Deception (20 page)

“Don’t worry about it,” Aiden said, standing up. “I’ll give him a call while you fill these two in.” And so I did. I told them everything, except for the part about my blood doing something to her body, making her heal way too quick for a normal human.

“I can’t believe you have a grandma,” Chelsea said.

“Neither can I.”

Aiden walked back into the room and sat on the seat beside me. “Kai said he’ll get onto it straight away.”

I smiled. “Great.”

“Wanna play the Xbox?” Lucas asked Aiden.

Aiden muffled a yes as he swallowed a mouth full of coffee. He then put the mug down on the coffee table and went over and sat next to Lucas.

Chelsea scooted closer to me, picked up a cushion and curled up to it. “So does that mean your grandma is now like you guys?” Chelsea asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said, still unsure myself. “She was able to heal quicker than she should, but she still looks her age. Although she was a little more energetic than you would expect for someone in their eighties.”

Chelsea’s eyes bugged out. “Eighties.”

I smiled tightly. “Yep. My mums sixty-two apparently.”

“No friggin’ way!”

My phone started ringing. I grabbed it out of my bag and swiped the screen to answer the call from my mum. “Hi, Mum.”

“Hi, darling.”

“How’s Grandma?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Not at all,” Mum said with a laugh. “She’s doing great. You would never know that she was ever injured. What I wanted to talk to you about was that Harry wants to run some tests on you and your grandma.”

“What sort of tests?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy.

“He just wants to do some bloods at this stage. Do you think you could come over in about an hour?”

“Umm… Yeah, sure.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. See you,” I said, then ended the call.

“That was your mum, wasn’t it?” Chelsea asked, the moment I put my phone down.

“Yep. She wants me to come over ’cause Harry wants to do some blood tests on me and Grandma.”

“When does she want us over there?” Aiden asked, surprising me. Usually when he was playing the Xbox, he wouldn’t hear anything that didn’t relate to the game.

“In an hour.”

“Okay,” he said, then returned his attention to the game.

Chapter 19

“Hi, Mum,” I said when I arrived at her house with Aiden and Chelsea.

I had thought about leaving Chelsea with Lucas, but decided against it after what had happened at the hospital. She was dog-tired and wanted to sleep, but I convinced her to come to the US with us and crash in one of Mum’s guest beds.

“Hi, darling,” she said, putting her hand on my arm. I guessed she still wasn’t sure how I would react to a hug, and if I was to be completely honest with myself, I wasn’t so sure how I would handle it, either. I hadn’t exactly forgiven her for all the lies, but I was ready to begin moving forward—with baby steps.

She smiled at Aiden, who had his hand on my hip. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she might have been saying something to him. I think she still liked that he was so protective of me, and I was right there with her on that one. “Hi, Chels,” she said when Chelsea stepped from behind me, yawning.

“Hey, Nikki.” She covered her mouth with her hand as another yawn came over her.

“Is it okay if Chels goes to sleep here? She hasn’t slept since… for over twenty-four hours,” I said, realising the lack of sleep that her new lifestyle and her mother’s injuries were subjecting her to. I really needed to keep better track of how long we’d been awake.

“Of course it is,” Mum said turning around. “Come with me, and I’ll show you to one of the guest rooms.” Chelsea followed without hesitation.

Aiden and I sat down on the lounge just as Gemma walked out in a pair of black pyjama shorts and a baby-pink tank top. “Aww, how cute is this?” she said, plonking herself on the adjacent sofa. She looked Aiden over without caring how obvious she was being.

I looked up at the clock on the wall. It was fifteen minutes past one, and judging by the darkness outside the windows, it was the middle of the night. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Do you two, like, ever spend any time apart?” She leaned forward, cupped her hand to the side of her mouth and whispered loudly, “Not that I blame you. I’d never let him out of my sight if I he was my boyfriend.” She leaned back in her seat with an amused look on her face.

Aiden put his hand on my leg, sending me the calming endorphins I so obviously needed.

