Bad Nymph (5 page)

“Okay,” I said. “Shoot.”

His face changed, contorting
as though he were trying to find the right way to ask me something. “Well…I
can’t read the energies pertaining to you and Bad Moon’s singer…”

“Trent,” I interjected.

“Trent. It’s just, I get all
of these conflicting energies from you two…and you had mentioned a boyfriend
before…”

“I wasn’t talking about him.
That was just some jerk I dumped back home,” I said, trying to sound
nonchalant. But really, I was worried about what
Aamir
could see in our relationship. I didn’t even like to think about it—it
was embarrassing and humiliating to think that anyone, much less the guy I had
a major crush on, could pick up on our confusing vibes.

“We’re just friends,” I
added, even though I knew he could see through the flimsy cover-up.

“And you were never
together?”

“Not really,” I said.
 
I didn’t like talking about Trent with
Aamir
—it was uncomfortable, and thinking about Bad
Moon made me feel guilty and anxious. The road we were on narrowed, and there
wasn’t another car, building, or any other sign of civilization around. Just
tall, ghastly trees hovering on either side of the road.

“But he has chosen you,” he
said softly, his words low but dark.

“What do you mean?” A shiver
ran down my spine.

“It’s not really my place to
say,” he said, his brows furrowing. I could tell he wasn’t pleased about
something, and if it had to do with me, I was going to find out one way or
another.

“Tell me,” I demanded. “I’m
not going to go along with your surprise unless you do.”

He sighed, pulling the car
onto a dirt road, tiny and bumpy, the tree branches hanging low, reaching out
like spindly hands towards the car. I felt like it was the perfect place for a
serial killer to take his victims.

“He’s imprinted you, Bailey.
He’s chosen you as his mate.”

Suddenly, I could use
Aamir’s
calming powers. “No,” I said quickly. “There’s no
way. I’d know something like that.”

“Not if he didn’t
intentionally do it,” he said quietly, parking the car in a small clearing.

“That can happen?”

“Yes.” He turned off the
engine and stepping out of the car. I sat dumbly, running the word ‘imprint’
over and over again in my mind. What did that even mean?

Aamir
opened the passenger door to let me out, but if it
weren’t for the surprisingly cool night air I wouldn’t have even noticed.

“Come on,” he offered me his
hand. “I brought you here for a reason.”

I unbuckled my seatbelt and
emerged, his warm hand in mine, the calming buzz overcoming me once again.

“Look up,” he said, and I
followed his pointing finger to the sky.

I gasped. It was
wonderful—an inky blackness covered in twinkling lights. More stars than
I had ever seen in my entire life.

“It’s beautiful,” I said,
and he squeezed my hand. I watched the stars, amazed and entranced by their
hypnotic twinkling. I laughed, unable to contain my joy.

But something sharp and
painful entered me, pushing away the bliss. It was hot, like fire. I looked to
Aamir
, but he had already dropped my hand and was facing in
the other direction.

 
I turned around to see that Gita was
staring at me, her blue, piercing gaze cutting through me like daggers. She
didn’t look away either. The fire turned cold, like it was burning everything
in its wake and then leaving. I suddenly felt vacant and numb, like the air was
being sucked out of my body.

“Bailey!”
Aamir
yelled. But before I could respond that I was fine,
that everything was alright, my knees gave out beneath me, and the last thing I
remember seeing was two icy blue lights, threatening to take every last bit
away.

 
His body
was moving fast through the night. It was hard and elegant, and his limbs
pulled forward and then back, pounding against dirt and gnarled roots like it
was all the same, all one. It was like I was floating above him, his brown coat
glistening in the filtered moonlight through the trees so that it was lighter,
almost gray, like his eyes.

His eyes, the color of an impending storm.

The wind howled, moving around his body and rustling
through his fur, tempting and threatening, foreboding as he continued to pummel
through the darkness. I could feel the trees crashing against each other in the
air, whipping and snapping, making noises like disquieted ghosts. Ahead of him
there was a spike of tall grass, and the sheen of the moon and stars against
water, reflecting back up into the night sky.

