FORBIDDEN (22 page)

“You’re right,” was all she offered.

I sighed and got off the bed. “I should let you get ready for school. I’ll see you in English first period, then?”

She rolled her eyes and smiled. “See you then.”

There was no way I was going to fall into her game that easy. We both knew what homecoming meant, but I wanted to hold out a little bit before asking her. I slid open her window and grabbed my hoodie off the chair beside it. Stepping out into the air, I let myself drop a few feet before flying off.

It was hard not to feel a little bit of excitement, even with things still shrouded in mystery. Hannah and I were together. That had to count for something. I smiled to myself as I turned over on my back and just enjoyed actually feeling the sun’s rays.

A hand clenched my ankle and pulled me from cloud nine by yanking me toward the earth. I didn’t turn to face whatever demon had come to steal my one sliver of normalcy. Instead, I just kicked him straight in the face with my free foot.

“Good God, man! That’s the last time I ever do anything nice for you. I think you broke my nose.”

I sighed. “Ethan, are you really that thick, or do you just have a death wish?”

After everything else that had gone on the past few days, most intelligent people would have known better than to sneak up on me, but not Ethan. Even with blood pouring out of his nose, he still managed to grin. “You’re such a twitchy one. No boogey men today, just me.”

“You’d count for one.”

He rolled his eyes as we landed in the field behind the high school. “Hey, like I said, don’t send me on little reconnaissance missions if you don’t want me to get my kicks by scaring the crap out of you. Anyway, I did some digging. You interested, or not?”

“Depends on what you found out. Good or bad?”

“Depends on what you think is good and bad. I believe this falls under ‘juicy’ no matter what.”

“What’d you find out?”

Ethan cleared his throat, then looked around like he was genuinely afraid. That was a first for him. “Look, it turns out Reina isn’t always the cleanest cut of the Guardians. You’d be better off finding someone else to help you out. Not that she’s bad, it’s just that, well, let’s just say she hangs with more Guards than just us,” he motioned with his finger between the two of us. “But what I found out was this: Hannah is a pure soul. I didn’t even know those were real. Do you know how much trouble you’re in for keeping a pure soul past their passing date? The fellas downstairs aren’t too happy with you.”

So the news had spread of Hannah’s category. This wasn’t looking promising. I nodded, trying to get Ethan to continue.

“Well, like I was saying. People are pretty pissed that you’ve turned the tide on them. There’s talk that they’re going to do some dirty work to even the playing field again.”

“How do you mean?”

Ethan shrugged. “I have no clue, man. From what I’ve heard, though, nothing is past them. You’re gonna be hard pressed to keep Hannah safe if they’re going to get involved. You’re going to need a lot of help.”

My heart dropped. “Help that you can’t provide?”

Ethan turned white. “Look, I’m here to help, no doubt. But last I heard, they’re talking about sending Hunters.”

My whole body went cold. “Hunters?”

“It’s that serious, my friend. You need to talk to a Guardian who’s dealt with those things. We’ve only heard stories.”

I nodded. “You know any Guardians we can trust with all of this?”

“You mean that won’t kill us on the spot for telling them?”

“That’d be a good idea.”

Ethan ran his hands through his hair, obviously flustered. “Dude, the only one that comes to mind is Owen’s dad, but I don’t know where he is. Plus, asking Owen would mean I was dead meat.”

“Owen’s dad is Guardian?”

Ethan grinned sarcastically. “Yeah, a little bit of a night and day, huh? That’s why Owen’s all salty about being a Guard. He messed up in life. Can’t even see his dad now. I guess they were pretty close before everything, but that’s all I know. Anyway, the only way you’re getting that info is if you ask him yourself. He has to answer to a transitioner, even if it’s you.”

“So what are you proposing? That I just stroll up to Owen and be like, ‘Hey buddy, where’s your old man nowadays?’ You just said I’m not a popular guy. Plus, don’t you remember Owen trying to get us to stay out of it in the first place? He tried to help us. I can’t imagine he’s going to be too sympathetic to our cause now.”

Ethan laughed. “No, you’re not too popular, but Owen is still technically your superior until you’re a Guardian. You know he comes around every few weeks. I can request that he come, then you can just conveniently be in the area.”

“That has so many things wrong with it. It’s a death wish.”

“Yeah, well, why don’t you come up with a better idea?”

He had a point. There wasn’t much we could do besides do a bait and switch like he was talking about. I shuddered, my thoughts once again going to Reina. Why was she such a force? “What am I supposed to do with Reina until then?”

“Avoid her like the plague, I guess. Doesn’t seem right to avoid someone that good looking, but you always were weird,” Ethan said, grinning slyly.

“She’s all yours,” I said as he dodged my punch. He sat down on the school’s rooftop. The bell had just rung for first period, but we ignored it. Saving two girls who weren’t supposed to be alive was a bit more pressing than human high school at the moment. I smiled at the idea of running away with Hannah, but it disappeared as soon as it came. There wasn’t a place on earth safe for her right now.

