Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2) (14 page)

“What’s your excuse now?”

“You kissed me,”

“I did, but I didn’t make you kiss me back.”

“I—,”
didn’t have an excuse…yet
.

“So frustrating, but I’ve made my point.”

“What point was that exactly?”

“Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget, while you’re out dancing with these high school boys tonight.”

“Forget what?” I asked, immediately regretting the words that flowed through my lips.

“How you really feel. Sometimes, we can all get tied into something we just go along with, but the truth always comes out.”

“What are you saying?”

“Nothing. Let’s just have fun at the dance tonight. Can we at least agree to that?”

“
Let’s
? Wait, why are you wearing a tux?”

“I’m your date.”

“You can’t be. You’d have to reveal yourself, and…” I manage to squeeze out between labored breaths, about to hyperventilate. This was what Lacie had let slip up. She knew this was happening.

“Relax. It’s a masquerade ball, remember? And the mask allows me to let others see me because it’s not technically a reveal as they won’t be able to see my face. We thought it’d be awkward if you were an inch from Lacie while she was slow dancing.”

“Ah, well, thank you for your concern for my popularity, but I don’t really care.”

“But it might raise questions and further speculation if you just stand next to her dancing with no one”

He was right, but didn’t mean I was happy about it. “Whatever,” I said, heading for the door.

“Cendall,” he called, and I whipped back around. “Can’t forget this,” he said as he dangled my mask from his fingertips.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dancing Queen

“Put your arms around my shoulders,” Trevor said as he wrapped his around my lower back. “Just mimic my movements.” This had been the first slow song of the night—the moment I’d been dreading. The fast songs were easy; I just had to swing my hips back and forth and smile. No one there was a professional, and luck had been on my side the first hour as they only played fast paced songs.

“I know how to dance,” I said as we started to move in a circle.

“Really? Because my foot begs to differ.” So he did feel that.

“Well it’s not like we have extravagant balls back home.” He laughed. How long was this song? What could I talk about?

“Your girlfriend’s going to get jealous.” There was always Catherine to talk about

“She can see me, but I thought this mask covered me?” he joked as I stared at the silver mask that matched his tie and made his eyes look an even lighter blue. “She’s not my girlfriend, Cendall,” he replied when I didn’t make a comment on his mask.

“Have you told her that? I can feel her eyes piercing my back.”

“Multiple times. She’s really not that bad….”

“In bed, yeah, I’d guess that she has that—ugh, what do they call it here? Oh, yeah
skank
look about her.”

“You know what I was going to say. She’s not that bad of a person.”

“Really? Well she’s such a good person that, instead of being with her assignment who’s on a family vacation, she’s here, staring at us. If she was a Demon, I’d be worried. She’s also gave me what I think were threats a few times.”

“She’s harmless.”

“Hopefully she stays that way. I hear you guys tend to develop more powers with age, but she doesn’t look to really have that potential either. You’ll be sure to let me know if that ever does happen though, right? “

“Still can’t believe I’m at a dance again after what happened last time Lacie attempted to go to one of these.”

“Same here.”

“I’ve always wondered why you don’t just lock her up in a little room so no one can get her.”

“Free will”

“Ah… yes, that little thing does seem to complicate things a bit,” I replied. “In her defense, she made a pretty good point to me about why she refuses to stay in. If I were a teenage human, I can’t say I wouldn’t want the same. She did agree to not go anywhere after the dance, so there’s that. At least we’ll have a calm night.”

“We’ll see. It’s been pretty good so far, I think. Not to jinx it, but it’s been the typical teenage dance with plenty of angst from what I can tell.”

“What do you mean ‘angst’?” I asked him.

“Take a look around. You’ll see it everywhere. Take the girl sitting in the corner with her date. What do you think they’re thinking about? I’d bet they were set up through friends and are both too nervous to ask the other to dance, which is ridiculous since they came together, but yet, they sit because of their fears of rejection.”

