He pulled back and sighed deeply, his lips moving fondly against the corner of my mouth. “I love you, Kate Bennett.” He kissed my cheek once, then delicately pressed his lips to my forehead. “I will love you always.”
He squeezed my hand casually before slipping his fingers free so he could wrap both arms around my waist. I stepped closer into his embrace, saving him the trouble of pulling me in. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, keeping his head near mine. His hair lightly grazed my ear, and I could feel his breath through my shirt as he buried his face in my shoulder.
“I just thought you should know that,” he mumbled, and my already pounding heart went wild.
“That's not fair,” I whispered, relishing the feel of his arms so tight around me.
“Hmm?”
I sighed. “How can I compete with that? A simple ‘I love you’ won't be enough now.”
He drew back at once. I let my hands slide down to his waist. I stared up into his serious face, and my whole body shivered when I saw the depth of emotion burning in his eyes. He lifted a single finger to trace my lips, his own tugging into an effortless smile. “Your love will always be enough,” he assured me.
I let out a shaky breath, laughing weakly. “See what I mean? You're a lot better at this than I am.”
He tapped the tip of my nose, shook his head once with a bit of regret, then affectionately grasped my shoulders, forcing me back a step. “If I don't go now…” His voice trailed off, and his smile was shaky. He released my arms, pushing his hands deep into his pockets. He rocked back on his heels, grinning widely now. My stomach flipped.
“Your grandma's probably watching out the window, so… I better go.”
I bit my lower lip and scratched absently at one eyebrow. “Um, yeah. Good idea.”
I took a second step back as he pulled the car door open, but before I could move any further, he turned back to face me, smile still in place. “I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Patrick.”
When I said his name, his eyes glowed happily, and he couldn't seem to resist the urge to lean forward and kiss me one last time.
“Sleep well, Kate,” he whispered, a breath from my lips.
And then he was getting into the car, closing the door softly. I wandered back to the driveway, where I hesitated and turned back to watch him start the car, shift into gear, and ease away from the curb. His headlights sliced through the dark street, and I watched until I couldn't see his brake lights anymore.
My chance to check up on the new sub at the elementary school came sooner than expected.
I was dropping the twins off for school; Josie was just preparing to open the door when Lee—once again decked out in complete orange—whistled lowly. “No way,” she breathed, almost to herself, though she'd managed to get the attention of everyone in the car. “Oh my Oreos, it is him.”
“Huh?” Jenna asked, trying to peer over Josie's shoulder and catch sight of whatever Lee had found so shocking. All I saw was the school, a lot of students, and a few teachers milling about.
“It is him!” Lee repeated more firmly, voice growing louder as the initial shock wore off. “Peter Keegan—the guy who's dating my mom!”
“Mr. K?” Josie asked, sounding more than a little disgusted. “Our sub?”
That got my attention. I jerked the gearshift into neutral, pulled on the emergency brake, and then took my feet off the clutch and brake. I twisted in my seat and leaned closer to Lee, staring through her window.
“Which one?” I asked quickly.
Lee's finger jabbed against the glass. “There—the one in the geeky brown suit.”
“He's almost to the doors,” Jenna added, but her help wasn't necessary. I could see him now.
The good news—he wasn't a Demon. He wasn't even a Guardian. I had to squint hard to be sure of the gold thread outlining him, but the colors swimming around his body were most definitely not hidden. So he was human. That was a major relief, obviously. But something still seemed a little off about him. Maybe it was just the coincidence of him dating my best friend's mom and teaching my little sisters.
Even though he was too far away to get a good read on his aura, I could see a whole lot of green; that couldn't be a good sign, right? Or maybe he was just a nervous person? Was I becoming paranoid?
I knew the answer to that question.
Josie was making a gagging sound. “Your mom's dating our teacher? Gross!”
Jenna looked a little pale, but her voice was perfectly normal. “He's a really nice teacher.” She paused, and we all thought she was going to say something else. But she couldn't seem to think of anything to add, so she closed her mouth.
Lee's orange lips were twisted in something like revulsion. “A grade-school teacher? Really, mom? Really?”
“You said he was pretty cool,” I reminded her, settling back into my seat as Mr. Keegan reached the door, held it for a group of young girls, and then disappeared inside.
The door swung closed and Lee turned to face me, grimacing a little. “Yeah. I thought he was.”
Josie remained confused. “How did your mom meet him? He told us he hadn't been in town long.”
“Yeah,” Jenna agreed. “He said he was from California or something.”
Lee just shook her head. “Guess I'll have to ask her. Wow, that's weird.”
I didn't say anything—but I agreed completely.
Lee and I drove in silence to the high school. I knew she was trying to work everything out in her head, sort out her feelings concerning this new information. As for me, I spent the remainder of the drive trying to assure myself there wasn't anything to be worried about. Just because my whole life had been flipped upside down didn't mean that coincidences had stopped happening.
When I parked and shut off the car, Lee finally looked at me. “My mom's conferences. A lot of them happened in Southern California. Do you think she's… what if she lied, and they've been seeing each other for a lot longer than a week? What if this is serious?”
I just looked at her, not knowing what to say.
