Her hair fell forward on one side of her face as she concentrated on her calculator. She worried her bottom lip, sending chills through his body. Since she’d shut herself down and snapped at him, their emotional connection had faded even more and now he couldn’t sense her emotions. He ached for that closeness, wanted to touch her and see if it would return. Not knowing how she felt was driving him mad.
The thunder boomed and he glanced toward the window. Dougal sat there and stared at him. Good. As long as the jerk stared at him, then he wasn’t staring at Maddie.
And he could handle that game. Chase returned the glare, but something about it nagged at him. That look… Where had he seen it before?
He glanced again at Maddie. She sent him a shy smile, sending his pulse into overdrive.
“Mr. Donovan, would you mind repeating the instructions I just shared with the class?”
Heat flooded Chase’s face. “Well, I…”
“That’s what I thought. May I request you refrain from staring long enough to listen to me?”
The classroom snickered and Chase replied, “Sorry.” You know, if you weren’t quite so boring… Not that he’d ever say that aloud.
The teacher cleared his throat and continued. With great effort, Chase managed to pay a modicum of attention.
Finally the torture was over. They left math class and Maddie asked, “What were you doing? If you get in trouble, your parents won’t let you stay with me.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I know.”
“Then what gives?”
He kept it light. “I don’t know. There’s just something about you.”
“What?” she asked, blinking and playing with a strand of her hair.
He pulled her next to the row of lockers. “I can’t help myself. It’s like I’m drawn to you and I can’t stop.”
“Chase—”
“Don’t interrupt. I need to get this out. Somehow you’re a part of me.” The words of the old 80s song “Simply Irresistible” by Robert Palmer ran through his mind. She was that and so much more.
Maddie squirmed, but it was a delicious sort of squirm. “Chase, you don’t really know me.”
“I know enough.”
She sighed and tugged hard on his hand.
“Where are we going?” he asked, hoping it was away from the crowds and some place private.
“To class. We can’t be late.”
Figured.
****
Would the day never end? The rain pounded nonstop, Dougal and Chase both stared at her, and she felt awkward, more of a dork than ever. What was Chase’s problem? He claimed he was drawn to her, and she could understand that as she was irresistibly drawn to him as well, but couldn’t he resist the urge to stare?
She worked hard to ignore them and concentrate on her classes.
At lunch Maddie sat with her tray, waiting for Chase to join her. But behind him, Dougal hesitated. For a moment she had the horrible impression he intended to join them. When he grimaced and headed for his regular spot next to Stephanie, she relaxed and released a sigh.
“Maddie?” A tray settled beside hers.
If he asked the question, she’d explode. “Chase, I’m fine. I had a fear Dougal might sit with us and I didn’t think I could handle it right now, so I sighed. No big deal. So how do you like your chicken sandwich?”
The change in subject didn’t distract him. “Why would he do that?”
Maddie regretted her decision to share her worries. “Who knows? Why does he do anything he does? Why did he show up at the hospital? Why does he continue to follow me? Why does he stare at me?”
“All good questions.” A frown tugged at his lips as he glanced in Dougal’s direction.
“Let’s not worry about it. We should eat.”
“Good plan.”
It took her a moment to realize the silence wasn’t just Chase gingerly examining the so-called chicken sandwich. The rain had stopped.
The day refused to end. Maddie thought she’d scream and run crazy first, but finally it did and they strolled to the truck. When Chase’s fingers brushed hers, she slid hers between his and squeezed. He helped her in, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and clicked her seatbelt.
“What was that for?” she asked, fighting the flutter of butterflies in her stomach.
“Just something I wanted to do.”
“Oh.”
“Should we head to the hospital?”
“Yes.”
****
Mondays should be outlawed.
Chase was happy the day was over and he could finally take Maddie away from there. Their physical closeness intensified their relationship and sharing her presence with others, especially Dougal’s staring, was becoming painful. He closed Maddie’s door and turned to circle the truck. But Dougal stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
Through clenched teeth, Dougal said, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m taking Maddie to the hospital.”
