Five: Out of the Dark (17 page)

hankfully, Johnathan didn’t pull another all-nighter. He showed up shortly before the football heroes. Halli and I were preparing dinner in the kitchen/bar area when he came moping down the stairs. I was too happy to see him safe and sound to be mad about the yelling incident, but I pretended to be mad anyway. He had to pay at least a little bit for his behavior, didn’t he?

He shuffled to the bar and sat down across from where I stood. He looked me briefly in the eyes and then looked down at the bar before speaking.

“Paige,” he began. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I get mad so easily. I feel like I’m on the verge of losing my mind most of the time.”

I didn’t say anything. I felt bad for him, of course. But he needed to suffer just a little bit longer.

He looked up at me again. The sadness in his eyes almost made me cave in, but I looked away, to the lettuce I was chopping. I knew I was acting a little bit like a brat, but I couldn’t stop myself. He had
yelled
at me. And then he’d taken off. Again.

“Paige, please don’t be mad. I didn’t mean it. I’m so sorry.” His hands twitched like he wanted to reach out and touch me. That did it.

I put the knife down and reached over and laid my hand on his. He hesitated and almost pulled away from my touch—ouch, that hurt right in the center of my chest. I gripped a little harder and said, “I forgive you. Just don’t let it happen again, butthead.” He released the breath he’d been holding and gave my hand a squeeze. He even smiled a little before he looked closer at it and frowned.

“What did you do to your hand, Paige?” he asked accusingly.

“Well, I … a … I hit the table.” I couldn’t think of a good story to tell him, so I just stuck with the truth, as embarrassing as it was.

He turned my hand to better view the damage. There was a bruise forming on the pinky side and the tender flesh there had started to swell a little. “Hmm,” he said beneath his breath, “I guess I’m not the only one with anger issues.” He surprised me then by lifting my hand to his mouth and gently kissing the injured side. His lips were so soft. My heart leapt to my throat and stayed there, pounding out an erratic rhythm.

His head whipped up. In his eyes I saw confusion and a little bit of fear.
Had he felt the change in the beat of my heart?
I remembered what Halli read about a werewolf’s senses becoming stronger. My face flushed red. I didn’t want him to know the effect his touch had on me, but I was reluctant to end the physical contact.

Johnathan’s pupils dilated until they completely filled his irises. He inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring, and jerked his hands away from mine.

“Can I help you two with anything?” he asked, his voice strained.

“No, I think we’ve just about got everything done,” Halli said.

Johnathan sat and watched as we finished up. Alec and Seth’s timing was perfect—they came bounding down the stairs just as we were dishing up the tacos we’d just made. They were completely
wired.
You would’ve thought two and a half hours of football practice and a lengthy walk home would have relaxed them a little. It didn’t. They sat on either side of Johnathan and talked nonstop while they inhaled about five tacos each. It was pretty disgusting. Bits of half-chewed food flew everywhere.

“You shoulda’ seen the two runs I made. It was awesome! They couldn’t get me down,” Alec spouted.

“
They
couldn’t, but
I
did,” Seth interjected. “I laid you flat on your butt!”

“Just once. The first run no one even came close. I have speed and skills you can’t even touch, my friend. Speed and skills.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “I would’ve had you then, too, if you hadn’t been on the other side of the field.”

I let them go on like this for another ten minutes before asking, “So … did either of you do any investigative work? As I recall, that
was
your excuse for doing this.”

They looked at each other a little sheepishly. “Well,” Alec began, “not
really
. You have to give us a chance to get to know some of the guys first, Paige.”

“Yeah, we’ll get on it tomorrow. There’s a home game on Friday, and Coach said we can play even though we’ll only have been to two practices! You guys
have
to come watch … so you can work the crowd angle, of course.”

Halli and I smiled at each other. Johnathan tried to hide his unhappiness with a weak smile. He clapped Seth on the shoulder and said, “Of course we’re gonna be there … and not
just
to ‘work the crowd angle’.”

“Okay, enough about football,” I said. “Let’s talk about what we learned today at the school. Who wants to start?”

I did want to talk about our observations on our first day, but I mostly wanted to steer the conversation away from football. It was causing too much distress for Johnathan.

“It seems as though you had the most interesting day,” Seth said, “so you go first. Tell these guys what happened.”

I filled them in. I told them about Mrs. C’s fun-filled-classroom-of-horrors; about what the girl, Ashley, told me in the nurse’s office; and—I saved the best for last—I told them all about the illustrious Mr. Jorgenson and our stimulating conversation. Johnathan was not very happy about the fact that I fried the evil-principal’s computer, though. I just shrugged when he asked me what I was thinking.

“Paige! If he’s as dripping with evil as you said, he probably knows all about magic and its effect on technology. You need to be sure to stay far away from him. Keep a low profile and stay out of trouble! Okay?” Johnathan fumed. His eyes flickered with a yellow hue.

I cringed.

“Okay, John. I’ll try … but I have a feeling he’s not going to leave me alone,” I said quietly. I shouldn’t have said that. Johnathan’s eyes grew even more yellow and he clenched his fists on the bar. I could have sworn he almost
growled
. I had no idea what to say or do to calm him down. Halli came to the rescue.

