouched down to stop the pain and when I did, he pulled me in. I didn't know it though and he made me think I was going to be hit by a car before everyone froze, and then they all disappeared."

  "I can't believe he did that to you," he growled. I looked up at him with confusion on my face. He grasped my arms gently, bringing me closer to him. "And no one gets your reveries anymore, but me."

  The old me, the snarky and spoiled and better-than-everybody me, would have tossed my hair at him and sent him a sympathy giggle before vacating the premises. The new me? The one where Eli was attached to me, literally, and could make my body respond in ways that Tate never dreamed about? She was practically a pool at Eli's feet.

  I basically just held on when he leaned in to kiss me, but he pecked my lips sweetly and hugged me to him. "Finn was my only friend in this whole world. And if he's here, then things are about to get bad for us."

  "But why? He wouldn't just visit you?"

  "No," he answered and leaned back to inspect me, his eyes roaming. "Now, what happened? You almost passed out. That's probably what the bright light was for. Have you been feeling bad?"

  "No," I said truthfully, but then realized, things had been a little weird. "Well, my ears were hurting earlier, and I kind of have a headache now."

  He nodded. "Let's get you to your house and get your some aspirin. You've probably got an ear infection or something."

  "But I haven't been swimming or anything."

  "Well, it's got to be something, Clara," he insisted, his accent extra potent. "Come on."

  As he put an arm around my waist to guide me, he looked both ways, always the ever-careful boy, and then crossed the street. He didn't knock, just went straight in and right to the kitchen. He sat me down at the kitchen table and asked Mrs. Ruth where the aspirin was. She told him and eyed me curiously as Eli got the pills and a glass of water.

  He squatted down in front of me, handed me the pills and raised his eyebrow in waiting for me to take them. I rolled my eyes and took the pills. He smiled at me and then told Mrs. Ruth that I had a headache and he was taking me to my room.

  She nodded to say her acceptance, but still watched me strangely. I was sure she was wondering why I was letting Eli guide me around and shove medicine at me. I frowned as we shuffled down the hall.

  Had I lost my spunk?

  "What on earth are you thinking so hard about?" he said as he held my door open for me.

  "Nothing," I muttered and turned to him. I bumped my nose into his chest as he was so close, or he bumped into me I should say. I looked up at him and any weirdness I felt seemed trivial. He looked tortured and I didn't understand why.

  "Clara," he sighed and grasped my jaw, almost as if to choke me, but his fingers were gentle and careful. And my breaths came faster. He moved us just like that to the closet door, my back barely bumping it. "How's the head now?"

  "Forgotten," I breathed.

  "And the ears? Still painful?" he asked, his middle finger snaking up to circle my ear.

  I shivered. "What ears?"

  He laughed softly. "I'm serious. Tell me what happened out there. All of it."

  I dug through my muddled brain for the answers and eventually could tell him what happened. I told him about my ears hurting, the slamming locker being so incredibly loud, then the bright light and the reverie, and Finn.

  He shook his head and he stared at the wall behind me head. "Something spooked Finn. He'd never come looking for me otherwise."

  "Where do you know him from?"

  He sighed, his breath washing my face in warmth. "He was the only other Devourer I'd ever met who understood…well, understood isn't a good word. Sympathized, I guess. He dislikes what he is, but he hasn't had some revelation like me to push him into being good. Or trying to be. I met him at the Consumed Club in Arequipa."

  "Consumed Club?"

  "A club where Devourers go to…mingle." He rolled his eyes angrily. "It's a place where Devourers and their mates can hang without worrying about any humans seeing anything they shouldn't."

  "And you used to hang out at these clubs?" I asked softly.

  His thumb swept across my lips before settling once more on my jaw line. "Yes," he answered honestly. "I used to be a Devourer just like the rest of them."

  "But you never had a mate, right?"

  "No."

  I felt myself sigh. "So Finn is a…what? You say he's different from them, but he pulled me into a reverie and tried to scare me."

  "He must have been testing you. He couldn't see the string in the reverie," he realized and looked at the one attached to his wrist. "The reverie was his making, and he doesn't know about our bond. That may be good for us, then." He seemed to relax a bit. "If he doesn't know about it like I thought, then maybe word hasn't gotten out yet."

  "I'm sorry that you're stuck here with me," I said and wished I was older, wiser, more capable of taking care of myself.

  "No," he said and shook his head. "No." He moved in easily and right as I sucked in a breath, ready for our lips to connect, the doorbell rang.

  "Crap. Ariel," I told him.

  He made a noise like a growl in his throat. "Horrible timing, Ariel."

  I smiled at him. "Come to me later."

  "Oh, I will. Get her to go to bed soon."

  Three

  I laughed. He moved his hand to the back of my neck. "You're sure you're alright? After everything that happened today?"

  "I'm fine, I promise."

  He tilted my chin and kissed me, speaking against my mouth. "I can't lose you."

  He started to pull away, but I felt him stop, hesitate. Then he pressed closer and forced my mouth open with his in a rare show of being a little out of control of his perfect reins. His hand released my neck and he pulled me to him with gripping, desperate hands.

  I recognized this display for what it was. He was scared. He couldn't be with me every second and that friend of his, Finn, could have just as easily been someone who wasn't a friend. I could have been really hurt, and I got that, but what Eli didn't get was that that could have happened to me even I wasn't with him. Devourers were everywhere, cars were everywhere, drunk drivers were everywhere, accidents happened. My parents were proof of that.

  There was no way to save me from life. He was afraid he was going to lose me, and in truth he was. One day I'd get old and die, or have an untimely accident before then, and he was going to lose me. Maybe he was just now understanding that.

  And I guess that I hadn't really understood that either until just now.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and went to my tiptoes, urging him to lift me, pull me closer. And just as I felt his hands going to the backs of my thighs to do just that, a startled noise reached my ears and it hadn't come from me.

  Eli and I both jerked our eyes to the door, without letting go, to see an entertained Ariel as she pressed her lips together and toed the floor with her boot to keep from laughing. "Woops."

  I smiled in embarrassment and released Eli, but he didn't release me. He leaned forward to my ear, his lips skimming my skin as he whispered. "I'll see you in a bit. Don't trust anyone, not even Finn. If you get pulled into a reverie, just pretend to do what they want until they release you, ok? Don't let them know that you know about us." He pulled back to see if I'd agree, but shot a quick glance at Ariel and then smirked down at me to make Ariel think he was talking dirty to me instead of fearing for my life.

  "Yes, babe," I said sweetly and with true, pure sincerity, "I promise."

  His looked morphed to adoration and satisfaction before he kissed me once more, then sighed as he released me slowly. He made his way to the door and tipped his head to Ariel. "Ariel," he said dryly to show her his amused annoyance with her for interrupting us.

  "Eli," she retorted. We listened to his footsteps and then heard the door shut. She laughed as she bounced to me. "Holy guacamole! That was hot, Clara."

/>   "Yeah," I agreed and touched my lips in awe. The promise ring on my finger practically stared me down in disappointment. "I didn't do anything," I told it quietly.

  "Huh?" she asked and I realized she'd heard me.

  "Nothing. You want snacks?"

  "Shyeah!" she laughed. "When you watch hotties on the screen, don't you get a sweet tooth?"

  I grinned. "Oh, yeah. Come on." I asked her as we laughed down the hall where her stuff was, but saw it all piled up by the door. "Are you expecting an extended stay?"