Forsaken (5 page)

And it wasn’t just his manner of dress that was different, Nora realized. His milky-smooth skin had become more vibrant. It was still white, but shone with a renewed vigor. Nora allowed herself to peek back at him as he sat down.

His body language had completely changed. He leaned back comfortably in his chair, shoulders and arms spread wide. He wasn’t afraid to take up space anymore.

She twisted around to look at the front of the class. Mrs. Millburn was saying something about trigonometric functions and probability equations. Nora tried to focus, but her entire mind raced with questions about Hunter.

How had he changed so drastically? Where was the timidness he’d displayed last week? He won one fight against Brady and his friends. Was that enough to boost his confidence?

Most of all, why did he look so much more
vibrant
all of the sudden?

The clock ticked away anxious-ridden minutes, leading Nora closer and closer to the end of class.

What was she going to say to Hunter? And what would he say to
her
? He had to be so angry with her after her ridiculous outburst. Would he forgive her?

Finally, the bell announcing the end of class rang. Mrs. Millburn stopped mid-sentence. She looked annoyed, but didn’t protest when her students started getting up. Nora sat still in her seat.

“Nora.”

She heard Hunter’s voice and turned around. He was standing beside her. For a split-second, a golden-red halo surrounded the pupils of his eyes. It disappeared when she shifted in her seat. She squinted her eyes at him, but couldn’t make the strange phenomenon re-occur. She settled back, assuming it was just a strange reflection of light.

“Hi, Hunter.” She bit her bottom lip and waited to see if he would tell her off.

“We need to talk,” he said seriously. “Come with me?” Without waiting for an answer he turned and walked away. Nora scrambled to collect her things and rushed after him.

She caught up outside the classroom, where he stood with one shoulder against a locker. On seeing her, he nodded toward the end of the hall and proceeded to walk in that direction. Nora had to push her way through the mass of bodies to keep up. Keeping an eye on him was easy, though.

He stood nearly a head taller than everyone else.

Eventually he stopped by a door, pulled it open, and ducked inside. Nora paused before following. She had never seen
that
particular door before. Bodies continued to mill around her, and she was jerked to and fro by the crowd.

She steadied herself and took a deep breath.
Might as well get this over with.
She twisted the doorknob, pushed the door open, and walked inside.

It was a small storeroom with a single row of lights. Empty, except for a stack of chairs standing in one corner collecting dust. Hunter was leaning against the far wall. He smiled when he saw her.

Nora’s heat rate accelerated. Why was he grinning at her that way?

“Why are we here?” she asked, too nervous to get to the real reason for their chat. “I’ve never seen this room before.”

“I stumbled upon it last week when I was searching for one of my classes. I thought we’d have some privacy here.”

“I mean, I guess…” Nora began, “…but we don’t actually have much time. I have to get to my next class soon, and so do you.”

“I know.” Hunter held her eyes. She found herself unable to judge his thoughts at all. His expression was neutral, but the way his gaze fell on her told Nora that inside, Hunter was fuming.

She fidgeted nervously. “What’s up?”

Hunter studied her for a long second. Then he sighed audibly. “I want to apologize.”

“What?” Nora was taken aback.
He
was apologizing to
her
?

“Yeah. For what I did last week. I’ve realized, in the last few days, that what I did was…wrong.” Nora could see that he was struggling to say the words, and he rushed to clarify. “Saving you wasn’t wrong, but I should have asked first.”

“Asked who?
Me
?”

“Yes. I shouldn’t have acted without your permission.”

Nora gave a little nervous laugh. “I doubt I would have objected. I was scared and angry afterward. I just wish you hadn’t been so violent with them. I mean, what you did, that was like out of an action movie or something. It made me scared of
you.
”

Hunter’s expression looked pained. “I know. I did not want to frighten you. But I want you to know that Brady isn’t good for you.”

Nora’s eyes darted to the floor. “I know that,” she said.

“Do you?” Hunter stepped up to her.

She cleared her throat. “Well, obviously. But forget him. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. For the way I acted. I had no right to hit you. But I was…emotional. I couldn’t control myself. I’m sorry.”

The apology complete, Nora turned to leave. Stiffly. Her cheeks had grown hot as she said that, and she didn’t want him to see her blushing.

“Wait.” Hunter stopped her right before she opened the door. “You told me once you wanted to know what Brady thinks of you.”

“I did, yes,” Nora admitted, looking down at her feet. “But I was just caught up in the moment. It’s irrelevant, now, anyway.”

“If you want, I can show you.”

“What?” Nora turned back slowly and looked at Hunter. He appeared to be serious. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said. If you want, I can show you what Brady thinks of you.”

“How?” Nora asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“No trick,” he assured her. He held out his hand toward her, palm up. “Take my hand.”

“Uh…” Was he trying to hit on her in some strange, unorthodox way? Suddenly the confinement of the room became all too apparent, and the feeling of being trapped by those other four guys returned.

“There’s no trick, I promise.” Hunter’s voice was sincere, and he seemed…trustworthy. If he wanted to do anything to her, he would have already made his move.

Nora met his gaze and saw only the purest assurance in his eyes. She would trust him…for now.

Slowly, tentatively, she reached out to place her hand on his. Her fingertips grazed his palm.

