OALN

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  Rolling my eyes, I did as they instructed. At first, I noticed that one of the blond boys was turned in his seat, talking it up with a boy at the table in front of them. Then I shifted my gaze, and my eyes locked with Daemon’s. Even though several tables separated us, my breath caught. There was something…wicked in those emerald-colored eyes. Consuming. I couldn’t look away, and he didn’t either. The distance between us seemed to evaporate.

  A second later, he smirked and turned away, focusing on what Ash was saying to him. Drawing in a shallow breath, I focused on my friends.

  “Yeah,” Lesa murmured dreamily, “that’s why.”

  “I…there’s no reason.” My face felt on fire. “Did you see him? He’s only making the lip thing at me.”

  “That lip thing is sexy.” Lesa glanced at Dee. “Sorry. I know he’s your brother and all.”

  “It’s okay. I’m used to it.” Dee rested her chin in her hand. “Remember the day on the porch?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “What happened on the porch?” Lesa asked, curious enough that her dark eyes gleamed.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  “They were like this close.” Dee held up her finger and her thumb so that there was barely a centimeter between the two. “And I’m sure they’ve gotten closer.”

  My mouth dropped open. “We have not, Dee. We don’t even like each other, like on a basic level.”

  Carissa took her glasses off and blew on them. “What’s going on?”

  Lesa filled her in, much to my horror. “Oh, yeah.” Carissa nodded. “They were googley-eyed in class on Friday. It was pretty steamy, the whole ‘I’m screwing you with my eyes’ thing they had going on.” I choked on my drink. “That was not what we were doing. We were talking!”

  “Katy, you were so doing it.” Lesa picked up a napkin and started rolling it. “Nothing to be ashamed of. I’d do it if he’d be game.”

  I stared at her a second, then busted out laughing. “You guys are insane. There’s nothing going on.” I looked at Dee. “And you should know that.”

  “I know a lot of things,” she said innocently.

  My brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She shrugged and pointed at my second slice. “You going to eat that?”

  I picked it up and handed it over. She ignored my look while she happily devoured my extra slice of pizza.

  “Oh, did you guys hear about Sarah?” Carissa flipped closed her cell phone, looking up. “I almost forgot.”

  “No.” Lesa glanced over at me. “Carissa’s older brother Ben is friends with Sarah’s brother. They go to WVU together.”

  “Oh.” I turned my drink around and started peeling off the label. When I thought of Sarah, I thought of the hospital and how I’d heard about her death. And I thought of the Arum, and how they were around.

  “Robbie told Ben that the police don’t think it was a heart attack or a natural cause.” Carissa looked around the table, lowering her voice. “Or at least no natural causes that they’re aware of.” Dee lowered the pizza from her mouth. That’s how I knew this was serious. “What do you mean?”

  “Apparently, there was so much damage to her heart that there was no way it could be like that regardless of if she had any heart conditions,” Carissa explained.

  Dee shrugged. “I know, but what else could it be?”

  I glanced at Dee, having an idea of what or who it could’ve been. After lunch, I dragged her to the side. “Was it one of them?” I asked. “One of the Arum?”

  Dee bit down on her lip and then she tugged me away from the cafeteria doors and her brother, who was coming out of the room. Down the hall, she stopped. “It was, but Daemon took care of him.” I hesitated. “It was the same one who attacked me?”

  “It was.” Dee glanced behind her, lips thin. “Daemon thinks it was purely coincidental, that the Arum stumbled across her. She didn’t know us. I swear.”

  That didn’t make any sense to me. “Then why?”

  Dee met my stare. “They don’t need a reason, Katy. The Arum are evil. They kill us for our powers.” She paused, paling. “And they kill humans for the fun of it.”

  Chapter 21

  Astonishingly, things were sort of…normal now. My trace did fade in a week and a half. Daemon had acted like he’d been released from a twenty-year jail sentence, and he was never around when I was with Dee anymore. September and most of October passed without anything happening. Mom continued to work both jobs, and she had a couple more dates with Mr. Michaels. She liked him, and I was happy for her. It had been so long since I’d seen her smile not tinged with sorrow.

