by Jus Accardo
Jade flashed Kale a sympathetic smile. Oh, yeah. She was good. Guys probably went gaga for those long lashes and pouty lips. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have no human interaction. How horrible.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. “He had human interaction. He had me.”
Jade flashed a mock frown. “Had—past tense. Ginger said you were just like everyone else now.”
Jesus. Did they plan on making some kind of news bulletin? Taking out an ad in the Six Weekly? “Well, he could touch me up until an hour ago.”
The smug expression on her face nearly drove me over the edge. It had me wondering where I could bury her body and how fast. We’d met a Six over the summer with the ability to manipulate the earth. Something like that would come in handy for an impromptu grave digging…
Jade folded her arms. “But he can’t anymore, right? I mean, not without me around.”
“You can teach me how to control my ability.” Kale stepped between us. “So I can touch Dez again?”
“I can try,” Jade said. “Who you chose to touch afterward is your choice. There’s a whole living world out there besides the people in this room.”
The people in this room. She meant me! I glared from her to the coffee table. She might be impervious to harm, but she still might feel pain. Slamming her face through the furniture might ease some of the tension I felt.
No. Bad Dez.
I took a deep breath. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Beating her to a bloody pulp wouldn’t help Kale. I just needed to establish an order. Stake my claim so her place—and mine—was crystal clear. “Well, now that you’re here, he can.” I turned to him, trying to push aside the involuntary hesitation at the memory of our final moments at the top of the crane. “Right?”
He inched closer. No one else would have noticed, but I did. The slight shake of his hand as he reached for my face. Restraint. Something he’d never needed to use around me.
Pushing past the doubt, his fingers brushed my cheek and left a trail of fire in their wake. Fire—and a slight sting.
He withdrew his hand. “Does that hurt?”
I shook my head and smiled. “Not even a little.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding and fell forward. Arms circling my waist, he crushed me close and buried his face. Tiny prickles sprang to life where his face touched mine through the gaps in my hair.
He probably would have stayed like that, just hanging on, but I pulled away. Normally I couldn’t have cared less. The audience didn’t bother me, and it didn’t bother Kale. This was how he felt, and that was that. Nothing to hide.
So why let go? Standing there with Kale holding on for dear life might convey to Jade she had no shot. He was taken and obviously happy to be so. But there was a small problem. The longer he held on, the worse it got. The pain became less like pins and needles and more like sharp jabs. It was nothing compared to what I’d felt back at the construction site, but it was still there.
A small part of me wondered if it was amping faster than it should. Could I possibly have overdosed on Jade’s aura already? It didn’t seem right. She’d just gotten here, and Kale and I hadn’t had much physical contact.
I should have said something. Right then and there, I should have opened my mouth and asked how long it would take for the effect to diminish, but I couldn’t do it. Kale looked so relieved. And it wasn’t that bad.
Not really…
“And what about you?” Jade cooed. “Or—are you not a Six?”
I pointed to the delicate gold bangle on her wrist. “That’s pretty.”
She held out her arm and gave her wrist a slight shake. The bangle jiggled back and forth, catching the light from the ceiling. Beaming, she said, “It’s from France.”
I reached out and touched the cool metal, then with the other hand, touched the collection of black plastic Silly Bandz on my own wrist. Throbbing in my temples, and a wave of nausea hit hard, but it passed quickly. The more I mimicked, the easier it got. I’d been practicing over the summer. Mimicking at least two small things a day. The effects weren’t as bad, and they didn’t last nearly as long as they used to. When I looked down, the black plastic shimmered and changed until we were both wearing the same thing.
Admittedly, it didn’t look as good on me as it did her. The bright gold was out of place against my too-pale skin. “Mine’s from Target.”
She laughed. The sound was like a thousand tiny bells ringing at once. Delicate, charming—and annoying as hell. “Isn’t that cute!”
Cute? Oh, I’d give her cute…
Ginger must have glanced over at that exact moment and seen my face because she stopped whispering to Mom and stepped between us—unfortunately before I could inflict bodily harm. “I think it’s time for everyone to get some sleep. You all have a big day tomorrow.”
“Big day?” I grumbled, stepping back.
“School starts tomorrow.”
“School?” Kale said with a look of horror. “I can’t go to school.”
Ginger smiled. “It’s all taken care of. I promise you we’ve worked out a plan that’s safe for everyone, and Jade will be with you every step of the way.”
I was wrong. Now the day had officially capped at horrific.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
6
I looked around the small hotel room and cringed. This wasn’t going to work.
“Which bed did you want?” Mom asked me this every night without fail. Like it was going to change from one day to the next?
She emerged from the bathroom wearing a white tank top and pink pajama bottoms dotted with little blue penguins. Not exactly something you’d expect a cold-blooded killer to wear, right?
Mom, like Kale, had been a prisoner of the Denazen Corporation since before I was born. She’d been forced to do horrible things at their command. I’d grown up thinking she died in childbirth, wishing for only the chance to meet her—to talk to her just once. Now here I was, not only talking to her, but sharing a room.
A really small room.
