Apparently over the whole situation, Lexi reached for her fries without another word but stopped short. “Ugh! I forgot ketchup. I’ll be right back.”
I paused until she was several yards away and then got up to follow Patrick. Wait. What if Lexi came looking for me?
Apparently, Kyra read my thoughts. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay and tell Lexi you went to the bathroom or something. Go talk to them. Find out what they’re going to do.”
“Thanks.” I padded softly to the door that led to the hallway outside the lunchroom and pushed it open. The roar of the lunchroom died as the door swung shut. Patrick’s head hung low, and Gregory’s glowing hand rested on his shoulder. No one else was around, but from my distance Gregory’s soft words were barely discernible.
Based on the circumstances, though, I was pretty sure Gregory was encouraging Patrick to forgive himself. Once Patrick lifted his head again, I figured I could go ask about the plan for the drug dealer without interrupting anything. “So what are we going to do?”
Patrick stood straight upon seeing me. We both turned to Gregory for an answer.
“Well, as a teacher I can always bring him to the office and have him questioned. I’m sure they’d find something on him or in his locker somewhere if...” Gregory’s voice trailed off as the door to the cafeteria swung open. All three of our heads whipped to the side to see the drug dealer in question come swaggering out into the hallway with money in hand.
Our eyes followed him to the pop machine. He inserted his money and pressed a button.
Gregory opened his mouth to speak, but Patrick was already halfway across the hall, gripping his prism in his carelessly outstretched hand.
My jaw fell farther and my eyes grew wider the closer Patrick got. It didn’t take long. Within ten seconds, Patrick had reached the guy from behind and slashed his huge bubbling shadow. The velvety blog oozed and melted away as the senior turned around with his drink. Patrick stood directly in his path with a dazzlingly fake smile. The guy seemed confused on more than one level but stepped around Patrick to go on his merry way.
Patrick raised his eyebrows at Gregory and then cocked his head to the side in the kid’s direction, as if to say, “I did my part. Now it’s your turn.” Gregory understood immediately and intercepted the kid before he reached the cafeteria door.
“Excuse me, sir.” Gregory rested a glowing hand on his upper back as he led him away from the door. “Would you mind coming with me? I just have a few questions for you...” His voice faded as they continued their trek down the hall towards the office.
Gregory must not have given anything away, or his glowing touch was being super effective. The boy didn’t act as though he wanted to run off the entire way to the corner where at last they vanished from my sight.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Patrick was glaring down the hallway at the empty space left by the boy that reminded him of his old self. I took his hand in mine. “Patrick.” I paused until he looked at me. “You’re not like that anymore.”
He nodded his head but didn’t say anything as he stared at the ground. He seemed to be working something over in his mind, so I waited for him to speak. Eventually, he lifted his head. His eyes were squinted suspiciously. “Don’t you think it was quite the coincidence that this happened right after I got back from David’s funeral?”
I thought about it. “Well, yeah, it was pretty bad timing, I guess. Do you think Donovan was behind this?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Let’s just go back inside.”
On our way back to our seat, the flutter of a familiar black silhouette caught my eye, fluttering next to my least favorite leech carrier—Lila. She stared Patrick down with a vicious glare as if attempting to break him with will power alone. Still, underneath the malice was a painful, aching want. If this was her attempt at getting him back, she was more twisted than I thought. But could she have planned this?
We sat down, and I looked to see if she was still scowling at Patrick. She had already disappeared.
Chapter 16
The next night all I wanted to do was relax at home and do nothing. My mother had other plans. Her attending parent teacher conferences would’ve been bad enough, but she insisted I go with her. She wanted to be a more involved parent. I got that. But, honestly, what parent feels the need to go to parent teacher conferences for their mostly straight-A junior?
Mr. Delaney was our first stop. “Just don’t say anything embarrassing, okay?” I half pleaded, half demanded as we waited outside the door for our turn. The last thing I wanted was for my mother to embarrass me on her first meeting with my angel mentor, even if she assumed he was simply my teacher.