“Maybe that's why he was acting so weird. Maybe they've been together for a long time, and meeting me was… just an afterthought.”
“Lee…”
She shook her head and reached down for her backpack, forcing out a thin laugh that held no humor. “And I thought him being a lawyer might be bad.” She jerked the door handle, kicked the door open, and pushed her way out of the car. For the first time ever, she remembered to lock her door without my reminder.
I grabbed around in the backseat, found my bag, then hurried to follow her. She was already to the sidewalk, so I had to step fast. I watched her aura, though it was a little hard to focus on because of her bright orange-ness—it dimmed all the other colors surrounding her. But as I got closer the surging colors blended into something I could interpret.
The yellow that generally billowed around my best friend was gone. Red, minimal green, and a lot of gray and brown seethed in her aura. I'd never seen her so hurt, so upset. My heart ached for her as I jogged quickly to her side.
She was stepping with heavy purpose, her empty hands dangling at her sides. I got to her side at last, and though the backpack hanging on her one shoulder made it a little awkward, I wrapped an arm around her.
She didn't look at me, but I could feel some of the tenseness slip out of her body. We didn't speak until it came time for us to go to our separate classes. She finally slowed her walk and sent me a quick glance. “I know—you don't have to tell me what my aura looks like.” She sighed deeply. “But can you pretend that you're not psychic for one minute, and let me lie and say I'm okay? Please?”
I pursed my lips, then dropped my arm. “Of course. Whatever you need, Lee. I'll see you in history.”
She forced a small but grateful smile before stepping around me and toward the school. I shrugged my backpack on—something I hadn't taken the time to do yet—and continued to walk alone to the front of the sch
ool, wishing I had a way to comfort her.
I was the first person to step into the American Lit room, and I glanced around just to be sure that I hadn't somehow missed Patrick. He was always here first. Admittedly, I had enough to think about for now, so I just moved to my desk and lowered myself into the chair.
For a couple silent minutes I wondered what I could do to help Lee, but no magical answer revealed itself. In the end, I just found myself hoping her mom hadn't lied to her. Despite the fact Lee dared to try any fashion, I knew she was a really sensitive person. Her father had skipped out when she was only five so he could be with a younger woman he'd been secretly seeing for over a year. Lee's trust had been violated so early in life; I knew Lee's mom had made her young daughter a tearful promise that she would never keep anything from Lee.
Not that I was a fair judge when it came to keeping secrets. Aside from not having a good opportunity to tell Lee everything about Guardians, Demons, and Seers, I mostly hadn't gotten around to it because I didn't want her to accuse me of hiding the truth.
I couldn't decide if this would make a good time to tell her everything or if this thing with Mr. Keegan had just ruined my best chance.
“Hey, is everything all right?”
I looked quickly toward the uncertain voice and found myself staring at Aaron's guarded face. He was standing just inside the door, hesitating before finally stepping closer. He stopped when he reached the circle of desks but didn't move to take a seat or come closer to me.
“Yeah. Everything's good.”
His fingers tightened around his bag's strap, pulling against his stiff shoulder. His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It's, um… something with Lee.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she's fine. It's just her mom. She's… dating again.”
“Oh.” Aaron's aura still sported a good amount of uneasiness, but his hard face relaxed a little. “Lee doesn't like the guy?”
“It's complicated,” I said, trying to force myself to believe that this conversation wasn't awkward at all.
He nodded once, seemed to search for something meaningful to say, then settled for another, “Oh.”
He twisted and moved around the circle, sitting in the desk opposite me. We both pretended to be really occupied with getting out notebooks and pencils, but finally I had to break the silence.
“How are you doing?”
I winced inwardly as soon as the words were out.
He forced a smile. “Great. Good.”
“I heard about the swim team—your win in the meet last weekend.”
“Yeah. It was close, but we pulled it off.”
A vivid break, and then we both spoke at once.
“How're your sisters?”
“What did you think of this book?”
His lips tugged into a strained smile, and I tapped my fingers against the cover of The House of Seven Gables.
“Um, my sisters are good. Josie's got a big soccer tournament coming up.”
“Yeah, I remember. Isn't Jenna's piano recital sometime this week?”
“Next Monday.”
“Oh. Right.” His hand slid into his hair nervously, and he stretched out the muscles in his neck. “Uh, yeah—this book was pretty good. I liked the ending, even if there were some slow parts in the middle. And beginning. And end.”
The warning bell sounded, and I glanced away from him, turning to thumb open my notes as the rest of the class moved into the room.
When class started and the seat next to me remained empty, I started to worry. Patrick had never been this late. I surreptitiously checked my phone: no new messages, no missed calls.
Before I could start really panicking or begin imagining all the horrible things that might have happened to keep him away, the door opened and Patrick hurried inside.
Mr. Benson cut off his words to throw Patrick a meaningful look before steadily continuing his lecture, trying to start up exactly where he'd left off. I tuned out his voice to better focus on Patrick. He didn't look hurt or worried—just tired. His hair was more untidy than usual, and as he slid into his seat beside me I noticed the deep sleep line that sliced across his cheek. He settled into his chair and pushed his bag to the floor before finally sneaking a look at me.