Ethan cocked his head and threw a rock in my direction. “What are you grinning about over there, dorkasaurus?”

“Nothing feasible.”

“Good. Just get used to that,” he sighed. “You really care about her, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

He nodded thoughtfully. That was one of the few times I’d seen him genuinely think about anything. “You know, as stupid as I think you are, it seems like it works. You two, I mean. Plus, it seems like it’s been good for you. Well, obviously it’s been good for you. You’re transitioning,” he looked up at me and smiled. It looked sincere. “I’m happy for you. That’s why I’m willing to help you. If you think Hannah and Angie are key to something, let’s keep them looked after. It doesn’t seem like they’re telling us much in the land down under, anyway. I say screw ‘em and go rogue for the Guardians.”

That was the first thing that Ethan had ever said that made any sense to me. Maybe there was hope for him still.

Ethan walked to the edge of the rooftop and peered over. “Dude! Principal Williams is down there. Dare me to hock a loogie and try to hit him in his bald spot?”

I sighed, and a second later I tackled Ethan over the ledge before he could spit on Principal Williams. We went untraceable to humans and fought our way back up into the warm air as we rolled and punched one another. Hannah would have rolled her eyes. Angie would have just yelled at us to cut it out.

For us, it was the perfect time to ignore the immense duty we’d taken on for just a brief second.

Ethan whooped as he caught my right leg and pulled me out of the dive I’d gone into. He flung me with force higher into the sky and darted upwards to meet me. I dodged just in time and put him in a headlock. We hurtled to the ground and pulled out of our descent just in time, rolling along the leaf-ridden ground. Ethan laughed as he settled against a nearby tree. “It’s been a while since I’ve had fun.”

I winked at him. “You should try it once in a while. Maybe Angie wouldn’t think you were such a miserable excuse for a person if you were nicer.”

He looked at me, shocked. His tone was hollow and surprisingly remorseful. “I’m not a person, Levi. I’m dead.”

“Yeah, but you’re still a person. You’re talking, moving, interacting. That’s what a person does, right?”

Ethan shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s not the same. I’m dead. You’re dead. We’re different than them. You would probably be better off to remember that, too.” He stood up and brushed himself off. “Back to work?”

I nodded, more aware of the stark differences between Hannah and I than ever before. “Back to work. How do you wanna do this?”

“I’m not sure. Why don’t I call Owen to Hannah’s place tonight and –”

“Absolutely not! I’m not having him anywhere near Hannah.”

“He’s not gonna hurt her, dude. Why would he do that?”

I threw my arms up in frustration. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you just got done telling me earlier that everyone’s painted a target on her? I’m not letting a Guard, Fallen, or any other unmentionable thing near her if I can help it.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Whatever. What I was going to say was I could convince Owen we needed to do an intervention to make you see the light. Explain she touched you, then say you’re not thinking straight. It’d get you off the hook, he’d come, and we could find out where his dad is. Now was that really that bad of an idea?”

It wasn’t, but I still didn’t like it. Nothing we had planned thus far was a great idea, though. It all seemed to be coming from the seat of Ethan’s pants, and that was somewhere I’d rather not venture for a whole host of reasons.

I shuddered at the mental image that I created, but held my hands up in defeat. “Fine. We’ll do it your way, but you better have my back if things get ugly.”

“No problem, dude. I told you, screw the Guards. It’s not like they’ve done anything for me anyway. Does tonight at nine work?”

They may not have done anything for him or me, but the vast amount of damage they could do
to
us wasn’t something I wanted to think about.

TWENTY-TWO

I slinked to the far side of the class and took my usual seat beside Hannah in Biology. She jumped in shock when I became visible again and punched me. “Where have you been?” She hissed under her breath.

“Busy doing Guard-ish things. You know, saving you from certain doom and things of that nature. No big deal. Just enjoy continuing to breathe.”

She grinned and poked me in the ribs before going back to her notes. I smiled at her flirtatious nature. She wasn’t as strong as she was portraying herself to be, but I wouldn’t let her know that she’d been talking in her sleep. The things she said made my heart hurt – that is, if I had one. Did I have one? It was hard to tell sometimes, especially after what Ethan said earlier.

“Why the frown?” Hannah whispered.

“Huh?” I hadn’t even realized my emotions were being displayed for the world. I needed to get used to this again. There was so much to adjust to as I transitioned.

“You’re frowning.”

Mr. Allen cut across our hushed conversation. “Anything you want to share with the class, Levi? I notice you’re late. Do you have a note?”

I pulled out the note Ethan had scrawled before I came in, Mr. Williams’ signature perfectly forged. That guy came in handy. Mr. Allen pursed his lips and went back to his lecture.

With the class underway again, Hannah persisted. “Why the frown?”

“No reason, just focusing on stuff.”