I tugged free, taking more deep breaths. “Really, I’m okay. We need to keep going.”
Daemon looked like he wanted to toss me over his shoulder and run off like a caveman, but we moved on. Over and over again, each of us touched the onyx, holding on until our body refused to cooperate. None of us increased in time, but we were just getting started.
“It’s like getting hit with a Taser,” Matthew said as he dropped a sheet of plywood over the onyx, then placed two heavy rocks on the board. It was late and all of us were twitchy. Even Blake. “Not that I’ve ever been Tased, but I image that’s how it feels.”
I wondered if there’d be any long-term effects from this. Like messed-up heart rhythms or post-traumatic stress. The one good thing that came out of this was that between the mind-blowing pain and watching other people succumb to it, I really hadn’t been capable of thinking about anything else.
As we finished up and began to limp back to the house, Blake slowed down until he was beside me. “I’m sorry,” he said.
I said nothing.
He shoved his hands into his jeans. “I liked Carissa. I wish…”
“If wishes were fishes, we’d all throw nets, right? Isn’t that what they say?” Bitterness sharpened my tone.
“Yeah, that’s what they say.” He paused. “Things are gonna get crazy at school.”
“Why do you care? You’re going to leave as soon as you get Chris. You’ll just be another one of those kids who vanished into thin air.”
He stopped, head cocked to the side. “I would stay if I could. I can’t, though.”
Frowning, I glanced ahead. Daemon had slowed down, no doubt doing his best not to physically put more distance between Blake and me. For a second, I considered asking Blake about the stone. He’d have to know, since he worked for Daedalus—still did. But it was too tricky. Blake claimed to be playing double agent. Key word: claimed.
I wrapped my arms around my waist. Overhead, the branches cracked against one another like a low, steady drum.
“I would stay,” he said again, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I—”
Daemon was there in an instant, prying Blake’s fingers off my shoulder. “Don’t touch her.”
Blake paled as he pulled his hand free and stepped back. “Dude, I wasn’t doing anything. Overprotective much?”
Implanting himself in between us, Daemon said, “I thought we had an understanding. You’re here because we don’t have a choice. You’re still alive because she is better than me. You’re not here to comfort her. Got that?”
Blake’s jaw popped. “Whatever. I’ll see you guys later.”
I watched Blake stalk past Matthew and Dawson. “That was a little overprotective.”
“I don’t like him touching you,” he growled. His eyes started doing that glowing-orb thing. “I don’t like him even being in the same time zone as you. I don’t trust him.”
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.