Touched (Sense Thieves)

by Corrine Jackson

  Crouching on his heels at my side, Asher’s solemn gaze begged me to believe him. I ignored his outstretched hand and rose to my feet without his help. “You could have told me you were BFFs with the enemy,” I accused.

  Asher stood and tossed me a towel. “Remy, I am the enemy.”

  I grabbed the towel, hanging it around my neck, and considered shoving him. He sounded as irritable as I did.

  “I hate this,” he continued, crowding me. He wrapped a fistful of my towel around each of his hands to pull me closer, his knuckles brushing my collarbones in a whispery caress. “I hate it that I can’t ask them not to come. And I hate it that I know you won’t go while they’re here.”

  He was right. I wouldn’t leave my family. Sighing, I turned away from the heat in his narrowed eyes. “Why are they coming here? Why now?”

  Asher slipped his hands in his pockets. “It’s our fault. Mine and Gabe’s. Protectors are a tight community. When you don’t check in, they notice. We’ve been distracted.”

  By me, he meant. “But why come here? Why not pick up the phone and say ‘hey’?”

  Asher smiled. “Spencer and Miranda are friends, Remy. They helped us get out of Italy when our parents died. Like I said, we’re a tight community.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that Spencer and Miranda were also immortal, which meant at least two more Healers had died. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that every Protector achieved immortality by an accident of fate.

  “No, you’re right.” Asher’s eyes didn’t leave mine.

  “They were bitter and angry at the way the Healers had treated them. It was no accident, but it was war, Remy. I won’t make excuses, but mistakes were made on both sides.”

  I didn’t know how I felt about that. I had never met another Healer. Was I supposed to feel an instant loyalty to their kind because their power ran through my veins? Could I ignore the things they’d done to the Protectors that had driven Asher’s people to fight back? I only knew what Asher and my mother had told me.

  “That’s not true. You know who I am.”

  I nodded, and it was a long moment before I broke the silence. “If Spencer and Miranda are your friends, can’t you trust them?”

  Asher shook his head. “I trust them with our lives, but not yours. They don’t hunt Healers, but that doesn’t mean they’d resist the temptation of you in the same room.”

  “I get it. I’m catnip for Protectors.” With a wry smile, I picked up my bag. “So, what’s the plan?”

  The plan was for me to stay out of sight while the Protectors were in town. Asher and Lottie skipped school most of the week, presumably to visit with their friends. I’d promised Asher to steer clear of anyplace in town outside home and school to avoid any possibility of chance meetings. I didn’t realize how accustomed I’d become to seeing Asher until I went a few days without.

  To keep my promise, I stayed at the school library to catch up on my studies instead of joining my friends at the Clover Café. I’d kept my end of the bargain with Ben and Laura, keeping my grades up. When my brain threatened to implode, I set aside the equations I’d been working on for math and decided to head home on foot. Unlike New York, Blackwell Falls was a safe place to walk the streets, unless you counted all the Protectors running about.

  A full moon lit the evening sky and cast shadows on the thick clouds when I left campus. An unexpected alarm raised goose bumps on my skin. The air felt pregnant with danger, like those seconds before Gabe would attack. Footsteps sounded behind me, and I twisted around, crouched and ready to defend myself as Asher and Gabe had taught me. The parking lot was empty. Convinced someone watched me, I scrutinized the school’s main building and saw the outline of someone passing by an upstairs window. My laugh sounded loud in the quiet night, and I felt foolish for getting spooked. Asher would have called if I had something to worry about. Still, I raced home and didn’t breathe easily until I’d locked myself in the house.

  I would have dismissed the incident, except the same thing happened later that evening when I helped Ben take the trash out after dinner. He’d gone back in the house ahead of me, and I had the strange sensation that someone watched me from the shadows in Townsend Park. I peered into the trees, half hoping to see someone. At least then I’d know I wasn’t going crazy. The other half of me dreaded the discovery of what I’d find. I didn’t see anyone, but I couldn’t shake the notion that someone stalked me. I longed to call Asher, but he was off limits so long as his friends were in town. Determined not to worry my family until I had proof, I said nothing and kept my eyes open.

