More footsteps clamored down the hall, and I dropped his icy gaze. The huddle broke apart as quickly as it had congealed, leaving me on my own again.
Shanda flung herself through the doorway. Only she could stomp so loudly in bare feet. “That felt really good. Did we get it?”
“We got it.” Lenny waved the evidence above his head. “This calls for a celebration.”
“How about a Shanda scoot?” I watched as she turned to her closet, a huge, triumphant smile on her face. If only I could tell her everything. But of course, Bryan was right. The less she knew, the better.
Chapter 21
The overcast November day circled me, filling me with its cold, damp sorrow. Even the low clouds taunted me with random droplets as I crossed the quad, ready to open the floodgates on me. I double-timed it up the concrete steps to Trenton Hall.
As soon as I ducked inside, it felt like every eye stared my way. Students whispered back and forth, giggling and murmuring things like, “Crazy girl. What is she, possessed or something?”
“Here comes the weirdo.”
“Was she having a psychotic break or what?”
“Someone needs to lock her up.”
How could I be reliving this nightmare again? It felt like the nightmare of my last semester at Alton High all over again. Different state, different school, same rumors.
I curled deeper into my raincoat and focused on each stomp of my boots on the marble tile. Stares burned into my neck and I couldn’t ignore them no matter how hard I tried. Practically everyone saw Monica and Colleen’s social media stunt calling me the Screaming Psycho, a label that circulated like gangbusters. Gossip always spread like wildfire, no matter how far away from home I got. The rumors followed me with only a slight variation this time. But they hurt the same. And I couldn’t let them see that.
Bryan’s dark head bobbed above the crowd. “There’s my favorite brown-eyed girl. Can we talk for a sec?” He led me away from the crowd and up the first flight of stairs. We tiptoed into the nearest empty room, the second-floor bio lab. “How are you holding up?”
“Okay, I guess.” Understatement of the year. I rubbed my rubber sole into the linoleum until it squeaked. “The moron who invented the Internet really sucks.”
“I know. Bullies are ruthless, especially when they’re Nexis puppets.” With his finger, he traced circles into my palm. My knees quivered.
“Let’s not talk about them. What are we doing in here, anyway?” The air reeked of bleach and sulfur, a potent combination. I bumped my hip on the black tabletop full of Bunsen burners, rattling the beakers poised above each station. Not the ideal place for a heart-to-heart.
“Just wanted to find somewhere quiet where no one would bother us.” Heat surged from his palm up my arm, straight to my cheeks. Suddenly he dropped my hand, fishing a spiral notebook and pen out of his backpack. “Time to do a little research on you.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes bored into me with microscopic focus. Not this again. My cheeks cooled. “Should I be sitting down?”
“Probably.” He clicked his pen, like he hadn’t heard the blatant sarcasm in my question. The click echoed in the empty room. “It’s time we dig deeper into those visions of yours.”
“Is it safe here?” I clanked down on the metal stool, staring at him. Morning light streamed in from the window, the sun finally deciding to break through the clouds. His tall shadow washed over me, shielding my eyes from the light. “Shouldn’t we go to the chapel or something?”
“We don’t have time for that. Besides, even the chapel could be compromised since it’s open to the public.” This wasn’t Bryan any more. Not the same Bryan who almost started a throwdown with Will and kissed me in the elevator. This guy was completely different, staring at me with his ice-cold eyes. Almost a stranger. “Tell me more about the first vision you had on campus, the Noah vision.”
“Fine, have it your way.” I gulped. “It was right in the middle of class. A man kneeling before a bright light, a booming voice. The words covenant and blameless stuck out to me. Didn’t you already see this one?”
“Yes, but I want to know your side of the story, what you felt.” Somehow, his tone rang hollow, devoid of its usual warmth.
“So now we’re on different sides? I really should be lying down for this, then. Shouldn’t you charge a therapist’s fee?” The words spewed out of my mouth in a breath of venom. I slipped off the stool and clawed at his t-shirt, yanking those aqua eyes down to my level. “What’s wrong with you?”
