* * *
“I wanted to tell you,” Nathan said on the way to school. “I think I figured out why you have your premonitions and why you get them in an audio form.”
“Really? I thought I heard you say something about it last night, but I fell asleep and forgot to ask you about it earlier.”
“That’s understandable considering the circumstances,” he purred.
I shoved his arm. “Stop it.”
He laughed. “I think it’s your spirit guide talking to you.”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Why would he give me cryptic messages? Unless, he was once a troll, who used to live under a bridge and wouldn’t allow people to pass until they solved his riddles.” I grinned at him.
“I get the sarcasm, Paige, but I’m serious. Maybe it comes to you that way to prepare you for the life you’re soon going to enter. It’s teaching you to use your mind, so you can figure complex things out.”
“I think you’re grasping at straws here.” I yawned, not wanting to talk about this.
“I think if you started tuning yourself into it,” he said, ignoring my comment, “you’d be able to connect with your guide more.”
“I think I have more important things to apply my energy to right now, but I appreciate your thoughts on it.” I could hear the snottiness in my voice and instantly felt bad.
He didn’t say anything, which made me feel even worse.
“I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings,” I quickly said, afraid I had. “It’s just the voice I hear is a sore spot with me, and I don’t want to deal with it right now.”
He parked beside a row of trees at the far end of the school’s parking lot and turned to me. If I had hurt his feelings, it didn’t show. His eyes were filled with nothing but gentleness.
“It’s okay. I understand. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you on it.”
I laced my fingers with his. “I do appreciate it, and I want you to always share your thoughts with me, even if we end up disagreeing. And I’m sure you want the same from me too.”
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it. “Absolutely.”
“Now, I’m going to get this day over with and avoid talking to the ‘old one,’ even though I really want to, but I understand your concern.”
“Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”
I dropped my eyes and turned to open the door, but he took my arm before I could grasp the handle.
“I love you.” There was a fierceness in his voice.
I looked at him and became breathless when I saw the devotion on his face.
Was it possible to keep falling in love with the same person every day? Because it seemed each day I spent with him, I fell deeper in love.
“I love you too,” I said, hearing the fervent emotion in my own voice.
A slow sexy smile formed on his lips, muddling my thoughts. He stepped out of the pickup and opened my door, taking my hand. And for the rest of this short week, this was how I started out each school day, with Nathan holding my hand, walking me to my locker.
When lunch time came around, Nathan was at my locker, holding two plastic containers in his hands. We ate with Tree and Carrie who were always happy to see him, and Carrie told him about Ashley not saying a word to us while I fretted over next hour with the “old one.” I wasn’t sure how I would handle the situation, or if I’d be able to clamp my mouth against my own curiosities, but I had to try.
When I got to history class, the “old one” wasn’t there, and I overheard Steve saying Matt had the flu pretty bad. I leaned back in my seat and breathed out all my tension, thinking how pleased Nathan would be with this information. I couldn’t wait to give him the news and found myself becoming more and more antsy as the minutes ticked by. Finally, the bell rang. I jumped out of my seat, snatched my backpack, and hurried to my locker.
“Guess what.” I said, swinging our hands in the air on the way to his pickup, thinking what a good day this had been. A whistle was being blown, and I could hear people clapping. Baseball practice, I imagined. It was about that time for spring training. I wasn’t much into sports, although baseball was fun to play.
Nathan looked at me, and by the smile in his eyes, my mood seemed to be rubbing off on him.
I watched an airplane fly through the swirling clouds in the gray sky, and cheerfully told him what Steve had said. His fingers tightened around mine, and we stopped walking. He looked like a man who was told he had terminal cancer.
My stomach dropped. “What is it?”
“If Matt is really sick, the ‘old one’ has vacated his vessel, and taken over another one.” He rubbed the side of his neck and moved his head around. “This isn’t good, Paige, and I need you to be on guard at all times.”
“But what if he’s lurking around here?” I frantically looked about.
“They can only lurk in places that suits their own energy, which puts a lot of restrictions on them, and one of the reasons why they love being in the flesh because they can go wherever they want.”
“But I don’t understand. If they can only lurk in certain areas, how can they find a vessel?” My voice came out all panicky, and I could feel the horror on my face.
“If there are soulless bodies nearby, spirits can jump in them. Or if people call to them, evoking the same energy, they can enter that area. But truthfully, most soulless humans vibrate an energy similar to dark spirits, so they can easily find their vessels.”
There was a group of kids across the parking lot talking, and I suddenly became envious of their simple life. Now I knew why some people say ignorance was bliss. But then again, I was the type of person who wanted to know the truth, even if it would hurt me.
But why couldn’t I have just one good day? Was that too much to ask?
