Hidden (Hidden Series Book One) (26 page)

She jumped from the counter and growled at
me. It was way less frightening in her human voice. I smiled.

She ran out of the kitchen before I could
learn the rest of her plan or what it was that she wanted.

I glared at the knife in my hand. “I can’t
believe I did that … or said that,” I whispered. Before I could
freak out about acting like a maniac or Remi plotting against me,
the calming scent of the orange hit my nose. It made everything
okay, peaceful, like it always did.

Until I bled on it.

It was a thin stream that I was fairly
certain Remi hadn’t seen, but she’d still met Leah. Witnessed me
acting like a copy. “Idiot,” I scolded myself.

I pitched the orange into the trash and
wiped my nose with a paper towel. I hid it under a banana peel and
a crumpled cigarette pack in the trash.

“Christine, my heart,” Sophia said, arms
open with her happiest face on. I crept away from the trash,
dabbing my nostril with my thumb to see if it was still clear. It
was. “Here she is, everyone. I found her.”

Emma, Paul, and my boyfriend came into the
kitchen. Sophia took my hand and led me to the dining room. She
opened the doors slowly, her entire face in a smile and her
shoulders hiked to her ears.

“Surprise!” they yelled.

They’d filled the room with balloons of
every color. Dinner was on the table with a birthday cake,
twinkling with seventeen candles, in the center.

“Oh my God,” I said.

We waded through the green strings hanging
from the balloons and sat around the table. Throughout the song, I
kept my hands glued to my cheeks. I was at a party.
My
birthday party. It was unbelievable and amazing and I cried because
the nuns had always assumed I wouldn’t want one of these. And
later, I’d assumed since Satan made me, I didn’t deserve one. And
now, I was somewhere in the middle. Not wholly Christine or Leah,
good or evil, sane or crazy.

“Make a wish, my dear,” Sophia said. I
closed my eyes and made a few: to be safe, to keep him, to keep
myself. I blew out the candles, and they cheered. It was almost so
amazing that I could ignore the hairs standing up on my arm. Sophia
was right next to me, preparing to cut the cake, and I still felt
watched from afar.

My instincts said:
danger
. My heart
said:
enjoy the party
.

Sophia put an arm around my shoulder as Nate
rubbed my knee under the table. My heart won that battle.

“Christine,” Sophia said, grabbing my hand.
“Was it the best birthday you’ve ever had?”

“Definitely,” I said. “No contest.”

“Good. I order you to be happy and smile for
the rest of this day,” she said.

I smiled, but I wouldn’t follow that order.
I assumed Nate would be upset, and I’d probably get dramatic like
my mother and beg him not to leave me.

“I second that,” Nate said. His hand moved
from my knee to my thigh. I’d have to enforce a no touching rule
during my confession, or I’d never get it out.

Remi, danger in distressed jeans and a tank
top, stood by the door without coming in, even when Emma offered
her cake.

When our eyes met, her mouth twisted into a
wicked smile.

I own that witch
, she thought.
I’ll get what I want. I’m in control here and she’ll know it
soon enough
.

She wanted something from me, and I assumed
it was money. I wondered if I’d let her intimidate me enough that
I’d offer her some obscene amount to keep her mouth closed about
me.

I didn’t wait for my psychic powers to kick
in. I knew the answer was
hell no
. I was done being
bullied.

Besides the stare down with Remi, my party
was fun. It was even better when Sophia went home and I could be
closer to Nathan.

“We
have
to go out,” Emma said. “You
haven’t been. Now you’re seventeen. You have to come with us!”

I shook my head, sensing the disaster that
would be. “Sorry. One day I will. It’s too soon. My face is still
on the news.”

“You guys go ahead, and take Remi with you,”
Nathan said. Paul held his hand up to high-five Nathan again. He
left him hanging again.

Nathan and I stayed in the dining room after
they left, feeding each other cake and kissing, until he smudged
chocolate all over my mouth. We cleaned up in the kitchen. Paul,
Emma, and
ugh
Remi, came down in their barhopping clothes to
say goodbye.