“No, you’re not. She’s mine.”
Oh, yeah? Chase cocked a brow. All day his temper had seethed beneath the surface and finally he had an outlet. Excellent. His parents would kill him if he got into a fight on school property. But a guy had to do what a guy had to do. They’d understand once he explained. “Yes, I am.”
Dougal threw the first punch. Chase leaned right and Dougal’s fist slammed into the passenger side window. The glass vibrated and Maddie squealed, jumped, and scooted across the bench seat.
Ignoring Maddie’s reaction, Chase twisted and delivered an uppercut to Dougal’s chin. It landed with a purely satisfying shock that ran up his arm through his wrist and elbow to his shoulder. Dougal’s head snapped back. He staggered across the parking lot and landed on his backside. For a moment he sat stunned, then he shook his hair from his black eyes and Chase flinched as they took on an eerie bronze glow. They looked like cat’s eyes, gleaming across a darkened room, and he remembered he’d seen Dougal’s eyes do that before. In the excitement of Maddie, he’d forgotten.
A crowd gathered. Stephanie rushed to Dougal’s side and helped him up, her lip curling in disgust when she glanced at Chase. The guys from the football team, the ones he’d hung out with when trying to forget Maddie, pushed each other and pointed. Maddie climbed from the truck and gawked. Dougal dusted off his pants, pushed past simpering Stephanie, climbed into his SUV, and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving her standing.
Why had he given up so easily? Dougal liked to start things then leave at the first provocation, like when Chase had interrupted his dance with Maddie. But this had been physical, and Dougal hadn’t seemed the sort to leave a fight unfinished.
Concern tingeing her voice, Maddie said, “What a punch! You sent him halfway across the parking lot. How did you do that?”
Good question. Chase wasn’t prepared to answer, not even for Maddie. “Just get in the truck.”
People stared as he helped her in again and closed the door. He walked to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel, flexing his hand.
****
Furious, Dougal bit the inside of his cheek, keeping the metallic taste sweetening his mouth. It seeped not only from his cheek but from where he’d bitten his tongue when the stupid interfering human boy had hit him. Pain radiated along his arm from his smash with the truck’s window, his knuckles were bruised and bleeding, and he’d skidded across the concrete parking lot, ending with his bruised posterior in a cold puddle. But worst of all, confusion and shock pounded at him.
Impossible. What had happened was impossible. It could not have happened.
In the rearview mirror, Stephanie balled her fists and ran across the lot in his wake, screaming for him to stop. He ignored her tirade and drove on, exiting the parking lot with a satisfying squeal of tires. At the first intersection, he turned the wrong way, deliberately heading out into the forest where none of the students who knew him lived.
Several miles down the road,
he parked on the side of the road beneath the shelter of overhanging pines and climbed out. The SUV could stay there without risk. He entered the dense forest and listened for passing cars. When none were forthcoming, he transformed into his gryphon shape and flew to Serena’s lair.
The tunnel inside was narrow and dark and it took someone with special vision to see the way. Deliberately he flew too fast, risking his wings and shoulders at twisty corners and pushing himself all the way. The danger felt good, like the squeal of protesting, accelerating tires as he’d left the humans behind. Especially her.
He entered the living area and hovered. Serena sprawled across her velvet chaise with her tail hanging off the edge. One arm lay across her eyes. Was she in a trance? Was she asleep? Did he care?
Yes. Yes, he cared. Because he needed answers and in her trance, if she hadn’t spent her energy looking elsewhere, she might have seen the impossibility he’d experienced.
He returned to his human form and stomped across the cave floor. Being a beast in the little open area cramped his wings. Without the fulfillment of danger and risk from flying too fast, he much preferred walking around on human legs. Plopping down next to Serena, he asked, “Did you see that?”
