CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (22 page)

"You called me Kade." Out of all the things she should've thought to say, or question, that was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

His smile widened. "I thought you didn't like it when I called you Sparrow."

"No. I mean, yes. I do…like it.” Her words weren't coming out right. “Thank you…for... thank you."

Brown locks waved across his glittering blue-gray eyes, and he moved his finger over her cheek, drawing on her face. That was familiar, too.

"And for yesterday, with Kyle," she said relishing in the motion, the air around them humming.

"Anytime."

The crowd of students started moving again. Show over. Cole seemed to realize it, and he lowered his hand, took a step back, but his eyes didn't shift from hers.

"Cole...are you..." Kade wanted to say something—to tell him she knew he was different. That he had to be.
I know you killed a Shadow in Crystalline. I didn't want to believe it could be true, but it had to be you. And you were outside my house during the weird color light-show. It was you who rushed me home, kept me warm and safe from Dracon...what else happened that night? I only remember...clips of things, but I remember you.
A shiver rushed through her body. Why can't I remember?

Cole had kept her safe from Dracon. That couldn't be a memory. She had to be confusing things. Dreams and memories. Cole couldn't
know
about Dracon. Know about her.
Right?
Something about it wasn't right, though. Not at all.

Cole took a step closer. "Am I what?"

Keeping her thoughts to herself like she was expected to do, Kade shook her head and pressed her fingers to the side of her skull. Ow. "Nothing."

Cole glanced toward the floor with a quick, hard exhale. "Okay."

"Okay." She didn't know what else she could say.

He turned and grabbed her backpack off the ground as the warning bell rang, and handed it to her. "So,
Jake
?" His customary cocky grin spread over his beautiful face. "Really?"

She couldn’t help but smile. ”Why?" The words fell from her lips and she instantly wished she could take them back.

He rubbed his forehead and said, "Please be careful on the
stairs," and headed toward the door leading to the first floor. "I can't
watch you like a hawk, you know?" His hand hovered over the
doorknob, eyes downcast. "
Vos exterruerat me,
” he said so low and soft, she barely heard him.

Kade stood in stunned silence, as he walked out, leaving her in the empty stairwell.

You scared me.
He'd said in Latin.

"
Paenitet me,
" she whispered to no one.
I'm sorry.

***

Cole walked into Physics in a daze. He could've kicked himself for asking Kade if she was going to dance with Jake. The Warden's specific order was for him to keep his distance, and he had. Sort of. He'd tried not to engage in conversations with her while still being friendly, maybe too friendly at times, but friendly. That was the best the Warden could hope for because ignoring Kade altogether was clearly impossible. But flat out asking her if she was going to the dance with Jake? God, that was almost as bad as asking her if she wanted to go with
him
. As bad as kissing her.

Danny leaned across the aisle. "Did you get the text from
Plumb?"

"Yep." Cole sank in his seat. He'd been so close to repeating everything he'd told Kade while she was unconscious. Everything that happened between them at the Kinship. Everything she was supposed to forget. He wanted to ask her why she hadn't recognized
all the other Primordial in school. How she could possibly be a Primeva if she wielded a crystal telum? All the questions he
should've asked her when they were alone together, but didn't.

Mostly he wanted to ask her how her corona was red. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't that. Primevas were usually lower on the color scale because of their descent. Devil's Children were always silver or gray, and if a fledgling showed those colors in their corona they were expelled from the Ward. Primevas were almost always brown or blue, but Kade wasn't—and it was clear that she had a strong ability to conceal herself. Like a sparrow, he thought. Masters of flight and camouflage.

She was also clearly skilled at playing human. Cole had never met a fledgling who gave no signs of acknowledging what they were. From fear or pride, it always eventually showed in one way or another, but besides tackling him in Crystalline, the only other sign he'd seen that would have exposed her true nature was when he purposefully tried to scare her outside her house the evening before, and in her frightened flee, her corona blazed red.

"Cole?" Danny tapped his shoulder. "Cole?"