The first few weeks at the hotel, Mom kept her distance from everyone. We shared the same room, but she kept to herself for the most part. She didn’t eat with the rest of us and never joined us in the lounge for poker or movie night. She only seemed to be able to handle company for less than fifteen minutes at a time. Any longer, and she’d start fidgeting and make an excuse to leave. The only exceptions—in time—were Ginger and me. And of course, Kale. She’d spend hours talking to him. With everyone else, she was quiet, rarely speaking unless there was something important to say. After a while, she got a little more chatty, but I didn’t think she’d ever be what Brandt would’ve called verbose.
I shrugged as if it didn’t matter but staked a claim on the one closest to the window by flopping down beneath the hideous painting of an old barn. I didn’t like being by the door. Too many nightmares about Denazen bursting in while I slept, Dad leading the charge to drag me away. “Ginger said they moved Kale’s room. Do you know where? I was gonna go check on him.”
And it was true, I did want to check on him. We’d had a hard night, me and him. I wouldn’t be able to sleep unless I knew he was okay. But I also needed out of that room. I loved Mom. I was happy she was safe and in my life. However, this was bound to get awkward. There was no way I’d be able to sleep after everything that had happened, and sitting around eating a pint of rocky road and dishing about boys wasn’t exactly an option. What did you say to someone who’d been locked up for the last seventeen years, treated like an animal, and used as a tool to lure people to their death? Hey, let’s watch a movie. There’s a new Ben Barnes flick out. Wait…you don’t know who Ben Barnes is, do you?
We’d been getting to know each other since the summer started, but it was slow. On my first night back, we sat in our room for over an hour, trying to talk. Neither of us had any idea what to say—or where to start. We’d been separated my entire life
.
It was proving to be a slow process. In a strange way, Mom was more screwed up than Kale. Like him, she had her quirks. Nothing red was allowed in the room, and each time she took a shower, she left the door open and made me swear to leave every light in the place on. She even made me switch on the flashlight app on my new cell.
But in addition to what everyone considered small quirks, she had some bigger issues, too. She wouldn’t allow anything elastic within ten feet of her. Hair scrunchies, rubber bands, hell, she’d freaked when she saw my collection of Silly Bandz. She’d even gone as far as ridding all her clothes of anything elastic. On our second night together, right before Kale and I took off to warn the Sixes on Brandt’s list, I’d come in to find her cutting the waistband from all her underwear.
Can you say awkward?
She turned to the clock on the nightstand between our beds. “It’s almost one in the morning.”
I started backing toward the door. “I know. Thank God it’s still early, right?”
“Dez.” She looked uncomfortable. Was nice to know it wasn’t just me. “I think there are a few things we need to talk about.”
“Talk about?”
“There are some things we should probably get out in the open.”
This couldn’t be good. She was going to rail me about sneaking out to the party. Hell of a time for her to put on the Mom pants.
“I know you and Kale have grown close—”
“This is about Kale?” I gave her a dismissive wave and backed up a few more steps. “Trust me when I tell you, that ship has sailed.”
“Dez,” she said again, this time sharper.
I froze. Her tone was like a sledgehammer to the knees.
“It’s far too dangerous for you to be alone with Kale right now. How do you think he’ll feel if something happens to you?” As an afterthought, she added, “Plus it’s a school night. You can’t go.”
“I can’t? Watch me.”
I regretted the words immediately. I wasn’t trying to give her crap; it was more out of habit. I wasn’t used to answering to anyone. Dad hadn’t taken much of an interest in my life, and the few times he had, it had been to forbid me to do something. I usually ignored him and went along on my merry way. “I’m sorry.” I leaned against the wall. “Force of habit. I don’t do authority.”
“So I’ve heard,” she said wryly.
“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve been taking care of myself for a really long time—without parental interference. Dad talked, I ignored. It’s a little late in my life for someone to be telling me to do my homework, wash behind my ears, and be in bed before ten.”
“This is a big adjustment for both of us. I may have raised Kale inside Denazen, but being a mother out here—” Mom looked around the room wearing an expression much like the one Kale had when he first came into my house. Dazed and confused didn’t cut it. Leaning over, she picked up the can of Sprite I’d left on the nightstand and gave it a shake. “Everything is different. I know you can’t understand—”
“You’re right. I won’t ever fully understand what it’s like for you, but I’ve spent enough time with Kale to know the world must look like an alien civilization from your eyes.”
“I’m your mother, and you’re my responsibility.” She set the can down and stepped forward, sounding unsure.
“Please, please don’t take this wrong, but I haven’t been anyone’s responsibility for a long time.”
I leaned close and kissed her forehead. She cringed a little—personal space issues.
“Promise I won’t be long. Just wanna make sure he’s okay.”
There was no chance for her to object. I was through the door and down the hall without looking back. When I got to the bottom of the first-floor stairs, it occurred to me that Mom never said which room they’d moved Kale to. I made my way to the front desk where—surprise—Rosie was still planted in front of her small TV.
