Natural Selection (15 page)

“
So there’s no mudbloods at
your Hogwarts, got it.” I said with a nod. Her lips tightened and
her brow furrowed, but I refused to let her annoyance bother
me.

“
This summer my father
began to teach me how to use my powers. At first it was little
things, like floating pencils and preventing someone from entering
my room. Then towards the end of the summer, he started teaching me
about the Otherworldly.” She stopped, capturing her lower lip
between her teeth. “He told me how dangerous they are, and that
they have to be stopped. He showed me news stories about strange
deaths all over the world. He even took me to the morgue to look at
a body they had found in Clinton Lake exsanguinated.” She gave a
delicate shudder. I couldn’t imagine what the experience must have
been like for here. “There were two little holes in her neck, and I
suddenly realized that all the horror movies were true. There were
monsters out there, and it was our job as witches to stop
them.

“
He taught me that they are
usually stronger than us, so I needed to learn ways to trap them.
They want to hurt us because they know only witches can stop them.
And what they desire above all else is to cause people pain.” I
made a face at her and she shrugged, her eyes pleading me to
understand. “He’s my father, Lia. Of course I believed him. He
showed me this girl in town, Carol Stanton. She looked completely
normal most the time, but when you saw her reflection in a mirror
her skin was green and covered with boils and sores. Dad explained
she was a ghoul, and she ate a person and wore their skin like a
suit. I didn’t believe him, so I watched her. After about a week,
she went to some weird gathering, and I saw her remove the skin
suit. I was so afraid I ran away before they could see me. After
that I knew my father was right, she was a monster who needed to
die. So I helped kill her.”

My mouth went dry, and I suddenly
couldn’t remember how to blink. For a long time I stared at her
with my mouth open, only to turn and see an identical expression on
my brother’s face. I didn’t even know where to begin processing
that information. Making a mental note to ask my brother the truth
about ghouls later, I tried not to think about them for now. The
idea of wearing someone else’s skin made me want to squirm, but I
forced myself to remain still. For the first time, I wondered if
there might be some justice in these murders. Maybe Evelyn really
was protecting people. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t gone after me or
my family. She had obviously known about me since November and done
nothing. But I couldn’t believe Crystal was evil, and I knew Mariah
was something similar to me. My chest felt like it was on fire, and
I realized I hadn’t breathed. I took a deep breath and blinked
several times.

“
Both my parents helped me
do it. I told them I couldn’t kill people. Mom said they weren’t
people, and they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. So I did it, and I
thought we were done.

“
At the end of September,
they showed me this guy in Springfield who turned into a wolf. They
showed me newspaper clippings of girls being mauled by a wild
animal. We tried tracking him one night and found a dead sheep in
the woods. My dad explained that when they’re in wolf form, they
can’t control themselves. They’re animals. Once again, I thought I
was protecting people, so I helped kill him too.

“
But that wasn’t enough. It
wasn’t even a week before they told me they’d found another. This
time they didn’t produce any evidence of death and destruction. And
I didn’t ask for any. I trusted they were telling me the truth, and
I went to this house in Mt. Pulaski. When I saw it was Mariah, I
thought we were in the wrong place. But Mom shoved her into the
house and put a zip tie on her wrists. Mariah was crying and
begging, and I… I couldn’t do it.” Tears sprang to Evelyn’s eyes,
and she pressed her lips together a long moment before continuing.
“Mom said she was evil and had to be stopped, but I couldn’t
believe it. So I asked Mariah what she was. She said she was a
nymph. All she did was protect the land where her family had lived
for generations. Mom said she was lying and took out a wooden stake
and stabbed her.”

Her voice broke at the end of her
confession, and she sniffled. Fat tears ran down her cheeks, but I
couldn’t shake the feeling that they were crocodile tears. I felt
hot and cold at the same time, and pressure crushed my chest. To
say I felt betrayed would be an understatement. It was like finding
out my father was a pedophile. Or really more like finding out my
best friend was a murderer. Determined to give her a chance and
hear her out, I focused my mind back to the
conversation.

“
I’m so scared of my
parents. I didn’t want to help them, but they dragged me to that
lady’s antique shop. I refused to help them anymore, and my mom
laughed at me. Then she and dad killed that poor woman. And all I
could do was stand and watch.”

Finally, I hit my limit. “You knew.
All this time you knew they were a threat to people like me, like
my family!”

“
I swear I was trying to
protect you, Amelia. I did this spell on you to keep them from
being able to sense what you were so you would be safe!”

“
Safe?” I sneered. “How am
I ‘safe’ Evelyn? Look at me. One look at my face, and I’ll be next
on their list—you know it!” My voice kept rising until the last bit
came out as a shriek. I turned away, hot tears running down my
face. I couldn’t deal with this. My head pounded and my heart
raced. I felt faint, and I had to escape. Without a second thought,
I dashed out the back door.

I MADE IT down the street before
realizing I hadn’t grabbed my coat. The sound of footsteps behind
me made me go faster. I didn’t want to talk to Xander. He probably
could have caught me if he wanted to, but after a half of a block
he stopped. I ignored him when he called my name, and I turned the
corner. It wasn’t until I was pounding on Nathanial’s door that I
realized I was headed here the whole time. He opened it and eyed me
like a stranger for a long moment before jerking a little and
staring at my face. I didn’t give him any longer to react as I
collapsed into his arms sobbing. He calmly scooped me up and
carried me to the sofa. He held me on his lap while I sobbed until
I calmed myself to hiccuppy breathing and occasional tears. I moved
to the opposite end of the loveseat. Pulling my knees to my chest
and wrapping my arms around them, I sat miserably as he stared at
me.