  The calls started two nights later.

  Ben and Laura had gone to meet friends for dinner, leaving Lucy and me to fend for ourselves. After a quick meal of leftover spaghetti, Lucy beat me upstairs to steal the shower, leaving me to clean our few dishes. I was about to yell after her when the kitchen phone rang, and I answered it. Whoever it was didn’t speak. Assuming the person had dialed the wrong number, I hung up.

  Less than thirty seconds later, the phone rang again. Heavy breathing sounded on the other end of the line, and it felt like the person lingered behind me the way the hair on the back of my neck rose.

  “Listen, if you’re a prank caller, we get the message. Time to move on and irritate someone else.” When the person didn’t respond, I hung up again. Immediately, the handset sounded under my hand, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

  Tired of the game, I yanked the receiver to my ear with an impatient movement. “Who is this?”

  The distinct snick of a lighter flaring to life echoed on the other end of the line.

  Dean. The phone dropped from my limp fingers and hit the floor with a crack, spinning across the tiled floor to come to rest under the small kitchen table. Dropping to my knees, I scrambled to grab the phone and checked the caller ID for the last call received.

  A local number was listed, and praying an innocent prankster would answer, I dialed. It rang six times before a woman answered in a breathless voice, a tourist strolling down on Beech Street who had heard the pay phone ringing. Her friends had dared her to answer it when they’d seen no one about.

  I dropped the phone back in its cradle and sank into a chair at the table. Asher had reassured me that Dean remained in New York, but what if he’d made it to Blackwell Falls? Few people knew how the sound of a lighter could terrify me, and I didn’t know anyone who would play such a prank on me. It had to be Dean.

  “Remy, you okay? Who was that on the phone?”

  Lucy stood in the doorway in a robe. Her eyes narrowed in concern, and I pulled myself together, keeping my tone light for her benefit. “Prank callers. They freaked me out a little.”

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “It was probably Brandon or Greg trying to get a rise out of you.”

  My sister looked so innocent standing there barefoot with her hair wet—so unprepared to protect herself—that I decided to tell Lucy at least a little of the truth so she’d be on her guard. “I don’t think so. The caller pretended to be Dean. The boys would never be that cruel. You mind if I call Asher and ask him to stay with us until Ben and Laura get home?”

  My fear registered, and she sat across from me, touching my hand. “They really rattled you, didn’t they? Go ahead and call him. To be honest, I’d feel better having him here, too.”

  Asher answered his cell on the first ring.

  My voice sounded hesitant. “I’m sorry to call you. I know you said not to, but—”

  “They’re gone, Remy. I was just about to call you. What’s wrong?”

  I told him what had happened.

  He said, “I’m on my way,” before I could even get my request out. Lucy tossed me a confused look when I hung up until I relayed his brief end of the conversation. She laughed and squeezed my hand again. Less than ten minutes later, Asher called to let me know he’d arrived at the front door.

  Relief flooded through me, and I nearly jumped into his arms. Instead, I stepped back to
allow him to enter. My brows rose when I glimpsed Gabe at the edge of the front yard, circling the house. “What’s he doing?”

  Asher closed the door and braced his hands on his hips. “Checking to see if anyone is out there. Tell me what happened.”

  I relayed the calls in the kitchen, and his expression tightened. “Stay here,” he said. “I want to check the locks and windows.”

  Lucy and I waited in the living room, and he returned a few minutes later. Lucy seemed surprised at his quick reappearance, but didn’t mention it. When a knock sounded on the front door, he answered it and spoke in quiet tones to Gabe. I heard him tell his brother good-bye, and then he returned to the living room.

  “Nothing. No tracks and no evidence that anyone has been hanging around.”

  Asher and I eyed each other. He really meant that the caller wasn’t a Protector.

