Incubus (13 page)

do you ask?”

“No reason.” When I glanced back at the girls, they were already hurrying into the building, out of

sight. Only Amber paused at the door. The look in her face sent a chill down my spine. Her face could

have been carved from granite. Her eyes flickered to look across the quad. A moment later they

returned to my face and her lips pulled back in a smile that was more of a sneer.

I turned, trying to follow her gaze. I could just make out a group of guys beyond the dining hall,

gathered at the edge of the faculty parking lot at the other end of campus.

“What is that?” I murmured, my heart suddenly leaping into my throat. Lucas saw the group a

second later. Before he could answer, I was running across campus.

As I got closer, I could hear the jeers of the crowd. They were looking at something on the ground.

I reached the edge of the crowd and shouldered a few guys out of the way.

“Dude, take it easy,” one of them said, rubbing his arm.

I elbowed my way through to the heart of the group. Two guys from the soccer team were holding

Royal down on the ground while Rick ran a buzzing razor over his head, sheering off the last of his

hair.

“
Stop,
” I screamed.

Rick stood, grinning. “My work here is done.” The two guys holding Royal down released him and

stood, giving Rick high-fives. Someone in the crowd gave a loud
Wooo!

“Braedyn?” Lucas arrived, winded. The crowd was already starting to disperse.

“What is wrong with you?!” I spun on Rick.

“Chill out,” Rick said. “It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”

“Why?” I was so angry I could barely speak. “Why would you do this?”

Rick smiled a secretive smile and shrugged. “Let’s just say I owe someone a favor.”

I lunged for Rick, ready to tear that smile off his face.

“Don’t,” Royal said hoarsely from the ground behind me. He had pulled himself up to his knees,

but his hands were shaking. A few stubbly patches of hair crisscrossed his bald head, but my eyes

latched onto the red, raw places where the razor had sheared skin. A few spots of blood stood out

starkly against his pale white scalp.

“Later,” Rick said, walking away with a spring in his step. The last of his friends joined him,

turning their backs on us with a last snicker.

I dropped to the ground beside Royal. His shirt was a rumpled mess of dirt and grass stains. I saw a

small rip at the shoulder, evidence of the futile struggle against his tormentors. He was staring down.

The wind stirred drifts of light brown hair along the pavement. Royal lifted a shaking hand to touch

his head. What he found there seemed to break something inside him.

“I don’t think—” he looked at me, his brown eyes wide. He cleared his voice, trying for a measure

of calm. “Tell Cassie I had to go home. I’ll see her tomorrow.”

“Royal,” I tried to catch hold of his hand, but Royal pulled away from me with more strength than

I expected. I stood to follow him into the parking lot. Lucas grabbed me by the shoulder, holding me

back.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at Lucas. “Let me go.”

“I think—I think you should leave him alone for now,” he said. His eyes, tight with concern,

followed Royal across the faculty parking lot toward the soccer field. “I don’t think he wants anyone

to see him like this.”

“But I’m not anyone,” I said. “I’m his friend.” As I heard the words leave my lips, I froze inside.

I’m his friend.

Amber. Amber had done this. A strange calm came over me, as though my mind had pulled some

kind of emergency switch, disconnecting my emotions from my body. Like some part of me knew I

couldn’t be trusted to act with this helpless rage boiling inside of me.

But when I spotted her, hovering in the doorway to the girl’s locker room, I moved into action.

Amber saw me coming and ducked inside the building.

“Braedyn?” Lucas chased after me, but drew up short when I darted into the girl’s locker room.

“Braedyn!”

I ignored Lucas, determined to settle this score now. I skidded into the empty locker room. Amber

was sitting calmly on a bench, waiting for me.

“Leave my friends alone,” I growled, advancing on her.

“It sucks, doesn’t it?” Amber purred. “Not being able to help your friends when someone messes

with them. Like Parker.”

I stopped. “Parker.”

“I know you did something to him,” Amber said, standing. “You messed with his head. No.
With

his mind.
” She walked toward me, curtains of ice blond hair framing her face.

“He hurt Cassie,” I said. “My friends have done nothing to you.”

“So it was revenge.”

“It was a mistake.” Even as I said it, I felt a twinge inside.

“But you admit it.”

Something was terribly wrong. I was the one with the supernatural powers, why was Amber the

one controlling the situation?
Just like middle school,
I thought. I winced, remembering the years I’d

been powerless before Amber’s taunts. I could protect myself now. It’d be easy. So why wasn’t I

acting?

Because it would be the end of my life at Coronado Prep,
I told myself.

“How did you do it?” Amber walked right up to me, so close I took a step backwards involuntarily.

“Did you say something to him? Did you kiss him?” I tried to turn and walk away but Amber shoved

me back into a bank of lockers. “I want some answers, demon.”

“Leave me alone,” I said. My voice sounded weak, and I tried to muster some confidence. “Leave

us all alone.”

“Or what? You can’t do anything to me. I’m a girl.”

“You have no idea what I can do,” I mumbled.

“Oh? You want to fight me?” She flipped her hair back from her shoulders, as though giving me a

cleaner target. “Go ahead. You’ll be expelled before the lunch bell rings.”

“I don’t have to hit you to hurt you,” I said, dropping my voice.

“Sticks and stones,” Amber shrugged. “You think I care what you say to me?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Enlighten me.” Amber’s eyes gleamed hungrily. When I didn’t say anything, her grin deepened.