“You’re right,” I said as I took a good look at them. Trevor pulled away, and my body went stiff. I looked at him, confused, until I realized the song had ended.

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you for the dance, my lady.” He laughed as he gave me a small bow.

We separated and went back to an awkward sort of dance, becoming lost in the crowd as the quick tempos beat through the speakers. Each making sure we were within three feet of Lacie, which was made pretty easy as they all danced together in one clump.

“Last fast song of the night! The DJ called out as I moved even closer to Lacie. Her date had his arms wrapped around her from behind, and she, like many of the other girls during fast songs, rocked her hips back and forth as their dates attempted to mimic their movements from behind them. I gasped as I felt hands grab my hips from behind me.

“Relax, it’s just dancing.” Trevor whispered in my ear as I felt his chest rest against my back. “It’s what all the kids are doing. You’re making it hard for me to not have you look like Lacie’s possessive stalker.”

“Fine,” I said as I leaned my bottom into his waist and started to sway back and forth.

He rotated his hips with mine, mimicking my movements perfectly as his hands stayed in place. We moved as one, and no matter how fast or slow I went, his hips followed, never letting us become disconnected. Add dancing to the already long list of talents he had. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and looked up to see Lacie give me a big wink. “Shut up,” I mouthed. The song picked up pace, and Trevor grabbed my free hand, spun me around, and pulled me back in so that we were face to face now. Guess it was his turn to control the pace. He looked wild and carefree, and I couldn’t help but get swept away in his eyes and he pulled into his every move. To my surprise, I followed right along. I looked over his shoulder at the doorway as he leaned in, making us now cheek to cheek. A shiver rolled over my shoulders as Drake walked past it.

“Cendall,” Trevor whispered. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, why?” I accused.

“You stopped moving.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, I have to pee. Can you cover Lacie duty for the next fast song though?

“Sure, I love looking like a creeper all alone on the dance floor.”

“Good, thank you.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Confession

“What are you doing here, Drake? I thought I made my message clear.”

“I…I don’t know. After the time we’ve spent together this week, it felt weird not to see her today. She told me I wasn’t supposed to come and visit her today because of this stupid dance, but I just had to see her. I tried to stay away, but wondering what she looked like tonight has been consuming my thoughts all day.”

“Hold on a second…what do you mean the time you’ve spent with her this week?”

“She’s been porting with me. I went after you threatened me on Tuesday to ask her again what happened, and she told me she’d tell me everything but she needed to get away. So, I ported her away, and then I have no idea how, but an hour passed, and we didn’t even talk about it. The same thing happened the rest of the week. So now, I still have no idea, but I’m more concerned with her dancing with that idiot in there,” he said as he tried to push past me.

“Don’t be stupid! Do you know how many Guardians are in there? And I’ll ask you again, what do you mean you’ve seen her all this week?” And the dots connected. “Hi Abram. “

“Abram?” He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Yes, she used him as an excuse because she knew that Guardian wouldn’t talk to me no matter what. She told me she was being ported to purgatory with a Guardian who was teaching her to fight. Do you really think I wouldn’t be able to tell she was gone and that I would be okay with that?!” I screamed.

“I have no idea because you’ve never told me. “

“You need to leave now, before someone sees you.”

“But she doesn’t want to be dancing with him. Listen, ever since I saw her the night that you claimed to be stalking her at the cabin, she’s all I think about. It’s annoying. And then, they wanted us to find out information, so that was the excuse I was feeding myself. I was just trying to find you guys, but when I found you and came back to report, nothing would come out of my mouth. Then, they put that hit out on you, and that became my next excuse, but I never accepted it. Every time I came back from seeing her, I couldn’t let myself give any information that would lead to her being taken. I didn’t really know why at the time, and I tried to lie to myself and say that I did it so I could be the one to bring her in, but that was a lie. I have to be able to see her. I can’t explain it; I just need to get her away from that stupid human in there before I explode.”

“Drake, if you want to see her again, you have to leave because if they find out you’re here, you can cross seeing Lacie again off your list forever.”