Cicadas sang out into the night, and there was the
miserable croak of frogs and alligators, coming together in a cacophony fit for
nightmares. There were small, foreboding plops into the water, echoing through
the night and straight down into the heart.

His heart. I could feel it. Heavy and loud as if it
were pressed up against my ear. The sound grew, thrumming through my body,
pulsing through my limbs and mind and torso with so much ferocity that I could
hardly hear the noises of the night, so that I almost didn’t hear the snarling
behind us.

He turned, growling lowly at the beast behind him,
smaller and with a darker coat. Her eyes were green, dark green, like wet moss.
He took a step forward, his ears pressing down against his head as he bared his
teeth, and she did the same, pulling her tail straight out behind her.

‘No,’ I tried to call out, but couldn’t.

They circled their bodies around each other, their
hideous growls competing in the ghastly wind. She lifted her body and he came
rushing at her, and like terrible thunder, their bodies collided in a
ear-splitting roar.

‘Stop!’ I tried to scream. But I had no voice, and
all was lost in the vicious fight of the beasts. ‘Please stop!’

I awoke in
Aamir’s
arms, orange light illuminating the side of his
face. My neck was cold with sweat, and my shirt was sticking to my back.

“Stop what?” he said, worry
creased in his brows.

“Trent,” I gasped. I sat up
and tried to settle my thoughts. I caught sight of a lamp emitting a dull glow,
sitting on a nightstand. I was back at the bed and breakfast, but it all felt
wrong.

I needed to see Trent.

“How long have I been
knocked out for?”
 
I felt faint and
drained. There was a dull thud in my head. I couldn’t stop imagining the
snapping jaws from my nightmare, the saliva glistening with a haunting sheen.

‘
Was it really just a dream?
’ I wondered, dread pooling in the pit
of my stomach.

“A few hours,”
Aamir
said, handing me a bottle of water. I drank from it
greedily, realizing for the first time how parched I was. The water dribbled
down the sides of my mouth, but I could hardly be bothered with how insane I
looked. Nothing compared with the itching anxiety growing inside of me.

“I’ve been waiting here
watching over you,” he said, stroking my head tenderly. Something inside me
wanted to make me snap. I wanted to pull away, to scream. It was irrational,
but I couldn’t help it.

“You’re shaking,”
Aamir
noted, gingerly picking up my hand.

I remembered a pair of cool
eyes, draining every ounce of energy I had. I snapped my hand away, not wanting
to be numbed by his calming powers.

“What was that,
Aamir
?” I stood up slowly and he rose with me, offering me
his hand, but I backed away. I couldn’t trust him. I was an idiot for ignoring
my instincts.

“What do you mean?” he
asked, but I could tell from the way his hands twitched that he knew what I
meant. A cool wind whipped through my body, and I shuddered at the memory of
that soul-sucking force. It was like she was still inside of me. Haunting me.

“Gita did this to me,” I
said, trying to fight the tears in my eyes. “She made this happen. And don’t
try to tell me otherwise because I’ll leave, I don’t care how. I’ll find a
way.” I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, but I couldn’t fight the small
tremor finding its way into my words, twisting them into a cowardly plea.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and I
wanted to scream.

“What do you mean you’re
sorry?” I dug my nails into my palms.

“I mean…dammit Bailey, that
wasn’t supposed to happen. And I swear that won’t happen again,” he said,
taking in a deep breath and closing his dark eyes for a moment. “Gita…made a
mistake.”

“How the hell did she even
get there?” My voice was hoarse and shrill.

“Please,”
Aamir
whispered, as if trying to lull me with his words.
“I’ve talked to her. She was…she sensed an impure presence in you.” He said,
saying the words slowly, as if he were testing them.

“A
what
? So is Gita an
empath
?” I asked, the
term feeling strange and sticky on my tongue.

He hesitated. “No, she’s a
nymph.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It means…she can do things
like steal your energy.”