"Hm?" He blinked.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." Cole straightened in his seat. "Plumb said the Warden got a lead on another Hive?" More like a lead to take Cole's mind off the Araneum. And Kade.

"There's a new gateway near Marshall Shaft."

Cole groaned. "I hate going down in those old tunnels."

"I think that's point. Who's going to follow the Nefarius in there? No humans are climbing down an abandoned shaft. I thought you'd be excited. You live for this stuff. Maybe we'll get a lead on the crystal we found."

Danny was right. All Cole ever wanted to do was track
Daemoneum Hives and shut down blacked gates. He lived for it. Almost got a high off of it, but it was the last thing he wanted to do. "I'm tired as hell." It wasn't a lie.

"Not my issue you're playing personal protector to Kadence every night." He fell quiet as Ms. Schultz, the Physics teacher, handed him a work packet.

Cole took his with a polite smile before glancing at Danny again.
"Guarding. There's nothing personal, just guarding until she moves into the Kinship."

"Whatever. So, we're checking out a few minutes early. Plumb set it up.”

Cole nodded, pretending to inspect his physics worksheet, his mind so far from school and hunting Daemoneum it wasn't funny.

***

Kade stood in the empty stairwell staring at the red lines on her
palm. She opened and closed her hand, pain traveling to her
fingertips. The sensation was familiar, and she knew why now. It was the same feeling she'd had when she'd laid in her bed the night she'd fallen in the snow. When she'd been unable to close her hands, too out of it to
function properly, if she remembered correctly. She remembered voices, too, now that she thought about it. Faint, but they were there. The staircase door swung open, and Kade closed her hand into a fist, and left.

"Miss Sparrow. Strike one," Mr. Thomas said as she entered class late.

"What happened to you?" Jake asked, as she plopped down in her seat.

"I fell down the stairs."

"What?" He half-laughed, which spiked her already racing blood pressure higher. "Are you okay?"

She wasn't sure if he was concerned or laughing at her.

"Fine." She took out the notebook she wouldn't need to take the notes she wouldn't understand, and reached for the pencil she'd likely end up twirling through her fingers for the next fifty minutes,
while staring blindly at the whiteboard. "Cole took the brunt of the fall."

"Sorry?" All the laughter from Jake's tone was gone.

"Cole stopped me from busting my head open at the bottom of the stairs." Kade dared him to say anything else. She wasn't sure why she was so mad, but if Jake said one negative word about Cole, it wouldn't end well.

He seemed to pick up on it, and only said, "Well, thank god
Cole
was there." Letting out an exaggerated breath, he sat back in his seat.

Yeah. Thank god. He had no idea. Neither of them did.

If Cole hadn't reacted as quickly as he had and caught her, she
would've exposed herself. The second her brain registered she was going to hit concrete, her instincts had taken over, and energy flooded her, ready to propel her body upward. Cole's arms had
wrapped around her waist at the exact same time, and it was almost as if he'd pulled her down to him, rather than held her up. She still couldn't
help but wonder if he'd felt the steady throb of adrenaline that
hummed like an electric wire through her body. Surely he had.

"So, we still good for the dance?" Jake asked in a tentative tone.

Kade glanced back. "Yeah, we're still good."

He smiled.

"Are you wearing a suit? Or?" Kade had no clue what guys wore to a fall dance. "Not a tux, like prom. Right?"

With a laugh, Jake shook his head. "No. Unless...did you want me to? I mean, I can. I'm totally down with that if that's what you were thinking."

Kade put a hand on his arm in a polite way, and a zing, like a small shock passed from her skin to his. Jake sucked in a quick
breath, and Kade balled her outstretched fingers into a fist.

Shit. How'd that happen?

He stared at her.

"You can wear whatever you want," she said, praying he didn't play much into the charge other than maybe thinking it was static electricity from the cold weather, instead of the literal shock she'd
administered to his arm. "I just didn't know," she rattled on like a mindless idiot. "I haven't been to many dances." Any dances, actually. "I'm going shopping with Giselle this afternoon. For a
dress."

