His face shone with joy. I could literally feel his anticipation ripple through my body.
“Wow Kas, you really do want to go tonight, don't you?" I said, lacking the enthusiasm he was looking for.
He looked at me in a slightly peculiar way, though I doubted he realised that.
“You are coming, aren't you Eli? It won't be the same without you.”
He looked at me with his gorgeous bright green eyes. It was clear he was going to go with or without me, but he was desperately hoping I would come. How could I refuse. I was sure I would love it once I was there.
“Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world" I said, still with a hint of sarcasm.
Kas didn't notice.
“Love you babes. It's gonna be great," he smiled happily.
We met up again after school in our local coffee shop. Usually five or six of us went, giving each other the low down of our school day, whilst drinking our cappuccino's and hot chocolates and having a sneaky snack or two. Today, everyone was particularly animated about some incident that had happened between some mates of a mate.
I wasn't particularly interested in the event so my mind wandered, looking at everyone's faces and making mental notes on their little quirks and expressions. In my mind I often played a little game awarding people their soul mate animal based on their facial expressions. It sometimes made me giggle out loud, immediately being punished by being thrown odd looks. My small group of friends were used to my quirks now, but it had taken me a long time to establish a solid friendship group. I had always been a bit of an outsider, especially till my early teens.
As I was sitting there, pondering over my childhood, I first noticed him. Or actually, not really noticed him but rather felt him watching me. I brushed it off thinking I was imagining it, being paranoid. A recurring theme in my life which I had to address with my psychiatrist next time I saw him.
CHAPTER 2
I knew instantly she'd registered my presence. Her body stiffened, imperceptibly to most people, but abundantly clear to me. I also noticed she dismissed the feeling and tuned out immediately, suddenly engaging with some boring conversation about some to do at school. I knew she hadn't been interested before, but she was now trying very hard to look part of the group again. If only she knew how wrong that was. I almost felt sorry for her.
I had argued with Markus, saying at seventeen she was too young and not ready for whatever Markus had in mind for her. Especially as she had no idea who and what she really was, having lived most of her life amongst common Dullards.
However, Markus saw it differently. He believed it was perfect timing. Her mind would still be open and malleable enough to let us in, but at the same time grown up enough to deal with the inevitable shock of finding out that her life up to now was basically a lie, or at best, not lived to its full potential. Markus can be incredibly persuasive when he has to and he's not scared to use his authority to the full. At nineteen years old, I had no fucking chance.
“Zack, you will see it my way sooner or later, but for now you just have to be satisfied with the knowledge that I have done this before and it worked.”
Markus had looked at me sternly when he was trying to persuade me to drop it and just get on with my mission.
“This is different, she has absolutely no idea. She's on medication and will probably blame her perceived mental illness and run a mile!" I had tried, but Markus wasn't having any of it.
“I have absolute trust in your powers of persuasion. You will meet her and draw her in." he said, convinced of himself.
“She has a Dullard mum and friends though, she's settled. She has no knowledge about her gift. It could be dangerous. What if she confides in someone who's not in the know? What if her mum won't let her go...”
“Stop the arguing Zack. This is your job. You have to remind yourself we need her here, with us, so do whatever it takes, I will take care of the mother. And please don't call ordinary people Dullards. It's derogatory."
He walked off. There was no budging him. I just had to do it.
I tracked her down and laid eyes on her for the first time in that coffee shop. My misgivings were confirmed. She seemed so young, a typical fucking teenager. However, I was encouraged by the signs of her latent powers. They must be strong to work through the haze of the meds she was on.
The group was talking about a party they were going to attend in the evening and I made a mental note on whose party it was. I was just contemplating how I would make my first approach, when some of the kids were starting to make signs of wanting to leave. Kas was one of them. I presumed that he was her boyfriend as he had been displaying some slightly possessive moves all afternoon. He looked like a laid back kind of guy, but where Eliza was concerned I saw a different side to him. Protectiveness with a slightly possessive streak to it. I wondered if Eliza was the annoying type of girl who people tended to mollycoddle. I fucking hoped not.
I saw him looking at Eliza, getting up and fishing some money out of his Jeans. I had to move quickly otherwise the moment would pass but I could feel I was to be in luck as I noticed Eliza needed to go to the ladies before they'd leave.
As