A blank expression washed over his face. He didn’t waiver for a second. “What do you mean?”
“You’re acting really strange. Like a robot, almost.” I sizzled him with my best evil-eye, but nada, not even a flinch. Suddenly my mind flashed back to the Nexis initiation and the book my dark powers found that said there would be consequences for using those dark powers. Was this all happening as some sort of retribution?
He just stared at me with that unwavering expression. I reached out and pinched his flesh between my nails.
“Ow.” He recoiled, rising to his full height. For a second, his face shifted from the strange calm into a normal emotion, like shock. “What was that for?”
My lips curved. “Just checking to see if you’re for real.”
“This isn’t a joke. I’m certainly for real.” He crossed his biceps over his chest, squinting at me with those icy eyes. “And so is Nexis. They’re hurling everything they’ve got at us.”
“No kidding, like I haven’t already felt their wrath.” I folded my arms across my body, mimicking his condescending expression. “It’s not the first time I’ve been attacked by bullies. These guys should really sit under Becca’s tutelage. They could learn a thing or two.”
He actually rolled his eyes at me, like a five-year-old. “It’s more than a little cyber-bullying. They’re testing the boundaries of the peace treaty with stupid pranks.”
“So all this is about some dumb peace treaty, huh?” Flames of anger licked at my cheeks, as I curled fingers into fists. Electricity crackled in my veins underneath my coat, but I held it at bay. “You think that makes it okay to test me like a lab rat? That’s not gonna help either one of us.”
“Maybe it won’t, but I have to try something. Anything.” He threw up his arms with a force that blasted my hair off my shoulders. “They won’t be satisfied until they get their hands on the prize. If that prize wasn’t you, I’d say go ahead, take it. But they want you. That’s all they want. And I for one won’t let them have you.” He stooped down until his face was inches from mine.
His nostrils flared with each breath, as if he had so much more to say to me.
“Why not?” I met his gaze, eyes locked on him, daring him to move. Let’s see if he could fight his feelings now.
He flinched, but didn’t step back. Instead, he toyed with a tendril of my hair. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. Who knows what they’ll do?” His fingers trickled down my hair to cup my cheek.
Electric shivers shot up my spine. “I’m not asking what they’d do to me. Believe me, I hope I never have to find out. I’m asking why you care so much.”
I held my breath, searching his face, willing him to make the first move. Silence fizzled in the space between us. His eyes softened, his lips parted, but he didn’t budge. Still as a marble statue.
Was he scared of me or for me? Or both? Had I imagined everything I thought he felt for me? When did I become this silly schoolgirl who wanted the one thing she couldn’t have—the guy standing right in front of me?
The silence stretched on forever until I couldn’t take it anymore.
I sucked in the last remnants of oxygen left between us. “Ever since the elevator, the only time you pay attention to me these days involves Will or some Nexis prank. Why is that?”
“Are you saying that you’re doing these things on purpose, just to get my attention?” He didn’t move an inch, but his expression crumpled.
> “Are you kidding me? How desperate do you think I am?” I reared back, right into the stool. The metal contraption tipped, clanging to the linoleum.
“I’m sorry.” His hand wrapped around mine, forcing me close to him again. “I didn’t mean that.”
His touch burned up all my stupid questions like kindling, leaving a mess of tangled emotions. How he kissed me in the elevator, saved me from the fire, yet said we couldn’t be together.
“For someone who isn’t supposed to be with me for some stupid, made-up reason you sure find a lot of ways to be around me.” I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. So he could feel the pain I struggled with. “Like studying my weird visions in a science lab. Who does that?”
“Believe me, Lucy, the reason is real.” He squeezed back with his strong, painless grip until I relaxed my hold. “Your visions aren’t weird. They’re important tools that can be used for great good. Or great evil. Don’t you see why we need to know more about them, how they operate, so we can figure them out? Maybe then we could get a leg up on the Watchers. And Nexis, too.”
I ground my teeth together. One emotion finally won out, and it boiled deep down, tensing every muscle. “Did you ever think my visions weren’t meant to be shared? Maybe they’re meant just for me, and I shouldn’t have to tell you anything.”