She brushed some imaginary lint off my shoulder. “That’s what I thought. You’re not as powerful as

you’d like me to believe, are you?”

I stepped forward. Startled, Amber fell back a few paces. “You want to know what I did to

Parker?” I asked, my voice low and threatening. “I found him in a dream and planted a seed in his

sleeping mind.”

“A seed?” Amber tried to scoff at this, but her voice wavered.

“Into that seed, I channeled my anger, my hatred for Parker. It was easy; all I had to do was think

about Cassie, and what he’d done to her. The seed grew heavier and heavier, until I couldn’t hold it

any longer. And I left it to grow in Parker’s mind like some kind of slow-acting time bomb. It worked

on him, until those thoughts I poured into the seed became his thoughts.” I took another step forward

and this time Amber stumbled back away from me.

“He tried to kill himself—” Amber stared at me. For the first time she seemed aware, really aware

of what she was looking at.

“Now you know why,” I answered, feeling sick. What I’d done to Parker—I hadn’t known what the

consequences would be. Yes, I wanted him to suffer for breaking Cassie’s heart. I never wanted him to

try to take his own life. By a lucky twist of fate, he’d survived the suicide attempt. But the incident

had left a stain, literally. I’d returned to my dream garden after planting the seed to find the rose

petals had darkened, red reaching farther toward the heart of each rose, a clear symbol of my

transgression. “You don’t want me for an enemy,” I said. “Trust me.”

Amber shrank back against the locker bay. “I told you,” she breathed. “I told you she was a

demon.”

An icy wash of fear poured down my back. I turned and saw Ally emerging from an empty locker

behind me.

Amber had set me up.

I spun on Amber, who was already regaining her composure. “I think,” she said, forcing her

shoulders back. “If you could hurt me in a dream, you would have done it already.”

I blanched. Amber was right—but not for the reasons she thought. I wouldn’t risk my own

humanity to punish some self-absorbed prom queen, no matter how satisfying it might feel at the time.

Amber, watching my face closely for any reaction, smiled as I confirmed her suspicion.

“That’s what I thought,” she said.

“Leave my friends out of this,” I warned.

“Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it?” She asked. “You want me to leave them alone, you know what

you have to do.”

Amber and Ally walked smugly out of the locker room, turning their backs on me confidently.

Unless I wanted to sacrifice my future I was no threat to them, and now they knew it.

I skipped lunch. I didn’t have it in me to share the dining hall with Amber.

Instead, I retreated back to the edge of the faculty parking lot, sitting under an aspen tree and

playing the scene from this morning over and over in my mind.

I was a wreck when Lucas found me. He’d smuggled a plate of food out of the dining hall for me,

but I wasn’t hungry. After I told him so, he nodded.

“I figured it was worth a shot,” he said, joining me at the base of the Aspen tree.

“What’s the word on Rick and the others?” We’d been waiting for an announcement from the

headmaster.

“This isn’t going to make you feel any better,” Lucas said.

“Why? What happened?”

“They’re claiming it was just a prank that got out of control.”

“What?! The held him down and shaved his head completely bald!”

“I know. But apparently Fiedler believes them. They got a three-day suspension.”

“That’s it?” I pulled back to read Lucas’s face, stunned. It was barely a slap on the wrist.

“That’s it.” He didn’t look any happier about it than I was. The bell rang, announcing the end of

lunch. We had five minutes to get to fifth period. Lucas stood, offering me his hand. I let him help me

stand, and dusted leaves and dirt off the back of my plaid skirt.

“Cassie. Now Royal,” I said. I looked at Lucas, my worry evident in my gaze.

Lucas pulled me close. “I’d like to see her try to mess with me.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know. I think I’d look kind of badass with a shaved head.”

I smiled, but my heart wasn’t in it.

“Speak of the devil,” I heard Lucas mumble.

I looked up and saw Amber walking across the quad towards us. Behind her, Ally walked hand-in-

hand with Parker. I looked around, desperate to avoid her, but we were standing at the edge of campus

—there was nowhere to hide. Amber’s eyes caught on me.

An irrational swell of panic kicked up inside me - all I wanted was to disappear. And just like that,

my Lilitu instinct kicked in. Leathery wings—invisible to most mortal eyes—materialized around me,

cloaking me from view.

Lucas uttered a startled curse under his breath. “Braedyn? What are you doing?” he whispered.

But my eyes were locked on Amber. She froze, staring at me, stricken. Ally and Parker came to a

stop beside her, sharing a strange look. I saw Ally ask Amber something. Amber barely reacted.

“Amber can see me,” I hissed. “She’s a
spotter.
” My skin crawled. I felt naked, laid bare under her

gaze.

Lucas turned and saw Amber’s face. “Oh, man. You go. I’ll deal with Amber.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I ran, feeling Amber’s eyes on me all the way into the South Hall.

The hall was empty; most kids were already in fifth period, waiting for the bell to start class.

I pulled the door closed behind me and slumped against the wall, uncloaking.

I’d thought the hall was empty, but I’d been wrong. Someone gave a strangled cry. I looked up.

Seth was there, staring at me, horrified.

“Seth.” I held out my hands, trying to soothe him with the gesture.

Seth jerked back. His eyes raked over my face, but whatever he saw there did nothing to calm him.

He turned away from me and ran down the hall. So much for keeping my secret. There was no going

back. Seth knew I was Lilitu.

Chapter 6

Seth was nowhere to be seen after school that day.

“I should have run after him, tried to do some damage control,” I said, full of self-recrimination.