She opened one eyelid a fraction and nodded. Her eyes remained unfocused; she’d been distance-watching and it would take awhile for her normal sight to return. If he’d ever wanted to kill her…
Not before he got answers. “What happened?” He leaned his elbows on his knees and gently massaged his jaw.
“I don’t know,” she replied softly.
“Well, something happened. How did he avoid my punch? How was he fast enough to hit me? And how did he hit me so hard?” None of it was possible.
“I don’t know.”
Rage boiled inside him. “I grow weary of your non-answers, woman.”
Her eyes closed again. “Do not worry. Even if Chase is strong, you are stronger.”
Frustrated, Dougal stomped back into the tunnel, ignoring his swelling jaw and various aches. He should follow Serena’s plan and let Chase be the lynchpin that brought Maddie to her knees. Yet there was something about her quiet, gentle spirit that made him wish she wanted to help him find his family. He wished…
He refused to punch the cave wall. His knuckles already hurt too much.
****
Maddie didn’t know why Dougal and Chase had fought and Chase seemed so furious she didn’t want to ask. He drove in silence, eyes on the road, the muscle in his jaw twitching. But one thing was certain. Dougal could hit hard. The whole truck had shuddered when he’d hit the glass.
When Maddie could stand the silent treatment no longer, she asked, “What did Dougal want?”
He screwed up his face, but didn’t answer.
“Please. What did he want?”
Chase opened his mouth, snapped it shut, and then opened it again. “Do you really want to know what he wanted?”
“Of course.”
Chase parked the truck in the hospital lot. He leaned on the steering wheel and shot her a brief glance. She thought he wasn’t going to answer and she opened her mouth.
“You. He wanted you.”
Stunned, Maddie couldn’t move. She stared out the windshield. The most logical answer, and it had never occurred to her. That’s because nobody fights over dorks.
The imposing brick hospital sat atop a small knoll. Flowerbeds surrounded the facility and the last faded blooms looked like twigs after the early snowfalls. What did it say about her that the building didn’t frighten her? Grandma Draoi was inside, so it had to be a good place, right?
Chase reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a faint squeeze. “Let’s not think about that right now. It’ll be okay. Let’s just go in and visit your grandma.”
Inside, the ICU waiting room was empty; even the attendant was missing. Maddie paused at the double doors. “Come back with me? That is, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. I did promise not to leave you.”
Her lip twitched at the corner and she intertwined their fingers. Hand in hand, she leaned over, pushed a red button, and spoke into an intercom. The doors swung open and they quietly entered another world.
With Chase beside her everything looked different than the day before, somehow safer. A brightly lit hallway stretched in front of them. Beeps and mechanical whirring noises floated through the air. A nurse looked up, smiled, and offered a wave of acknowledgement. Maddie waved back as she pulled Chase into the darkened room at the hall’s end.
****
Chase leaned against the farthest wall as Maddie approached the pale figure lying on the bed. She’d told him what to expect, but the knowing hadn’t prepared him. Draoi Casey-Brennan appeared completely lifeless, and it disturbed him on a deep level he didn’t understand.
Maddie stroked her grandma’s hand. Only the machines’ beeping and whirring broke the silence. Chase wished he’d stayed in the waiting room. No, he had promised. He’d be there for her, no matter how his stomach twisted.
The door pushed open and a doctor entered, the nurse with the electronic recording machine behind him. He reached out his hand. “You must be Madelyn Clevenger.”
“I am.”
“I’m Dr. Gomez. I’ve been treating Mrs. Casey-Brennan.” He spotted Chase. “And who might this young man be?”
“He’s a close personal friend.”
“All right,” he hesitated, “would you mind coming with me? I would like to discuss some things with you.”
Chase swallowed. Things like, would her grandmother ever recover, and how Maddie would have to be brave. He felt sick.