It was hard to focus on their conversation
because Remi’s thoughts were so loud. She was angry, shouting in
the kitchen about her missing pictures and camera without moving
her mouth. Her mind felt … chaotic and diseased, the polar opposite
of what it had been earlier. She’d been plotting then, but calmly.
Now, she was in the midst of a storm none of us could see. I pulled
away from her clatter, fearing my nose would leak in front of
them.

“Happy Birthday,” Emma said, pulling a green
gift bag from behind her back. She reached it to me then snatched
it back. “Sorry. It’s more of a gift for Nathan.”

She smiled, and Paul snapped them out of the
room.

I reached in the bag and pulled out a red
bikini. He smiled.

“Is this part two of my birthday?” I
asked.

“Nope,” he said. “Emma whipped you up a
swimsuit for me, but you were sleeping so long and Sophia called
about the party. So it’s part three.”

“Isn’t it cold?”

“Not tonight. And the pool heats up
and
it’s impossible to be cold around furry animals.” I
laughed. “Not that I thought you’d say yes, but I
have
preheated it.”

He kissed me and I folded. Of course I
couldn’t turn him down.

“Meet me down here in ten minutes,” I
said.

I ran to my bathroom to shave and stare at
myself in the mirror. I needed more boobs for the top. And I was
not made to wear a red bikini. Copies of suicidal women should wear
black. I looked ridiculous, but I wrapped myself in a towel and
went downstairs.

I wanted to run back up when I saw him. He
was too perfect to stand next to. Muscles … everywhere, but not too
bulky. Just right. Just perfect.

“Ready?” he asked. My answer stalled. I was
still staring at him, following the defined lines from his chest to
the top of his black trunks. “Is that a no? We don’t have to swim.
I’m sure there’s something on TV.”

“No. Swim. Sure,” I babbled.

We walked to the pool. I was too terrified
to drop the towel, so I couldn’t hold his hand. And what did he
mean it wasn’t cold? It wasn’t serious-winter-cold, but it was
definitely too cold to be in a swimsuit.

He turned to jump in, and I saw his bare
back, his bare back that had claw marks from his right shoulder to
his lower left side.

“Did Remi scratch you?!” I screamed. “I’ll
kill her!” I couldn’t breathe or feel anything but rage. I was near
combustion. I racked my brain, trying to remember what bar they
said they were going to. I needed to find her and leave remnants of
panther all over the dance floor.

“Baby, relax. Those aren’t scratches. I was
born with them. Birth marks,” he said. He reached out to hug me,
but I dodged it, going around him to see his back. Two of my
fingers fit in each of the four scratches. And they were definitely
scratches. Definitely injuries, but old ones.

My eyes watered. “Did John and Theresa do
this?” I was about to say I’d kill them too, but it didn’t come
out. Thank God, because he was laughing, making me feel like a
psychopath for being so angry.

“Birth marks, babe. I can’t remember a time
when I didn’t have them. They didn’t do this. They didn’t abuse
me.” He kissed my forehead and chuckled again. “Look at you, trying
to protect me from grumpy panthers and parents. You’re so cute, but
I think I could take ‘em,” he said, flexing his biceps.

He jumped into the pool, and I sighed. My
face could be bloody and terrifying like Paul described. He had no
idea how un-cute I could be.

Nate, I’m a copy
, I should have
yelled. He would’ve heard me, but the thought of saying those words
curled my insides in the most painful way. I wouldn’t be able to
say for sure that he was safe from me, nor that I was safe from
myself. All I had was:
My parents were in love. I am in love.
And I will try to be different and not act like a copy every day of
my life.

I watched him in the water as I trembled,
remembering every beautiful moment we’d had together. Playing
fetch, popcorn and TV, making out for hours. Coming to life, like
Catherine did with Raymond, history repeating itself with her
copy.

“It’s warm,” he said, snapping me out of the
fog I’d entered. “I swear. Get in here, beautiful.” I adjusted the
towel, pulling it tighter. “Okay … take your time.”

He swam away to the other end of the pool. I
pulled off the towel, calmed by his voice, by him calling me
beautiful, but wishing I’d taken up working out as a hobby. I
dipped my toes in the warm water. I didn’t see him until he was
close enough to grab me. He yanked me into the pool. His sneaky
smile should’ve warned me that he was about to push me under.

