The Unseen (The Complex Book 0)

by A. B. Bloom

  Yes. Those words would be easy to say.

  “That’s okay.” We both said at once and a strange heat warmed my face and I palmed my hand against it wondering if I’d caught alight.

  “Chase.” He extended his hand and waited for me to return the gesture. Shaking hands was a human thing.

  He thought I was human.

  “Delphine,” I replied but I didn’t take his hand and his eyes narrowed until I watched understanding dawn in them.

  “Oh.”

  I offered him a tight smile, this was becoming awkward fast.

  I was opening my mouth to drop my news out there when a dark shape came barrelling towards him. My reactions were instant, my muscles sprang like a compressed coil and then released and propelled me forward until I’d blocked his body from the approach with my own.

  A young vampire stumbled, holding his arms out to steady himself. His eyes shone with darkness and his fangs descended with the jolt but just as quickly they ascended. “Sorry,” he muttered before turning away and moving off to join a group of Metas standing to one side.

  The dark-haired boy from my vision was watching me with his head cocked to one side, a crease forming between his wide eyes. “Did you just protect me?” he asked, as he gave a little shake of his head. I stepped back, removing myself from his space as my face got that hot burn.

  “No, I just knew you couldn’t see him coming.” I stammered over the words, my lie obvious to my own ears and judging by the narrowed, calculative gaze, to his as well. I moved further away desperate to break the intensity of his scrutiny but he matched my step, his fingers reaching for my arm. When his fingers connected, a blazing scorch flamed up my skin. His eyes flew to mine and I lost myself in deep pools of blue.

  Chase, the boy whose image I couldn’t erase from my mind tipped his head to one side and looked at me long and hard. “Are you a Seer?”

  I shook my head, my cheeks flaming again as I backed away, but his step matched mine. “No.” I knew I was leaving without telling him what his future held. I knew that I would find no rest, the bloody end I’d envisioned changed to a different prospect, but I couldn’t stand there and tell him I was a freak. That I was against the rules, and unaccountable flaws in the plan of the Complex. “I’m sorry.” I shrugged with my words and turned to flee but fingers caught mine holding them tight.

  “Thank you for saving my life.” I watched as his lips lifted into a perfectly unperfect crooked grin.

  I swallowed, my mouth drying as I caught the scent of his skin waft through the air towards me. “I haven’t saved your life yet.”

  A flicker of confusion chased across his expression. “No?” That crooked smile tilted his lips again and he took a step closer until we were toe to toe. “You blocked me from a Vampire, Delphine.” My chest gave an unfamiliar squeeze at the sound of my name from his mouth.

  “Delly,” I blurted.

  “Delly.” I realised his fingers were still holding my hand and that if my friends saw me holding hands with a human I would never live it down. “I think that’s you saving my life.”

  And then I blurted it, right there and then, as I blinked up into his dark eyes. “That’s why I’m here. I wanted to tell you something awful was going to happen.”

  Those mesmerising full lips fell open. “What?”

  Taking a deep breath, I geared myself for breaking my cover and revealing my secret. “I saw your future when I was in class today.” My eyes glanced around the crowd of people and absorbed the loud chatter. “I don’t normally come to parties, but I wanted to tell you that something might be wrong, that someone,” I swallowed nervously. “That someone was going to hurt you.”

  Leaning forward his lips brushed my cheek, just the lightest of touches as he leant forward to whisper in my ear. “Come with me.”

  I knew I shouldn’t. I knew I should get out of there, tell him the details and go before my parents found out all the many rules I’d broken, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I wanted to follow the boy from my vision.

  He led us into a dim recess disturbing two imps that scattered at his approach. When he turned to me his face was set into hard planes. “What do you know?”

  I gave my head a shake. “Nothing clear.” I wished my words sounded as strong as I wanted them too. “I just . . .” I trailed off. I didn’t know if I could trust this human. If people found out what I was my own safety would be put at risk and that of my family. I looked into his eyes again and hardened my resolve.

