Evanescent (33 page)

Two years, huh?

“Edinger?” I call out to him without putting
too much effort behind it. “I’m ready to take off.” The ground
wobbles beneath my feet. “Hey, can I take a friend?”

A loud peal of thunder rips through the
vicinity.

I’ll take that as a no.

I’m falling again as the darkness sucks me
into its vortex.

My body slams against something that feels
an awful lot like concrete, and I land flat on my back staring up
at the angry face of Asterion.

I roll over and look around.

I’m back—right here at Ephemeral.

I spring to my feet and sprint toward
Henderson Hall.

It’s time to find Laken and tell her that
Wes knows everything.

Wesley

Laken and I appear right back in the woods
behind Henderson, still locked in a heated kiss that redefines
every other kiss we’ve ever shared.

What we just experienced was exhilarating.
We dove through time and space, and took back the power that
Celestra stole long ago from our people. Celestra may hold the seat
of government, but now, with their own blood, we’re about to
reclaim what’s rightfully ours.

Laken pulls back and takes a look at me
through this new lens.

“I feel so close to you.” Her lips rubber
band into a smile then that sadness she wears like a mask returns
from nowhere. “Wes?” She looks up at me in earnest as if our entire
relationship hinged on what she’s about to ask. “Do you think
there’s any way to free those people trapped in there? Maybe
Celestra could get some of their own to volunteer blood in exchange
of those innocent lives? I’m sure there are a ton of hero’s ready
to fill their shoes, just like Logan did tonight to spare that
girl.”

“This is why I love you. You’re an angel in
the truest sense.” I push out a dry smile. “Of course, none of us
want them to suffer. I’d be the first to set them free. It’s
just—we don’t get to make the rules. These rivalries, Laken,
they’re as old as time. There’s not a lot we can change. And I’ll
be honest, it doesn’t thrill me you’re toting Logan as some hero.”
I purse my lips at the thought. “He’s the same asshole who brought
his buddy to Ephemeral and tried to rearrange my limbs.”

Her eyes widen with the newfound
revelation.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him and
Skyla.” I press a kiss over her cheek. “Rumor has it they’re made
of gold. Come on,” I say, pulling her back in the direction of the
party. “Let’s see what we missed.”

“Were we gone long?”

“Nope. We were in a Treble—a portal of time
that stays open just for the two of us.”

“A Treble huh?” More like
trouble
.

“I heard that.” I rattle her hand a little,
and she lets out a laugh.

I love you, Wesley Parker
. She sighs
while biting down a smile.

My stomach lurches, but I don’t correct
her.

I love you, too, Laken Anderson
.

Her smile fades with the sentiment, and now
I feel like crap for bringing it up.

She pulls me in close and studies me as if
she’s seeing me for the very first time.

One day
—she gives a brief
nod—
either you or I will find out we were wrong. And when you
do, I expect a full apology.

I hold back a laugh because I know she’s not
teasing, but damn she’s cute while embroiled in her delusion.

I’ll apologize to you until I’m blue in
the face for anything you want,
I say.
But I swear to you,
Laken—you’re safe. You were never kidnaped, and I never knew you as
any other person. I would never string you along in that way just
to get you in my bed
.
I have far too much respect for
you
. I give a stern look, hoping she’ll read between the
lines.

Laken tickles my ribs and laughs.
And
when you do apologize
—she inverts her bottom lip and lets it
out by way of her teeth—
I suggest you get down on your knees and
beg my forgiveness
.

“I’ll get down on my knees a lot sooner than
that and for entirely different reasons.” I blow it out like a
promise before finding her lips with mine.

Laken and I are unified in soul and spirit
with only one thing left for us to explore. I can’t wait to dive
into Laken, love her with every ounce of strength my body can
afford.

“I heard that.” She rattles my hand and
gives an impish grin.

“I was hoping you would.” I bow down and
meet her lips again. Laken blesses me with a careful kiss while
soft moans of ecstasy escape her. But it’s the wall she’s putting
up around her thoughts that makes me wonder what exactly it is
she’s trying to hide.

Inside Henderson Hall, the party has gone
from zero to superhero. Every comic book character known to geekdom
has arrived in number and is trying out his or her dance moves
while drunk off their asses.

“Everyone’s wrecked,” Laken shouts over the
music.

I’d offer to take her to my room and ask her
to help out with the hard-on blooming in my jeans, but she already
mentioned Halloween wasn’t her holiday of choice for sleeping with
me for the very first time. I still don’t believe she slept with
Miles Richards. That guy gives assholes everywhere a bad name.
There’s no way she would have slept with him in her right mind.
Then again she did get tanked and entice the entire basketball team
just in time to get herself kicked out of Rycroft. And I sort of
find that hard to believe as well.

“Hey, Wes.” Kresley latches onto me, rolling
her head back before walloping me with a wet, sloppy kiss.

“Geez.” I push her off. “What the hell
happened? You guys dunk your heads in a vat of vodka?”

“Lighten up.” She cuts a hard look to Laken.
“Looks like your little princess has you believing you’re too good
for the rest of us now.”