  Carissa and Lesa both had been to my house, and many times we’d gone to the movies or the mall in Cumberland with Dee. Even though I’d grown close to the two human girls and had a heck of a lot more in common with them, I was closer to Dee. We did everything together—everything except talk about Daemon. She tried, several times.

  “I know he likes you,” she’d said once while we were supposed to be studying. “I see the way he looks at you. He gets uptight if I even bring you up.”

  I’d sighed and closed my notebook. “Dee, I think the reason why he stares at me is because he’s planning on ways to kill me and hide my body.”

  “That is so not the look he gives you.”

  “Then what’s the look, Dee?”

  She knocked her book off the bed and climbed to her knees, placing her hands over her chest. “It’s the ‘I hate you but I want you’ look.”

  I giggled. “That was terrible.”

  “It’s true.” She lowered her hands. “We can date humans if we want to, you know. It’s kind of pointless, but we can. And he’s never paid attention to any other human.”

  “He’s been forced to pay attention to me, Dee.” I flopped onto my back on my bed. My stomach tightened at the thought of Daemon secretly wanting to be with me. Granted, I knew he was attracted to me. I felt it, but lust didn’t have anything on like. “What about you? What’s up with Adam?”

  “Absolutely nothing at all. I don’t know how Ash is attracted to Daemon. We grew up with them, and Andrew is like a brother to me. I don’t think he feels any differently, either.” She paused, her lower lip trembling. “I don’t like any of my kind.”

  “Is there a…human boy you like?”

  She shook her head. “No. But if there was, I shouldn’t have to be afraid to like him. I have a right to be happy. It shouldn’t matter if it’s one of your kind or ours that does it.”

  “I completely agree.”

  Dee had lain down next to me, snuggling up. “Daemon would freak if I fell for a human.”

  I almost smiled at that, but then I remembered their brother. Damn right, Daemon would freak. Maybe rightfully so, because if his brother hadn’t fallen for a human, he’d still be alive.

  I hoped for Dee’s sake she never fell for one. Daemon would most definitely go nutso.

  As it approached mid-October, it seemed like we’d gone backward in time. I was going to find that pen of his and destroy it. I’d lost count of how many times I was poked in the back long after the trace had faded from me. It seemed he lived to get under my skin.

  And there was a part of me that kind of looked forward to it, only because it was entertaining…until one of us seriously got mad, especially when he was being downright antisocial.

  Like Friday in class, Simon had asked if I wanted to study for our trig exam. Before I could even respond, Simon’s backpack had flown off his desk, scattering its contents across the floor as if someone had swept his arm across his desk. Red-faced and confused, Simon had been successfully distracted by the laughing class while he gathered up his notebooks and scattered pencils.

  I’d glanced back over my shoulder at Daemon, suspecting he was behind the flying backpack, but all he did was smile lazily at me.

  “What’s your deal?” I asked in the hallway after class. “I know you did that.”

  He shrugged.
“So?”

  So? I stopped by my locker, surprised to find that Daemon had followed me there. “That was rude, Daemon. You embarrassed him.” Then I lowered my voice to a whisper, “And I thought using your…stuff would draw them here.”

  “That was barely a blip on the map. That didn’t leave a trace on anyone.” He lowered his head until the edges of his dark curls brushed my cheek. I was caught between wanting to crawl into my locker and crawl into him. “Besides, I was doing you a favor.” I laughed. “And how was that doing me a favor?”

  Daemon smiled at me and then lowered his gaze so his thick, dark lashes shielded his eyes. “Studying math wasn’t what he had in mind.”

  That seemed debatable, but I decided to play along. I wasn’t backing down from him, not even when he could toss me in the air with a single thought. “And what if that’s the case?”

  “You like Simon?” His chin jerked up, anger flashing in his emerald eyes. “You can’t possibly like him.”

  I hesitated. “Are you jealous?”

  Daemon looked away.