“I’ve…”

“Drake, I promise. If you leave now, I won’t say anything to the other Guardians and you’ll be able to see her again.” He paused and seemed to be thinking about it.

“Fine.” At that, he ported out. I can’t believe she lied to me, and what did her and Drake do while they were out? She had a whole lot of explaining to do.

My conversation made me miss the end of the last song, and when I entered the dance again, they were all waiting at the table for me.

“Aw it’s over all ready,” I said with a big smile.

“Yup,” Lacie’s date said from beside her in an annoyed tone.

“Just go to the party,” Lacie said, and he looked back at her.

“You’re sure?” Brad asked her.

“Yes,” she said, rolling her eyes. He sprinted off and ran down the hall, calling out to one of his fellow football players.

I waited for Lacie to ask to go too, but it never came. We walked together to the car that Abram had waiting. I got in and sat in silence the entire ride home. How would I approach Lacie with this? I knew she had been lying to me about Abram, but I never followed up. When the car pulled up to the house, Abram asked Trevor to stay in the car to talk about something. I let out a breath of relief as that gave me time to talk to Lacie as well.

“Lacie, once you get in your PJs, come to my room, okay?”

“Okay.”

I ported to my room and quickly got into some yoga pants and a black tee shirt. I sat on my bed, waiting.

“Thank you,” Lacie said as she came out of our connecting closet.

“I knew we could get through one dance without anyone dying.” She was almost in tears. “Tonight was the first night, I’ve felt normal in so long.” The tears started to flow as she settled on my bed and placed her head in my lap. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said as I decided we could talk about it tomorrow.

Chapter Twenty-Four

GOTCHA

“How long have you known Drake’s been on the school grounds?” Trevor shouted as he shook my shoulders, waking me up.

Oh shit…

“Your face says it all. What the hell, Cendall?! We are both in this mission together! How could you not tell me? Do you know what a threat he is to her? If he’s anything like you described before, he could take her soul at the first vulnerable moment,” he said in a panicked voice as he got off my bed and started pacing around the room. I sat up and yawned. It should be illegal for people to ask these kind of questions when someone first wakes up. It was too hard to lie when your brain didn’t have a moment to turn back on. What answer could I give? Technically, he’s been here since two weeks ago when he helped me out in the gym, but a week sounded better, right?

“I saw him a few nights ago. He just wants to know why I’m doing this, and he’s changed. He’s not here to take her soul. I would never let him do that, she’s not on his list.”

“And how do you know that?

“He told me.

“And you believe him? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Drake may be a lot of things, but he’s not a liar. He is no threat to her.”

“Then why is he here.”

“He had a student on his list.”

“Had?”

“Yes.”

“The boy who died from the scoreboard?” Ah crap

“Yes.”

“So he’s been here two weeks then? Was he one of the Reapers who fought against you?”

“No.”

“He needs to leave now. If Catherine hadn’t told me, I never would have known, right? At least not from you, anyway.”

“Catherine told you?”

“Yes, she said she was outside the dance and saw him port away. She told Abram first not sure if she should tell me, but then he told me about it last night. How am I supposed to defend against that? She’s only agreed not to say anything to anyone else because I begged her to wait until I asked you about it. I told her it could have been your friend, Dave, but I knew better. Only an advanced Reaper could get past my men and into that dance. He could be acting nice to only later betray you. You told me yourself that there was a hit out on you from your realm!”

“He won’t betray me.”

“What do you mean he won’t? He probably already has? He’s probably setting you up to get you to trust him so he can get you to leave with him so he can accomplish the hit. I can’t believe you would withhold something like this. It could get you and Lacie killed.”

“Do you really think I would let him on the school’s campus if I thought he was a threat to her?”

“Catherine saw him watching her, CENDALL. How is that not a threat?”

“Because he’s in love with her.”

That stopped him. His eyes started to flutter, and he went to say something but nothing came out. I couldn’t help but let a laugh escape.