Will looked at Thane. “Can you sense anything different?”
He shook his head.
“Maybe you have to actually try the blood,” Kelly suggested.
“No thanks,” Thane said dryly.
Will gave us all a hesitant smile. “Well, I’m going to wash.”
He surged to his feet and started downhill toward the creek, most likely wanting to get away from our curious gazes. I didn’t miss the way Susan watched him go. It wasn’t enough that she had Thane’s interest, she had to have Will too?
Unable to stand still any longer, I jumped to my feet, ignored Thane’s piercing attention, and followed Will. I needed to know his thoughts, needed to understand my own feelings. “Hey, can we talk?”
Will was already at the creek by the time I caught up to him. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. He didn’t exactly seem welcome either. “Sure.” He knelt by the water and splashed some on his face, then arms, cleaning the skin. I thought about those two times he had held me, pressed his mouth to mine. It had been only weeks ago but it felt like years. A memory of a dream I wasn’t quite sure was real or not.
“Will?” I could have sworn he was avoiding eye contact. “You feel okay?”
“Pretty normal. I haven’t grown an extra limb or anything, have I?”
I smiled. “No. You look fine.”
Of course we had no idea what would eventually happen but it was too late to voice my concern. “Listen, it’s about Susan.”
He stood, frowning, and raked back his damp hair. “What about her?”
“I don’t trust her, and I don’t think we should talk about the serum around her.”
Will sighed, settling on a boulder that had somehow ended up alongside the creek. As out of place in this landscape as I felt at times. “Jane, people didn’t trust you when you first arrived.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t in everyone’s business either. I was out of it. Insane. And you certainly never shared anything this important with me.”
He glanced back at the hill where everyone still sat. The setting sun was bright, highlighting their faces in an ethereal glow. Soon the moon would be full again. Which meant more people would die. Would it be my sister’s time to be chosen? As if sensing Will’s gaze, Susan turned and smiled at him. She was pretty. Really pretty. Is that why Thane and Will liked her so much? Were guys really that shallow? Tony stood and left the group and I wondered briefly where he was headed.
I switched my attention to Will and saw that he was smiling back. The flush upon his cheeks had nothing to do with the heat of the day and everything to do with Susan. I looked away, annoyed, unsure what I was feeling and why. Yeah, maybe I was jealous. But what it really boiled down to was that I just didn’t trust her.
“She’s fine,” Will said, scooping up a pebble and throwing it into the creek, watching it skip across the water. “She’s been through an ordeal, yet is thriving.”
In other words, doing better than I had. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t trust her. Who goes through that much? Sees that much death, feels that sort of fear and comes out smiling?”
“Maybe she just feels safe here with me.” He looked away, the flush on his face darkening. “With us. All of us, I mean.”
His slip angered me. “Kelly was right, you need to save people.” I hadn’t meant to say the words, but once they were out I didn’t regret them. “Don’t you?”
He straightened, his gaze flashing with annoyance. I’d hit on the truth and he knew it. “Excuse me?”
I glared back at him. “First me, and now her? Kelly said you have this need to save people, but I didn’t want to believe her. You don’t even see what’s right in front of you, Will, because you’re blinded by your need to be her hero. She can’t be trusted.”
“Enough,” he hissed, his anger stinging more than I wanted to admit. “I take care of her like I do all of my people.”
His people? “And is that what I am to you? Just one of your people? Another person you saved, another burden?”
His face softened. “I didn’t say that.”
“Maybe you didn’t need to.”
He narrowed his gaze as he shook his head, attempting to make sense of my comments. I knew he was confused, but I wasn’t sure how to explain, or even if I wanted to. “Is this jealousy? Is that what this is?”
“Honestly, maybe it was at first. But now, no. Now its disappointment. I guess I just expected more from you.” I started to turn away; sad, lost, but knowing I had to get away from him, from Susan, from Tony, and even Thane. I needed to think, to try and decipher my strange and new emotions.
“Jane.” Will followed me alongside the creek. “We need to talk.”
“About what?” I clambered over a pile of fallen logs that had ended up in a crevice between two hills, annoyed he had followed. “You made your position perfectly clear.”
“I think maybe you’ve misunderstood our relationship.”
Angry, I spun around to face him, the pile of fallen trees separating us. “You kissed me.”
“I know.” He raked his hair back, obviously flustered. “And I do like you, Jane. More than I should. Much more than I should.”
I wasn’t sure if I should be happy about his admittance or not. Bemused, I rubbed my temples, my head suddenly pounding. I didn’t understand, but then I’d never had a boyfriend. Were they always this frustrating? “Okay, and the problem?”
“The problem is that we don’t have time in this world for relationships.”
“Kelly and Tony do.”
“Yeah, but they’re not me. They don’t have the responsibility that I do.” He threw his arms wide. “Jane, I get it. You haven’t experienced much of real life. You don’t understand that sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”
What the hell was he talking about? “Bull, Will. You kissed me. You took care of me. You made me think you wanted some sort of relationship. Don’t you dare try to make me feel like I misinterpreted your actions.”
He took a step back. “I’m sorry, Jane, but I don’t want this. It’s too much right now. We have other things to worry about.”