He pinched my nose and the warm water rushed
over my head. I could hear him laughing. Even though I felt safe, I
kicked and squirmed until he pulled me up.

“See? I told you it was warm.” I splashed a
pathetic amount of water on him. “Do you know how to swim?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of isn’t good enough,” he said,
chuckling. “So we’ll stay in the shallow end.
Unless
… you
want to learn. I taught myself recently, in a lake. I was taking a
bath and just decided to swim.”

“So … you were skinny dipping?”

He laughed and winked. I looked down at the
water. I would miss his eyes the most.

He nudged my chin up with his finger. He
rubbed my cheek, and I puckered for a steamy moonlit kiss. He
laughed instead. “You have a little snot situation happening.”

I groaned and went underwater to hide from
him and wipe my face. He pulled me up, laughing, and we wrestled in
the water as he tried to reach my nose until a swim lesson
began.

He led me through a series of leg kicks
while he held on to my waist. I knew how to swim more than I let
on. We had mandatory lessons years ago. I just didn’t want him to
let go.

When he did, I grabbed him and rested my
head on his chest, enjoying the last moments before I complicated
our easy relationship. It grew quiet enough to hear the sounds of
the night – trees and wind and bugs. Because he was perfect and
could sense what I needed, he lifted me up on his back. I lay there
as he swam. We didn’t speak, just enjoyed the peace, the calm
before a storm he wouldn’t see coming.

It eventually became too cold for the pool
or Nathan to warm me. He wrapped me up in my towel and carried me
inside. He put me down in front of my door. “Is this goodnight,
birthday girl?” he asked.

“No, I want to hang out … and talk.”

He didn’t seem to notice the dread in my
tone. He kissed me and ran to his room to take a shower. I left the
door unlocked so he could come in if he finished before me.

Mere minutes could be all the time I had
left with him. And I’d be alone again. Lonely. Worst case, he’d
feel obligated to turn me in. No, worst case, he’d shift and try to
handle the abomination on his own. I’d have to be quick, explain,
show him the diary. Pray.

And I hadn’t allowed myself to freak out
about Remi. My hands rattled in the shower. She could turn me in,
report that she’d seen me, and I’d gone psycho hunter on her with a
knife.

Who was I kidding? I couldn’t act all tough
with her. She had the upper hand. Everyone else in this house would
keep my secret because they’d been asked to. Not Remi. She
obviously had other plans. Good thing I was a millionaire. I’d pay
her for Sophia’s sake and everyone else who could be home when the
hunters came to collect me.

“How much would shut her up?” I whispered as
the water beat down on me. I heard nothing. “What can I do about
Remi?” Her name echoed in my head, again and again, getting louder,
drowning out the water, bringing whispers and buzzing into the
shower with me. Then I heard her.

She was thinking of so much. The drink she
ordered. Potato skins. How much she hated me already.

I let the noise pull me closer, and I could
see the bar. It made me dizzy. I lost my footing in the shower and
grabbed the towel rack for balance.

My plan is shot to hell
, she thought.
She sipped out of a beer as Emma and Paul danced near her. The
image was blurry, watery, but I could see her drumming her long
nails against the table.
I can’t believe I failed. I just want
to go home now. Without the pictures, he won’t believe they’re not
human. I couldn’t even get in her room. That’s probably where
Sparky hid them. It will take too long to get new pictures on my
phone. Giving these idiots to him was the best way to thank him for
making me human. I have nothing now.

Human? That was why I could hear her. She’d
done the purging thing and wanted to turn us over to hunters. That
was why she wanted to make me upset. She wanted me to do magic in
front of her. She needed a picture of that.

I wanted to know more, but her thoughts
turned to faint whispers in my ear, and the blurry bar distorted
even more. I strained to hold on. I shook all over – my hands,
legs, all of me. My head hurt like crazy, like it was ripping
apart. I strained harder as her thoughts muted more and my vision
rattled with the rest of me.

I bit down on my tongue from the shaking,
almost seizing, and had to let the final traces of her thoughts
float away. I kneeled down so I wouldn’t fall. Pink water swirled
around the drain. My nose poured blood. My mouth did too, so much
that it coated my chin and neck.