“Oh, please,” she said as she took off her coat and slung it over her arm. “I am perfectly sane and perfectly normal, thank you very much.”
I lowered my eyes and gave her a pointed look.
“Okay, maybe not completely normal. But I’ve seen worse.”
I laughed. “Way worse.” If only she knew how many non-normal people I’d seen lately. She’d probably be worried for my sanity.
Chairs scraped the tiled floor within. It was almost our turn. The parents exited with serene smiles on their faces. As they strolled off, I overheard the mother confide to her husband, “What a nice young man.”
Mr. Delaney’s calm, soothing voice wafted out the door, “Come on in, whoever’s next.”
I grinned to myself and led my mother inside. He must have been cranking up his light and his charm tonight. Not that he needed any help making a good impression. He stood inside the doorway, perfectly at ease, in black slacks and a white button-up shirt. His yellow and white swirly tie reminded me of his angel form in action.
His eyes lit up the moment he saw us, and he moved to shake my mother’s hand. “Hi, I’m Gregory Delaney. Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand and looked her square in the eyes as though she were the most important person on the planet at that moment. He really was a stellar communicator. I needed to take notes.
“Shelly Kohl. Pleasure.” She dropped her hand somewhat reluctantly while her entranced eyes remained fixed on the general vicinity of his flawless, tan face, sparkling, blue eyes, and perfect blonde hair.
Uh-oh.
Gregory motioned for us to take a seat somewhere in the circle of chairs. As my mom went ahead of me to claim a seat, I pulled on Gregory’s arm and stepped between them so my back was to my mother. I locked eyes with Gregory and made a slicing motion with my hand across my throat. “Ixnay on the armchay,” I whispered sternly. He wrinkled his brow like he didn’t understand, so I added with a little more urgency, “Throttle down, killer.”
He still seemed puzzled. But then he saw my mother who was beaming at him, perfectly postured in her seat with her legs crossed daintily. “Oh.” He cleared his throat and did his best to put on a more stern, serious expression that came off as natural as a gun in a nun’s hands. He trudged to the chair across from my mother, and I took the seat next to her.
“So,” Gregory started, “You’re obviously Iris’s mother.” He smiled as he shifted casually in his seat. Once he remembered himself, the smile vanished. He picked up some papers and cleared his throat as he began to sift through them. “It looks like Iris has a ninety-three percent right now, so she’s doing great. She always turns in her assignments. She participates. She does great work in here. You should be proud.”
He couldn’t help himself. It was his nature. By the end of his report he was smiling again.
And my mom responded like a homeless puppy near a hamburger. “Iris has always been the brains of the family.” She laughed and flicked back her hair. “She takes after me that way. Her dad wasn’t that great in school.” She leaned forward and zeroed in on Gregory’s eyes. “We’re divorced now.”
I closed my eyes and slowly lifted my hands to cover my face.
Gregory cleared his throat again. “Well, wherever she got her brains, they’re serving her well here.” He chuc
kled nervously.
This was just wrong on so many levels. I knew my mom was desperate and lonely, but I didn’t think she was a cougar. Not only was he about fifteen years younger than her in his human form. He wasn’t even human. Was it a sin to hit on an angel? I wasn’t sure, but watching my mother attempt it felt all sorts of icky.
I stood up abruptly. “Well, we’d better get going so we can stop by all my other classes before it gets too late. I have a science test to study for tonight.”
My mother frowned at me but picked up her things and stood up. As I forced her to walk sideways to the door, she faced Mr. Delaney. “I guess Iris is tired of being here.” She rolled her eyes. “Not that I can blame her, being at school all day already. I remember being young, not wanting to be at school, not liking your teachers.” She quickly corrected herself. “Although, I’m sure she loves you. I mean, who wouldn’t.”
“Okay, Mom, time to say goodbye.”
