Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (13 page)

“Why didn’t my parents do more to protect the people they sent here?” I asked, not sure I liked being the literal key to unlocking the planes—or my death being the last in any type of ruthless eradication. It all sounded too big, too unreal—crazy—to be part of my life.

“Because they were killed before they had an opportunity to send more help.” Mr. Crawford indicated for us to walk with a flourish of his hand and a glance toward the road. “You know, visions and keeping the entries and exits locked are natural tendencies inherited from your parents that you will learn to control, but being able to see through the planes, or through disguises—as you experienced in the restaurant—those are likely your unique abilities. Rare ones at that. I believe your parents’ merging was the best thing they could have done for our home. You are strong, Abby.”

Derick tugged me closer, as if he were proud of me and loved what his dad said, and my heart thumped wildly. Strong. Powerful. The key.

Too much.

We crossed the street, returning to the yard we left what seemed like forever ago. I looked around. My family’s gray colonial, tucked behind a row of tall pines and oaks, appeared less impressive, less like home, not as safe as it was yesterday, or rather, on Friday. Derick’s house didn’t give me the same flutter of excitement anymore, either. The foundation of my world, everything in it, even some of the people, was a lie.

“You said you came here to protect me?”

Mr. Crawford nodded.

“And the Snellings, they came here to protect me as well?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Then where did you live before here?”

Derick laughed. “You know we lived in Texas. We’ve talked about this a million times. You used to love my southern accent.”

My stomach churned; Derick was as in the dark as me. His parents may have explained some things, but not everything. Not if he thought they lived a simple life in Texas. “Maybe I should rephrase my question. Why did you move here so long after someone else was already protecting me?”

Mr. Crawford grimaced, stepping onto the porch. He took a deep breath. “We—”

“Because he didn’t want you to fall in love with his son’s greatest competition.”

I jumped at the sound of Mr. Snellings’ voice. He stood on the porch, arms crossed over his chest. Mark was beside him, almost alien, not the guy I’d known my whole life, this guy with his cold, narrow-eyed gaze locked on me. And I realized everyone but Derick
and
me knew the truth. The whole truth.

“Come on, Abby. I think you’ve had enough for one day.” Derick tugged me toward the door, but for the gazillionth time in our friendship, I disagreed with him. He’d rather walk away and figure things out on his own, but I preferred learning information straight from the source.

“I need answers, Derick. Truth. You’ve had three months to figure out some of this. Three months to be played by the likes of your father, Mr. Snellings, and Mark…
apparently
.”

“
Played
?” Mark shouted as he began pacing the length of the porch, his gaze darting from me to Derick and then back. “Derick is the one who plays. Have you asked him what his other abilities are? Being invisible is one thing, but he’s also a Romancer. You think all the time you spent with him reading, hanging out in the woods, the flowers, the notes, do you really believe all of that was from him? Because he was honest?”

“How long have you known, Mark?” I balled my fists at my sides. Right now, I hated him. Mark was a liar, not a nice guy, not at all the friend he’d pretended to be. Later I’d figure out what Romancer meant. “What are you?”

“I’ve seen our future, and you end up with the better man.” He stopped pacing and lifted his chiseled chin defiantly, the smug expression just begging to be smacked off his face.

“Oh. I get it. So, you’ve had visions of our future. That’s why you told me I’d marry you someday.”

He nodded.

“You’re an idiot, Mark.” The respect he’d earned from rescuing me quickly fled and turned into disgust. “Is that all? You don’t have some other fancy power?”

“Call me what you will, but I’ve seen it.” He grinned. “That’s the only power I need.”

“How long have you known about Kalóans and the planes?” I crossed my arms over my chest, mimicking his proud look.

“He learned of his true nature and our culture at a young age, though he knew nothing about your part in all this,” Mr. Snellings said. “Mark was pretty enamored with you—”

“
Dad
!”

Derick grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers with mine—an act I didn’t mind one bit. “Unfortunate.”

“Abby, you can’t trust Derick. You need me.”

“Why can’t I trust him? Seems like since he learned of his powers, he’s tried to stay away from me. But not you, Mark. You tried to convince me we’d get married. Hell, when we were on our date the other day, you knew what Derick did to make me unhappy. Yet you pretended like none of it happened. You seem like the only one I
can’t
trust, and I certainly don’t need more of that in my life.” I moved closer to Mr. Snellings, anger bubbling in my chest. “And what did you mean your son is Derick’s greatest competition?”

