“What is that sound?” Brooke asked, squinting into the darkness outside.
“It’s rain,” I said. “And wind. Again.” I sat up and placed my back against the headboard. “So, what is going on, Cameron? I mean, really? Too many strange things are happening at once. Like a convergence of bizarre activities.”
“I think it’s beginning.”
“What?” Brooke asked. “That war thing you guys keep talking about?”
My stomach lurched just thinking about it. I didn’t want a war. Especially not one that relied heavily on my abilities to stop it. Unless I could convince the invading army to stand still long enough for me to get a vision off it, we were toast. Whole wheat. Extra crunchy.
Then again, what good would a vision do us? I was no Joan of Arc, that was for sure. She may have led men into battle, but I was more of a “lead the school choir in a moving rendition of ‘One Hundred
Bottles of Beer on the Wall’” kind of girl.
“If you weren’t stuck guarding me,” I said to Cameron, “you could hunt down that new kid, Vincent, and find out what’s going on.”
“I don’t believe in that game,” he said.
I frowned. “What game?”
“The what-if game. There only is.”
“Okay, Mr. Miyagi,” Brooke said. She sank back into her blankets. “I still think you should get some rest and let me take point for a while.”
The expression on his face turned to one of horror. “And just what would you do if something happened? Moon the enemy?”
“What enemy, exactly?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
I had a feeling he knew precisely what I was asking, but I humored him anyway. “I mean, you and
Jared keep watch all the time. For weeks now. Against what? What are we supposed to be on the lookout for?”
“Anything unusual.”
“Like, every single thing that has happened this week? Unusual like that?”
After drawing in a deep breath, he said, “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“And then what?” I asked, pushing for more intel. “You guys get to go do cool guy stuff while I sit here and be all protected, but from what, exactly? From whom? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much my hours at the store have dropped. How often my grandparents send Brooke and me to the church to study the documents of the Order. Funny how there’s always someone there. Always someone on guard duty.
It’s suffocating.”
“What’s suffocating,” he said, turning to me with purpose, “is when your enemy has you by the throat and squeezes until the blood stops flowing to your brain, until your lungs feel like they are filled with acid because they can’t get oxygen, until your head feels like it’s going to explode.” He turned back to the window. “But, yeah, I can see where being protected would be suffocating.”
I ground my teeth. “That was uncalled for. I was just trying to make a point.”
“Well, then, I suggest you keep trying,” he said with a soft grin.
I burrowed under my covers again and glared at him. Brooke did the same.
“Glaring doesn’t really affect me, but you can keep at it if it makes you feel better.”
“I’m sorry I woke you up,” I said to him as my lids drifted down.
“You didn’t.” He looked out into the darkness. “Something else did.”
GHOSTLY
I sneaked down to Jared’s room about an hour later, unable to sleep when I found out something was out there. Cameron could feel it, sense it, as he had for days now. Were they taunting him? Trying to get him to come after them as they had Jared? Either way, the realization was enough to push away all thoughts of sleep.
I tiptoed into the room. Granddad lay in the recliner, snoring, and Mrs. Strom sat in a chair by Jared’s bed. She had hooked up an IV and a monitor, probably borrowed from the hospital.
I sat on the bed next to Jared, stroked his hair, ran my fingers along his full mouth.
“Hey, pix,” Grandma said. She’d apparently come in to check on things too.
I tried to bite back the disappointment. “Hey, Grandma.” I wondered how much she knew about my paternal grandparents. Did she know my grandmother was tortured? But, wait. What if she did know?
What if she took that very thing into consideration when she took on all that was me after my parents disappeared? What if it kept her awake nights, knowing she could suffer the same fate?
She looked over at Granddad. “First time in years I’ve slept without that buzz saw going, and I can’t sleep. Guess I’m used to it.”
With a smile, I said, “You must be.” I noticed Cameron sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. My constant shadow. “Cameron, you can come in here.”
“I’m good. And there’s a fridge in this room.” He stood and went to raid it.
Grandma insisted on making him breakfast. I had no idea people actually ate breakfast this early. Since
I was up already, I headed for the shower. The wind had died down, but the frigid morning had left a sheet of ice on the window. It sparkled in the moonlight, the night still thick and black. I was tired just thinking about it.
All the events of the last few days were like a weight. I was moving through water instead of air. And my appearance left much to be desired. Was my skin actually paler? My eyes darker? My hair brighter? I looked ghostly. Maybe I was turning into a vampire. No, I couldn’t be that lucky. At least then I’d stand a chance of helping in this war we had yet to check off our to-do list. Maybe it could be rescheduled. A war would be really inconvenient at the moment.
First Jared being attacked. Then the picture thing. Then Isaac Johnson’s whittling skills and dire warning, which, better a warning be dire than realized. But still. Then Jared’s make-out session with a girl at least six inches taller than me, and his attacking us. Then the tragic story of my paternal grandparents, only to find out my grandfather had been alive all this time. Or, well, quite possibly.
This had been one messed-up week.
And so far today, I couldn’t quite get enough air in my lungs. My eyes stung like there was no tomorrow. And I was certain my wisdom teeth were growing in. Surely my cheeks weren’t usually that puffy.
“This humidity is not helping my hair,” I said to Brooke as we vied for the mirror.
“It’s funny, my hair looks fantastic.”
I gritted my teeth, but she was right. Her hair, thick and black and straight as an honor student, looked amazing.
She eyed me a long moment. “You look like you caught a tropical disease or something. Are you okay?”
“After the last few days, no.”
“Oh, right. Good point. So what are you going to do about your grandfather?”
“I have an idea, but you aren’t going to like it.”
She pursed her lips. “I love your ideas.” When I cast a doubtful gaze at her, she said, “Well, I love some of your ideas. That one that involved ice cream and coffee was amazing.”
“True. That was one of my better ones. But this one requires deception. And possibly skipping school.”
“Sweet. We can always say you got a vision or something. And we have the sheriff on our side. Oh, my gosh, we can get away with anything now. I love being in this gang.”
I chuckled and looked in the mirror. I thought about taunting Mal some more, maybe poking him with a stick, but I didn’t want to risk his wrath. The way my luck had gone, he’d answer this time. I leaned forward to rate the redness level of my eyes on a scale of one to ten, but they weren’t mine. The eyes looking back at me were blue and full of hatred.
Then I heard a voice. “Ready for round two?”
I jolted back and almost fell as Brooke tried to put the blow dryer away. “Did you see that?” I asked, and she glanced around, suddenly wary.