I questioned him with my eyes, and he mouthed one maddening word: Later.
I tried to make my eyes more insistent, but he was already turning away, trying to dig out his notes and look like he was paying attention.
Though I was burning with curiosity, I tried to act like I was listening too. I could feel Aaron glancing between us, and though I wanted to look at his eyes and guess what he was thinking, I didn't dare risk meeting his stare.
I sighed and waited for class to end.
The bell finally rang, and students hurried to grab their things, dump them in bags, and be first to reach the seething hallway.
Patrick and I moved a little slower. I followed his lead as he took his time putting first his notebook, then pencil, then pen into his open bag. Only then did he stand, and I quickly copied him. Aaron was already gone, and Mr. Benson was too preoccupied with a student asking a question to bother reprimanding Patrick for his tardiness.
I reached for Patrick's hand, needing the contact, and he wordlessly twisted his fingers with mine. As soon as we stepped into the busy hall, my patience ran out.
“What's wrong?” I spoke mildly, hoping that no one would overhear us amid all the noise and clamor of the hall.
Patrick glanced down at me and his hand tightened around mine. “Jack called last night, just after I got back to the warehouse.”
I instantly assumed the worst. “Far Darrig?”
He shook his head, and his thumb rubbed my skin comfortingly. “No. It was something else.”
I knew he was reluctant to keep talking, but no one seemed aware of us, let alone interested in what we were discussing. “What then?” I pressed stubbornly.
He glanced around us and seemed to reach my same conclusion—it was safe to continue. He spoke quickly, his eyes on mine as we walked the familiar path to second hour. “He and Jason were out scouting for Far Darrig, following a few narrow leads. They found someone else: a Guardian.”
I could feel the confusion on my face. Why was he hesitating? What was so awful about finding a fellow Guardian?
“And?” I prompted, when it seemed like he wouldn't continue.
His clear blue eyes were tense. “Jack stepped forward to offer assistance, like any Guardian would. He couldn't see him very clearly—they were in a narrow alley. The Guardian told them not to come any closer.”
He hesitated again and I tried to picture the scene in the momentary pause—guess what would happen next. Whatever I was imagining, it wasn't what really happened. Patrick's voice was flat and unbroken, hardly any emotion in the words. “He told them that he was dying, and that they needed to stay away from him. And then he turned and ran.”
“What? Dying? But that's not possible,” I protested. “You're immortal. You can't die.”
Patrick nodded slowly. “Yes. But why would a Guardian lie to another Guardian?”
“Did Jack go after him?”
“Of course. You know Jack. According to Jason, the Guardian's aura was exposed, and he could see the overwhelming fear and pain the Guardian was feeling.”
“He could see his aura? Did Jack catch him?”
“No. He seemed to vanish. Jack called me and Toni, and we drove out to help them search. We couldn't find any sign of him. We gave up around six this morning. Jack reported the incident to Terence, who told us that he'd come as soon as he could—Sunday, tentatively. I'm sorry if I worried you. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up just as school was starting.”
“No, don't be silly. You could have just called me. You should go back to bed.”
He shook his head. “I'll be fine. I don't want to miss my time with you.”
I squeezed his hand. “So what now?
Are you going to go out looking for him again?”
Patrick's smooth face revealed nothing, so I wasn't sure what answer to expect. “Terence told us not to.”
I slowed my walk, and he hung back with me. The door to history was open a few small steps away, but I completely ignored that as I gazed up at him. “You aren't going to listen to him, are you?” I guessed.
Patrick swallowed hard. “Kate, we can't just abandon a Guardian. Whoever he is—no matter what's wrong with him, or what's got him so scared—he needs help. Jack and Toni are already back out there, and Jason and I are going to take over the search tonight.”
“What about what Terence said?”
“I need to know what's wrong with this Guardian. We all do. Maybe he's just snapped from the stress of being a Guardian for too long, and he thinks he's dying. It's happened to some of the older Guardians—they've gone a little crazy. But what if he's not? What if… what if we're not as invincible as we've always thought?”
The bell rang and I jumped. We were alone in the hallway, and Patrick's ominous words hung heavily between us.
I could feel the fear on my face, and I tried to push it back—even as Patrick's brow pulled down with worry. It was clear he regretted telling me any of this.
Patrick got a call from Toni during lunch. He quickly excused himself and headed outside to answer it.
I wanted to follow him, but Lee still looked so sullen that I didn't dare leave her. Trent kept asking Lee what was wrong, and Lee kept forcing a smile and telling him that everything was fine. The other kids didn't seem to notice anything, other than Patrick's absence. I helped Jason open his water bottle—something Patrick normally did—and Landen kept looking around, searching for his missing buddy. I tried to tell them that he'd be here soon, and then I focused my attention on Lee.
“Are you okay?”
She snorted, but at least her aura didn't seem as tumultuous as before. It had calmed a lot since second hour. “Yeah. But I can't concentrate on anything. I'm really tempted just to skip out and drop by my mom's office—ask her some questions. I mean, what if Peter Keegan's teaching at the elementary school because he and my mom are really serious? What if he moved from California just so they could be closer? That's pretty serious, right?”
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