Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) (31 page)

Of course, my unease
could
be attributed to
the fact that Westwood and Mt. St. Mary’s hold their proms on the
same night. I fully expected Kannon to cancel on Jamieson, but we
hadn’t actually discussed the topic. I knew that Jamieson asked him
first, and he agreed to go with her before we’d even met. Yet those
facts did nothing to dampen the green flame of jealously that
sparked when I considered the possibility that he might choose to
honor his promise to her instead of spending the evening with
me.

“Details.” Elizabeth waved off my
concern with a flick of her hand. “Getting him to say yes is the
easy part.”

“Do you even have a date, Liz?”
Cynthia interjected.

A coy smile played over Elizabeth’s
lips. “I do,” she admitted smugly. “Cooper asked me.”

“Cooper Byrd?” I asked, a
little surprised. They were friends
and
they did flirt all the time, but I’d chalked up all of the touching
and playful banter to nothing more than friendship with a
superficial attraction to one another. I never thought there was
any actual romantic interest.

“You called?” a voice sang behind
me.

Startled, I turned as Cooper himself
slid a tray down next to mine.

“We were just talking about prom,” I
told him.

“Liz tell you were going together?” he
asked, as he eyed his curry dubiously.

“I did.” She gave Cooper a megawatt
grin that he returned.

Maybe Elizabeth had found
her Prince Charming after all,
I
thought.

****

After an entire day without talk of
family cover-ups, Egrgoroi, or the presumed dead, I was in a
significantly better mood. Shopping with Mandy added to my feeling
of normalcy. She asked a lot of questions about Kannon, and I found
I had a lot to say, even while leaving out the strange connection
he and I shared. Mandy was only too happy to chatter on about
Matthew and how eager she was for their upcoming date. It seemed
Kevin Mathis was nothing more than a distant memory, which was good
since I’d learned he intended to ask a freshman to prom.

Once we’d found Mandy a very
flattering floral sundress and wedged heels from Forever 21, we
decided to grab dinner at the food court. The seating area was
relatively empty, since it was near closing time. This made the two
gorgeous guys sitting several tables away impossible to
miss.

“I think they’re checking you out,”
Mandy whispered around a mouthful of salad; she was crash dieting
for the date with Matthew. I had a sneaking suspicion that Devon
planted the idea in Mandy’s head, since prior to today she’d never
felt the need to lose weight.

I glanced over in the direction Mandy
indicated with her head, pretending I’d just noticed the two boys.
One was blonde and built like a linebacker, with sleeves pushed up
to reveal tattooed forearms. His surly demeanor had “tool” written
all over it. The other had light brown hair, a slender build, and
extremely angular features. He smiled when he talked to his
companion, giving off the impression that he was friendly and
easy-going.

As I discreetly catalogued the pair,
the boys’ conversation came to an abrupt halt. As if they sensed my
gaze, two heads turned in my direction in unison.

A chill ran the length of
my spine, spreading unease to every muscle of my body. Coal black
eyes locked with mine. The boy’s intense stare held such
energy that
the breath
caught in my throat. His gaze traveled through me, as if evaluating
my hidden thoughts and secret desires. Part of me wanted to sever
the connection. Another part was so thoroughly captivated and drawn
to the boy that it was not an option.

“I bet they’re in college,” Mandy was
saying.

I nodded absently, still
unable to tear my gaze from the brunette. The blonde one nudged his
friend, causing him to break
the invisible
force binding
our gazes. A flicker of
disappointment tightened my chest at having lost the link, but it
was quickly extinguished by the relief of being free from his
pull.

“What would Kannon say if
he knew you were making
goo-goo
eyes at another boy?” Mandy teased.

Her words sent another cold
spell through my numb limbs. The way I’d been unable to break eye
contact with the boy, the draw towards him conflicting with the
desire to put as much distance between us as possible ― it was the
same sensation I’d experienced with Kannon. The two boys sitting in
the mall food court, not five tables away, were Egrgoroi. I was
absolutely sure of it.

Whether it was because of
my frantic insistence that we immediately leave or simply because
Mandy was so used to people barking orders at her, I will probably
never know. But Mandy complied without protest,
leaving behind a mostly uneaten salad
. I half-walked, half-ran to Macy’s since that was where I’d
parked the Bug. Several last-minute shoppers gave me dirty looks as
I carelessly stumbled by; I breezed
right
past them
without a second glance, leaving
Mandy to apologize in my wake.

Once safely locked inside
my car, I realized actually running away from the two Egrgoroi boys
was
an overreaction.
They hadn’t appeared to be much older than I was, maybe in
their early twenties, and it was unlikely they meant me harm.
Kannon, the only other Egrgoroi I’d met, clearly only had one type
of physical contact in mind. As disconcerting as the jolts of
electricity had been at first, I found them enjoyable now ― more
than enjoyable if I were being honest. Still, something about the
two in the food court felt wrong. The way the one had looked at me
gave me the creeps even now. 

“Eel, are you okay?” Mandy asked,
startling me from my musing. I’d forgotten she was there for a
minute.

“Yeah, I just promised my mom I would
be home early tonight,” I said for lack of a better excuse for my
strange behavior.

Truthfully, I had told my
mother I would be home so we could talk tonight, but the longer I
could delay that conversation the better. That was partially why
I’d agreed to the shopping trip
.
I knew Mom would be sitting at the kitchen table
awaiting my arrival. Miraculously, she left work at 5:30 like a
normal person, a fact I knew by the seventeen text messages she’d
sent telling me so. Sometimes I loathed modern
technology.

I dropped Mandy off at her house and
then headed for my own. Mom was sitting at the kitchen table with
her chair turned at the perfect angle for viewing the front door.
The moment my sneaker made contact with the foyer’s wooden
floorboards, her head popped up.

