Obsidian

“It’s okay.” He helped me sit up. The room spun a little. “Are you okay?” he asked again.

“Yeah. You stayed here all night?”

“Yeah,” was all he said.

I remembered Dee volunteering but not him. Waking up with my head in his lap was the last thing I’d expected.

“Do you remember anything?” he asked quietly.

My chest squeezed tight. I nodded, expecting it to hurt more than it did. “I was attacked last night.”

“Someone tried to mug you,” he said.

No, that wasn’t right. I remembered a man grabbing my purse, then falling down, but he hadn’t wanted my money. “He wasn’t trying to mug me.”

“Kat—”

“No.” I tried standing up, but his arm returned, forming a band of steel around me that I couldn’t break. “He didn’t want my money, Daemon. He wanted them.”

Daemon stiffened. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No shit.” I frowned as I moved my arm and found that the splint was heavy. “But he kept asking about where they were and about a trace.”

“The guy was insane,” he said, voice low. “You realize that, right? That he wasn’t right in the head. That nothing he said means anything.”

“I don’t know. He didn’t seem crazy.”

“Trying to beat the crap out of a girl isn’t crazy enough for you?” His brows rose. “I’m curious what you think is crazy.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” He shifted, careful not to jar me, which kind of surprised me. “He was a random lunatic, but you’re going to make it bigger than it is, aren’t you?”

“I’m not making this anything.” I took a steadying breath. “Daemon, that wasn’t a normal lunatic.”

“Oh, you’re an expert in crazy people now?”

“A month with you and I feel I have a master’s degree in the subject,” I snapped. Glaring at him, I scooted away. My head swam.

“You okay?” He reached out, placing a hand on my good arm. “Kat?”

I shook his hand off. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Shoulders stiff, he stared straight ahead. “I know you’re probably messed up after what happened last night, but don’t make this into something it’s not.”

“Daemon—”

“I don’t want Dee worried that there is an idiot out there attacking girls.” His eyes were hard. Cold. “Do you understand me?”

My lip trembled. Part of me wanted to cry. Another part wanted to whale on him. So all his caring was about his sister? How silly of me. Our eyes locked. There was such intensity in his, as if he were willing me to understand.

Dee yawned loudly.

I jerked away, breaking contact first. Of course, score one for Daemon.

“Good morning!” Dee chirped as one or both of her legs dropped to the ground, sounding surprisingly heavy for someone as slender as she was. “Have you guys been awake long?”

Another sigh, much louder and more annoyed than the first pushed through Daemon’s hard lips. “No, Dee, we just woke up and were talking. You were snoring so loudly we couldn’t stay asleep any longer.” Dee snorted. “I doubt that. Katy, are you feeling…okay this morning?”

“Yeah, I’m a little sore and stiff, but overall okay.”

She smiled but her eyes were still hooded with guilt. Which made no sense. She tried to smooth down her curls, but they sprung back into disarray as soon as she removed her hands. “I think I’m going to make you breakfast.” Before I could respond, she dashed off to the kitchen and I heard numerous doors open and close, pots and pans clanging against each other. “Okay.”

Daemon stood and stretched. The muscles of his back were taut under his shirt. I looked away.

“I care more about my sister than I do anything in this universe,” he said quietly. Each word punctuated by truth. “I’d do anything for her, to make sure she’s happy and she’s safe. Please don’t worry her with crazy stories.” I felt infinitely small. “You’re a dick, but I won’t say anything to her.” When I looked up, I found it hard to concentrate when his eyes were as bright as they were. “Okay? Happy?”

Something flickered over his face. Anger? Regret? “Not really. Not at all.”

Neither of us looked away again. There was a heavy quality to the air, tangible.

“Daemon!” Dee called from the kitchen. “I need your help!”

“We should go see what she’s doing before she destroys your kitchen.” He rubbed his hands down his face. “It’s possible.”

Keeping quiet, I followed him out into the hallway, where the light spilled in from the open door. I winced at the abrupt brightness and suddenly remembered I hadn’t brushed my hair or my teeth yet. I cringed away from Daemon. “I think I need to…go.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Go…where?”

I felt my cheeks turn hot. “Upstairs. I need a shower.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t fire back with the door I’d left open. He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. At the top of the stairs, my fingers mindlessly went to my lips and then another shiver rolled through me. How close to dying did I come last night?

“Is she really going to be okay?” I heard Dee ask.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Daemon responded patiently. “You have nothing to worry about. Nothing is happening. Everything was taken care of when I came back here.”

I crept closer to the landing.

“Don’t look like that. Nothing will happen to you.” Daemon sighed with real frustration this time. “Or her, okay?” Another gap of silence followed. “We should’ve expected something like this.”

“Did you?” Dee asked, her voice rising sharply. “Because I was trying not to, I was trying to hope that we could have a friend — a real one — without them getting…”

Their voices lowered, becoming unintelligible. Were they talking about me? They had to be, but that didn’t make sense. I stood in absolute confusion, trying to figure out what they could be talking about.

Daemon’s voice rose, “Who knows, Dee? We will see how it plays out.” He paused and then laughed. “I think you are beating those eggs to death. Here, let me have them.”

I listened a few more moments as they bantered back and forth like normal before I peeled myself away from my spot. Without warning, another stolen conversation quickly resurfaced. The night before, as I coasted in and out of consciousness in the car, I’d overheard both of them whispering worries that I couldn’t comprehend.

I wanted to shrug off the nagging feeling that they were hiding something. I hadn’t forgotten Dee’s weird aversion to me going to the library. Or the strange light I’d seen outside the library that reminded me so much of the light in the woods, when I’d seen the bear and passed out, something that I’d never done before in my life. And then there was the day at the lake, when Daemon had turned into Aquaman.

I walked numbly to my bathroom and flipped on the light, expecting to see my face busted up. I tilted my head to the side, a startled gasp escaping my throat. I knew my cheek had been scraped raw last night. The pain I remembered. And my eye swollen shut. But my eye was only slightly bruised, my cheek pink, as if new skin had already grown. My gaze drifted along my neck. The bruises there were faint, as if the attack had happened days ago and not last night.

“What the heck?” I whispered.

My wounds were almost healed, with the exception of my encased arm…but that too barely ached. Another loose memory poked through, of Daemon leaning over me in the road, his hands warm. Had his hands…? No way. I shook my head.

But as I stared at myself, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was going on here. The twins knew it. Things didn’t add up.