“And what the hell are you supposed to be?”
Laken examines her scantily clad leather and lace get up, her tall
knee-high boots and vamped up makeup.

“A naughty witch.” Kres gets in her face and
swivels her neck. “One who likes to hunt down vapid cheerleaders
and feed them to her flying monkeys for breakfast.”

“Oh, I see. So you opted for no costume.”
Laken is quick with the comeback. “Have you seen Hattie?” She
cranes her neck in twelve different directions. I wonder if she’ll
feel different about Hattie now that she’s been to the tunnels?

Hattie seems nice enough, but she’s a
Celestra, and each one of them is a natural born enemy. It’s about
time Laken starts to see things that way, too. Especially where
Coop is concerned.

“Yeah, I did.” Kres exaggerates a sad face.
“She’s upstairs with a noose around her neck—said she was going to
do everyone a favor and hang herself at midnight.”

“I’d better find her.” Laken checks her
phone before zipping it back in her skirt. “She really misses her
family. This is all overwhelming for her.” She hikes up on the
balls of her feet and presses a kiss against my lips. “Maybe we can
hang out later? You can teach me a few tricks, and I’ll give you a
treat.” She bats her lashes at me.

Holy shit.

I rattle out a dry laugh. “It’s on, girl.” I
land my lips over hers and plunge my tongue into her mouth in one
smooth move.

God, I love you, Wes.

I love you, too, Laken
.

She darts off into the crowd as the strobe
lights kick into high gear. Any second now I’m expecting half a
dozen people to start in on seizures and truthfully their dance
moves might improve.

“So how are things going with the two of
you?” Kres stands next to me, pretending to people watch when we
both know the only thing she’s interested in observing is
misery.

“Things are going great, not that it’s any
of your business.” I scan the room for signs of Fletch or Blaine,
hell I’d take Edinger at this point to get away from Kres.

“It’s not my business? I thought we were
friends, Wes.” She leans in. “You know me. If I know for a fact one
of my
friends
is getting hurt then I make it my business to
protect them.”

“I don’t need your protection.” I spot
Blaine by the entry and start to head over.

Kres yanks me back by the sleeve and shoves
her phone in my face—it’s a picture of Laken and Coop locked at the
lips, her leg is hiked up in the back like she’s enjoying the hell
out of it.

My body solidifies. My insides grind.

“That was tonight,” she says, pointing out
the date on the facebook update.

“Marky Flanders,” I say, reading the name
above the post. Shit. I take the phone from her and examine Laken
in her cheer uniform, Coop in his football garb. The update reads,
the perfect couple
.

My heart turns to lead, my blood to
concrete.

Cooper Flanders is going to die, and I’m
going to make sure it looks like an unfortunate accident.

Happy Halloween, Coop.

It’s going to be your last.

Laken

The wind whistles and howls as fractured cackles
echo throughout campus at this late hour. I run up the hill and
crest over the ridge just south of the giant boulders that sit in a
clearing.

I send a quick text to Coop.
Where are
you?

Right behind you.

I spin on my heels to find his expansive
shoulder span, his happy-to-see-me grin.

“Coop!” I jump up and hug him as if we had
been separated for generations—as if death had interceded, and we
were being reunited after an entire lifetime apart.

“It’s okay. I got you. You did good.” He
presses a kiss in my neck and nuzzles into me a moment. It’s sweet
like this with Coop, safe. No pretenses, no lies—not a single
secret lingers between us. “Wes knows,” he whispers. His features
soften as if he were sorry to convey the news.

“Knows what?” An explosion of panic fills
me, and I’m not sure why.

“That you’ve been taking blood from me. He
knows you can read his mind—I guess he’s known for a while.” He
steadies his eyes over me. “It’s a long story.”

Shit.

“Excuse me?” An impatient voice calls from
behind.

We turn to find Hattie in her Ephemeral
cheer uniform, looking more than a little disgusted by our bold
show of affection.

“We’re just friends.” I spit it out so fast
it sounds like the excuse it is. “Special friends.”

Hattie gives a coy smile.

“I found
my
special friend tonight.”
That wicked gleam returns to her eyes, and for a moment my stomach
pinches at the thought of not trusting her again.

“If it’s Kresley or Grayson I might have to
educate you on what a true friend is,” I say only partially
kidding. Those girls qualify as the training grounds for the future
bitches of America and not much else.

“I’m talking about, Flynn.” She shakes her
head, and her ponytail coils in a single ringlet in the back. “He
asked me to find you. He said he needed to talk to the both of you
but not to tell anyone else.”

“Hattie!” I rush over to her.

“Where is he?” Coop darts a glance into the
forest in a fit of frustration. “Is he all right?”

She shrinks a little as if she knows he’s
anything but all right.

“God—he’s not dead is he?”

“I don’t think he’s dead.” Hattie inverts
her perfect bowtie lips as if she wasn’t entirely telling the
truth.

“Shit.” Cooper stamps it out because we’re
both thinking the same thing.

What Flynn might be going through is a lot
more complicated than death.

“Can you take us to him?” I ask, trying to
restrain myself from freaking out.

“Oh yes.” She heads in the direction of the
woods. “He’s got new friends and everything.”

Coop and I exchange looks.