  “Remy thinks it was Dean,” Lucy said, tucking her hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture.

  Asher suggested, “Maybe Ben can have someone check on his whereabouts. For tonight, I’ll stay until your parents get home.” Translated, that meant he already had his brother checking on Dean.

  Lucy nodded and yawned, her jaw cracking. “Thanks, Asher. Tell your brother I said thanks, too. I wouldn’t have thought he would do something nice like that. No offense.”

  His smile had a wry edge. “None taken.”

  Before I could disillusion her on Gabe’s motives—which had more to do with his brother and nothing at all to do with us—Lucy said good night and headed up the stairs. Asher and I stood rooted where she’d left us in the living room and stared at each other.

  Asher moved suddenly, his arms winding around me, yanking me into his body, so I had to lean against him on my tiptoes. Both his palms flattened against the middle of my back, and I felt safe for the first time in days. Relieved to be touching him, I hugged him close and breathed his scent in. I don’t know how long we stood like that, but it was like coming home.

  Eventually, he pulled away and studied my face. “Gabe is checking on Dean. We’ll know more soon.” He swallowed. “Spencer and Miranda had just left when you called, and I was sure we’d given something away somehow. I’ve never been so scared.”

  I brushed his hair off his forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to take any chances with Lucy.”

  When I hesitated, he shot me a suspicious look. “What are you not telling me?”

  I sighed. “I think someone’s been following me the last couple of days. Nothing I can pinpoint, and there’s never anyone there when I turn around. Still, I’d swear I was being watched.”

  He listened silently as I explained the creeped-out feeling I’d had at school and when I’d been taking the trash out. When I finished, he stepped back, sank down on the couch with his elbows on his knees, and passed a weary hand over his face.

  “You should’ve told me. We’ve made plans to help you, but they’re useless if you keep secrets. It’s not only your life at stake in this. Your family, my family. We’re all in danger.”

  Regret instantly filled me. A lifetime of taking care of myself had overpowered common sense. I sat beside him, not quite touching him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “You were thinking you could take care of everyone and everything. You weren’t thinking about what we’d all do if something happened to you. Do you have a death wish?”

  “No! I knew you would’ve called if you thought I was in danger from your friends.”

  Asher’s hands hung limply between his knees, and he gazed at me with bleak eyes. “They’re not the only threat out there. What will it take for you to understand? If something happens to you, there’s no coming back from this for me.”

  Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, and I wished I could cry for once. Words always seemed to fail me when it came to Asher. Years of being told I wasn’t good enough had worn me down, and I didn’t know how to tell him that I felt the same way.

  We’d always communicated best when he heard my thoughts. Acting on instinct, I scooted across the couch to sit on Asher’s lap, pressing my nose against his neck. After a long moment, he wrapped one hand around my bare feet to warm them and the other around my shoulder to secure me against his chest.

  My fingers rasped against the whiskers darkening his jaw. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to get the words out. To tell you what I feel. I wish you knew.”

  His chin rubbed against the top of my head, and he sighed.

  On impulse, I looked up into his tired eyes and asked, “Asher, do you trust me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Keep your guard lowered.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “Please.”

  He stared down at me for a long moment, and finally nodded. My hand curved to his cheek, and I focused all my energy on him. The idea had occurred to me sometime after I’d managed to exert my power on Lottie, allowing her to feel Gabe. That day, there’d been no side effects to what I’d done, and I guessed it was because I hadn’t truly healed her. The sensation had been temporary, lasting only as long as Gabe held my hand. I’d wondered ever since if I could do the same thing for Asher. My powers had worked with his siblings when my intense desire to help them had kicked in. I hoped it worked the same way a second time and concentrated on how I knew he missed the scent of the sea and the world around him.

  “Remy? What are you—” His words cut off abruptly, and he inhaled a deep breath. “Tell me I’m not imagining this.”

  “Tell me what you’re experiencing.”