“Alec, your turn. Tell us how your day went,” she said, all cool and calm. As everyone turned their attention to Alec, I chanced a peak at Johnathan. He was taking deep breaths with his eyes closed, and his fists slowly unclenched. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to his normal dark chocolate color, except for the specks of yellow that had appeared a couple of weeks ago.

“My day was boring compared to Paige’s,” Alec said dejectedly. “The only thing that even came close to being exciting—besides football practice—was when a boy in my French class fell asleep and woke up screaming. He didn’t even act embarrassed, he just stared into space and cried for the rest of class. The teacher completely ignored him. Acted like nothing unusual had happened. It was weird.”

Seth and Johnathan didn’t have much to add. Johnathan had been able to become a little friendly with a boy in his geometry class. And, of course, the cheerleaders at lunch.
Grrr.

The hour was late and we all had to be up early in the morning. I hated the early-morning thing already, and for that one reason more than any other, I wanted to figure things out. Soon.

The next day at school passed without much excitement. I was able to avoid Mr. Jorgenson and was pretty excited to find Johnathan waiting for me at my locker after school so we could walk home together. He kept a frustrating distance between us, though. I was afraid he wouldn’t try to hold my hand again until after I found a way to cure the lycanthropy tainting his mind and body. His near loss of control at the racing of my heart the night before had obviously scared both of us. I, however, was still willing to take a chance—even if it meant death by gorgeous-werewolf-boy for me. I sidestepped closer to him and shrugged my shoulder into his arm. What I really wanted to do was grab his hand, but I was too chicken—not because of fear of how he might react, but because … well, just because. Being in love was a new experience for me, and the idea of making a romantic gesture made my palms sweat and my heart race.

He smiled down at me. That made my heart skip a few beats. I decided to try something a little bolder. His smile was worth it. I put my arm through his, like a Victorian lady might do when walking with a gentleman friend who was courting her. That did it. His muscles tightened. His bicep squeezed my hand next to his ribcage. I heard his sharp intake of breath and before I knew what was happening he swung his body in front of mine, grabbed my upper arms with his hands, and spun me into a small alleyway between two buildings. He pushed me against the brick wall of one of those buildings.

Johnathan’s eyes dilated again, pools of darkness looking down into mine. His skin was warm and flushed and his nostrils flared with each quick breath. He leaned his head down until his forehead touched mine. He shook; his grip on my arms tightened.

“Johnathan.” My voice squeaked, embarrassing. “You’re scaring me a little.”

That did something to partially transport him back to reality. He loosened his grip on my arms and closed his eyes. His breath came in quick little pants. He stayed in that position for an eternal minute before pulling his head away from mine. The dilation of his pupils was no longer a complete takeover of his irises, but his eyes flashed yellow-gold where they should have been dark brown. He stared at the triangular spot where my neck and collar bone met. I’m sure he could see my heartbeat, strong and fast, in whatever vein lies close to the surface there. He squeezed his eyes shut again and refused to take the breath his lungs hungered for. He released his grip on my arms and slowly backed away from me until his backside smacked into the wall opposite the one I leaned on. In slow motion, he slid down the wall until he was in a sitting-fetal position, his arms wrapped around his bent legs and his head bowed into his knees.

I took a step toward him.

“Don’t!” he snapped without looking up. “Don’t come near me.” He must have heard the strangled gasp that escaped my spasming throat, because he added, a little less gruffly, “Not right now. Just give me a minute, ’kay?”

I stood in stunned silence. I knew I should just leave him to collect himself, but I wanted to try to understand. I couldn’t just walk away from him, even if that’s what he wanted. So I just stood there like an idiot.

He mumbled something. I stayed where I was, scared to invoke another hotheaded carnal canine response from him. But I tapped into my magic just a little to enhance my hearing. I wanted to hear what he was mumbling. I didn’t think of it as eavesdropping. He knew I was standing there. I could hear my dad’s gentle voice saying,
if you have to rationalize your actions, then you’re probably doing something you shouldn’t be doing
. I did it anyway.

“I can’t hurt someone I love again. I can’t. Not again. Never again.”

I felt his despair in the pit of my stomach. He had some extreme deep-rooted secrets, I already knew that, and I wondered in desperation who he’d hurt before, what had happened. My guilt got the better of me and I allowed my hearing to return to normal.

After several minutes, Johnathan took in a great lungful of air and raised his head. He wouldn’t—or couldn’t—look at me. “Sit down a minute … please. Over there,” he added, pointing to the other side of the small alley.

I did as he asked.

He still wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Please, forgive me.”

His voice broke, and it felt like something inside me broke along with it. I held it together, though. My instincts told me Johnathan needed me to be strong. So that’s exactly what I did. No tears, just strength.

“It’s okay, I’m okay. No harm, no foul, right?” I was proud my voice shook only a little.

“No, it isn’t okay! I’m turning into an animal! I can’t control my feelings or my impulses. I
swear
I can hear and feel when your heart speeds up. I can
smell
your excitement and your … fear. And … it makes me want to … do things.” He rubbed his eyes as if trying to rid them of some vile sight.

I sat there in silence. I’d been waiting for him to tell me what was going on inside him, but I realized I wasn’t ready to hear what he was telling me.