  And I seized the opportunity to finally have one thing to rub in his face and stepped forward. He didn’t move or breathe. “You’re jealous of Simon?” I lowered my voice. “Of a human? For shame, Daemon.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m not jealous. All I’m trying to do is help you out. Guys like Simon want to get between your legs.”

  My cheeks flushed as I stared at him. “Why? You think that’s the only reason why a guy might like me?”

  Daemon smiled knowingly as he slowly backed up. “Just saying.”

  He left after that, disappearing into the crowded hall. Which was good, because if he’d stayed a moment longer I would have socked him. When I turned around, I saw Ash standing outside her class. Her look pretty much fried me on the spot.

  No one was talking about Sarah. It wasn’t that the school had for-gotten her. It was just that they’d moved on, like most did. Knowing how and why she died was something I tried not to think about. When I did, my stomach soured like curdled milk. She died because Daemon saved me and the Arum had needed someone to take his anger out on.

  And at night, I dreamed about the parking lot behind the library. I saw his face, the coldness and rage in his eyes as he squeezed the life out of me. Those nights, I woke with a scream stuck in my throat, covered in a cold sweat.

  Other than the nightmares and the occasion alien-bully move on Daemon’s part, there was nothing else that was out of the norm. It was like living next to normal teenagers.

  Teenagers that didn’t need to get up to change the television channel and got a little uptight after meteorite showers.

  Dee had explained that the Arum used those atmospheric displays as a way to come down to Earth without being detected by the govern-ment. I didn’t understand how, and she didn’t explain, but for a few days after a shower or even a falling star, the siblings were on edge. They would also disappear, sometimes taking a three-day weekend or missing a Wednesday without any warning. Dee eventually explained that they’d been checking in with the DOD. They continued to tell me that the Arum weren’t a problem, but I didn’t believe them. Not when they took such great lengths to avoid discussing them.

  But Dee was on edge for a whole different reason in class on Thursday. Homecoming was next weekend and she hadn’t found a dress. She had a date with Andrew. Or was it Adam? I couldn’t tell the incredible blond duo apart.

  Everyone was excited about homecoming, it seemed. Streamers hung from the hallways. Banners announced the game against the other school and the dance. Tickets were selling left and right. Lesa and Carissa also had dates. Neither of them had dresses, from the sound of yesterday’s lunch conversation.

  I, on the other hand, didn’t have a date.

  They tried to convince me yesterday that going stag wasn’t the height of social disaster, and I knew that, but standing along the wall all night or playing third wheel wasn’t my cup of tea.

  Everybody knew each other in a school as small as PHS. Couples had been together their entire high school stint. Friends were shacking up with one another to go to the dance. And I, having no real connection to anyone, seemed dateless. Total killer for the self-esteem.

  After spending math class ignoring Daemon’s attempts to tick me off, Simon appeared by my locker while I switched out one heavy, useless book for another heavy, useless book.

  “Hey,” I said, smiling. I hoped Daemon was nowhere nearby, because God only knew what he’d do. “You looked like you fell asleep in class today.”

  He laughed. “I kind of did. And I was dreaming about formulations. It was all very frightening.”

  I laughed, shoving the textbook into my backpack as I nudged my locker door shut with my hip. “I can imagine.”

  Simon wasn’t bad looking. Not if you had a thing for big, burly jocks who looked like they tossed bales of hay during the summer. He had arms the size of tree trunks and a charming-enough smile. Pretty blue eyes, too, and when he smiled, the skin around those baby blues crinkled. But his eyes weren’t green, his lips not poetic.

  “I’ve never seen you at any of our games,” he said, his skin doing that crinkly thing. “Not a fan of football?”

  Simon was the starting fullback or lineback. Honestly, I had no clue. “I went to one,” I told him. And I’d left at halftime with Dee. Both of us had been bored out of our minds. “Football isn’t my thing.” I expected him to leave after that because football was like a religion around here, but he leaned against the locker next to me, folding his arms over his chest. “So, I was wondering if you had plans next Saturday.” My eyes went up to the red and black banner above his head. Next Saturday was homecoming. My throat dried like a cornered animal, and my eyes got all buggy. “No. No plans at all.”

