Daniel gave me a small, sympathetic smile and managed to change the subject. I started to let my eyes wander aimlessly amongst the sea of fellow classmates when a particular individual grabbed my attention.
“Earth to Kat.” Mark waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of the trance I hadn’t realized I’d fallen into. “What’s up?”
Reese started moving across the cafeteria with an empty tray in his hand, and my eyes naturally tracked him. It didn’t exactly take detective work to figure out what—or rather who—I was gawking over as Carly stole a look over her shoulder.
Her jaw dropped so far, I’d swear it should have disconnected from her skull. “Blackburn?”
Everyone at the table seemed to freeze before slowly turning their attention to me.
“What about Blackburn?” Vanessa said his name like he was freaking Voldemort. “You’re not crushing on him, are you?”
“What? No…” I shook my head nervously, seeing an unnatural sense of relief shared across the table.
“Thank God,” sighed V.
“Why? What’s the big deal?” I asked reflexively.
Carly stiffened. “Your funeral,” she muttered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Dating someone like him is social suicide,” laughed Mark.
Someone like him? Sure, Reese wasn’t typical by Mystic Harbor’s standards…or society’s, but it didn’t seem that taboo.
“Seriously, your popularity rating would take a nosedive,” said Vanessa. “Not to mention, it would give your mom a heart attack.”
“Why?”
“Well, he’s a West Ender for starters,” she further clarified, and it took everything I had not to roll my eyes.
‘West Ender’ was the label given to those who lived in the less-than-reputable part of town by the riverfront. In Mystic Harbor, you bought your way into the in-crowd. Unless they were a star-studded athlete, every West Ender was pretty much resigned to social leprosy.
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re all acting like he’s Beetlejuice.”
Mark snickered. “Have you gotten a look at the guy? That’s really not that far off.”
Reese was sporting a Victorian-era militia tailcoat, accompanied by a black silk dress shirt, matching pinstripe slacks, and even pointy toed Steampunk boots. Yeah, even I had to admit, he had a point.
“Blackburn could walk onto the set of Sweeny Todd and not miss a beat. You don’t think that’s…odd?” said Mark.
The guy did stick out like a sore thumb amid all the preppy, future Ivy Leaguers and Abercrombie model wannabes. He was strangely refreshing; an attractive quality…if not for the fact he was also a stab-worthy jackass.
“And he’s always doing weird things during class,” said Vanessa.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know…like magic tricks and stuff. He’s usually fiddling with a deck of cards or making coins disappear from his desktop. It’s a bit out there. Plus, I’ve never seen him really talk to anybody around here.”
“And it really is a shame,” huffed Carly. “The man’s not half-bad looking. With a makeover and some green in his pocket, the boy could have some serious potential.”
“Yeah, because what girl can resist an anti-social David Copperfield?” mocked Daniel.
“We share French class with him,” said V.
“We do?” That was news to me, and Vanessa knew it.
She chuckled. “Yeah, but you’d never guess it since the guy’s always a no-show. I’m surprised he even bothers coming to school at all. His GPA’s probably in the toilet.”
“But how?” I posed. “That’s an AP class, and Physics is an honors course. You don’t just get into those by accident.”
Everyone just shrugged.
“Did they ever figure out what happened to Blackburn’s old man?” asked Mark.
Daniel shook his head, noting my confusion. “Blackburn’s dad disappeared right after Reese was born. The police looked into it, but there wasn’t a Christopher Blackburn even on record. There were rumors that he was maybe a part of WITSEC or something. Regardless, it was obvious that the name was just an alias to hide from his past. Everyone figured it must have caught up with him, ’cause the guy was like Keyser Söze. Gone without a trace.”
“Gives me the willies just thinking about him,” shuttered Vanessa.
“Which one? Reese or his old man?” Eric clucked.
“Like it makes a difference.” She laughed. “After the whole gas station incident, we thought for sure that’s why Kat ran out on P.E. yesterday.”
My brows furrowed. “What’d you mean?”
“You didn’t notice Blackburn in the gym?” asked Carly.
I shook my head.
“Yeah, he was standing in the doorway by the cafeteria, staring at you.”
“When was this?” I muttered, drawing a total blank.
“Right before Brenda got hurt. And he disappeared right after you left,” she said.
“I heard some of the girls in the locker room talking about it later. They were saying that he was somehow responsible for Brenda’s injury,” scoffed Carly. “People are so stupid. They were saying he used, like, black magic or something.” She snorted at her own remark.
“I know it’s just a bunch of garbage, but still…the guy’s a freak,” said Vanessa. “And weird, bad things always seem to happen when he’s around.”
“Better keep an eye out,” cautioned Daniel. “I think he has a thing for you.”
“Trust me, he doesn’t,” I immediately countered. “The guy can’t say so much as a sentence without insulting me in the process.”
“The fact that he even speaks to you at all is a marvel,” said Mark. “We’ve gone to school with him since we were in kindergarten, and the number of words I’ve heard him say before the night of the bonfire can be counted on one hand.”