I could feel my eyes growing
wide in disbelief. But I knew he couldn’t have been lying. I felt it, like a
stinging chill in my bone marrow. It was still there.

“So why did she?”

“Because…” he looked away
for a moment, as if he were ashamed. “Because she can read my thoughts. And she
felt Trent’s imprint on you through my mind.”

My phone rang loudly,
vibrating in my pocket. I was going to ignore it, but it was Sierra’s ringtone,
and even if
 
I couldn’t talk to her
right then I needed to tell her to call me back. I needed to find a way home. “Hello?”

“Bailey, it’s me. Hi. We
don’t have time to talk but we’re coming to get you, we’re like, ten minutes
away from Athens.”

“What?” I said, sure I
misheard something.

“I tried to call you like
forty times but you didn’t answer. I’m sorry, I’ll explain as soon as we get
there,” she said, a strong sense of urgency and chaos in her voice.

“Is everything okay?” I
asked, my heart sinking like a stone in a pond.

“Not really,” she said. I
felt a strong invisible hand pull at my lungs, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

“Okay, I’m at the Oconee Bed
and Breakfast,” I said. She repeated it and then hung up with a curt, “see you
soon.”

“What’s going on?”
Aamir
asked, trying to close the gap between us.

“I’m leaving,” I said,
trying to keep the panic out of my voice. I didn’t care about nymphs and
empaths
anymore. I wanted to know what was wrong with
Trent. I had the terrible feeling that my dream wasn’t just a dream.

The memory of the wolves
clashing against each other flooded my mind.

“Wait, Bailey,”
Aamir
took my wrist, but I pulled my hand away. “Bailey, I
know Trent chose you but it’s not safe. He needs to be with someone of his
kind.”

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” I seethed, my hands shaking as I shoved my laptop back into my
backpack. I really didn’t know what he was talking about, but I didn’t care.
With each passing moment, I felt more and more that something was wrong with
Trent.

“He imprinted you, Bailey.
He chose you as his mate and he didn’t even consult you!” I avoided looking in
his face. I didn’t want to understand what he was saying. It was ripping my
mind in too many directions. “That means he was hiding it from you. He doesn’t
have control over himself. He’s an animal.”

“Please, stop it,” The pain
racked my body and I couldn’t control it any longer. I fell down to my knees
and wrapped my hands around my shoulders protectively. I was lost in a sea of
hurt and murky thoughts, and all I could feel was the thundering echo of a
voice, Trent’s voice, calling me. Weak and distant.

‘
Bailey, please
.’

“I’m coming,” I murmured,
bringing my hands to my face. I felt
Aamir’s
body
dropped down next to me. He didn’t touch me, just stayed quiet for a moment as
I shook violently.

I turned my head to see that
he was looking at me, his eyes heavy with a deep sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His
words were honeyed and beautiful, like he meant it. “I shouldn’t have been the
one to tell you that.”

I took a deep breath, trying
hard to steady my thoughts. I didn’t know what to say, or who to trust. But at
this point, if he wasn’t going to stand in the way of my leaving, I couldn’t
fall apart. I needed to pull myself together.

Trent needed me.

“It’s fine,” I said, drying
my eyes with the back of my hands. “I’m sorry I freaked out on you. But you’re
confusing me with things I don’t really understand, and my friends need me
right now…”

“I understand,” he said,
bringing a hand to my face and wiping away a tear sliding down my cheek. His
thumb was warm, like it was carrying a small sun in it, running it along my
cool flesh.

“May I?” he asked, hovering
his hand over my own. I hesitated, and then nodded, not sure what he was asking
me. He picked up my hand into his own, and then placed his other hand onto of
it, sandwiching mine between his palms. An intense heat grew in the center,
radiating outwards and getting hotter, until I yelped.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, pulling
away his hands. I gasped. In the center of my palm there was a gold chain, with
a small, jade-colored pendant in the middle, cut into a smooth oval.