“Endora,” Mom said, sounding
relieved.

Reluctantly, I joined her at the
table, positioning my chair sideways for a hasty exit in case the
conversation became too intense. The lines around my mother’s eyes
were deeper than usual, emphasizing the weary expression on her
face. I wanted to stay angry with her, hate her just a little, but
seeing her so upset made it hard. Instead, I felt horrible that I
was the one who’d caused her so much anxiety.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“I should never have told you about
Sam the way I did.”

Wow, so small talk wasn’t
on the menu tonight. That shouldn’t have surprised me since my
mother was a very
direct woman.
“Life’s too short to
beat around the bush,”
she liked to
say.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” I
asked.

Mom sighed, looking
defeated. “I never wanted to tell you. There was no reason for you
to know Samantha gave birth to you. As you grew up, you looked so
much like me that I never worried you’d guess we were anything less
than mother and daughter. Mark wanted to tell you, but I figured
you would be happier not knowing, not always wondering about your
biological parents. Your father and I raised you;
we
are your
parents.”

“Is that why you two fought so much?
He wanted to tell me and you didn’t?” I asked. I was trying to
digest the news that she would have continued to keep the truth
from me if not for a brief moment of panic where she let it slip
out.

“Sometimes,” she said evasively,
avoiding my gaze.

“Sometimes,” I parroted back
childishly. “What about the rest of the time?”

“
What all did James tell you
the other night?” Mom’s eyes finally met my stare when she asked
this.

I considered lying for a split second,
before accepting that it would be a lost cause. She’d know I was
lying and would continue to rephrase the question until she got the
answer she sought. Besides, the way she was studying me with her
prosecutor’s glare told me she already knew the truth. Rule number
one of cross-examination: Never ask a question you don’t already
know the answer to.

“He told me about Dad’s research into
what I am, an Egrgoroi.”

Mom paled, her skin
resembling the corpses they’re always pulling out of the water
on
Law and Order
.
Rage sparked new life in her tired eyes. “That is nonsense. Your
father got caught up in some romantic fantasy of an afterlife
and―”

I cut her off, “Romantic
fantasy? Are you serious? There is nothing romantic about being
sent back to earth to further some god’s agenda. I don’t want to be
someone’s errand girl.”

Impossibly, the blood further drained
from my mother’s face. She gripped the edge of the table as if
needing the support. “That is nonsense,” she repeated, but her
words lacked the earlier bite.

“Is it?” I asked quietly. “If it is
all nonsense, illogical, why are you so scared?”

“I don’t want to lose you the way I
lost your father,” she said softly. “I don’t want his obsession to
become yours.”

“Too late.” I rose from the table and
started for the stairs, but just before the landing I turned. “So,
you don’t believe any of it? Not that I am an Egrgoroi, that I was
offered a second chance at life in exchange for
service?”

At first, Mom remained
silent, but as I started up the stairs I heard her mutter, “No, I
don’t believe
you
were offered a second chance at life.”

****

On Friday I attended school
feeling about as ridiculous as one might expect to while wearing a
kilt, knee socks, and a white t-shirt that read, “Go OWLS sink your
claws into the GATORS!” in puffy paint. I’d advocated for dressing
up in honor of our game that afternoon but, unfortunately, had been
outvoted. As
captain,
boycotting the team’s decision would have been bad form, so I
spent the day looking like an arts and crafts project gone
awry.

With so much on my mind, my athletic
prowess suffered horribly during the game. I was jumpy and couldn’t
concentrate, despite my best efforts. Coach Peters took me aside
during halftime and asked if everything was okay. I assured her
that I was fine and would play better the second half. Proving
myself a liar, I dropped an easy pass when I thought I saw one of
the Egrgoroi boys from the mall in the stands.

“Don’t worry, Eel. Everyone has a bad
game,” Elizabeth told me on the bus, after we barely squeaked out a
win.

“Yeah, I know,” I said.

“Who’s driving to the McCallisters’
house?” Elizabeth asked, changing the subject to more pressing
matters. “I call not it,” she added quickly.

“I’ll drive,” I offered. Devon and I
agreed not to drink at the party since we were meeting Mr.
Wentworth at eight o’clock the next morning. The only reason I was
even going to the party was because Kannon would be
there.

Justin McCallister, the St.
Paul’s goalie, lived in a
McMansion nearly
forty minutes f
rom my more modest house.
By the time Devon, Elizabeth and I arrived, the party was in full
swing. After twenty minutes of dodging
drunken partygoers
and avoiding
precariously held
Solo
cups
, I finally found Kannon. He was
sitting in the McCallisters’ basement theater watching basketball
with half of the other guys at the party.

Trying to be coy, I snuck
up behind where he sat on a sectional between two other St. Paul’s
boys I didn’t know. I ran my fingers across the back of his exposed
neck. The crackle and pop of electricity caused him to jump in his
seat and sent me stumbling backwards several steps. Kannon turned,
green eyes wide with alarm. When they landed on me, though, he
visibly relaxed and
drew his lips
into a dazzling smile.

“I should have known it was you,” he
said and climbed over the back of the leather sofa so he wouldn’t
have to step over the crowd of people littering the floor in front
of it.

“Sorry,” I apologized, since he was
rubbing the back of his neck where I’d shocked him.

“It’s fine,” he assured me. “You look
nice,” he added, those green eyes traveling from the hem of the
strapless sundress to my bare throat. Kannon tentatively reached
for my hand, brushing my palm lightly. When the small spark didn’t
send either of us flying across the room, he intertwined his
fingers with mine and pulled me close. He dipped his head low, the
soft chestnut hair caressing my cheek and sending a tingly
sensation across my skin. I figured he was going to kiss me; his
mouth bypassed mine and stopped next to my ear.