She stopped in the doorway and stretched out her hand. “It was so nice to meet you, Gregory—er—Mr. Delaney.”
He shook her hand and nodded politely. “Nice to meet you too, Ms. Kohl.”
I’d succeeded in getting her halfway down the hallway when Gregory hollered at me. “Iris, I forgot I needed to give you that extra paper for today’s assignment.”
I headed back. But when I heard my mother’s heels follow behind me, I stopped, spun around, and held up my palm. “Stay,” I said as if commanding a dog to heel. She put her hands on her hips but stayed put.
I followed Gregory back into his room and immediately held out both hands. “I am so sorry for my mother. I don’t know what got into her.”
“It’s okay.” He chuckled. “Your mom seems nice.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Sure. Women are always nice when they’re trying to hit on their daughter’s teacher. At least I assume they are. I wouldn’t know, because it’s such an utterly ridiculous thing that normal people just don’t do.” My voice was a frantic, hoarse whisper by the time I’d finished.
Gregory took my arm and led me back to the door as he tried to fight a smile. “It’s okay, really. But I think we may need to find your mother a nice companion before she goes crazy with loneliness.”
“Who did you have in mind? I mean, it’s not like she hasn’t tried to meet people. I even heard her talking with Hanna about considering an online dating profile.”
Gregory straightened his tie and grinned. “I know a retired light warrior who’s been single ever since his wife passed away seven years ago. I actually trained him when he was about your age. He still lives around here. I think he and your mother would make a great match.”
“Oh, so you’re cupid now, too?” I teased. “Isn’t that some other angel’s job?”
“We all do what we can.”
I laughed but then something he’d said made me pause. “So, when you say ‘retired,’ what do you mean exactly. Will I have to retire someday?”
“Well…” Gregory scratched his chin. “Not necessarily. It just depends. I mean, all humans get older and less able to do what light warriors do. Though that’s not really what happened with Robert. Once he got married and had kids, he just wanted to focus more on his family. And that’s an important job too.”
He smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back. This Robert guy seemed like a decent catch. “All right. Give it your best shot and we’ll see what happens.”
It took a few days, but Gregory made good on his word. As I walked into class on Thursday, he waved me over to his desk. “All right, so I talked to Robert, the retired light warrior I was telling you about. Here’s a picture of him.” He held out the phone in his hand for me to see.
He was handsome for a man in his late forties. His dark hair had a hint of gray sprinkled in, and his face had that rugged, unshaved look. His best feature, though, was his kind yet bright, venturous eyes that were an abnormally vibrant shade of blue, naturally.
“Nice.” I raised my eyebrows and nodded. I wasn’t sure what the appropriate adjective was to describe my mom’s potential boyfriend. I figured hot might have been a bit weird. Even though he was pretty good-looking.
“Yeah.” He nodded his head in agreement as he put away his phone. “He is nice.”
“Mm-hmm. That’s totally what I meant.”
Gregory smirked. “Anyway, I talked to him about your mom, and he’s interested in meeting her. I arranged a chance...” He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “...meeting for them tonight. If all goes well, which I’m confident it will, he’ll ask her out this weekend.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head. With his self-contented grin, one would have thought he’d just cured cancer.
“Sounds great. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it tonight. So thanks in advance for that.”
“Hey, you can handle a little girl talk with your lonely mother if that’s what she needs.”
“I know, I know. It would be nice to see her happy for a change.”
Thinking about my mother and her meeting with Robert was a nice distraction for the rest of the day. But then I became forgetful of other things. When I stepped outside into the cold parking lot to go home, I immediately swung my arms around my chest and clutched at my bare arms. My jacket was in my locker. I groaned as I pivoted my heel on the loose gravel of the blacktop and trekked back into the building.
Walking through the mostly silent halls, I regretted how I’d said I was fine with Patrick staying late to help Gregory research something. Not that I truly had much say in the matter. He was simply trying to be kind. But I could have used the company.