Jake held her gaze, as if seeing her for the first time. "Whatever you want." He stared with an intensity that made her blood speed. "Tell me the color, and I'll match it if you want me to. I'm down with whatever you want."

A slow simmer welled in Kade's stomach, and his blue eyes darkened. He looked dazed, out of it.
Oh, hell. Did I just electrocute him?

His gaze stayed locked on hers. "I have seriously underestimated you, haven't I?"

"What?" A chill ran up her spine. He was staring as though...
he knows.

***

The rest of the class was spent with more focus than Kade had ever mustered in her life trying to understand Calculus. She didn't turn around. Didn't glance once at Jake. He couldn't know anything. That wasn't even possible. It was a simple shock. A teeny bolt. Nothing more than static. He probably didn't even notice it. Kade stared at the whiteboard, scribbling furiously along with the rest of the class. She had pages of notes, and still, after forty-five minutes, had no clue what any of it meant. So much for all her muster.

Jake tapped her shoulder. "I think we need to talk."

No, no. No talking. I'm good. We're good. It's all good.

“Can’t. Have to go shopping after school. And I have Art next.
Mrs. Johnson freaks if you're late." She barely looked at him, knowing it was a complete lie. Kade could've walked into Art with
the carpet taped to her head and Mrs. Johnson wouldn't have noticed.

She hurried out of class the second the bell rang.
This is not how I wanted the first week of school to go. Not even close.

She made her way through the packed hallway toward Art, one of the other classes she really liked, even though she didn't know how to draw a damn thing. Halfway there, a tap on her shoulder had her turning. Jake. Dammit.

"We really need to talk, Kade."

"About?" Maybe she could play dumb? "Colors? You know, I was thinking pink, but I'm really not the 'pink' type of girl. That's more Giselle's speed, so once I get to the dress store, and see what they—"

Jake put up a hand. "I didn't mean dress colors. You can wear canary yellow for all I care."

Super. Well, glad that's cleared up.

"You shocked me in class."

"What am I...an electric eel?" She waved a hand in the air.
Damn.
I sound like an idiot.
"Static. See?" She pointed at her hair before flicking it with a finger. "It's everywhere in this cold weather. I can barely get my hair to lie down. You should see all the products I have to use to make it look like this." Products?
Oh, just shut your
mouth, Kade. He knows something.
Her gaze went back to the hall.

Cole leaned against his locker a few feet away down the hall, and Kade couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was so beautiful, and something
palpable
hung in the air between them. She wanted to go to him. To be near him
.

Jake touched her arm, bringing her to a stop. “Kade?” His gaze shifted toward Cole and his jaw tightened.

With a smirk, Cole pushed away from his locker and ambled forward. "Jake." He gave a curt nod. "How's the face?"

"As good as your arm.”

Cole bent his arm up and down like he was flexing the muscle. "Good, then." He directed his attention on Kade. "Is your head
okay?" He touched her cheek, and a wave of energy made her tremble.

Jake let out an exasperated breath.

“Headache. I'll be fine." The same intense feeling of wanting
Cole to stay next to her flooded her body. She didn't understand
why her emotion would be so intense. She barely knew him, but there was something so familiar about the way his hand lingered, the way he looked at her.

"If you're done, I need to talk to Kadence," Jake piped up.

Cole didn't take his eyes off hers. "No more falls, okay?" His fingers moved to the base of her skull. "That's twice, now." He
winked and walked in the other direction.

Wait...what? Twice? What's twice? Hang on.

"Kade?"

She glanced up, and her heart sank. Not only was Jake clearly mad, she thought she saw a trace of hurt in his gaze. "Can we talk after school, Jake? I really can't be late."

"I'll meet you on front on the steps."

Thinking she should say something, no words came, so she only nodded.

***

"What the hell happened to you?" Giselle stood outside the cafeteria at lunch.