“There’s the webcam,” I said, leaning over her shoulder. Opening the application, she squeaked when our faces appeared on the screen. “You should do your first vlog right now,” I suggested.
She hit record and squealed, “I have a MacBook Air!”
Burying my face in her hair, I laughed. “You dork.”
She turned off the webcam and closed the lid before placing it on the bed. Throwing her arms around me, she squeezed me tight. “Thank you.”
Lying back down, I pulled her with me. Several locks of hair fell forward, so I brushed them back. My hand lingered against her cheek. “I like it when you’re happy, and if I can do something small, then I will.”
“Something small?” Shock heightened her tone. “That’s not something small. That had to have cost—”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re happy. I’m happy.”
Her eyes lightened. “I love you. You know that, right?”
I grinned. “I know.”
Kat stayed in my arms for a moment and then sat up, kicked off her shoes. She glanced out the window. “You’re never going to say it, are you?”
“Say what?” I sat up, placing my hands on her hips.
She looked over her shoulders at me. “You know what.”
“Hmm?” I slid my hands up her sides, wondering how much more time we had before we had to go down to the lake. Glancing at the wall clock, I saw that we had absolutely no time. Sigh. I kissed her cheek and then slid off the bed. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it,” she replied.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously, I do love it. I can’t thank you enough.” “I’m sure you can.”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed me and then started scanning her bedroom floor. I had no idea what she was looking for. She knelt down, lifting the edge of her comforter as she peered under her bed. Then she lay down on her belly and stretched. I heard her hand smacking the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Trying to get my flip flops.”
“Is it really that hard?” And couldn’t she just use the Source to do that?
She ignored me. “What the…?” One flip-flop flew out from under the bed and then another. I stepped back as she wiggled out and sat up. She opened her hand. “Oh my God.”
“What?” I knelt beside her and then saw what she held. I sucked in a sharp breath. “Is that what I think it is?”
She held a shiny black stone, streak red through the center, like a flame, in her hand. I’d seen a similar stone before. On Luc.
Kat was holding a piece of opal.
Chapter 20
For several moments, Kat and I stared at each other. It was all we could do, because neither of us could believe that we’d found a piece of opal under her damn bed of all places.
Obviously, it had to have been Carissa’s, and somehow, when the room had been wrecked and we cleaned it, the piece of opal must’ve ended up under there. We made it downstairs; that was as far as we went.
Kat dropped the stone in my hand. “Try something—like that reflection thing.”
Folding my hand over the stone, I concentrated on the environment around me—the couch, the floor, and the TV. I figured it would be the same as reflecting the image of a person, but what did I know? I’d never done this before.
Energy skated over my skin, seeping through tissue and bone. I could see the faint shimmer appearing over my hand and it traveled up my arm. A second passed, and then my arm blended into the floor.
Kat’s eyes widened. “Daemon?”
I chuckled.
“Daemon?” She turned toward the couch. “I can’t see you at all.”
“Not at all?”
She shook her head as her eyes narrowed. Stepping back, her forehead scrunched as she stared right where I stood, in the front of the couch. “Oh my God, you’re totally like the Predator.”
“This is so cool.” I let go of the reflection. “God, I am so going to sneak into your bathroom like the Invisible Man.”
Kat shot me a bland look. “Give me the opal.”
Laughing, I handed it over. “Want to hear something crazier than me being completely invisible? It barely took any energy away. I feel fine.”
“Wow.” She turned the stone over. “We need to test this out.”
We headed to the lake about fifteen minutes before anyone else was supposed to show. “You try it.”
Kat stepped back from me. In one hand she held the opal, and she lifted the other hand. Within seconds, a ball of whitish-red light appeared on her hand. “Wow.” She glanced at me, awed. “This is…different.”
I nodded. “Do you feel tired or anything?”
“No.” Pivoting, she walked to the bank of the lake. “I could never do the heat-to-fire thing. Burned my fingers pretty bad the last time I tried it.”
“Should you be trying it now, then?”
“But you’re here to heal me.”
I frowned, moving closer to her. “Worst logic ever, Kitten.”
Kat grinned as she focused on a slender crooked branch. The ripple of energy washed over my skin. The scent of burned ozone filled the air. White light flared over her knuckles and within a second, the stick collapsed into an ash replica. “Uh.”
“That wasn’t fire,” I said, “but it was pretty damn close.
“Let me have it,” I said. “I want to see if it has any effect on the onyx.”
Handing it over, she followed me to the pile of onyx. I held the opal in one hand and then unearthed the pile of onyx. Preparing myself for the very unpleasant sensation, I picked up one of the shards.
Nothing. No burn or sting. Just nothing.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
I lifted my gaze to hers. “Nothing—I don’t feel anything.”
“Let me try.”
It was the same for Kat. The onyx had no effect on her while she held the piece of the opal. Both of us knew what that meant. Whoever carried the opal would have no reaction to the onyx, and they got a nice power-up.
Of course, I would make damn sure that Kat carried it.
The others arrived, and I slipped the piece of opal in my pocket. With Blake there, I didn’t want him to know we had it. Since it was in my pocket, I quickly discovered that unless it was against my skin, it had no effect on the onyx. In my mind, I saw Luc’s cuff. No doubt the opal was sewn in so it was always touching his skin.
As the night wound down and everyone else headed back, Kat stayed behind with me. “It didn’t work in your pocket, did it?”
“No.” I dug the opal out. “I’m going to hide this somewhere. Right now, I don’t think we need anyone fighting over it or it getting into the wrong hands.”
“Do you think we’re ready for next Sunday?”
Nervousness gathered in her voice. We had a little over a week before we headed to Mount Weather.
I slipped the opal back into my pocket and then gathered her in my arms. “We’re going to be ready as we ever will be, and I don’t think we can keep Dawson off much longer.”
Kat agreed with the last part. Truth was, even if we weren’t ready, we were going to have to do it, because I’d been right about Dawson. He hadn’t said anything, but we couldn’t hold him back much longer.
No matter what, we’d be ready for Mount Weather on Sunday.
While the girls went dress shopping on Saturday, I headed out with the guys to grab an early dinner. I was wondering how the whole thing was going down for Kat. It was the first time she was hanging out with Dee since Adam died, and Ash was also with them.
I was pretty sure Ash still hadn’t forgiven Kat for spaghetti-gate.
We piled into a booth in the back of Smoke Hole. Dawson immediately grabbed the menu. Every time he came here now, he wanted to try something new. Luckily, the menu was absurdly large, and he usually found something on it he hadn’t tried. It was strange. He’d never done that before.