Rising up, I kissed Daemon’s cheek. “No one trusts him, but you can’t threaten him every five seconds.”
“Yes, I can.”
I laughed and stepped in, wrapping my arms around his waist. Under my cheek, his heart beat steadily. His hands slid down my back as his head bent close to mine. “Do you really want to do more days like this?” he asked. “An endless stretch of days filled with pain?”
It wasn’t on the top of my to-do list. “It serves a pretty good distraction, and I need that right now.”
I expected him to argue, but he didn’t. Instead, he kissed the top of my head. We stood like that for a little while. When we pulled apart, Dawson and Matthew were gone. Moonlight started to peek through the branches. Holding hands, we walked back to our houses, and he went to his to clean up.
My house was dark and silent, and as I stood at the base of the stairs, I struggled to breathe. I couldn’t be afraid of my bedroom. That was just stupid. I placed my hand on the banister and took one step.
Muscles locked up.
It was just a bedroom. I couldn’t sleep on the couch forever, and I couldn’t run in and out of my bedroom as if an Arum were chasing me.
Each step up was a fight when my natural response was to turn and run in the opposite direction, but I continued until I stood in the doorway, my hands clasped under my chin.
Daemon and Dee had cleaned up everything like they said. My bed was made. Clothing put away and all the papers were stacked on my desk. My destroyed laptop was gone. And there was a neat little circular rug over the spot Carissa had stood. It was a muted, soft brown. Daemon knew I wasn’t big on flashy color, not like Dee. Other than that, the room looked normal.
Holding my breath, I forced myself to go in. I moved around, picking up books and placing them back in the order I had them in, keeping my mind blank. Sometime later, I changed into an old shirt and knee-high socks, then I tunneled under the blankets and rolled onto my side.
Beyond my bedroom window, scattered stars broke up the dark blue of the sky. One fell, leaving a short stream of light behind as it crashed to Earth. Curling my fingers around the blanket, I wondered if it were a falling star or something else. All the Luxen were here, weren’t they?
I forced my eyes closed and focused on tomorrow. After school, Daemon and I were heading to Martinsburg in an attempt to find Luc. The group thought we were just getting away for the night. Hopefully after our visit, we’d know a little more about what happened to Carissa.
I slept fitfully that night. It had to be late when I felt Daemon settle in beside me, his arm firmly around my waist. Half asleep, I decided he needed to be more careful. If my mom caught him in my bed again, things would get ugly. But I was content in his arms and settled back against him, lulled to sleep by his warm breath along the back of my neck.
“I love you,” I think I said. It may have been a dream, but his arm tightened and his leg slid around mine. Maybe this was just a dream, because there was a surreal quality to it. Even if it was, it was enough.
Chapter 27
Lesa practically tackled me the moment I stepped into school the following day. I hadn’t even made it to my locker. Grabbing my arm, she tugged me into the alcove near the trophy case.
I knew from the moment I saw her that somehow she knew something bad had happened. Her face was pale, eyes shadowed, and her lower lip trembled. I’d never seen her so upset.
“What’s wrong?” I forced my voice even.
Her fingers bit into my arm. “Carissa’s missing.”
I felt the blood drain from my face and croaked out a, “What?”
Eyes shiny, she nodded. “She had the flu, right? And apparently she got really sick in the last couple of days, running a high temperature. Her mom and dad took her to the hospital. They thought she had meningitis or something.”
She let out a shuddering breath. “I didn’t know anything until her parents called me this morning asking if I’d seen or talked to her. And I was like, ‘No. Why? She’s been too sick to get on the phone and all.’ And they told me she disappeared a couple of nights ago from the hospital room. Her parents have been looking for her and the police wouldn’t file a missing person’s report until she was gone for forty-eight hours.”
The horror that whiplashed through me wasn’t faked. I said a few things and I really didn’t know what. Lesa wasn’t processing anything anyway.
“They think she walked out of the hospital—that she was that sick and she’s probably out there somewhere, lost and confused.” Her voice trembled. “How could no one see and stop her?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
Lesa circled her arms around herself. “This isn’t happening, is it? It can’t be. Not Carissa.”
My heart felt like it was cracking. Most times I wanted to tell the truth and confide in Lesa, but this was one of those moments when nothing in this world could have made me want to be the bearer of this news.
There wasn’t anything I could say, but I wrapped my arms around her and held on until the first bell rang. We headed straight to class without our textbooks. It didn’t matter. News of Carissa’s disappearance had begun to spread, and no one was paying attention in class.
Kimmy announced at the end of class that the police were organizing a search party after school. She and Carissa hadn’t been friends, but that wasn’t important, I realized. Too many kids had disappeared, and it was touching everyone’s lives. I glanced over my shoulder at Daemon and he gave me a reassuring smile. It did little to soothe me. I was a bundle of nerves. When class ended, Lesa waited for me.
“I think I’m going home,” she said, blinking rapidly. “I don’t… I just can’t be here right now.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” I asked, not wanting to leave her alone if she felt she needed someone.
Lesa shook her head. “No. But thank you.”
I gave her a quick hug and then watched her hurry from class, my heart heavy.
Daemon said nothing as he pressed a kiss to my temple. He knew there wasn’t anything to say. “Do you think we have time to join the search party before we leave?” I asked.
Both of us knew it was pointless, but it seemed a dishonor to her memory to not give her this respect. Or was it wrong to do it knowing what really happened? I didn’t know.
Daemon didn’t seem to know, either, but he agreed. “Of course.”
I wanted to leave the school, too. Especially since everyone was talking about Carissa and finding her. People were in high hopes that she
Guilt and anger warred inside me, and throughout the day, I tipped into each side. Sitting in class seemed pointless when so many things hung in the balance. These people—these kids—had no idea what was going on around them. They lived in this blissful bubble of ignorance and not even the disappearances burst it. Only tiny holes were pricked by each disappearance and I was waiting for everyone to finally pop.
At lunch, for the first time, we all sat together. Even Blake joined us. My lack of appetite had nothing to do with the mystery food occupying my plate.
“Are you guys going to the search party?” Andrew asked.
I nodded. “But we’re still doing our own thing afterward.”
Blake scowled. “I really think you guys should wait.”
“Why?” I asked before Daemon could snap his head off his shoulders.
“You need to be working on building up a tolerance, not date night.” Across from him, Ash nodded in agreement. “That’s not what’s important right now.”
Daemon looked at him. “Shut up.”
Cheeks flushing, Blake leaned on the table. “We need every day that we can get if we have any hopes of doing this soon.”
A muscle flexed in Daemon’s jaw. “One day isn’t going to change anything. You guys can still practice or not. I don’t care.”