When we reached his pickup, he opened the door. “I’m sorry I ruined your mood.” He sounded like I felt–glum.
“That’s okay. I need to know this stuff.” I hopped in and slid down the seat, pulling the hood of my jacket over my head.
“What are you thinking?” Nathan asked, pulling out of the parking lot.
“I just want to have a normal day without all these worries,” I mumbled. “And right now, I want to disappear from it all.”
“Would it help if we did normal things tonight and not talk about it?”
I lifted my hands and dropped them heavily into my lap. “We have to search the attic.”
“That can wait until tomorrow.” There was an appeasing tone in his soft voice.
“Okay, but did you find out anything today?”
“I spoke to Anwar about Aosoth, and he said she likes to move around a lot, which makes it difficult to catch her. But I did track down the girl she had taken over that night at The Lion’s Den.”
I flipped my hood off, shocked he found her. “You did?”
He nodded. “She was at the gym, but Aosoth was no longer inside of her.”
I dropped my eyes and fiddled with my fingers. That sucks.
“There’s more,” he said. “When your father was born, a maid in a motel outside of Phoenix discovered him abandoned in one of the rooms.”
I slapped a hand over my heart and could hardly breathe. I wasn’t expecting this.
“Do you want me to continue, because this can wait?” He looked concerned, like I might fall to pieces, which was debatable at this point.
“Please do,” I whispered. “I–I want to hear this.”
“I called in a favor to a friend of mine, and he got word the maid is Hispanic. He located her, and she told him a young girl checked in with an older man, and they stayed holed up in the motel room for a few days. They wouldn’t allow her in to clean the room, but they requested more towels and linen.” He took a deep breath and continued. “After the third day, she discovered the door was ajar and heard a baby crying. When she went inside, she found a pile of bloody towels and linen. The baby was wrapped in a white bed sheet and placed in a beer crate. There w
as a note, written in block letters, pinned to the sheet saying to take care of him because he’s special.”
I suddenly realized we were home and blinked. “Does she know their names?”
He shook his head, closely watching me.
“What did they look like?” A rush of anxiety poured through my veins.
“She told him the girl was short and pretty with fiery red hair.”
“And the guy?” My heart was pounding painfully.
Nathan placed his hand on my shoulder. “You need to calm down. Your heart is racing, and you look like you’re going to faint. Maybe we should finish this conversation later.”
I took a couple of deep breaths. “What did the guy look like?” I persisted, not caring my hands were shaking, my heart still pounding, and everything seemed to be moving away from me. It was as if somebody with superpowers forcefully shoved my chest, wheeling me out of the atmosphere.
“She described an older version of Matt,” he said against his better judgment.
I sucked in a sharp breath and stuck my head between my knees, desperately trying to get air into my lungs. The more I tried, the tighter my chest became. Nathan was beside me in a flash, practically ripping the door off. His hand went to the center of my back, rubbing it in slow circles.
“Try to match your breaths with the movement of my hand,” he instructed.
I tried, but all I could think about was the possibility my father had been conceived by a human possessed by a dark spirit, maybe by the “old one.” And then I wondered if his interest in me might be because in a weird kind of way I was his granddaughter. A dark, haunting feeling sucked me into a spinning black hole. I wondered feebly if I gave into it, where it would take me?
“You need to concentrate, Paige,” Nathan demanded when I closed my eyes. “Listen to my breaths,” he said next to my ear, breathing loud enough for me to hear. “Don’t think of anything else, but how to breathe correctly.”
I did what he said, latching onto each one of his breaths with forced concentration, and eventually was able to pull out of it. Nathan tilted his sweaty face to the cloudy sky and blew out a sigh of relief, then dropped his head into my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair, and we stayed like that for a while, listening to the chirping birds and a dog barking in the distance.
“I’m taking you inside,” he finally said, scooping me into his arms. “You’re in no shape to be walking.” I didn’t argue and clung to his neck.
Once inside, he placed me on the couch and sat on the floor beside me.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” I said.
“There’s no need to be sorry.” He took my hand and held it. “It’s not your fault. But I think we should drop it for tonight.”
I wondered if I’d be able to handle asking him what I had thought about earlier. I inhaled and exhaled a few times, thinking I could, but he frowned at me.
“Forget about it, Paige.”
“I’m okay. I think I can handle it.”
He shook his head.
“Please. Just one question, and I won’t ask anything else tonight?”
He groaned. “What is it?”
“Do you think a dark spirit possessed the human who got my grandmother pregnant? And do you think it was the ‘old one’?”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s two questions.”
“So. Just answer them, and I won’t mention it again tonight,” I bargained.
“Yes, and quite possible,” he said, and when I opened my mouth, he stuck his finger on my lips. “No more questions.”
Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance Page 40