  “I only see the future of those that I don’t know. I was sat in class and I saw someone stab you, but I couldn’t see who it was. I just wanted to warn you.”

  His gaze burned through me. “How can you see my future? I thought the security impact was supposed to prevent Metas from entering the mind of humans?”

  “Well, yes, but I’m not a normal Meta. I’m a prophet. My ability can’t be prevented. I don’t read people’s minds; their future just comes to me.”

  Chase grabbed my arm tight in his grip. “We need to tell my father; this could be a retaliation against the system.”

  “What? No, who’s your father?” My head wobbled I shook it so hard.

  Chase nodded and I’m sure to anyone walking past who happened to peek into the darkened corner we would have looked comical standing there shaking our heads and nodding at one another. But there was nothing comical to me right then, especially when Chase announced that his father was “Intra Commander Walker.”

  Commander?

  I shied away from him. This was bad news, bad news indeed. Backing away I held my hands out apologetically. “Listen, I’m sorry, but I just came to tell you what I saw, that was it.”

  I turned and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I didn’t stop to find Adrianna or Frankie, I knew they would look out for one another. I just ran, ignoring the sniggering laugh of a gang of humans centred around the girl with the blonde hair, crutches, and pretend broken ankle.

  I was a shaking mess when I got home and slipped into the plain room that Anya and I shared.

  He was the son of someone high up the ranks of Intra, the Complex security force . . . a commander nonetheless. The chances of that happening, of that coincidence taking place must have been virtually impossible, but still, there I was, exposed after revealing my darkest secret to a stranger in a bid to save his life.

  I settled between the rough cotton sheets of my bed trying to find some comfort in the starched material but there was none to be found. The loop of Chase’s murder continued to play out in my mind. Sleep wasn’t going to come easy.

  It didn’t.

  When Adrianna’s call filled my head the following morning I was a foggy mess. “What happened to you?”

  I refused to allow her hologram to flash in front of me, I could do without a one on one visual when she realised the mess I was in.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I said, sliding my way out of bed and whispering so as not to wake a peaceful Anya.

  “Did you find him?” Adrianna demanded and I made a grunt of confirmation.

  Adriana gasped. “Oh my god, you have got to tell me everything.”

  “Mm-mm.” I replied.

  “Oh gotcha. You can’t talk.” For an empath, Adriana was spectacularly clueless sometimes.

  “Mm-mm.”

  “See you on the Zipper.”

  “Sure.” I disconnected the call and placed my hands against my hot cheeks. This burn that was tormenting my cheeks was new to me, an undesirable side effect of associating with a human. I ignored the heat and the memories of the human that filled my mind and went about pulling out clean scrubs and cleaning up in the family’s small bathing facility.

  I didn’t want breakfast but I went through the motion of filling my bowl with the warm gloop my mother placed in the centre of the table. Small talk was non-existent and when I moved back away from the table ready to take my leave my mom’s worried eyes rested for a long moment on my face. “Delphine?” My name was a questi
on.

  “Yes?” The burn returned to my cheeks, hotter and faster.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Mom took a step closer but then stopped and I cursed the weakened strain of the Sight that ran through her veins.

  “Nothing, I’ve got lots of lectures today.”

  Her gaze narrowed. “I’ve never seen you this excited for lectures before.”

  “You know me, I love to learn.” I edged backwards towards the door.

  ‘Don’t forget to say goodbye to your father.”

  I cringed. I never forgot Dad.

  Ducking back into their room I gave him a swift kiss on the top of his head and then raced back for the main exit.

  He was there, leant against the wall along from our living quarters. His attention was focused on the passing flow of workers off to start their day and allowed me to stop in my tracks and catch the breath that unexpectedly caught in my throat at the sight of him. My heart stuttered and then flatlined, skipping an important beat.

