Illumine (6 page)

once."

once."

I stood from my seat and placed my hands on the lunch

table, leaning far enough to touch noses with Thomas. "You want

to ask him, be my guest. Good luck finding him, though."

"He doesn't have to look far."

Thomas and I both turned to Emily. She shifted in her seat

uncomfortably and pointed toward the double doors. "He's right

there."

"What?" I turned around, part of me hoping Emily was

bluffing, the other part wishing for a pickaxe. Dressed in jeans and

a half-undone button up he blended right in with every other guy on

the ads in New York. Compared to every other student he stood

out like a sore thumb, his dark skin better than the orange look

most of the girls sported but stil foreign to the pale faces

commonly seen.

And he was heading straight for me. Great.

"Abigail, give me something to hit him with," I growled

under my breath, grasping for anything on the chair beside her. I

locked my fingers around something heavy and as soon as he

rounded the corner to our table, I threw it.

His hand came up and caught the textbook with ease and

continued to walk over. He
tsk-tsk'd
once he stopped in front of

our table, leaving just enough space between us that I couldn't

reach for him.

"Nice to see you again, Essalie," he spoke smooth like

melting butter, moving with the same smooth attitude as he

deposited Abigail's book on her lap. "Shame you're resorting to

primal violence to cover your emotions."

primal violence to cover your emotions."

Against her better judgment, Abigail snickered. "What

brings you to the smal cavernous hole that is Belfast?"

His head tilted to the side, a playful smile stretching his lips.

"Let's just say it wasn't by choice." Bels rang overhead, end of

lunch. I wasted no time scooping up my things and making like

mad animal to my next class.

But as soon as I stepped into the English Literature

classroom, I knew something was off. Everyone was either

standing or leaning against the wals with their messenger bags on

the floor. Whispered conversations floated between the smal

clusters of people spread throughout the room.

I spotted Emily in the back, leaning on the windowsil with

Ursula alongside her. Both sported bored expressions. "What's

going on?"

Emily shrugged. "No teacher. Looks like a study hal day."

She glanced over to the kids skipping out of the room. "Or an

excuse to cut, it seems."

Go figure. The one day I actualy need a little distraction in

the form of Shakespeare and Alen Poe and I can't have it. I

glanced up at the clock on the wal. Only two more hours left of

school, might as wel head home to avoid every chance possible of

seeing Kayden.

Slipping out with a few others, I made sure to hit my locker

for al my extra books and homework before I left through the

Cafeteria. The smal patch of outdoor picnic tables led me straight

to the parking lot for students, leaving for a slim chance to run into

anyone.

anyone.

"Essie."

Or so I thought.

I didn't bother to look back. There was only one person

who had that deep of a voice and who would conveniently know

where to find me. My feet hit pavement as I kept my car in sight,

focusing on the dul gleam of the back window.

"Essalie, hold on." The voice said, the brush of air hitting

my ear and neck. I turned to see Kayden keeping an even pace

with me, face close enough to count the subtle freckles dusting his

nose.

I leapt back and swore. "How the hel did you catch up to

me?"

The delighted expression in his eyes melted as his

shoulders slumped. "Realy? Any question in the world you can ask

a demon and you ask how I caught up to you?"

"Cut it out with this demon crap. I hate when my brain

plays games with me like this," I grumbled under my breath.

"You're not a demon, you're either just a damn good projection of

my imagination or some kid who realy does have too much time

on his hands to have folowed me al the way from New York."

He stopped walking and fel behind. I kept pushing

forward and ignored the nagging need to look back over my

shoulder.

Black smoke suddenly materialized in front of me, coiling

into sharp wisps. Kayden stepped out from the lingering smoke,

dusting off his shirt and flexing his hand as color bled back into his

features. Within seconds he looked as normal and whole as I'd left

him behind me moments before.

"How long are you going to fight this? Because realy, I

may have an eternity, but your skin's already starting to winkle and

thin," he lamented with an expressionless face.

For a second I stood there in shock, mouth agape.

"Smoke and mirrors, just smoke and mirrors." I swalowed hard

and shoved past him to the car door. Sweaty hands fumbled inside

my jacket for keys.

He let out an infuriated sigh behind me. "Essalie, I can

make this easier on you."

My messenger bag slipped off my shoulder, dropping to

the ground with a thud. In one move I had turned around and

locked eyes with him. He looked like he practicaly wanted to

plead, beg on his hands and knees until the world crumbled around

him. It only took one flashback to the leftovers of flesh and bone

from Chase's body to plant me firmly back in the right frame of

mind. I had to remember that he was here to kil me, not help me.

"Make it easier? Because death is so easy," I laughed

darkly. "You're sick to think I'd even let you try to kil me for one

second."

He shook his head, eyebrows mashed together in

concentration. "No, you've got it al wrong. I want to help

you."

"I don't understand."

He stepped closer and placed a hand on my car. "Haven't

you ever wondered just what you realy are?"

you ever wondered just what you realy are?"

My brain staled. "Nothing's wrong with me."

"I never said anything was wrong." He looked like he

wanted to smile but held it in. "You mean to tel me you've never

once been curious, not even a little bit?"