The harshness of his words stabbed me. He certainly didn’t seem confused by Susan. But how could I argue? He was right. This insignificant relationship meant nothing in the bigger picture. “Fine.” I started to turn away. I need to bathe, wash away the heat of the day, wash away his words…something. “Do whatever you want.”
“Will!” Kelly came racing down the hill. “It’s gone!”
I jumped atop the pile of logs and over onto the ground, landing next to Will, my heart hammering madly in my chest. “What’s gone?”
But even as I asked, I knew. Deep down I knew.
“Susan,” she gasped. “The pack, the serum…gone!”
I jerked my gaze from her to Will. Good God, I’d been right. Will’s face went pale. Any other time I would have found his shock amusing. Gone. All of it gone, along with our hope. As much as I wanted to rub it in, I couldn’t because she’d taken the serum and our chance at a normal life.
“She’s not the only one who has disappeared,” Thane said, moving down the hill. “Tony is gone as well.”
Chapter 17
“You were right,” Kelly said, her eyes wide as she stared unblinkingly at me in confused bewilderment. “You knew not to trust her.”
My heart ached for my friend. The truth had hit her hard. I knew the feeling well and wanted to reach out, I wanted to tell her it would be okay. But honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would. Perhaps the world would never be normal. Perhaps we’d always be scared for our lives, worried about the next day, constantly wondering who we could trust.
“It doesn’t matter,” Will growled, obviously frustrated. “We need to find the serum now.” He started by Thane, but he reached out, grabbing Will’s arm and stopping him.
“They don’t have the serum,” he said.
Will jerked away. I’d never seen him so flustered, unsure. “What do you mean?”
>
Thane dropped his pack, knelt and opened it. Inside was vial after vial of antidote. The same containers my grandfather had given us the day we escaped the island. “It’s here.”
I knew the shock on Will’s face mirrored my own. “But—”
“You believed me?” I interrupted, staring hard at Thane. Why had he made me think I was insane? A silly, jealous ninny? “You didn’t trust her either.”
He shrugged, closed the bag, and stood. “Her arrival was too convenient.”
Exactly what I had thought and said. Anger fought with relief. Why hadn’t he told me? But even as I thought the words the answer hit me…because he didn’t trust me. Thane, apparently, trusted no one. It hurt much, much more than I’d ever admit.
“Damn,” Will snapped, pacing to the creek’s edge. “I should have known.”
Kelly still stood there, staring blankly at me, lost in her own pain and confusion. She was waiting for answers I couldn’t give. None of us could. What made a person betray another? Fear? Anger? Greed? Emotions all too common in our world.
“You’re right about one thing, Will,” Thane said. “We still need to go after Tony and Susan. We can’t allow them to reach Bacchus. They know too much.”
Thane threw his pack over his shoulders as we started up the hill.
“You think Bacchus is behind this?” Will asked, falling into step beside Thane. “Damn it, why didn’t you tell me?”
Thane paused, but he didn’t respond and we all knew why. He didn’t trust Will. I had known it for some time and now they did as well. Will’s jaw clenched, his face flushing. Even as I felt bad for Will, I didn’t blame Thane. I wasn’t sure if I trusted Will either.
“No,” Kelly interrupted. She hadn’t followed us but still stood near the creek. “Tony wouldn’t! He hates them! He loved me, he said so!”
Her pain vibrated around us, raw and consuming. “Kelly.”
I tried to reach out to her, but she spun around and paced alongside the creek. “No. Oh God.”
She froze, tears streaming down her face. Why hadn’t I voiced my suspicions about Tony earlier on? Maybe if she hadn’t fallen so deeply for him, Kelly wouldn’t be taking this so hard.
“He did it,” she whispered what we had already accepted. “He was responsible for all their deaths.”
No one responded. My urge to comfort her fought with my need to stop Tony and Susan. “I’m sorry, Kelly.”
“We need to go,” Will stated impatiently. “Tony knows our meeting points. And…” A telling flush colored his face. “I told Susan about them as well.”
Kelly’s pain was all but forgotten. I wanted to ask him how he could be so stupid, but managed to keep my thoughts to myself. It didn’t matter. Nothing did. It was too late. We could only try to stop them now.
Thane sighed and continued up the hill. “Then we definitely need to find them.”
I raced after Thane, leaving Will and Kelly to follow. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m heading northwest, you go northeast. I think they split. Yell if you find them, I’ll hear.”
I nodded and we parted at the campsite. They were only a few minutes ahead of us. I had no doubt Thane would find them. I also realized he probably knew exactly where they were located and was sending me in the near opposite direction on purpose. Will had taught me to know the people around me. I might have misjudged Will, but I knew I hadn’t misjudged Thane and he would try to protect me. I didn’t head northeast, but headed north, hiking almost parallel to Thane. If they ran, I’d catch them.
I felt Will behind me a moment before he whispered my name. “Jane.”
I didn’t look at him, but kept my gaze on the forest, my feet sure and steady. “Where’s Kelly?”
“I sent her south to the next camp to warn them.”