I looked around the table, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Despite still being hungry, I got up and dumped my tray once the conversation somehow transitioned into plans for the upcoming weekend. Seeing no one at the table paying mind to me, I stole a glance around the cafeteria. Reese wasn’t there, and that verity was comforting. I wanted answers, yes. But I didn’t want to go seeking out trouble to get them. One thing I couldn’t ignore: Reese’s handy camera. Could he have possibly taken that picture of me after the accident? I spent the rest of lunch with my nose buried in my phone, seeing if there was a way to find out what camera model took the image that was sent to me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any EXIF data from the image, which would have acted like a digital fingerprint. My detective skills could’ve used a little more work too, because despite all the times I’d seen Reese with his camera, I never bothered to make a note of what brand he owned, let alone what model it was.
By the time Study Hall rolled around, I was about to jump out of my skin. Hoping to distract myself, I headed to the library to work on my physics report. Plopping myself down at a vacant cubicle in the computer lab, I logged on, finding my fingers hovering over the keys as I stared at the Google search page on screen.
Focus: Energy transfer and conversion. That’s why you’re here.
I started to type, and before I knew it, the search engine results page gave me loads of websites on levitation.
Stop.
Just don’t go there.
I shoved that nosey little voice of reason aside and began scrolling.
I got hit with a bunch of useless results ranging from cheesy magician breakdowns all the way to some kind of music festival venue. The deeper I ventured into the findings, the weirder it got. By the time I reached studies on humanoid aliens and Wiccan spell casting, I knew I’d gone bonkers. This was stupider than trying to self-diagnose on WebMD. I doubted the art of Harry Kellar and his “Levitation of Princess Karnac” illusion held the answers to my rabbit-hole madness. I pushed the keyboard back, letting my forehead drop down on the desktop.
; “Hey, stranger.”
My entire body stiffened as a shadow suddenly cast over the cubicle. Sure enough, as I looked up, I was met with a pair of striking amber eyes and a smirk stretched from ear to ear.
“I’m really not in the mood, Blackburn,” I said, straightening back up.
This sexy crazy individual rounded the side of the desk and plopped down in the vacant seat beside me. He poked his head around the cubicle wall to observe my computer screen and chuckled. “Doing a little light reading, I see.”
“Please. Leave,” I gritted, noting the absence of his camera.
“Thinking of developing a new hobby?” He still couldn’t take his eyes off the ridiculous illustration from the website.
Embarrassment reddened my cheeks, forcing me to close the browser. “What do you want?”
“Well, to quote Freddy Mercury, ‘I want it all,’” he laughed. “But for now, I’ll settle for some answers.”
“I don’t know anything, especially the reason why you’re stalking me!” I sneered.
“Stalking?”
“Yes, that’s what you call it when you repeatedly harass someone and follow them around!”
“I beg your pardon?”
I looked him over, seeing he was dressed in his long militia coat. “What? You decide to leave your hoodie at home?”
His brows furrowed confusedly.
“Don’t even deny it.”
“Okay, I won’t…as soon as you clarify what the hell you’re talking about,” he countered.
“Last night. You’re really gonna stand there and tell me you weren’t the hooded psycho who nearly ran me off the road?”
“Yes, I am—going to tell you that, because I wasn’t.”
“Can’t say I’m particularly swayed.”
“Trust me, if I was there, you’d know. It’d be a real shame to rob you of the sight to all this awesomeness,” he laughed halfheartedly, making an invisible circle around his face with his pointer finger.
“Personally, I think the ski mask better suits you.”
A couple students nearby turned in their seats, eying me weirdly.
Neither the stares nor remark seemed to faze the magician though as he leaned in closer, forcing me to scoot as far over in my desk chair as I could without falling off onto the floor. His head tilted down as his eyes bored into mine, causing shadows to forebodingly cascade beneath his sharp cheekbones. With his teasing grin, the look was somehow menacing…in a frighteningly sexy way. And that thought churned my stomach. Sure, he was what society would call ‘odd,’ but Reese wasn’t scary by any means. There was still something about him. An enigmatic quality that made him mysterious. And in Mystic Harbor, where everyone knew everything about everyone, the odds of finding someone like Reese was about as good as stumbling upon a unicorn grazing on your front lawn.
“You know what I am,” he said lowly.
“Yeah, psychotic.”
His eyes narrowed, seeming to scrutinize every microexpression on my face, before traveling back over to the computer monitor. A mystified look fell over his own features. “Hold on. You…you really don’t know, do you?”
“That you’re crazier than a bag full of cats? It’s not that hard to miss,” I shot back.
That weird, studying expression of his didn’t fade. “Feeling a bit different lately?”
My heart rate ticked up to a whole other level. How could he possibly know that?
I apparently didn’t have much of a poker face, because his eyes expanded as he read my expression. “You’ve gotta be joking.”
“Get away from me,” I growled.
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll scream,” I countered.
Of all things, he laughed. “Well, good luck with that. I can assure you, you’ll just look crazy.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because as far as they’re concerned, Princess,” he said, gesturing to the rest of the room, “you’re just arguing with yourself.”