"What are you going on about?" I half-shouted back at

him. My fists began to clench tight, warmth spreading out from my

chest like it had the night before at the bonfire.

Kayden leaned in closer, his face centimeters from mine.

He had no breath as he spoke, "I know what you are. Let me

help."

Without thinking I gave him a push. Blue sparks of flame

crackled under my fingertips, igniting a burst of fire on his clothes.

Kayden stumbled back swearing and yelping. He smacked his

chest like a mad man until the blaze was out.

I stood there, stunned. I looked down at my palms to see

smal kindling sparks dancing over the skin. Somehow it wasn't

burning me. Somehow I was conducting fire. My head felt light, the

world taking a curious spin onto an angle. I crashed into the side of

my car, catching onto the side mirror and knocking it off with me.

My body shook as I spoke, scrambling to my feet and

opening the car door. "You think you know me? You don't know a

thing about me." I shoved my bag inside the car and got in, turning

my neck to see Kayden standing several feet back. "There's

nothing to find out, so stop. Leave me alone, Kayden, or I swear

I'l-"

"You'l what? Kil me? You couldn't hurt a fly. If you had

even an inch of how to control the power you have you wouldn't

even an inch of how to control the power you have you wouldn't

have hurt me even now."

"I don't have any power!" I screamed. Across the parking

lot car alarms al went off at once. Headlights and tailights

exploded and sparked uncontrolably. I shut the door and backed

out, swerving the car until I could see Kayden.

Through the windshield I could barely make out his lips as

they moved. I revved the engine. My threatening words from the

night before came front and center in my mind, echoing with clarity.

"Go ahead and try," the whisper barely came out as I

floored the car and sped past Kayden towards the only safe place

I had left. My little House of Horror.

S I X

Every day that folowed it started the same. Kayden would

be waiting outside my locker, leaning against the wal with a silent

expression of rage fit for a man about to murder everyone in sight.

One look in my direction and the features softened, but only a little.

I opened my locker and shoved in everything for my

afternoon classes, refusing to make eye contact with him. He was,

after al, the one who put this on me. He brought every painful

memory with him. A bug, ready to be squashed.

My locker slammed shut. I stared straight ahead, focusing

on the little metal flaps. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I didn't look to see.

"I'm waiting, Essalie. Waiting for you to say you're curious, that

you're ready. You know you only have to say the words, and you'l

be that much closer to being rid of me for good." I felt his body

shift closer, leaning into my stone posture. "So much for wanting a

normal life, eh?"

I squared my shoulders tighter and turned, making sure to

avoid even the faintest connection of our eyes. "Don't hold your

breath, demon."

"Even if I wanted to, I'd be okay," he whispered, inching

closer. "Demons don't need to breathe, you see. What about you,

Essalie? Do you need to breathe?"

I bit my cheek. I wanted nothing better than to plunge my

hands onto his chest and burn him back to wherever the hel he

hands onto his chest and burn him back to wherever the hel he

came from. His eyes were a shining obsidian when I stared back at

him.

"Yes, Kayden, as a matter of fact I do. Humans need air

for their lungs. You should know. Chase gasped for as much of it

as he could when you used his skin to pick your teeth."

He shrugged. "Muscle gets wedged in there and flesh is the

only thing I know to get it out. Sue me."

"You're impossible," I shook my head. "Nothing is going to

change. Get used to the school system. You're going to need it if

you plan on hanging around for the rest of my life." I walked past

him, making sure not to touch the littlest bit of his body. If I wanted

to start a fire I definitely didn't want to have it happen in a school.

Every day, despite repeated shutouts, Kayden remained

persistent. He sat in every class, lingered around my locker like a

lost creature, the Cafeteria, my car, you name it. Any chance he

could to actively harass me into believing that I was something

different, something not wholy human.

Sad truth was, part of me wanted to give into it. I had

tried, and succeeded, in re-creating the fire in my room, bouncing a

little bal of electric blue fire between my palms as if it were a

regular bouncy bal. It felt like nothing, not hot or cold, but when it

touched something it engulfed it whole until nothing was left.

One day after a particularly nasty screaming match in the

halway I was sure to be written up for, the rest of the day went

like any other, and I moved from class to class with no interruption.

Kayden had vanished, no doubt licking his wounds like the dog

that he was. By the time I had made it to my car without a single

that he was. By the time I had made it to my car without a single

sight of him, I was ecstatic. My words seemed to have finaly sunk

in. I went to bed grinning, feeling like I was going to have a better

handle on everything, like my life was finaly back on track.

My dreams that night were vivid, intensive. Long halways

with tal white pilars stretched on every side as I walked down an

aisle. Grass blossomed beneath my feet, the sky above stretching

to an everlasting horizon of melted purples and blues. It was a

paradise, perfect in its own seclusion.

Tendrils of smoke curled behind me, licking up along the

sides of my legs, twisting and trailing like slithering snakes. I ran

forward, anything to avoid the smoke, for I knew if it took a hold

of me it would be my end, my death. The pilars vanished under a

dimming light, until suddenly I was standing at a precipice. Dirt

escaped off the top of the edge, fumbling down into the endless

darkness below. Somehow I knew faling into that abyss would be

the same as giving into the smoke.

I spun around and fought back a gasp. The smoke had