Captivate Me (Book One: The Captivated Series) (9 page)

A welcome voice rolled
through the air behind me. “Hey, you!”
Levi.
He planted a long, sweet kiss
on my head and pooled into the chair beside me.

“Hey,” I replied, my voice distant as
I struggled to snap back to reality. I’d had a lot to process since
I’d last seen him.

He regarded my detachment with a
tilted head. “You all right today? Anna said you needed some alone
time or something?”

My lips twitched with a
smile. She had seen right through me. Although I really
did
want to paint. “I’m
good. A little tired.”
Or something like
that.

The rest of our friends found their
places at the table and brought with them the scent of outside. I
noticed Anna and Ronnie were hand in hand – a new development.
Dawson looked like new – bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Had it been
two nights since he’d shape-shifted? Last week it had taken him
three to get back to normal. He must have been slowly building his
stamina.

Levi tucked my hair behind my ear – a
gentle gesture to regain my interest. My attention span felt worse
than normal today. He stood to get our trays. “Don’t forget we’re
going to the nurse’s station after this,” he said.

I scowled, confused.

He bent down to me, grasping my chin
between his thumb and index finger and dusting a feather light kiss
on my lips. “Oh, babe,” he said, amused. “What am I going to do
with you?”

“What?”

“You have the memory of a fish
sometimes.” He waited expectantly, hoping I would come around to
the answer on my own.

Nurse’s station?
“I have no idea,” I admitted shyly. God, I should
have my brain checked.

“Vaccines, babe.”

“Oh, yeah…” It all came back to me. We
were supposed to have them done before school started – something
about living in dormitories and being susceptible to certain
diseases. Meningitis, I think? But we also had a choice of getting
them from the nurse on the first day of school. However, our nurse
had come down with a nasty stomach virus and was bed-ridden for a
week and a half. This was the day he had chosen to administer the
shots and had announced via the intercom several times to come to
his room after lunch. Of our friends, Levi, Ronnie and I were the
only ones who hadn’t gotten them yet. I also heard he would do a
blood panel to check our general health and make sure we didn’t
already have an infection or something.

Ronnie groaned as he stood to go get
food with Levi. “Ugh, needles.”

* * *

I stood in line outside the nurse’s
station, which I had only been to once during my first tour of the
place. It was normally a large open room with a row of hospital
beds separated by curtains on one side and a wall of cabinets with
a counter on the other storing God-knows-what. Now the middle of
the room had been divided into three private stations, each with a
table surrounded by a white curtain suspended on frames of PVC
pipe. There was only one nurse on staff here, though – Mr.
Plunkett, a wiry old man with a buzz cut. They must have hired two
extra to help with all the students who hadn’t already gotten their
shots.

Levi’s arms tightened around me from
behind as I fidgeted. We had been waiting for close to an hour, and
I was ready to get the sticking and prodding over with. “After this
we’re playing a kickball game by the courtyard… you in?” he
asked.

I grimaced. “You sure that’s wise?”
Ping pong was one thing, running and kicking a ball was another. I
missed half the time, and when I did make contact, I
fouled.

“You’ll do fine, babe. It’s just for
fun.”

When Ronnie didn’t chime
in with a smart comment about my athletic skills, or lack thereof,
I craned my neck around Levi’s arm to check on him. He hadn’t said
but two words since we’d gotten in line.
So
not Ronnie.

A pale face gleaming with nervous
sweat greeted me. “You all right, Ron?” I asked, and bit my lip to
keep from smiling. Who knew he could be such a baby? Big tough
Ronnie, afraid of needles.

He squared his shoulders. “I’m good,”
he said in a deeper-than-usual voice. Who was he kidding? He looked
on the verge of hurling.

“Okay…” I said, holding
back a chuckle, and leaned against Levi, allowing our curves to
mold into each other. It felt comfortable there; my back against
his washboard stomach, but something had definitely changed in the
atmosphere around us despite our lack of physical distance. The
electric charge that was usually there didn’t seem as powerful.
Off. But it had to be my fault, not his.
I
was off today. Did Levi notice?
Hopefully not. I was trying my best to be present and not
allow
him
– the
boy in my dreams – to monopolize my thoughts. It was a tough
battle.

“Next!” A nurse called.

“That would be me,” I said under my
breath and broke free of Levi’s hold.

I headed for the station
with the curtain thrown back. A man awaited me behind the plastic
folding table. Not nurse Plunkett. This man had dreads and ebony
skin, his eyes a deep brown, almost black. He held a stoic
expression, unreadable. “Close the curtain behind you and take a
seat,” he instructed in his Jamaican accent. All business, this
guy. Apparently he was as ready to get out of here and on with his
day as I was. His dark marble eyes raked over me and around me as I
did what I was told and planted myself in the chair.
Weird.
Finally, his
attention turned to a sheet of paper beside him with a list of
student’s names. “Name?”

“Kat.”

He arched an eyebrow, giving me a
pointed look.

“Sorry. Cindra Kathrin
Walsh.”

After checking my name off, he opened
a fresh needle. My eyes flickered over his too-tight uniform as it
strained to cover his shoulders. No nametag. I suppose it didn’t
matter; I would never see this man again.

“Rest your right arm on the table,
palm up, please,” he said. At least this time he’d said
“please.”

With my forearm atop the table, he
tied a rubber band above my elbow and swiped an alcohol swap at the
bend of my arm. “I’ll draw your blood first,” he said. “For the
panels.”

I spoke through my teeth, bracing for
the stick of the needle hovering above my arm. “Okay.”

