Haunted by Your Touch

“Maybe we should talk about this when you’re not driving—”

“I’m fine,” she cut me off, looking back at the road with a clenched jaw. “Go on.”

“I went through one of them to get here. It opens in the sewage facility a few miles back; that’s why I stink,” I said. “All I know about the other one is that it doesn’t lead to anything on this side, so I give you three guesses as to where it does go.”

Lena was silent as she absorbed this, getting onto the freeway. We were several cities away from the Bed Bath & Beyond gateway, and it was already afternoon. I had to get back to that gateway before dark or risk giving Rafael a whole day to think up a way to stop me from telling others what I’d discovered. He’d know I’d found the barriers. The puddle of water I’d probably left on his bathroom floor crossing over would be enough to let a smart bastard like him figure it out.

And if I gave him time, he might decide to come after more than just me. I glanced at Lena again. Maybe it was a good thing my father was out of town. In fact, Lena, my cousin, and my aunt and uncle should all follow suit.

“When you drop me off at the mall, I want you to go straight to tell Aunt Nancy and Uncle David what’s going on. I’ll tell everyone I can over in Nocturna. Maybe Jack’ll believe me, he’s a friend. Billy… I don’t know, but I’ll try. But even if not everyone believes me, I should be able to get enough of them riled up to demand to see that bathroom for themselves. Once they do, Rafael’s finished.”

Damn the little needles of pain those words caused me. What was the matter with me, still getting upset over the well-deserved fate of a murderer?

“Are you going to be all right?” Lena asked softly. “I know you’ve always had a thing for Rafael….”

“I’m fine,” I said briskly, echoing her words from before. I didn’t want to talk about it, let alone think about it. “Got any paper towels in here?” I went on, changing the subject.

She pointed to the glove box. I opened it, relieved to see a travel pack of tissues and a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. I should have just squirted the entire bottle all over me, but even that wouldn’t have been enough. Instead, I dabbed some on a tissue and flipped the vanity mirror down, determined to get the nasty grime off my face and hands, at least.

But one good look at my reflection made a scream escape me. Lena didn’t swerve again, though she yelled, “What the hell!” at the top of her lungs.

Words failed me. I squeezed my eyes shut, sending a fervent prayer to any god listening that I hadn’t seen what I had. Then, very slowly, I opened my eyes.

The five pinpoints of light around my pupils were still there, taunting me. I’d seen them before in other Partials’ eyes, such as my father’s when my real mother was alive. These weren’t the temporary flickers of illumination that happened during the heat of the moment. They were the mark of claiming for my kind, more intimate than a wedding ring and far harder to get rid of.

Despite my suspicions before, and what I’d found out afterward, at some point when I’d been in Rafael’s arms, the demon in me had decided I was his—and marked my eyes so everyone else would know it, too.

The lot’s exterior lights, set to switch on at the same time every evening, lit up right as Lena pulled into the Bed Bath & Beyond shopping complex. As if we needed reminding that we were almost out of time. She hit the gas as she swung the car around to the back and headed toward the Dumpster. My fingers had been drumming impatiently on the dashboard for the past ten minutes, but now I yanked the straps of my new backpack tighter on my shoulders. It had cost me a couple extra hours to fill it with the necessary contents, but no way was I going back into Nocturna unprepared.

Once Lena screeched to a stop by the Dumpster, I gave her a last, tight smile.

“Go straight to Aunt Nancy and Uncle David’s,” I reminded her.

“I will.” She grabbed me in a fierce, one-armed hug. “You come back, Mara,” she said, low and vehemently.

I nodded as I jumped out of the car. “I intend to.”

Then I ran at the Dumpster, seeing the faint shimmer around it grow dimmer. Adrenaline made my legs pump faster as I closed the scant distance. I’m going to make it, I’m going to make it! I chanted, as if willpower could force that gateway open for a few seconds longer. Then I leapt for the shimmer that surrounded the metal container right as it disappeared, bracing myself for the probable impact of slamming into it instead of Nocturna.