“You didn’t tell me about them.” He dropped my hand and crossed his arms again. “You didn’t trust me, remember? Instead I had to find out by kissing you.”
Now I really wanted to pound on him.
Instead, I slapped my thighs and huffed out a hot breath. “You make it sound like a big mistake, like you never should’ve kissed me at all.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He edged toward me. “You should’ve told me. That’s all.”
“Right now, you’re not inspiring me to tell you all my secrets.” As soon as I had the full weight of his iceberg eyes, I let him have it. “In fact, this little stunt makes me wonder if I should go to Nexis willingly. At least then they wouldn’t keep torturing me like you are.”
With that, I turned on my heel and sprinted for the door, out of the lab.
“Wait, Lucy. What about Felicia’s gallery opening?” His deep voice called after me, higher and louder each time, but I couldn’t let myself look back. The tears sliced down my face, running into my nose, my mouth. I swiped at them with my jacket sleeve, but more saltwater replaced them in seconds. I couldn’t let him see me like this.
I punched open the lobby door, jogging down the steps, then across the quad. No way could I face any more classes today. Score one for Montrose, zero for Lucy. And I certainly felt like a zero.
~
White dust puffed up like smoke in the dark sky, shrouding the New York street in gray mist. I’d been at the chapel library all day, but I still couldn’t find anything on St. Lucia and the sacred stones. There’d been plenty of information about both subjects separately, but nothing about them together. Of course, Bryan interrupted my research to confirm that I’d be joining the Guardians for Felicia’s gallery opening tonight. So here I was, out in the city with my Guardians friends.
“C’mon, Lucy.” Bryan guided me out of the bakery haze, like my own personal seeing-eye dog, away from the 23rd Street subway station.
The crowd of faces blurred into an amalgam as I passed until they didn’t even look like faces any more. There were too many what-ifs swirling around in my brain. I wanted to find my brother now more than ever. But I still had a life to live, right?
Bryan leaned in and whispered in my ear. “I wanted to apologize about the other day in the bio lab. Can we just start over?”
His warm breath tickled my ear in the cold night air. “Okay. That sounds good.” I had bigger things to worry about than holding on to a stupid fight with a boy. Maybe I could even let him try to make amends.
On the sidewalks of Chelsea, the blur finally lifted, faces blaring into full focus. A guy yelled at me to buy a pretty watch, another thrust his bootlegged movies at me, while some guitarist crooned in front of an open case.
Around the corner, a line of people clogged up the sidewalk. Bryan squeezed my hand. “We made it.”
That small gesture and the tiny glimmer of hope on his face fizzled electricity up my arm. I squeezed back.
“I can’t see anything.” I arched on tiptoes, still barely taller than his eye level.
“Here we go, the Montgomery Gallery of Fine Art.” He put two hands on my waist and lifted me up onto a bench like I weighed five pounds. A swarm of butterflies buzzed in my stomach.
The wind picked up, and I rushed to smooth down my black tulle skirt. Good thing I wore leggings and boots tonight.
A pewter cursive sign was backlit like a work of art. I dug my camera out of my purse and snapped a photo. That’s when I spotted two tufts of red in the sea of black-clad New Yorkers. “I guess Laura and Lenny beat us here.”
“Let’s go stand by them.” He slid his arm around my torso and helped me down. His broad shoulders squared a path through the line until we caught up with the red-heads.
“This is so cool.” Laura squealed as we approached. “I’m part of some actual New York nightlife.”
“Too bad you’re too short to see any of it.” Lenny’s deep laugh rumbled from his chest. “Not that there’s much to see yet.”
She fluffed her loose curls. “I’m not too short to see Tony coming this way.”
Tony sauntered up to us in his signature black leather jacket. “You guys are easy to pick out of a crowd.”
“And you blend right in.” I curled my lips at the familiar, brother-like banter we shared.
“No vampire jokes.” He smiled back and tugged on his leather lapels. A blonde head peeked over his shoulder.