The rest took less than five minutes,
and I was on my way out the door on the other side of the room with
a piece of cotton and neon medical tape covering the punctures.
Levi and Ronnie weren’t far behind, color returning to Ronnie’s
cheeks as he and Levi bantered about who they would pick for their
teams. By default I’m sure, I would be on Levi’s, although I would
be more of a hindrance than a help. Oh, well… like he said, it was
for fun.

* * *

The air outside felt cool and somewhat
damp, clinging to my skin and frizzing my hair. Even tied back into
a ponytail, my hair looked like a poodle had stuck its paw into a
light socket. Sexy.

As I stood with Levi and my friends on
the sidelines, waiting my turn to kick, I fought the urge to turn
and examine the woods. With my back to them, I felt that strange
pull yet again, ever coaxing. Ever present. In a weak attempt to
ignore it, my eyes drew to the sky. It was hard to tell from the
blanket of clouds, but the sun looked like it neared the treetops.
An hour into the game, it was now late afternoon.

Turn around,
my subconscious pled. Not here. Not now. I don’t
know why, but I felt the need to hide my curiosity with the woods
and whoever lay within them from the others. Sarah had already
accused me of ‘smoking something.’

“Kat…” an amused voice
prodded.
“Earth to Kat!”

I snapped back to reality.

“Your turn, girl,” Sarah said with a
shake of my shoulder.

“Great.”

I hurried behind the plate. “And make
sure to actually kick the ball this time!” Ronnie teased from the
pitcher’s mound.

Assuming the position, I
slid him a look of humored annoyance.
Real
cute, Ron
. I think I preferred him
nauseous and terrified.
Maybe I should
threaten him with a needle.

“You got this, babe!” Levi
shouted.

Ronnie smacked the ball in
his hands and lurched forward with a look of absolute
concentration. It hurled over the grass a little too fast for my
taste. Ronnie was actually
trying
to strike me out, the little turd. As if I needed
any help. My lips pursed with determination; I never gave up
without a fight.
That
I got from my mom.

The static of the outside
intercom buzzed to life, followed by Principal Hughes’s strained
voice. “Attention, students and faculty.” Everyone stiffened and
looked to the school, but I kicked the ball anyway –
actually
kicked
the ball and it went straight!

“Everyone report to their
assigned living quarters
immediately
,” he continued. Even I
paused now instead of running, the ball rolling to a stop in left
field by Anna. “And stay there until further notice.” My eyes
sprang to Levi for clarity. He shrugged and jogged to meet me. I
looked back to the ball with a pout. The one time I actually made a
decent kick, wasted.

Levi snatched my hand and tugged me to
come along. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“Beats me.”

“Has this ever happened
before?”

“Not once.”

My stomach jumped.

“Dude…” Dawson said to Levi as he and
Sarah appeared at our sides. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know, man, but it
can’t be good.” His hand squeezed mine, maybe out of instinct or
worry for what was going on and what this meant for all of us.
Visions raced through my mind of an intruder on campus. Things like
that happened all the time – shootings, bomb threats. I swallowed
and burrowed into Levi’s side. He hugged me tight as we hurried
along.
But not many people know of this
place,
I reasoned. Who would want to come
into a school full of gifted students and start trouble anyway? We
were more than capable of fighting back if we had to. Anna’s gift
of fire was looking a whole lot more useful now.

When we made it to the building, Levi
pulled me into an alleyway between wings. Really? Now? He read my
puzzlement. “Promise me you’ll go straight to your room and not
leave until they say,” he said, desperate. “I won’t be able to
escort you.”

My voice came out thin and breathy.
“Promise.” Jesus, why was I so scared? I had worked myself into a
tangled ball of nerves.

He also read the terror in my eyes.
“It’ll be okay,” he assured me, but I knew there was no way he
could promise such a thing.

I nodded.

His lips claimed mine, eager and
anxious. It could have been the adrenaline coursing through me, but
the kiss didn’t feel as powerful this time, as all-consuming. With
the seriousness of what might be going on around us, I didn’t have
the wherewithal to contemplate why. My dream visitor’s face
appeared in my thoughts this time as our kiss deepened. His
presence was as strong as if I were in the woods. It wrapped around
me, filling every inch of me with warmth and wonder. The shock of
it made me pull away from Levi.

Confused, he searched my
eyes.

“I-I’m just scared,” I
lied, trying to sound apologetic.
God,
what’s wrong with me?

His brow furrowed. This
was the second time I’d semi-freaked out during what was supposed
to be an intimate moment. At least this time I had something to
blame it on. “Let’s get going,” he said, and I heard it in his
voice – disappointment.
Now
he knew. Something was definitely ‘off’ with me
today.

CHAPTER SIX

___________________

Lights

Anna and I burst into our room, and I
locked the door behind us. She crumpled onto her bed, near tears,
with her arms wrapped around her waist. “It’ll be okay,” I soothed,
mirroring Levi’s confidence from before. But would it? It just
seemed the right thing to say, and I was saying it as much for
myself as I was for her. “I’ll be right back,” I said and turned
for the bathroom.

Hands shaking, I closed the door
behind me and turned on the shower to let it fill the room with
steam – one of the only things that seemed to calm my nerves. With
my arms wrapped around my own waist, I slumped against the wall and
slid all the way down until my legs curled into my chest. Shit. I
wished I knew what was going on, what this lockdown was about and
if we were going to be okay. I couldn’t get the visuals of a crazed
student unloading a machine gun or detonating a bomb out of my
mind. These were the times an overactive, creative imagination
worked against me. Great for art, bad for crises. I then wished for
Levi and resented being separated. I wanted his strong arms around
me again. They made me feel safe. Safer.