But in the next instant, my body hit soft earth instead of hard metal. Out of habit, I rolled to lessen the impact, feeling a split second of overwhelming relief that I hadn’t been too late. Then my survival instincts kicked in and I came up from my roll with both guns pointed.

No one right in front of me waiting to pounce, good. That didn’t mean I was off the hook for long. I heard multiple sets of hoofbeats, and they weren’t far from my location. I scrambled for a bush—the nearest cover I could find—and crouched there while I swiftly unhooked the backpack from my shoulders and dug through it. Two Glocks went into my gun belt, two more went into the homemade straps I’d fashioned at thigh level on my black jeans, and several extra clips of ammunition were tucked into my pockets. In addition to that—and in homage to Rafael—I put away several knives into homemade sheaths on the vest I wore over my fitted black shirt. Too bad I hadn’t been able to risk bringing grenades over, but I’d heard stories about the gateway activating the pins, which had never ended well for the carrier.

I might not have had time to wash the stink off me, but I’d managed to gather up as many weapons as I could carry. That was more important than smelling nice.

Once I emptied the backpack, I dug a shallow hole with my hands and covered it up with dirt. I had no use for the backpack anymore, and it would be unwieldy during a fight, but I didn’t want to leave an obvious sign of my presence. Then I waited for the space of a few heartbeats before easing out from behind the bush, my gaze darting around for the first sign of attack.

Those hoofbeats sounded closer, but I couldn’t see anyone yet. Of course, that meant they couldn’t see me, either. One good thing about Nocturna’s perpetual darkness and lack of electricity and batteries meant that hiding was a lot more efficient. Torchlight only went so far, after all.

Though if Rafael was out here, he might be able to see me in the dark. I still wasn’t sure if his increased vision meant he was a Pureblood himself, or if he just offered those gateways in his bathroom to Purebloods for profit. Didn’t really matter; either way, he was a murderer, and soon all of me would accept that and those damned lights in my eyes would go away. Until then, I’d treat them as a reminder of what happened when I ignored my suspicions about a man.

“Checking the south side again,” I heard a familiar voice call out, then the sound of hooves headed in my direction.

My heart leapt. Jack. Could I get him to listen to me before he sounded the alarm to the rest of the guards? We were friends, but he’d been employed by Rafael a lot longer than he’d known me.

I ran into a thicker part of the woods, weighing the decision. From the amount of extra hoofbeats, I could surmise that Rafael had woken up. He’d obviously sent more guards to watch the barrier, but not so many as to draw undue attention. Once again, he was being crafty. The only thing I had in my favor was the fact that the gateway spit people out anywhere along a ten-mile stretch on this side. Otherwise, I probably would have tumbled right into a steel cage with Rafael dangling the key just out of my reach.

Rafael. I cursed him as I continued to dart between the trees. How amused he must have been to see those five points of lights in my eyes. He must’ve thought I was the most gullible Partial in the world. Well, I’d shown him when I’d dropped him like a stone with that tranquilizer, though oddly enough, the memory of the look on his face didn’t bring the satisfaction it should have. Only hollowness and echoes of pain.

You’ll get over it, I reminded myself bleakly. If I lived long enough, that was.

About fifty yards away, I heard Jack’s horse clamber through a patch of bushes. He was close to the same place I’d crouched in upon entering Nocturna. Jack always did have a knack for being the first to find people who’d crossed over. Maybe I could use that to my advantage now.

Or I’d have to shoot him and take his horse before he recovered, which I really didn’t want to do.

I went further ahead toward a denser part of the woods that would slow his horse down, deliberately cracking a twig or two along the way. It wasn’t long before Jack took the bait, changing course. He rode in a roundabout path, not spurring on his horse or charging straight for those sounds but pursuing me subtly. If I hadn’t