A flood of thoughts erupted into her mind. They were not her own.

It was commotion. Mayhem. A thousand different voices cried out disjointedly, each clamoring for attention. It felt like her head would explode. Images completely foreign to her flashed through her mind. None were there long enough for her to make them out.

There wasn’t enough room. The other thoughts trampled through her head, until she thought she would lose herself in the uproar. Her own voice cried out to her, but was just as quickly lost in the turmoil.

She felt disoriented. Where was she?
Who
was she? The link. She saw her hand, touching another.
Whose hand is that
? She couldn’t tell. Her sense of self-awareness was fading. Her conception of
herself
was fading. She didn’t know how much longer…

Abruptly, the sensation was gone. Her own thoughts rebounded to her, and she staggered back. She looked up. Hunter stood there, smiling at her, a knowing smile on his lips.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded.

“A trick.”

Nora’s heart was pounding wildly in her chest. It felt like she’d run a hundred miles. “How did you do that?”

Hunter shrugged. “It’s normal. Normal for me, anyway.”

“All those voices I heard…what
were
they?”

“Thoughts.”

“What?”

“They were thoughts. You could hear them.”

“
Whose
thoughts?”

“Everybody’s in the school. And some people outside the school, near us.” He spoke calmly, as if he was explaining the most natural thing in the world.

Nora stared wide-eyed at Hunter. “Wait. Are you telling me I just heard the thoughts of
all the students in the school
?” Her voice rose to an alarmingly high pitch, and she worked to control it.

“And some of the teachers, and some other people close by.”

“Is it dangerous?”

Hunter shook his head. “If it was, I wouldn’t have shown it to you.”

Nora struggled with the new information. This was
unbelievable!
“Did a link form when our hands touched?”

Hunter smiled. “You’re quick. Yes, you could say that. It’s more of a bond, really, but it’s hard to explain.”

“And what about you? Can
you
hear them, too?”

Hunter shook his head. “No. I can’t make any of them out. All I can do is transfer them to another person.”

Nora stared. She had just heard the
thoughts
of people around her! And Hunter explained it to her patiently and calmly, as if he was completely used to it. “How long have you had this…
ability
? How long have you been able to…transfer…thoughts to other people?”

“Forever,” he said simply.

“What are you, like some kind of mutant? Like the X-Men?” The closest comparison Nora could come up with was Professor Charles Xavier’s mindreading abilities in the X-Men, but that was just a
movie!

Hunter laughed. “No way,” he answered. “Definitely not.”

“Then…how do you do it?”

“I don’t know. I just can.”

“Have you ever used it before, then?”

“Like how?”

“For some kind of an…advantage?”

He laughed again. “Some advantage,” he said, sarcastically. “All the voices converge as one, and you can’t separate them at all.”

“Then, what’s the point? Why’d you show me?”

“Well, to tell the truth, there is one way you can separate them.”

“And what’s that?”

“If you have a strong emotional bond to somebody, and they share it with you, their thoughts stand out. They call out to you.”

“A ‘strong emotional bond.’ You mean like, love?”

“Or hate,” Hunter explained. “Their thoughts become distinctive. But in that case, it works both ways.”

“What do you mean?”

“They feel the emotion more intensely if you do, too.”

“You mean, if you listen to their thoughts?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a miracle,” Nora marveled.

“Not so,” Hunter answered.

“What? Why not? It’s absolutely a miracle.”

“No, not really. They start to feel the emotion more intensely. So somebody who hates you starts to detest you, wanting you dead. And somebody who loves you becomes obsessive, following your every move. It’s quite the opposite of a miracle, really.”

“Whoa,” Nora stumbled. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

“And if the emotion fades some time later – if you stop feeling it yourself – the bond from this still remains.”

“They continue to hate you?”

“Yes. But in the new, stronger way.”

“Wow,” she whispered.

“Did anyone call out to you like that, when we touched?”

Nora thought back. She knew what Hunter was asking. He wanted to know if Brady’s thoughts beckoned her.

“No.” She lowered her gaze to a black tile on the floor, which had suddenly become quite fascinating.

“I think that answers your original question, then.”

“I guess it does. But it’s not like I expected anything more after what happened, anyway.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Thank you, Hunter, for sharing this with me.”

“Of course. But you mustn’t tell anyone about it.”

Nora smiled up at him. “Would anyone believe me if I did?”

“Good point,” he chuckled. “No one would.” He paused for a second. “And, Nora… I hope you won’t hate me.”

“Hate you?” She was taken aback again. “Why would I hate you?”

“Because of what I showed you.” Suddenly, he looked every bit the shy boy she had met last week, and nothing like the proud young man who was standing before her now.

“You shared a precious gift,” she told him quietly, “I could never hate you for that.”

“Thank you.” He looked relieved. Then he smiled at her, returning to an image of confidence. “We’d better get going, then, to our next class. I’ll see you after school?”

Nora smiled back. “I’ll see you there.”

Chapter Seven

~Questions~

When Nora got to her math class after school, Hunter was already there waiting for her. He smiled from their usual spot in the back as she walked in. She’d had all day to think about what he showed her earlier, and the more she thought about it, the more amazed she became.