  His eyes turned to me, and in the brilliant light of the artificial sunshine I could see him clearer than I could the previous night. Even the ghastly grey scrubs couldn’t detract from the solid form that shifted beneath the material. His face that had been obscured by shadows at the party was angled with high cheek bones and clearly showed those dark eyes that could pin me to the spot. He stepped closer, which in a way was good considering I was frozen in place, but in other ways was bad because people were staring.

  “What are you doing here?” I stuttered.

  He exuded confidence, it glowed out of every cell of his being. He didn’t answer straight away, his eyes settled on my face and I twitched nervously. Finally, he spoke. “I wanted to say thank you for trying to find me.”

  It was like he could just suck the air straight from my chest, stealing it away with his presence.

  “You’re welcome.” We stood there staring at one another. My eyes were roving over his face while his focused on my mouth. “I need to get to class.” I motioned to the Zipper that scooted past, Adrianna’s wide eyes staring back at me through the glass-plated back.

  “Can I walk you?” A small cough cleared his throat, but if it was a sign of awkwardness he didn’t let it show in any other way.

  “Walk? It’s quite a way.”

  “It won’t take long.” His fingers guided my elbow into the busy walkways and as odd as I found it, I began to walk, his step falling into time next to mine.

  We’d been walking in silence for a couple of moments when he spoke again. “I didn’t tell my dad.” His gaze flickered to my face and I nibbled my teeth along my lower lip.

  “You probably should, but if you could not mention me. . .” I trailed off hopefully.

  Chase shrugged. “I hardly see him anyway.”

  “Oh.” I glanced up and saw that we were still a good fifteen minutes from the Uni Academy. “What do you do here? I haven’t seen you in any classes.” I knew his fate was linked with someone from the classes because that was how I’d received the image of his impending doom.

  Another shrug lifted his shoulders. “Not much. I graduated the first year here and now I’m stuck waiting to get back to Wreston. I don’t need to work because I’m not entitled to the ten thousand the same way as the other legal adults.”

  I don’t know why I gulped when he said the word ‘Adult’. Technically I would be classed as an adult when we left at the age of eighteen.

  “That must be fun.” I wasn’t sure if it did sound fun. I didn’t know if the prospect of not having a purpose within the Complex scared the life out of me or filled me with relief.

  The left side of his lips hitched into that crooked smile I’d been introduced to the night before. “I find ways to entertain myself.”

  My mind went off on a tangent on what that entertainment could involve. We’d all heard the rumours of the pleasure that could be found within the Complex for those with an open mind and money to spare.

  He didn’t elaborate and I didn’t press.

  We were nearing the Uni Academy when he asked. “Has the future changed?” His voice was tight and despite the nonchalant slouch to his walk I knew he was worried. I didn’t need to be a prophet to feel it radiating from him.

  I hesitated. I mean I wasn’t supposed to be doing this. It was illegal, unknown, but there was something there in the depth of his eyes that made me want to help more than when I’d been searching for the boy I didn’t know. I emptied my mind and allowed the flickers of images to flow through my mind. Lots of passers-by were remembering their minimal breakfast with grumbling complaint. Then I saw the image: the knife, the thrust of the blade, and I gasped. Chase’s hand came to my arm and held me firmly. This time I wasn’t seeing the event from the attacker’s point of view, I was watching from Chase’s. I could feel the alarm as it flooded through his body and something else, this deep desire to protect, it pulsed through his veins. The attacker was shrouded in black, a mask pulled over their face.

  With a start, I came back to the present and shook my head. “It hasn’t changed, I’m sorry. And I still can’t see who it is.” His face fell with my words but then he nodded, a hardening resolve building in the depths of his dark eyes.

  “You think it’s someone from inside your lecture?”

  I nodded my agreement. “It would have to be someone within the vicinity for me to see the future,” I explained.

  “Then maybe I should come to lectures too. See if I can recognise anyone.”