I hadn’t really thought about the fact
he hadn’t seen me since I had changed. Trying to study him through
my lashes for a clue, I wondered what he thought of the new me, but
his expression was unreadable. My snug, hot pink cotton top with
beaded embroidery at the neck and a long broom skirt tiered in
olive green, denim blue and hot pink was one of the new outfits
Sariah had picked out. I laid my chin on my knees and quietly
waited. I knew there would be questions, and I wasn’t sure if I had
answers.

“
So why are you here?” he
asked, surprising me. I hadn’t expected him to gloss over the
changes so easily. But it occurred to me it had been three months,
and he wasn’t stuck in his house like I was—and he was friends with
my brother. I suppose it was natural that it had been mentioned. I
opened my mouth to answer, but his cell phone went off. He held up
one finger as he flipped it open. “Hello... Dude, calm down. She’s
here… No, she’s fine—just a little upset… I don’t think that’s a
good idea, Xander. I’ll bring her home later…. I will… Ok,
bye.”

He slid the phone back into his
pocket. For some reason, at that moment, it struck me how rarely he
wore jeans. I’d always chalked it up to him being a little preppy,
but now I knew better. We hadn’t been able to find me any jeans in
the stores because of the Lycra and spandex added to them. I’d
found a few older pairs of Levis at Goodwill, but mostly what I had
were slacks or skirts. That had be why Nate wore a lot of cotton
slacks.

“
Now that my life has been
threatened if I don’t return you in mint condition,” he said dryly,
“what exactly happened?”

“
I just needed to get away.
Evelyn and her parents are killing people like us, Nate. I couldn’t
handle what she was saying or her dead calm voice as she told me
about the slayings.” I swallowed hard, “So I did what I do best, I
ran away.”

“
But why here, Lia? What
brought you to my door?”

His eyes sparked with something deep
and nearly overpowering. For a prolonged moment I silently studied
him until he cocked an eyebrow at me.

“
I guess I didn’t know
where else to go,” Suddenly I felt stupid. What was I doing here?
Nate was Xander’s friend, not mine. I shook my head “I should
probably go home.” I made a move for the door feeling dejected and
embarrassed, but he caught my arm and pulled me back onto the
couch. He was so close it was hard to breathe or think of anything
other than his perfect mouth so close to mine. The warmth from his
leg pressing against my own set my entire body on fire until my
heart felt like it would burn a hole through my chest. I tried to
collect my thoughts, but they slid away like eels.

Nate cleared his throat, and I wonder
if maybe he was having the same problem focusing. He didn’t move
away—he hardly even breathed. We were toeing a very thin line, andI
had a feeling we both knew it. A single breath in the wrong
direction and—

Suddenly my mind seized on something
to break the sudden sexual tension, and I blurted it out. “What
really happened the first day of school?” I could have kicked
myself once the words were out of my mouth. Why couldn’t I be more
coy and flirty like Sariah? Sadly, blunt and sarcastic were kind of
my shtick.

Nate sighed, one of those deep sighs
that seemed to come from his toes. “I changed this summer, as I’m
sure you noticed, but my… God, it sounds hokey to call them powers,
but I guess that’s what they are. Anyway, I’ve been having trouble
controlling some of the abilities. I get angry and a tornado
appears in my room. I’m sad and it starts to rain in the gym. But
nothing prepared me for what I felt when I touched you. I’m sorry I
don’t have a better answer, but I knew you were already changing,
and it affected me more than I was prepared for. Apparently,
overwhelming emotion causes me to electrocute girls I have feelings
for.” He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, and I knew
he hadn’t meant to say that last bit.

I smiled a little at what he said, but
there was something else there that stood out in my mind. “You knew
I was changing already? How?”

“
It’s the weirdness of our
kind, Lia.”

“
Why didn’t my parents
know? If you could sense it, why couldn’t they?”

“
I think it’s a boy-girl
kind of thing.”

“
So you knew they couldn’t
sense it? Why didn’t you tell them?”

“
I was afraid if your dad
found out he wouldn’t let me be around Xander anymore. I can only
sense it when we are close together—like when we’re touching—and he
would know that.” He reached out and stroked my cheek as if to
demonstrate. “But Xander is all I got, Lia. My aunt is almost never
around. I think I weird her out since the change. She’s not gaia,
or even Otherworldly. All I have that connects me with what I am is
you guys. And believe me, Lia, connection is very important to
gaia. We drift towards each other naturally. The day you were
rolling around in the grass, I tried to say something to Xander,
but I think he took it the wrong way.”

I remembered Xander getting angry with
me and telling me I was killing Nate. “What exactly did you
say?”

Nate looked sheepish. “I believe I
said, ‘Dude, you need to take care of your sister. I can’t be
around her while she’s like this.’ I might be paraphrasing—or
editing.” He smiled at me, and I tried not to let myself melt. His
smile always touched me somewhere deep inside, but I wasn’t sure if
it was just because he was gaia or because he was Nate.

“
Is it just because I’m
like you?” I asked quietly. “Does that have some sort of effect on
male Gaias?” Suddenly a horrible thought occurred to me, but I
couldn’t say anything to Nate. My cheeks flushed, and I wondered if
I could ask my mother. If Gaia were in tune with nature, what was
our love life like? The only thing I could think about was a cat
going into heat. I had a brief mental image of myself walking
around screeching with my rump in the air and the flush spread down
my neck. I cleared my throat and looked at Nate only to see his
amused grin. I dropped my eyes again. Oh, please tell me he
couldn’t read my thoughts! I momentarily wondered if there were
people out there who could.