He gleamed, revealing a mouth full of perfectly white, straight teeth, and he touched my shoulder. “Calm down, Abby. Things are not as awful as you’re making them out to be.”

Warmth washed through me. A nap would have been nice, so would a fluffy pillow, a fuzzy blanket, and my favorite pair of wool socks.

“Mr. Snellings is a Manipulator,” Mr. Crawford said, “capable of calming not only human emotions but ours as well.”

I took a deep breath. The air smelled like roses and sunshine, tea and books—things I loved—and whisked my imagination to my bedroom, to my comfortable mattress, but then Mr. Snellings shook my shoulder.

“You and my son were falling in love, and Mr. Crawford didn’t appreciate that. He wanted his boy to have a future with you. You see, because whoever marries you, Abby, will be given an opportunity to create more new breeds of Kal—”

“
Foster Snellings
, that is not the truth, and you know it!”

Daydream over. I swiped his hand from my shoulder. “Breed? That’s disgusting. I’m not a dog, I was never falling for Mark, and this conversation is over. Maybe Derick was right. I didn’t need this today. In fact, I’m pretty sure I don’t want anything to do with
any
of this.”

I turned and ran for Derick’s Mustang, sobs overtaking my ability to think clearly. This was horrible and crazy. The supposed good guys didn’t sound any better than some humans, if Mr. Snellings was anything to judge by.
How could I be a part of this
?

Derick didn’t waste any time in following me.

“Let’s get out of here, please.”

We jumped in the car and then squealed the tires on our escape down the street. I didn’t care where we were going, didn’t care if we ever came back. There wasn’t anything to come back to, besides my parents who seemed caught in the middle, but even they kept me away from the truth; they looked at me every day and hid away the most important details of my life. I was with the only person who mattered. He may have kept things from me, but for good reason, and not for very long.

Everyone else just lied.

nterstate 95 stretched from Maine to Florida, and we lived smack dab in the middle. My mother always argued the suburbs around Washington D.C. had the worst traffic in the United States. The current jam proved her right.

Derick weaved in and out of the barely moving cars, but the NASCAR maneuvers did us no good. “I hate Virginia traffic.”

“Combine that with how much I hate my life right now, and we make a perfect couple.” I picked at the frayed edges of a hole in the knee of my jeans I’d had on since yesterday; they were damp and cold and covered in filth.

A half-hearted smile twitched up the corner of his mouth. “You mean that?”

I stared at Derick, trying to figure out if he was excited, if through all this, he still cared only about being with me. I knew how I felt; the butterflies in my stomach wouldn’t let me forget, but today was too weird for me not to ask questions. “What’s a Romancer?”

And his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel let me know exactly what he felt. “What he said, it wasn’t true.”

“Mark said you played games, but I want to know what a Romancer is.”

“I never played games with you, Abigail Nichols.”

My insides swam with nervousness. He held this amazing power over me, but his title made me wonder if it was just one of his natural-born abilities. Passed down through blood like my stupid, never-before-used—at least not on purpose—Guardian and future-seeing abilities. “I’m not accusing you of playing games, Derick. I just want to know. I want to know about everything, and yet, I wish I didn’t know about any of it. I wish we could just disappear.”

He pointed at the backseat with his thumb. “I brought the book.”

I glanced back. The book wasn’t the only thing he’d brought. My purse, a duffel bag, food. “Derick?”

“Hmm?” He slammed the brakes, nearly crashing into the back of a blue minivan. “It’s a cop on the side of the road, not a good reason to go from seventy to zero!”

I giggled. When he was angry, his forehead creased in the most adorable way, and he always flushed scarlet.

“What?”

“You’re cute when you’re mad, but umm, why do you have all this stuff in the back?”

“A Romancer’s purpose is to influence situations to get humans to act a certain way, to guide them in or out of a decision that would save a life, impact the world and what not. All it takes is charm, wit, and extremely good looks.” Derick batted his long, brown lashes.

“That doesn’t explain the duffel, my purse, the book, or the food!”

He smiled. “Now who’s cute when they’re mad?”

“
Derick
!” If he hadn’t been driving, I would’ve punched him.

“You asked two questions. Just answering in order.” He winked, then sighed. “Look, I don’t want to be a Kalóan, or whatever the hell we are, and I don’t want you to be in danger. You seem to be the focus of everyone’s attention. I don’t trust my parents—I’m not sure they trust themselves either, not after everything that’s happened—or yours, or Mark or his parents for that matter. I trust me, though, and I trust what I feel for you, what I’ve always felt for
only
you. And with my ability to make things invisible, I think I can protect you.”