There was hope for Dee’s and my relationship. And prom was a big deal. Daemon in a tux and all would be a pretty awesome sight. We were going to be normal teenagers for the night, but the shadow over us had somehow slipped inside me.
“What is it?” Daemon asked, concerned.
“Nothing,” I said, but it was something. I just didn’t know what.
Chapter 30
One of the first things I did the next day was invite Lesa. I was thrilled when she perked up and agreed. It made me feel a lot better about my decision to go. Like Carissa’s best friend approved and that went a long way.
Like me, she was a tad wary of going shopping with Ash, and a glimmer of her old personality shone through when she started making cracks.
“I bet she’ll get something ridiculously tight and short and make the rest of us feel like unattractive Oompa Loompas.” She sighed pitifully. “No. Scratch that. She’ll probably just go to the dress store and parade in front of the mirror naked.”
I laughed. “No doubt, but I’m happy Dee invited us.”
“Me, too,” she said seriously. “I miss her, especially after… Yeah, I just miss her.”
My smile was a bit wobbly. Whenever Carissa came up in conversation, I never knew how to handle it. Luckily, for today, we were interrupted by Daemon, who decided to tug on my ponytail like a six-year-old.
He sat behind me and then poked me in the back with his trusty pen.
I rolled my eyes at Lesa and then turned around. “You and that damn pen.”
“You love it.” He leaned over his desk, tapping it off my chin. “Anyway, I thought I could catch a ride home with you after school. That
A low hum of excitement thrummed through my veins. I knew where he was going with this. No Mom. An hour or so of time alone and without interruption—hopefully.
I couldn’t stop my dreamy sigh. “That would be perfect.”
“Thought so.” He took his pen and sat back, eyeing me. “Can’t wait.”
Oxygen fled my brain while blood rushed everywhere. Feeling a bit out of it, I nodded and turned around. The look on Lesa’s face told me she so overheard the conversation.
Her eyebrows waggled suggestively, and I felt my face burn. Oh, dear God…
After trig, the rest of the morning crept by in a slow procession. The cosmos were against me. Like they knew I was bouncing with energy and excitement. A little part of me was nervous. Who wouldn’t be? If we actually had time alone and we weren’t interrupted and stuff fell into place…
Stuff fell into place?
I smothered a giggle.
Blake looked up from his bio text and frowned. “What?”
“Nothing.” I grinned. “Nothing.”
He arched a brow. “Did Daemon tell you that Matthew has some after-school meeting with a kid’s parents?”
I giggled again, earning a weird look from him. “Yeah, he did.”
Blake stared at me a second and then placed his pen down. Without any warning, he reached over and picked a piece of lint out of my hair. I jerked back at the same time he pulled his arm away, which put my nose right at the perfect angle to get a sniff of his wrist.
The clean, citrusy scent sparked a muggy, uncomfortable feeling inside me. Like when you’ve done something stupid and you were about to face public humiliation. Pins and needles spread across my flesh.
A memory was wiggling loose. That smell… I’d smelled it before.
“You okay?” he asked.
I tilted my head to the side, like that helped my smelling abilities. Where did I know that scent? Obviously I’d smelled it on Blake before. No doubt it was one of those expensive colognes, but it was more than that.
Like when you hear an actor’s voice but don’t see his face. The answer was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling.
Why did that scent feel achingly familiar? Daemon’s face popped in my head, but that wasn’t right. He smelled earthy, like the outdoors and the wind. And his scent lingered long after he was gone, on my clothes, the pillow…
The pillow…
My heart stuttered and then skipped a beat. It sunk in and threatened to pull me through the seat. Shock washed over me, quickly followed by a bolt of anger so fierce I jerked forward.
I couldn’t sit here. I couldn’t breathe.
Static crackled under my shirt. Tiny hairs rose over my body. Burned ozone filled the air. At the front of the class, Matthew looked up. His gaze went to Dawson first, because hey, if anyone were going to lose it, it would be him. But Dawson was also glancing around the room, searching for the source of the increased friction and static in the air.
It was coming from me.
I was going to blow.
Snapping into action, I shut my book and shoved it into my messenger bag. Wasting no time, I stood on shaky legs. My skin felt like it was humming. And maybe it was at a low frequency. Violent energy rolled through me. Only once before had I felt this way and that was when Blake…
I headed past Matthew, unable to answer his look of concern, and ignored the curious stares. Hurrying from the room, I dragged in several deep breaths to try to calm down. Gray lockers blurred around me. Conversations were muted and sounded so very far away.
Where was I going? What was I going to do? Going to Daemon was out of the question, because right now, on top of everything, it was the last thing we needed.
I started forward, my fingers clenched tightly around my bag’s strap. I felt…I felt like I was going to hurl. Anger and nausea roiled. I headed toward the girls’ restroom at the end of the hall.
“Katy! Are you okay? Wait up?”
The floor dropped out from underneath me, but I kept walking.
Blake caught up with me, catching my arm. “Katy—”
“Don’t touch me!” I wrenched my arm free, horrified…just horrified. “Don’t ever touch me.”
He stared at me, anger tightening the lines of his face. “What is your problem?”
A terrible, ugly feeling clawed its way through my insides. “I know, Blake. I
“Know what?” He looked confounded. “Katy, your eyes are starting to glow. You’ve got to chill out.”
I stepped forward but forced myself to stop. I was so close to losing it. “You—you are a freak.”
His brows shot up. “All right, you’re going to have to give me a better explanation than that, because I have no idea what I’ve done to tick you off.”
The hallway was empty for now, but this was no place to get into this kind of conversation. I turned, heading to the stairwell. Blake followed and once the door swung shut behind us, I whirled on him.
It wasn’t my fist that hit him.
A blast of energy, probably what felt like a hit from a Taser, smacked him in the chest. Blake stumbled back into the door, mouth dropping open as his legs and arms twitched.
“What,” he gasped. “What was that for?”
Static crackled over my fingers. I wanted to do it again. “You’ve been sleeping in my bed.”
Blake straightened, rubbing a hand over his chest. The faint light coming from the window in the landing danced over his face. “Katy, I—”
“Don’t lie about it. I know you’ve been. I smelled your cologne. It’s been on my pillows.” Bile filled the back