  “No.” My words were almost a shout. “What if someone asks why you are there, and you draw attention to yourself? There is still a chance the future could change, why make it worse?”

  I knew his future wasn’t changing yet. That pulse of fear I’d sensed in my vision had left a bitter taste on my tongue.

  He gave a wry laugh and I watched as his face broke into a smile that made his eyes shine like hardened jewels. “I don’t think anyone noticed when I was there the first time.”

  I knew that feeling all too well. “Okay, I’ll see what I can pick up from inside.”

  We filed into the building, and he went his way through security for humans. Of course, he wasn’t asked for any ID, while I filed through the Meta line. When we were through and he’d seen the direction I took to my class, I expected him to filter towards the humans but instead he came back to my side. “Shall we?” He motioned to the chairs.

  “You can’t sit with me,” I hissed.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s not done.”

  He shrugged, a motion I was beginning to realise was his favourite form of communication, and waited for me to move to my seat next to Frankie and Adrianna. Their faces were a picture, but then so was mine as I sat down and Chase sat in the chair next to mine.

  Adrianna’s eyes bulged. “Delly?” she prompted when I offered no explanation for the tall, attractive, human by my side.

  “Chase, meet Adie and Frankie.” I motioned to my two friends. Chase nodded in greeting but didn’t offer to shake their hands. They stared at me in shock their faces gawping.

  “What’s this lecture about?” Chase asked. The weighted gaze of the humans in the room fell on us and I cringed but Chase didn’t seem to notice. The blonde girl who was adored by all had her face folded into a frown and her arms wrapped tight around her waist like she was warding off a chill. I met her gaze for a brief moment but then wished that I hadn’t as it narrowed into a blaze of disgust.

  I forced my attention back onto Chase and my friends. “Who knows,” we all replied at once and it made him smile. A swell of satisfaction that I could make him smile lifted inside of me and erased the worry I’d felt when the humans had turned to stare at us. I attempted to beat it down. I couldn’t be crushing after him, firstly because he was human, and well let’s not even go there, and secondly because if I became friends with him, my vision of his future would escape me like it did with all those close to me. No, I needed to keep this spontaneous human at arm�
�s length for both of our sakes.

  As we settled down I felt the gaze of the humans still settled on the sight of Chase sitting alongside me. But if he saw the attention he was getting then he didn’t let it show.

  I spent the lecture rifling through the futures whirling around me, but I could find nothing focused on Chase. Maybe the attacker was missing today? I didn’t know. Every so often I caught a flicker of Chase and I in someone’s future, just a snatched glance. In one we were in the dinner hall sitting under the tree filled with green birds, but the flash was fleeting and it didn’t make any sense to me so I ignored it.

  When class emptied, Chase turned to me expectantly but all I could do was offer him a negative shake of my head. “Nothing, I’m sorry.”

  He gave another one of his shrugs. “Guess I’ll come again tomorrow. I didn’t recognise anyone I know either.”

  I shoved my hands deep within the pockets of the loose-fitting top. “Okay, see you tomorrow then.”

  “Aren’t you going to get lunch?” he turned to me expectantly and I was only too aware of Frankie and Adrianna watching all this play out.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Fantastic.” He went to walk to the Zipper queue but I held him back with my hand. “Chase, what are you doing? You know you can’t eat with us, right?”

  His gaze settled on my face, flitting over inches of skin and then another shrug lifted his arms. “I can do whatever I want.”

  He did.

  “Is this what you guys do?” Chase looked at us expectantly across the lunch table. Frankie met Adrianna and I’s gaze and frowned. He wasn’t happy about the new member of our gang.

  I wasn’t sure if Chase was technically a new member—he just seemed to be there. That morning when I’d left our accommodation he’d been there lounging against the wall, oblivious to the interested stares he was eliciting from passers-by.

  Adriana rolled her eyes. “We go to lectures, we come here and eat, and then we go home.” She shrugged along with her words. “There isn’t a huge amount for underage Metas to do.”