  His eyes stayed closed as he moved his head from side to side, trying to take in everything at once. “Flowers. Wildflowers, though, not roses like my house. Earth. Sea air. I can smell.” His eyes opened, and he looked around the room, spying the vase of flowers on the side table. A wide smile lit up his face. “I can smell!”

  Suddenly, Asher’s nose burrowed in my hair. I giggled when his breath tickled my neck, and he gave a loud sniff.

  “Lemons and vanilla. Delicious enough to eat.” He nibbled at my neck, and I laughed again. He stilled and sat in silence, a peaceful calm settling on his face.

  A minute later, he inhaled once more and dropped a kiss on my chin. “It’s fading. Suddenly, I’m the one without words.”

  He turned his head abruptly as if listening to something in the distance. I waited a moment and finally heard it, too, about twenty seconds later. A car was pulling into the drive. Ben and Laura were home, and explanations would be required.

  With a great deal of reluctance, I scrambled to my feet and whispered one thought. I love you.

  He reached for my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. “One day I hope to hear you say that out loud.” When I opened my mouth to speak, his fingers settled on my lips. “No. Not now. When you say it, it should be because you want to say it, not because I want to hear it. I’ve waited for you a long time. I can wait until you’re ready.”

  I hadn’t said “I love you” to anyone since I was a child. The last person I’d said it to was Anna. I hoped Asher was right that someday I could tell him what I felt without my vocal cords freezing up. Letting down my mental shield was far easier than breaking down the walls around my heart.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Ben took me to the BMV the next morning to get my license. Throughout the night, the calls had continued to our house from various pay phones in the area. Ben had finally taken the phone off the hook until morning when he’d changed our number. An alarm system would also be installed right away.

  Trying to set aside my worry, I passed both the written and driving tests with flying colors. A proud Ben caught my attention when he waved the keys to my Mustang under my nose. He grinned with delight. “Ready to take your car for a celebratory spin?”

  “Oh, yeah!” Barely containing my excitement, I snatched the keys out of his hand. He laughed and watched as I unlocked the driver’s door. He made no move to join me, and I raised a brow at him. />
  “What’re you waiting for, old man? Scared to get in a car with me now that I have my license?”

  My father snorted and almost ran to the passenger door. I realized he’d been waiting for an invitation. When we were seated, I started the car and we listened with reverence to the roar of the engine. With care, I backed the Mustang out of the driveway and onto the road. My fear that I would stall the car faded when I shifted smoothly from first to second gear. Ben grinned at me, and I knew he understood what discipline it took not to stomp on the gas to see what my baby could do.

  Avoiding Fort Rowden, I headed out of town. We rolled down the windows and turned up the radio. It didn’t matter that the air was freezing cold or that the music was Ben’s favorite—the Bee Gees—and he shamelessly sang along at the top of his lungs in falsetto. What mattered was that this moment couldn’t be more perfect, and I wished I could tell Ben how I felt.

  My heart tripped over the words coming out of my mouth, but I did the best I could. “The car is unbelievable! Thanks, Dad.”

  Ben cleared his throat as if a sudden lump had formed. “You deserve it. I love you, Remy.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ben’s lips tip into a grin that mirrored my own.

  Later, Gabe acted irritable when he couldn’t get a rise out of me. Spencer and Miranda had suspected nothing. In fact, they knew nothing about my existence. Still, their visit had made our danger a reality. Despite this, my euphoric mood couldn’t be affected by a blow to the ribs.

  Gabe growled when I smiled up at him from the mat where he’d knocked me flat.

  “Oh, quit being such a bully and help me up,” I coaxed him. He stalked away, cursing me as he went.

  Asher rolled his eyes at me in warning to stop poking at his brother. “Why don’t we call it quits for the day? You’re not concentrating.”

  I shrugged as he helped me to my feet, holding my hand in his. “Can’t help it. The world is suddenly not such a bad place.” A wicked idea formed, and I glanced between him and the impractical vase of flowers Lottie always put in the gym because she liked the way they looked. “Things are coming up roses.”