“You’re bat-shit.”
“No, I’m invisible,” he countered. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I’m only invisible to normal humans, when I wish to be. And mute.”
I snatched my book bag off the floor and started throwing my things inside. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you, and quite frankly, I don’t care. My advice, up your dosage and leave me alone. And investing in a straitjacket wouldn’t hurt you, either.”
“You don’t believe me?” He grabbed a highlighter off the desk I hadn’t gotten to yet and suddenly flung it behind him, smacking some hipster guy in the back of the head across the way.
“Owww!” The student yelped, whirling around in his seat.
Reese sauntered over to him, waving his hand in front of the innocent bystander without any reaction. The hipster just shot me a dirty look.
“You wish for me to further demonstrate?” the magician taunted, picking up the guy’s chemistry textbook next.
“What? No!” I blurted.
Everyone now turned their attention to me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that!” Reese declared, his voice booming across the entire room.
Still, not one person paid this psycho any mind.
Holy crap…
I had gone bat-shit! I was hallucinating invisible people!
“Is there a problem?”
I jumped at the voice behind me, only to face one of the library aides as I turned around. Without another word, I grabbed my remaining materials off the desk and slung my bag over my shoulder before bolting out the side exit.
That bottomless pit feeling resurfaced in my stomach, and I was hit again with a sudden dizzy spell. Bracing myself against the row of lockers beside me, I pinched my eyes shut and blindly stumbled down the empty hallway until I knew I’d reached the stairwell. I yanked the heavy metal door open and staggered inside, letting my body slide down the wall once I moved to the side of the landing.
“‘There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is,’” remarked the voice that suddenly registered beside me.
I snapped back upright. “Jesus Christ!”
“No, that was Søren Kierkegaard, actually,” confirmed the magician, laxly leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “And in your case, truer words haven’t been spoken.”
I lurched forward in an attempt to reach the stairs when my equilibrium gave way, throwing me off balance.
A pair of strapping arms secured me from behind, helping me back upright. “Easy there, Princess.”
“Get off of me,” I demanded, batting my hands against his hold.
“That’s an odd request to give the person stopping you from taking an involuntary swan dive down a flight of stairs.” It didn’t seem to take him much effort as he swept me off my feet and started heading down to the ground floor, setting me back down on the bottom step like I weighed next to nothing. “Be back in a sec.”
And just like that, Reese ducked out, leaving me all alone again. A moment later, I felt a little steadier, so I rose to my feet. There was no way I was hanging around here waiting for my psychotic hallucination to return. I poked my head out into the main hall, still seeing no one else around.
I started making my way towards the front offices, praying that the nurse would be in. I still wasn’t sure what she could do to help me, since all anyone ever seemed to get was a thermometer in the mouth and purple spots burned in their vision from her flashlight, but what else could I do?
“God, you’re stubborn.”
It took everything in me to not scream out at the top of my lungs as footsteps galloped up from behind me.
“Which do you prefer? Granola bar or M&M’s?” the magician queried as he fell into step with me, holding up the two options.
I eyed the snacks, acknowledging the pit in my stomach only growing deeper, and I admittedly grabbed them both.
My mother would have been appalled at my poor
etiquette as I tore the M&M pouch open with my teeth. I guzzled them down in a frenzy before treating the protein bar to the same fate. A moan escaped my lips as I closed my eyes, feeling the food already taking effect in only a matter of a minute.
“Better?” he queried.
I nodded.
Realization suddenly hit, and my eyes flew back open.
“Wait, how did you know…?”
The magician’s brow piqued. “That you were hungry?”
I never said I was, and there were countless reasons for feeling dizzy. So how could he possibly have guessed? Better yet, why did he keep staring at me expectantly?
“The cravings will lessen with time. Your body’s just adjusting to the changes,” he followed up, so matter-of-factly.
Fear rippled through me at the remark, and without warning, I throttled my hands into his chest, shoving him back.
I wanted to scream at him, tell him just how psychotic he was, but everything felt off. I couldn’t ignore that something was wrong with me. I couldn’t ignore what he had said that night at the gas station.
Panic sent blood pumping into my ears to the point that I could hear my pulse thumping inside my head. All I could do was run. I took off down the hall, but I didn’t get more than ten feet before he snatched my arm, whirling me back around to face him.
That strange feeling in my core returned, and instinct suddenly took over. I drove my opposing arm down on his hand, breaking the hold. I threw my elbow up at his face, and he barely managed to dodge it. Just when I thought I’d gained an edge on him, he swiftly snaked away from me. I spun around, losing sight of him, when hands ensnared me from behind, pinning my arms down in the process.
“You’re a natural. I’ll give you that much,” he mused in my ear, his breath cascading down my neck. “But not the face, Princess. That’s just cruel.”
I drove my heel down on the top of his foot, but it didn’t seem to do any good as he turned me around again. My back suddenly met with the wall. The psycho pinned my hands above my head, holding me there with just one arm as his body pressed up against mine.
Insidious: (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 1) Page 8