I waved a hand in front of my face and scrunched up my nose. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you perfume isn’t a substitute for soap?” Every day it was a new, disgustingly pungent perfume. I imagined Rosie’s house was crammed to the ceiling with little bottles in assorted shapes and colors bearing designer labels and expensive price tags. Sometimes the smell was so bad that I wondered if she didn’t experiment, mixing several together to create her own icky fragrance.
She shrugged. “It’s sad that you have no taste. It should be a criminal offense.”
I did my best to breathe through my mouth. Not that it helped much. I could taste the fumes. “Don’t you ever sleep?”
“I don’t need sleep,” she replied.
I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. After all this time, I still had no idea what Rosie’s gift was. “They moved Kale. Can you tell me which room he’s in now?”
A normal Rosie response would have been ten minutes of avoidance, then five minutes of bargaining, followed by a multiple choice answer and a sneer that could scare small children. This time, a slow smile spread across her face as she toyed with the edge of the registration book. “Oh, sure. They moved him into the room right next to that sweet, redheaded girl. What’s her name, Jade? And have you seen her? Really beautiful. That Kale’s a lucky guy getting to spend his time with her. Room one sixty-two.”
I swallowed a sarcastic remark. It went down thick, aided by the stench in the air. I refused to let her see that it bothered me. I nodded and was out of the lobby and down the hall in record time, the new information motivating me. Of course they’d put him next to Jade. She was like a cosmic off switch.
When the door opened, he looked tired, but the second our eyes met, his face lit up like the stormy sky outside. Just the sight of him standing there looking down at me like that was enough to wipe away the niggling bits of insecurity I’d felt over What’s-Her-Name earlier. “Dez.”
He stepped aside and hugged the wall to give me plenty of room. Closing the door behind me, I crossed the floor to the phone and said, “Fifteen feet, right?”
Lips slipping into a mischievous grin, he was next to me and punching in the room number next door in a flash. Through the wall, I heard it ring five times before Jade picked it up, her sleepy voice garbled through the receiver. “Stay in your room, please,” he said. “I’m going to kiss Dez.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips. Bet that wasn’t what she hoped he’d say when he called.
All smiles, Kale hung up the phone.
“That’s going to get really irritating.” I tried to look annoyed, but it was impossible with him right there, grinning.
He was quiet for a few minutes before he began to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Though to be honest, it didn’t matter. As long as he kept laughing. I heard that laugh in my dreams every night. Deep and a little bit dark, it caused my heart to pound and sent the butterflies in my stomach into a hysterical frenzy. It was my favorite sound in the world.
“Did it feel this way when I was angry at Alex?” His mood was light, but the mention of Alex’s name caused his eyes to darken just a little.
Jealous. I was jealous of Jade. “It was kinda nice,” I admitted, then backpedaled. “But it’s not the same thing.”
He tilted his head, right eyebrow rising slightly above the left. “You’re not angry because Jade can touch me?”
“I most certainly am not.” Only half a lie. I was more angry—at the moment, anyway—that she had to be lurking around so I could touch him. I was all for putting on a show, but I drew the line at voyeurism.
He laughed again, pulling me to him. “I like this. It feels good.”
“I bet this feels better,” I whispered, leaning closer.
He grabbed the sides of my face, ensuring I couldn’t move. A giggle rose in my throat. Like I’d move? Away from this?
Warmth exploded everywhere he touched. Greedy fingers skimmed bare shoulders, slipped beneath the still-damp straps of my tank top, and traced eager lines up
and down my neck. Warmth—and something else. Tiny prickles. Like the ones I’d felt earlier with Jade around, only slightly more aggressive. A few moments more, and my head started to hum. A low sound that made my ears itch and my stomach turn a little. A ghost of what I’d gotten a taste of on the crane, but enough to throw things off balance.
I ignored it and pushed off the wall. This. This was what I came here for. Yes, I’d wanted to check on him. Yes, I’d wanted to get out of that room with Mom. But most of all, I needed to connect with Kale. My lifeline. My adrenaline rush. I needed to feel like I was still alive. Like we were still alive. I needed to know that Jade’s appearance and her ability to be touchy-feely hadn’t changed anything between us.
And it hadn’t—because nothing ever could.
After a few blissed-out moments, Kale pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He was torn. I could see it in his eyes. Wanting so badly to touch me, but at the same time so terrified to cause me pain.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close again. “I wasn’t feeling anything but happies,” I whispered between kisses. “I promise.”
A few more seconds of internal debate, and he caved. Backing up slowly, lips still on mine, he maneuvered us to his bed. We collapsed on the mattress in a tangled heap, never breaking contact.
With each touch, the humming in my head grew louder. The subtle prickles grew to a constant throb as the pain flared to life, starting at my fingertips and working its way throughout my body. Still, I ignored it. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except this.
Except us.
“I don’t want this,” he breathed between kisses. “To go too far. If it hurts—”
Pulling him forward, I gripped the edge of his T-shirt—he’d changed out of the wet one—and pulled it over his head. Without missing a beat, he reached for the hem of my tank top, but I grabbed his hands and twisted them around my back. “Trust me, I’m feeling something, but it’s not pain.”