“Hey, Lucy.” Brooke gave me a shy grin. “I hear you’ve been busy researching in the chapel library. You can always knock on my door if you want some company. I’m a great research partner.”
“Thanks. I could definitely use some help in that department.” My heart lurched at the sincere gesture. Why couldn’t all the Guardians be like that? You’d they would want to help me find my brother. But it seemed like I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
“Great.” Her face lit up like I’d done her a huge favor. Quite the opposite, really.
A cheer erupted from the crowd as the gallery doors opened. The mob herded us into a white-walled room with shiny black floors.
Bryan rested his hand on the small of my back. Butterflies zigzagged up my spine as he led me around the gallery.
We shuffled around the front area of landscapes on one side and photography on the other. Bryan, Tony, and Lenny lingered over the landscapes. Brooke and Laura oohed and ahhed over the trick photography.
Then we hit the impressionist alcove. Each painting was a masterpiece of sheer beauty full of light and color that chinked open the dark corners of my blurry gray world. To me, they spoke volumes. Maybe there was still something in this world I could cling to—life, beauty, love. It was all still there, whether I could see it or not. Suddenly, a wave of calm washed over me until I could barely open my eyes.
“C’mon. Since we’re the only ones here not related, you’ll just have to pretend I’m your big bro.” Tony practically yanked me into the next room, where a fire-engine red wall showcased modern art. Chaos on canvas.
“You’re like five months older than me.” Still, my heart clenched at his words, wanting so badly to cling to the straw of hope he offered. I shoved his leather shoulder. “Ick, get me out of here. I don’t get any of this stuff. That one over there has some cool paint splatters, but c’mon. I could totally do that in art class.”
“With paint-filled balloons. Wouldn’t that be fun? Especially if we could throw darts at Will’s face.” Laura’s giggle echoed around the tiled room.
“Ha! I’d like to see that.” Unbidden, a jolt of electric current shot through my body, waking me up in an instant. I slid my jacket sleeve up an inch to reveal white
lighting pulsing in my veins. Quickly, I shoved my sleeves down until they reached my knuckles. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to calm down.
Bryan cleared his throat. “Sorry to break up the Will-haters club, but it’s time for Felicia’s show upstairs.”
With a few more deep breaths for good measure, I followed him up the open staircase, more like a slip-and-slide for my boots. Just my luck, I’d trip and fall on my face.
“You’re such a klutz.” Lenny offered his hand and helped his sister up.
“You try being a girl in heels.” Laura gripped her flowy peasant skirt. “It’s harder than you think.”
“I’ll take your word on that.” Bryan grabbed my elbow, but his rough fingers only sent my inner butterflies into a frenzy, making my legs wobble.
At the top we stood at the back of a crowd huddled around a white curtained entrance. I peeked at my arms, but the electricity was gone. I exhaled a sigh of relief. Why were my powers surfacing out of nowhere? Maybe I should be researching Seer powers, too.
A woman in a silver dress tapped the microphone, and the murmurs silenced. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m honored to have you here for our young artist showcase. Our featured artists are all in high school and were chosen based on their originality and diversity in their subject matter. Montgomery Gallery is proud to showcase these pieces of ingenuity and imagination. Each has a story to tell, so take the time to appreciate each one.” She pulled the curtain’s tassel, and it dropped to the floor.
“Found the food.” Lenny rushed to a table covered with trays of hors d’oeuvres. He managed to balance a tower of food on one tiny plate. “What?”
“Score.” Tony rushed to fill his plate, too.
Laura rolled her eyes at them and followed me and Bryan around the room.
“There’s Felicia.” Bryan pointed to a flash of auburn surrounded by reporters with notepads. They snapped picture after picture, like strobe lights in a nightclub.
I halted in front of a collection of black and white night snapshots. Blurry neon and twinkling stars. Like she might’ve caught a glimpse of some of the weird things I’d seen since coming to Montrose. Yet there was a simple beauty in all the chaos, the way the light streaks blended into something glorious.
Montrose Paranormal Academy, Book 1: The Nexis Secret: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel Page 21