“All right.” He held up the core of his apple, frowning. “You don’t trust me, do you?”
I was quick to tell him that I did, I stopped. Someone at least deserved my honesty. “Don’t take it personally, but right now, I think trust is something not easily given, considering.”
Blake glanced at me sideways and smiled. “Good idea.”
…
If I saw another knife in the next ten years, I’d need long-term psychiatric care. Spending time with a knife being thrown at me wasn’t my idea of fun.
Thankfully, I’d been able to stop them all. And without Daemon there, Blake stayed in one piece.
He moved onto throwing non-deadly stuff at my head, like pillows and books, by the end of the week. After several hours, I’d mastered the art of not eating fabric. I never let the books hit me or the floor, though. That just seemed sacrilegious.
It seemed ass backward to start off with the knives and end with the pillow, but I understood his master plan. My ability was also tied to my emotions—like fear. I needed to be able to tap into those strong feelings and use them when I wasn’t freaking out. I also needed to be able to control them when I was spazzing.
I groaned as I picked up all of the pillows off the floor and the books off the coffee table, putting them each back where they belonged.
“Tired?” Blake commented, lounging against the wall.
“Yeah.” I yawned.
“You know how the Luxen get tired from using their powers?” Blake grabbed the last book, placing it where he’d gotten it: the TV stand.
“Yeah, and I remember you saying something about us tiring out faster than they do.”
“We are just like the Luxen in that sense. They use up energy to do things—the whole sending-a-piece-of-them thing? We’re the same way, but they can go a lot longer than we can. I don’t know why. Has something to do with the fact that we only have half-alien DNA, but we have to be careful, Katy. The more abilities we use, the weaker we get. And faster.”
“Great,” I muttered. “So Daemon could’ve really held you against the wall all night?”
“Yep.” He stopped beside me. “Sugar helps. But so does the Melody Stone.”
“The what?” I rubbed the back of my neck as I dropped onto the couch.
“It’s a type of crystal—a very rare opal.” He sat beside me, so close that his thigh pressed against mine. I scooted away.
“What does it do?”
He rested his head back on the cushion and gave me a lopsided shrug. “From what I’ve learned, it can help increase our powers. Possibly even stabilize them so we don’t grow tired like the Luxen do.”
The whole crystal business didn’t make sense to me. It sounded like a bunch of New Age crap, but then again, what did I know? “Do you have one?”
Blake laughed. “No. They’re hard to get.”
Grabbing an abused pillow, I placed it under my head and closed my eyes, snuggling against the arm of the couch. “Well, then I guess it’s just me and sugar.”
There was a pause. “You did really well, though. You’re a fast learner.”
“Ha! You weren’t saying that the first week of training.” I yawned. “Maybe this won’t be so hard. I’ll get control of my abilities…and everything will go back to normal.”
“Things won’t ever be normal, Katy. Once you step outside the range of the beta quartz, the Arum will find you.” The couch dipped on my side, but I was too tired to open my eyes. “But if you can really control this, you’ll be able to defend yourself.”
And that’s what I wanted. To stand beside Daemon, not cower behind him. “You’re such a bearer of great news. You know that?”
“I don’t mean to.”
The cushion under me shifted even more, and I felt Blake’s fingers brushing my hair aside. My eyes snapped open, and I jerked up, twisting around to face him. “Blake.”
He sat back, placing his hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay over there.”
Was that all? Or more? Oh, man, this was so awkward. “Things are really complicated right now.”
“Understandable,” he said, sitting back. “You like him, don’t you?”
I clutched the pillow to my chest, not sure what to say.
“Don’t lie.” He laughed when I frowned. “You always blush when you lie.”
“I don’t know why people keep saying that. My cheeks are not a human lie detector.” I toyed with a frayed thread, knowing we needed to have that conversation, especially since we were working together. “I’m sorry. Just right now—”
“Katy, it’s okay.” He placed his hand on mine, squeezing reassuringly. “For real. I like you. I do. Obviously. But you have a lot going on, and probably some of that was before I even came here. So it’s okay. Really.”
The first real smile in two days turned up my lips. “Thanks for being so…understanding.”
Blake pushed off the couch, running his hand through his hair. “Well, I have the time to be patient. I’m not going anywhere.”
…
I sat in class, trying to focus on what Carissa and Lesa were talking about. My skin was alternating between hot and cold flashes.
“So, Katy, you’ve been hanging out with surfer boy a lot.” Lesa cocked an eyebrow. “Care to share the details on that?”
I shrank in my seat. “No. We’re just hanging out.”
“Just hanging out,” Lesa repeated slyly, “is like code for having sex.”
Carissa’s mouth dropped open. “No, it’s not!”
“You obviously haven’t dated a lot of guys around here.” Lesa sat back in her chair, pulling on a tight curl. “Actually, pretty much everything with guys around here is code for sex.”
“I’m going to have to go with Carissa on this one. Hanging out does not equal sex the last time I—”
Tingles shot across my neck and my heart rate spiked. I caught a glimpse of Daemon coming through the doorway and I focused on Lesa’s face as though she were my lifeline.
Daemon glided past my seat and took his behind me. I clenched the edges of my notebook, hoping our teacher wouldn’t take his sweet time getting to class.
A pen poked me in the back.
An unbelievably giddy rush swept through me. I turned slowly. I couldn’t pick up anything from his guarded expression.
“I see you’ve been…busy,” he said, lashes lowered.
Sucky part about living next to Daemon was the fact he pretty much saw everything I did. And that meant he knew I was still training with Blake. “Yeah, kind of.”
Daemon’s elbows scooted over the desk as he cupped his chin in his hands. “So what is Bobo doing?”
“It’s Blake,” I said, voice low. “And you know what we’ve been doing. You’re more—”
“Not going to happen.” He then laughed under his breath, but there was no humor to it as he inched a little closer. His irises deepened. “I really wish you’d think about this.”
“And I wish you’d think about this.”
Daemon didn’t respond. He pulled his elbows back toward him, crossing his arms. Our conversation was obviously over. I twisted around, feeling icky.
Morning classes dragged. Lesa was waiting for me outside of bio, stopping me from going in. “Can I ask you a question?” she said, glancing around.
I sighed. “Sure.”
She pulled me against an unoccupied locker. “What’s going on? You kissed Daemon before Halloween, went out with Blake once, and now you went out with him again, but you and Daemon undeniably have something going on.”
I made a face. “Gee, it sounds like I’m a ho-bag or something.”
Lesa made a face. “I’m so not the one who’s going to slut shame. Trust me. I’m just curious. Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”