“Just know that I can’t give
up on you. I’ll wait. I’m a patient kind of guy,” he said, a sad smile
spreading across his countenance and breaking my already pained heart. I
 
let the pendant fall from my hand and
dangled it from my fingers, staring at the green rock in awe. It was absolutely
stunning, with intricate gold wiring weaved around it, glittering even in the
dull, incandescent light.

“I can’t take this,” I said,
looking up at him. I wanted it, there was no denying that. But I didn’t want to
know how it could control my life, making me think about him with guilt and
hurt every time I looked at it.

“Please,” he said. “I’m not
asking you to wear it. Just to keep it. Hide it away. But if you’re ever
scared, or if you ever need help…”

I nodded, confused, yet
touched by the gesture. For the first time I realized it was possible to fear
someone and want to kiss them at the same time.

My phone rang and he smiled
weakly, as if to express he understood I had to go.

“Hey,” I said.

“We’re outside,” Sierra
said. Her voice was laced with tension. I stood up, my knees sinking into each
other as I made my way over to my suitcase.

“I’m coming.” I hung up the
phone and slung my backpack over my shoulders. I paused, looking over at
Aamir
, confused and sad. I dropped the necklace into the
front pocket of my shirt, and closed it with the small button. I could feel its
heat press against my breast.

“Goodbye,” I said hoarsely.

“This won’t be the last time
I see you,” he said, but there was a hint of sorrow in his voice. He stepped
forward and closed the gap between us, lowering his head and taking me one last
time, in a magnificent, mind-blowing kiss.

Sierra pet my hair gingerly
as I lay in her lap, spread out along the length of the bench seat of the van.
Martin’s steady snoring was audible from the front seat. I was exhausted,
entirely spent, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Trent.

He
was calling me. I just knew he was.

“He’s okay, right?” I
murmured for the millionth time. But I needed to hear it.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,”
Brandon said, turning around in his seat. “We just needed to make sure you were
safe.”

There hadn’t been much said
in the last hour, and I didn’t have the energy to question anything anymore. I
just wanted to see Trent—I was sure the blanks would be filled in soon
enough. But the way Brandon looked at me was strange. And when I studied him
back, I could feel warmth seep back into my body. Suddenly, I saw a flash of
Brandon on the phone. I could hear Trent’s voice on the receiver. I couldn’t
make out what he was saying, but I knew it was him.

Then as soon as it had
happened, it left me.

“Why did you come pick me
up?” I said, not caring that Sierra was around to hear. If they hadn’t told her
something by now, I would eventually. That was for sure.

“Because, we told you. We
don’t trust
Aamir
since the Arkansas House incident…”

“That’s not true.
Something’s different Brandon. You’re…everything around you is warmer,” I said.

I wasn’t afraid anymore. I
just needed to know.

“We shouldn’t talk about
this here,” he said, and I knew he was talking about Sierra.

“I don’t care. Trent told
you to come get me. I saw you on the phone with him, just now. And…he’s been
calling me.” I pushed myself up off of Sierra’s lap and watched Brandon, felt
the warmth flowing between us.

“It’s actually happened,” he
whispered, looking away from me for a minute.

“What happened, Brandon?” I
could feel Sierra tensing next to me.

“You’re one of us,” there
was a strange gleam in Brandon’s eyes, like he was happy and sad at the same
time.

“Take a nap or something,
guys,” Nick said quietly from the driver’s seat. “We have a long trip ahead of
us.”

I curled up in Sierra’s lap
again, but she didn’t touch me this time. Her hands stayed tense on the seat
beside her thighs. Brandon’s gaze didn’t waver from my face.

‘
It’ll be okay. Things are just different now
.’

He had said it in my mind. I
should have been terrified, should have felt crazy. But it felt natural,
hearing him speak to me like that. I simply nodded and shut my eyes and thought
of Trent, wondering if he thought about me. If he knew where I was.

The warm pendant in my shirt
grew hot for a moment, stinging through the fabric and into my chest.