She tucked her feet under her legs. “So, what brings you two out here so late?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” I said rather bluntly.

“Calm down, Jade. I know you’ve already got dibs on him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate. Besides, what good is an older sister if I don’t get to hang out with her hot friends?”

“Wow. You really are something,” I said. The something that I was referring to would’ve probably gotten me a bitch slap from her.

“Gemma? What are you doing up?” Mum asked as she walked back into the room.

Gemma quickly jumped off the couch. “I heard people talking and came out to see who was here.”

I scoffed. “Is that what you call drooling over my boyfriend?”

“Jade, please,” Mum said. She breathed in deeply to calm herself. “Gemma, now that you’ve said hello, I’d appreciate if you go back to bed and go to sleep. You have school in the morning, and I don’t want to hear anything about you being too tired to go.”

“Fine,” she said to Mum, then turned to Aiden. “I hope I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Oh, my God,” I said slapping my forehead with my hand.

At the same time, Aiden said, “See ya.”

Then Gemma strutted towards the hallway.

“Is she always like this?” I asked Mum.

“I can remember a certain someone who acted pretty much the same way when she was fifteen.”

“Me?” I asked in disbelief. No way was I like
that.

Aiden looked at me with an amused look on his face. “Really?”

“No. I didn’t mean Jade,” Mum said in my defence. “I was talking about Chelsea—and she’s your best friend.”

“Oh,” I said, remembering just how similar fifteen-year-old Chelsea had been to Gemma. Except, Chelsea was pretty much still the same.

“You just need to give her some time to come around. It’s a little daunting to finally meet you after all these years of hearing about you.” She sat down on the sofa beside me, with one leg folded under her other. “Maybe you should take her somewhere. You know, try and get to know each other better.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, but I had no intention of following through with that idea. She may have known about me all those years, but I’d only just found out about her, and I was going to need more than a couple of days to get used to the idea.

“Where’s Harry?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

Mum stared at me, then sighed. “He’s already in the room, working on a few things.”

“Like?”

“Like, you can ask him yourself when you see him.”

“Does he know we’re coming?” I asked.

“He’s expecting you.”

“Well, we may as well get this over with.”

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic, will you?” Mum said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. “Are you coming with us?”

“No. I think you’ll be all right without me.”

“Right.” I put my hand over Aiden’s. “We’ll see you later.”

Just as I was about to transport us to Harry, Mum put her hand on my arm. “Wait a sec.”

“What is it?”

“It’s getting late, and I know the two of you have probably barely slept at all over the last twenty-four hours or so, so I was thinking you might want to crash here after you’ve finished with Harry?” she asked, then quickly added, “Only if you want to, that is. And it would save you from having to wake Chelsea up, too.”

I turned to Aiden, who gave a slight nod. Of course, he would think it was a great idea. He wanted me and my mum to repair our rocky-at-best relationship. “Okay, thanks,” I agreed, hoping I wouldn’t regret it.

A smile spread across her face as she let out her breath. I guess she didn’t think I would go for it that easily. “Great. I’ll set out some towels in the bathroom. You’ll be staying in the room across the hall from Chelsea.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

“We’ll talk more in the morning.”

We left her there and transported to the room with no doors. Harry was hunched over his desk, looking through some paperwork. He spun around on his swivel chair when he realised we had arrived.

“Hi,” I said, giving a quick wave.

“Always a pleasure, Jade,” he said, standing up. He stuck out his hand. “And you must be Aiden. It’s nice to finally meet you.” The first time they’d met was in the bathroom, so I guessed that didn’t really count.

Aiden shook his hand. “Likewise.”

“Now, I know it’s late, so I’ll try not to keep you up too long.”

Harry turned around and walked over to some cupboards on the side wall. He opened a door, pulled out a few things I couldn’t see, then closed the door and spun around. He was holding a small tray with a
needle
on it. “Oh, God,” I whispered.

He looked at me strangely, then looked down at his tray. “Afraid of needles, are we?” he asked, with a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

I squeezed Aiden’s hand. “You could say that.”