I frowned, annoyed he would send her alone in her condition. Why hadn’t he gone with her? Because he, too, felt like he needed to protect me. “What do you want?”
“I’m sorry.” He brushed his hand against my arm as he fell into step beside me. I wasn’t quite sure if it was an accident or not. “I have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.”
No, he didn’t. But that’s how Will was and how he would always be. Just like that, my anger evaporated. If there was one thing I’d learned from Tom it was that people rarely changed. And maybe that was okay. Maybe Tom and Will should be with someone who accepted them as they were. “Its fine, Will, really.”
“I feel…”
I didn’t wait to listen to whatever excuse he would use, and hurried my steps. Thane was impossible to see or hear. But knowing him, he’d probably already caught the two escapees. I quickened my steps, jogging through the woods, brushing aside branch after branch, trying to make sense of the shadows in the forest and all the while Will raced beside me.
“I feel like I hurt you, which I didn’t want—”
“Will,” I snapped, annoyed. Couldn’t he see I was trying to concentrate? I didn’t want to focus on my emotions. At least not now, maybe not ever. Emotions, feelings…blah. They made everything too complicated. I was done completely with them.
“Broken branch,” Will whispered as we approached another creek.
But it was the footprint in the mud that caught my attention. A female print by the size and shape. I narrowed my eyes, the adrenaline in my body pumping. How I’d love to find Susan on my own, make it clear exactly how I felt about her.
“It’s just that—”
“Will,” I hissed, finally turning to face him. “It’s okay.”
For one long moment we merely stared at each other, something strange and uncomfortable shifting between us. He was no longer the priority in my life, and he had proven with Susan that I was no longer the priority in his. He knew—I could see it in his eyes—that I had moved on. I no longer needed him, and for Will that would be hard to take.
“Do you love him?”
I knew who he spoke about, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about Thane and even if I did know, I didn’t want to discuss it with Will. I trudged through the creek. “What are you talking about?”
“Thane.”
I could feel the heat rushing up my neck and into my cheeks. A sharp, wry laugh escaped my lips. “I don’t even know what love is. I don’t think I’ve ever known. Maybe I never will.”
The words saddened me more than I thought they would.
Disconcerted, I hastened my steps up the bank of the creek, but before I could reach the top Will grasped my arm, stopping me. “Have you kissed?”
I jerked my arm away, frustrated and annoyed. Why did he suddenly care? “That’s none of your business.”
“So you have.”
“What’s this about, Will?” I glared at him. “What’s this really about?”
How dare he question my relationship with Thane when he had practically ignored me in favor of Susan. He parted his lips, but didn’t respond. He didn’t want to admit that he was jealous.
“We should be searching for the others.”
He frowned. “Thane most likely already found them.”
True, but I still didn’t want to stand around chatting with Will about my love life. Talk about awkward. “He might need help.”
He released a harsh laugh. “Thane never needs help.”
I couldn’t tell if it was bitterness or merely honesty behind his tone. “Why do you care about me and Thane, Will? You made it abundantly clear that you wanted nothing to do with me the moment Susan arrived.”
He took my hand, his fingers warm and comforting. “Jane, I don’t know how this serum will affect me. I didn’t want you wasting time on us when I didn’t know if I’d even have a future.” He released my hand and cupped the side of my face. “I do care about you. I always have.”
Did I believe him? Or was he only speaking about his feelings after finding out that Susan had betrayed us? Was I his second choice? I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want a relationship with Will. Perhaps with
no one.
“Over here,” someone whispered, the voice traveling through the woods.
I jerked my gaze from Will and peered through the branches. Tony was in the clearing just through the trees, but he wasn’t speaking to us. No, he was speaking to Susan who stumbled into the open area after him, clutching a bag to her chest. Thane’s decoy satchel.
“Where are they?” she whispered in a hushed tone. “They should be here by now.”
They? The vampires were coming. Will crouched next to me, his gaze pinned to the two. I shifted my attention from them to the trees beyond, looking for Thane. Dare we wait for him to make a move, or should we attack now?
“Make sure the serum is there before Bacchus arrives.” Tony reached out and snatched the bag from Susan, tearing it open.
I knew what he would find even before he cursed. But I wasn’t concerned about his reaction. No, I was focused on their upcoming visitors. Bacchus was coming. Just the thought of the vampire made my blood go cold. Bacchus was coming. Instinct told me we had to act now, before it was too late. We couldn’t wait for Thane’s help.
“Idiot!” He threw the bag at her. “It’s empty!”
“No.” Susan shook her head, dropping to her knees to search the satchel. “They’re…Oh God, they’ll kill us!”
I started to surge forward, but Will reached out, grasping onto my upper arm and stopping me. He, obviously, wanted to hear more.
“We can’t return to camp,” Tony snapped bitterly, raking is hands through his hair and pacing the small clearing. How I hated him. He was the reason Jimmy and the others had died. He had stood there while Jimmy lay bleeding to death, and pretended to care. The mere sight of him made me ill.
“Unless I pretend I caught you escaping.”
Susan surged to her feet in outrage. “You aren’t betraying me like you did your supposed friends! I’ll tell them the truth!”
The Chosen Ones Page 23