I finally reached my locker and grabbed my jacket. However, by then I had another problem. I had to pee. I never went down the west hallway, but that’s where the closest bathroom was.
I’d found the bathroom and was about to go in when a high-pitched, girlish giggle echoed from around the corner. The laugh had to be coming from the commons area. I wasn’t sure why at first, but the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end. Then the girl spoke and it all made sense. The voice belonged to Lila.
I considered ignoring her. I didn’t care to see Lila or especially risk getting seen by her. But another part of me craved to spy on her. I tried convincing myself that my shameless curiosity was really going to be beneficial. Whatever she was doing could help us figure out her and her motives.
But truthfully, I wanted to see what poor boy she’d caught in her snares this time.
Still facing the restroom, I wavered in indecisiveness. Then the boy spoke. I’d recognize that voice anywhere.
My head shot straight up as my eyes grew exponentially wide. I clamored back to the edge of the wall as quietly as I could and peered around it. Sure enough, Patrick was sitting there. So close to Lila their knees were touching.
I whirled back around and slammed my back against the wall, trying to remember how to breathe.
Okay. I had to stay calm. Breathe in, breathe out. Jumping to conclusions was bad. Maybe there was a logical explanation for him being that close to her. Maybe this was him questioning her like he’d said…and he forgot to tell me.
I peeked back around the corner. Lila’s shadow was at least fifteen yards from her but hovered very still and stared at both of them. Lila must have asked her parasite to give them some space. How sweet of her.
When I returned my eyes to Lila and Patrick, however, something even more disconcerting stole my attention. Lila’s hand was resting on Patrick’s thigh. Why didn’t he tell her to get her filthy paws off him? If he was trying not to be rude, he could have at least asked her nicely. I tried to clear my mind so I could listen to them.
Lila’s piercing voice carried easily enough. “Come on, you know you miss this life. You had everything.”
“Maybe a little. I do miss some things,” Patrick answered.
“Like me?” Lila’s probing eyes begged for a kiss.
He chuckled. “Maybe.”
My heart
sank.
“You know I’m so much better for you than Iris.” Lila spat out my name as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth. “You need someone with experience who can give you what you need.”
My eyes narrowed to slits and I gripped the edge of the wall so hard I wanted to cry out in pain. I bit my lip to stifle a whimper, but everything inside of me was screaming.
Her hand that had been resting on his leg began to move lightly up and down his thigh until he stopped it by placing his hand on top of hers. He took her hand in his and flashed her a seductive grin. One that he used to use on me. “That’s quite tempting. And you’re probably right. Let me think on it, okay?”
Lila pouted and leaned in closer. “What do I need to do to convince you?”
He leaned back ever so slightly, but not enough to matter. “I don’t know yet. Let’s just take our time, shall we?”
I’d seen enough. Mouth gaping, I twisted away from the nauseating scene I’d been watching and began to shuffle my feet in the opposite direction. I stared blankly straight ahead. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to throw up, scream, or sob uncontrollably. Probably all three. All I knew was my body felt as though it weighed three hundred pounds and my chest burned.
What did all of that mean? Had I put too much trust and faith in Patrick? Had Lila finally gotten to him and now he was planning on leaving me behind my back? Leaving us? It wouldn’t have been the first time I or someone close to me had been burned by a guy.
What had been going on in my diluted mind anyway? How could I have ever thought I could’ve competed with Lila. She was too beautiful. I didn’t doubt that Patrick didn’t originally want to be with her because I truly believed him when he’d said he hated her. But in the end, he was just a guy who couldn’t control his hormones.
I let the tears flow as I stepped out into the parking lot. The raw air slapped my face, and my throat burned as I breathed it in deeply. But the cold wasn’t as painful as the memory of Patrick and Lila that would be seared into my brain forever.
Luminous Spirits (Shadow Eyes Series Book 2) Page 15