Maddie must have been expecting something like that, though, because she didn’t blink. “Of course. Chase, do you mind sitting here and talking to her? I know she’ll remember your voice.”
“Sure.” Surprising, how normal he sounded.
The door creaked closed behind them. Hesitating wouldn’t help. Chase swallowed, settled into the only chair, put his elbows on his knees, and leaned forward. “Grandma Draoi, I don’t want you to worry about Maddie. I’m looking after her. You need to focus all your attention on getting better because she wants you to come home and be with her.”
“Thanks, sonny.”
His head jerked up so fast he heard a snap. Sharp green eyes peered at him with more than a hint of exhausted mischief. He opened his mouth to call out, but one frail hand settled on his forearm.
“Hold on, child, don’t get in such an all-fired hurry. I need to tell you a few things.”
“But Maddie will want to know— The doctor—”
“Yes, but first it’s my turn. You’re special, you know. No, don’t interrupt me again. My time is limited. How have your emotions been?”
Stunned, Chase froze. “What?”
The mischief died away, leaving her very serious indeed. Her voice, barely a weak whisper, spoke faster. “Don’t play dumb with me, boy. I know your emotions have been working overtime. At least, they better be, or I’ve really lost my touch.”
“I don’t understand.” His pulse pounded. What had the old woman seen? Had she been watching Maddie and him all along?
She didn’t waste breath sighing. “Of course you do. Listen and listen well. I was blessed with the same gift Maddie possesses, but when it passed to my daughter, my abilities changed. I successfully hid Maddie’s presence from the dark ones until you and that Dougal kid arrived. Don’t look so worried, child. It was inevitable. She had to be found.”
Pain flitted across her face, but when he tried again to get help, she stopped him. “When I met you, I knew you were her protector, her defender. I could feel the power in you. I’ve been channeling her emotions to you to draw you closer. Now that I’m down, though, I fear the only way you’ll feel her is when you physically touch. That’s when your own abilities kick in. But you better not be doing that too much, do you hear?” Draoi drew in a deep, ragged, shaky breath. “Don’t lift your eyebrow at me, sonny. I kno
w you’re a gray one—”
He didn’t care if she knew of his alter ego or not. “Can you tell me why I’m changing? Please?”
“All I can say is there comes a point when love conquers all differences.”
“But—”
She raised her hand. It only stayed up for a moment, then it sagged back onto the bed as if the last of her energy had seeped away. “Let me finish. I don’t have the energy to explain everything to you. All I can say is protect Maddie, for she holds the key to life and death…” She stopped, gasping, and her fingers clenched.
Chase froze.
For a moment longer she glared at him, her eyes wide and staring. Then they clamped shut. Her next breath trailed off into a gurgle. Monitors blared and he jumped.
“Code blue, code blue!” rang over the ICU intercom. Dr. Gomez and several nurses and technicians flooded in and Chase was shoved aside. Heart pounding, he made himself as small as possible.
A wide-eyed Maddie appeared in the open doorway, complete horror etched on her face. He edged around the determined team and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her head against his chest. A doctor yelled, “Clear!”
Draoi Casey-Brennan’s body thumped against the mattress. Maddie shuddered as they placed the paddles on her chest once more.
“Clear!”
Nurses and doctors stared at the machine. Seconds raced past. Maddie clutched his arm so tight he thought she squeezed bone.
“There it is. A regular rhythm.”
Dr. Gomez checked the numbers on the machines and sent Chase a fierce glare. “What happened?”
He opened his mouth to say she’d spoken to him, but quickly changed his mind. Their discussion needed to remain his secret for now. “Nothing. One minute I was sitting there talking to her and the next the machines went crazy.”
“Miss Clevenger, your grandmother is stable. You should head home and we’ll call if there’s any change.”
“But—”
“She needs her rest and there’s nothing you can do for her. I promise the nurse will call if there’s anything new to report.”
Maddie’s shoulders slumped.
The Key Page 20