“I’m here for you.”
Aiden’s loving voice broke through my fear.

I loosened my vice-like grip on his hand.
“Thanks.”

Harry patted the top of a long stainless steel bench.

I walked over and hopped up. “Have you figured out why my grandma healed so quickly?” I asked him as I stuck out my arm and turned my head to the side.

“Not yet. But I’m hoping we might get some answers after we run some tests on you.” He tied a rubber strap around my bicep, and then I felt the cold wet cloth as he sanitised the spot where he was about to stick me. Knowing how I was feeling without me actually having to tell him, Aiden hopped up on the bench beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I snuggled my head into his shoulder and waited for the needle to pierce my skin.

The sting was barely noticeable, and I laughed at myself for being so silly.

“Do you think her healing may have something to do with Jade giving her blood for the transfusion?” Aiden asked.

“I think it’s safe to say that it most likely does have something to do with it, but I don’t want to make any assumptions without doing the appropriate testing.”

“Does that mean she has become one of us?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around the implications of what I’d done.

He shook his head. “We don’t really know what has happened to her system. It’s obvious she was able to heal much quicker than she should have been, but we don’t know if that is something permanent or if the effects of your blood will wear off. We’re going to have to do quite a few tests on your grandma over the next few days, weeks, or maybe even months. That’s why I needed to take a sample of your blood, so I can have something to compare hers to.”

“You’re not planning on turning me into a pin cushion, too, I hope?”

He laughed. “No. Your services should no longer be needed.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

I felt the needle being removed from my arm. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Harry said, holding a swab against my skin.

“No,” I said, a little embarrassed at my pathetic new fear.

“When will you have the results back?” Aiden asked.

Harry placed a strip of white medical tape over the swab. “I should have something tomorrow.”

“Great,” I said, hopping down.

He leaned against the bench and put his hand on top. “I’ll see you both in the morning?”

“Yep. Sure thing.”

Aiden got off the bench. “Night.”

“Night,” Harry said, then turned his back on us and picked up the small stainless steel tray holding vials of my blood.

We transported back to the lounge room, which was completely void of life, as it should be after one in the morning on a school night.

I followed Aiden as we walked down the hall to find the room Chelsea was sleeping in. “She’s in there.” Aiden pointed to a door that looked like the rest in the hall.

I turned the handle on the door to the room opposite hers and walked inside. Flicking on the light, I found myself standing in a medium-sized guest bedroom with a queen-sized bed in the middle. Beside the TV on the wall was the door to the closet, which led through to the bathroom.

Our bag was already sitting on the chest of drawers in the closet, and fresh towels were on the racks in the bathroom. Mum had even turned down the white, fluffy doona cover on the bed. I half expected to find little chocolates on our pillows. She was going way out, doing all the stuff I’d wished for growing up.

“I’ve got to hand it to her, she’s definitely trying,” Aiden said.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I sat down on the bed and took off my flip-flops.

Aiden leaned against the doorframe to the closet with his arms folded. “She must really miss you.”

He may have wanted to talk about it, but I sure didn’t. “Do you want first shower?”

He sighed. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” I stood up and brushed past him as I walked through the closet to the bathroom.

***

After a long, hot soak under the shower and a change of clothes, I crawled into bed next to Aiden, who was watching a late-night talk show that I’d never heard of.

“I won’t be long.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head, then headed for the shower.

I stretched over to Aiden’s side of the bed and grabbed the remote. I flicked through the channels, but couldn’t decide on anything to watch. About a half dozen of them caught my interest, and I would have stopped to watch one had it not been for my out-of-control nerves. I needed to talk to Aiden about my vision and see if he knew what it meant. I switched off the TV and threw my head back against the pillows.

By the time Aiden came back, I’d convinced myself I was a complete idiot. There was no way he could ever do anything to cause the type of reaction I’d seen myself having in the vision. It must’ve been someone else who’d made me feel that way.