  “You’re not going to the dance?” he asked.

  Do I say I don’t have a date or does that sound way too lame? I settled on shaking my head.

  Simon looked relieved. “Would you like to go? Together?”

  My first thought was to say no. I barely knew the guy, and I thought he’d been dating one of the limber cheerleaders, and I wasn’t interested in him. But going with Simon didn’t mean I was going to marry him. Or even date him. I would be going to a dance with him. And a horrible thought popped in my head. I couldn’t wait to see Daemon’s face when he learned I had a date.

  I told him yes, and we exchanged numbers and that was that. I was going to the homecoming dance, and now I also needed a dress. Mom would be thrilled by this. At lunch, I broke the news to Dee, thinking she’d be excited.

  “Simon asked you to the dance?” Dee’s mouth had dropped open. She even stopped eating for five whole seconds. “Did you say yes?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, so what?”

  “Simon has a reputation,” Carissa said, eyeing me over the rim of her classes. “Like he wants to be the PHS bicycle.”

  “He wants to give everyone a ride,” Lesa clarified with a shrug. “But he is cute. I like his arms.”

  “Just because he has a reputation, that doesn’t mean I’m going to add to it.” I poked my salad around my plate. Meatloaf had been on the menu today. So was not braving that. “And he was kind of cute when he asked.”

  “Him and Kimmy broke up a week or so ago,” Carissa said. “Supposedly, he was cheating on her with Tammy.”

  Ah, Kimmy. That was the limber cheerleader’s name. “Does he have a thing for girls’ names that end in Y?”

  Lesa snorted. “Aw, just like you. It’s a match made in heaven.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Well, whatever. You got a date. Now all of us can shop for dresses this weekend.” Carissa clapped her hands. “Oh! And maybe we can carpool together. Sounds fun, right? How about you Dee?”

  “Huh?” Dee blinked. Carissa repeated her question, and Dee nodded with a faraway look in her eyes. “I’m sure Adam would be okay with that.”

  We made plans to go to Cumberland on Saturday, and Lesa and Carissa were
practically bouncing in their seats. Dee didn’t look excited. She didn’t even look happy. And strangest of all, she didn’t finish her lunch or eat half of mine.

  …

  When I left school that day, I had to walk all the way to the back of the parking lot since I’d been late that morning. The lot lined up with the track and football field, which was empty. It was a total bitch to park there. Cold wind whipped down from the mountains, blasting that entire area of the gravel lot.

  “Katy!”

  I turned around, recognizing the deep voice. My heart leapt in my throat. I didn’t feel the wind anymore. Squeezing the strap on my bag, I waited for him to catch up to me.

  Daemon stopped in front of me and reached out, fixing the twisted strap on my bag. “You know how to pick a parking spot.”

  Caught off guard by the gesture, it took me a moment to respond. “I know.”

  We made it to my car, and while I threw my bag in the backseat, Daemon waited beside me, his hands shoved into his pockets. There was a dark look to his gaze, a tightness to his lips.

  My stomach dropped a little. “Is everything okay? It’s not…?”

  “No.” Daemon ran a hand through his hair. “Nothing…uh, cosmic-related.”

  “Good.” I breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the car next to him. “You scared me there for a second.”

  He twisted toward me, and like that, there were only a few inches between us. “I hear you’re going with Simon Cutters to the dance.”

  I pushed back a strand of hair that blew across my face. The wind knocked it right back. “News travels fast.”

  “Yeah, it does around here.” He reached out again, but this time he caught the piece of hair and tucked it back behind my ear. His knuckles brushed against my cheek. The slight touch brought that weird tingle, along with a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

  “He’s not bad,” I said. Kids were rolling out on the track, stretching and getting ready to run. “He’s kind of nice, and he asked me.”

  “You’re going with him because he asked you?”

  Isn’t that how things worked? I nodded. He didn’t immediately respond while I fiddled with my car keys. “Are you going to the dance?”