Seclusion (10 page)

Damen smiled, and I was
stunned for a second and forgot what we were talking about. He looked at home
in this huge vehicle.

“Disneyland seems cool,” he
said.

“You’ve never been?”

“Too many people in one
area for me.”

“That sucks.”

Damen shrugged as he pulled
around the first hill into a little valley. There was a section of grass and
desert trees. It was a mini oasis in the vast, dry land, mostly desert flowers
and about fifteen rock piles about three feet away from each other. The trees
surrounded the area, and the brush hid it. If someone was just driving by, they
wouldn’t see it.

“Wow, this place is cool! I
see why you come here.”

“I think it’s actually a
graveyard from what I can tell. I don’t know why it’s out here so far from
everything, or why there aren’t any official gravestones. Maybe it’s old, but
it’s odd that it’s somewhat maintained. I haven’t seen anyone here while I’ve
been here,” he said.

“A graveyard?” I shouted,
and jumped over to where he stood. I had been standing directly in front of one
of the rock piles. “Wonderful!” I shrieked.

He laughed, put his hand on
my back, and pushed me toward the back of the graveyard. It was nice outside,
if you could get past the humidity; I was wishing I had worn less clothing.

He gave me a wink. “I
agree. Remember, less clothing next time.”

“Ugh, are you flirting?
‘Cause it’s just embarrassing me.”

Why’d I say that?
I felt witchy from the
anxiety of the situation, and I wasn’t used to hanging out with someone like
Damen.

“Sorry, since we are so far
from the school I can’t hear anything except you, and all my senses are tuned
into your thoughts. I can’t stop it, but I am trying.”

“Okay, sorry. I’m a little
tense being around you.”

Damen’s lips formed a
lopsided grin. It was still light out, and I guessed we’d have a few hours
before we headed back. He pulled a huge plaid blanket out of his backpack and
laid it facing a little stream in the sun between some trees. I had a hard time
not focusing on his muscles flexing as he spread the blanket out. I found my
mind wondering what he looked like under his thin shirt. I had to shake myself
out of my daydream and tried to focus on a rock instead.

“How sweet, a picnic.”

I sat down and started
pulling out the food. He just grunted and mumbled something about the jock. We
started eating our food and discussing what we should try first.

“I think our best option is
to be touching, since that’s sorta a prerequisite for my ability,” I said.

“Yeah, I figured as much.
Your boyfriend isn’t going to freak, is he?”

“Mmm, well I wasn’t
planning on going into details about what we’re doing.”

Damen chuckled.

“How am I doing protecting
my thoughts with you so far today?” I asked.

He looked at me. “Well, I
can see your walls. I know I could kick and they’d fall over, but like I said
I’m attempting to be polite today.”

“Lucky me,” I said, but I
was mostly serious.

“Okay, well, I did allow
myself one compliment when you first saw me. I figured you’d like my real clothes,”
he said, giving me that stupid, sexy grin.

I was so nervous, and in a
weird way. This was like an odd date – he got dressed up sorta, and he made
some flirty suggestions toward me. I could feel myself getting warmer and
blushing.

“Calm down, Rae. You’re not
the only girl who can’t stop the lustful thoughts in my presence.”

Was he serious?

“I’m used to it.
Unfortunately, most girls don’t get past that, which makes for an easy fling.”

You would think he was a
conceited douche, but he made his gorgeousness sound like a drag. The worst
part is that I believed him.

“As much as I appreciate
the play by play, can we just get started?” I grumbled. I noticed my heart
trembling a little when I replayed his strong voice using my aunt’s nickname
for me in my head.

I held my hands out,
waiting for him. “Before we start, can I try something really quickly?” I
asked.

“You’re not going to be
looking into my soul, are you? You might not like what you see,” he mumbled.

“Well, I won’t need to try
for that,” I said.

Damen shoved his strong,
warm hands under mine, almost like a caress under my palms, sending my stomach
into flutters. His hands fit around mine perfectly, and it felt natural, which
surprised me. Instantly, I got glimpses of a sad little boy, and some cabin in
a forest, and someone in pain. Then I saw myself through him, and I could feel
his feelings for me. There was yearning, irritation, anger and frustration. I
could not read much else due to overwhelming pain and dizziness. I decided to
try my other ability. I could instantly feel something changing. I focused all
my strength on that broken part. I had no idea what I was doing, except I knew
it was working. My vision began blurring, so I closed my eyes and focused
harder. Then Damen pushed back and I felt a jolt and everything went dark.

*
* *

DAMEN

I pulled back from the
pain. What the hell was she doing?
I should’ve used my power to figure out
what she was trying. I guess I was distracted by her. That’s what I get for
trusting someone
. I shook off the mental and physical shock. I opened my
eyes and the horror I felt was instantaneous – she was out cold. What did I do?

“RAEGAN? RAEGAN!” I gently
pushed her hair back from her face and felt for a pulse. Sure enough, there it
was. The relief flooded through my chest. I lifted her up and placed her in the
front seat of the jeep.

I pulled out my cell and
called the medical office. In my mind, I could see the nurse preparing a bed
and setting up an IV.
That’s odd…I’m still too far from the school to hear her
.
She was calling the doctor and Taylor. I called the guard shack to let them
know that they should let me in since it was an emergency. I drove so fast that
we were back in five minutes. I pulled in front of the emergency entrance,
jumped out, and carried Raegan in.

I was angry, but I knew I
couldn’t let the rage out yet. I brought her in and laid her down. The nurse
did a full exam.

“Looks like she just passed
out. She might wake up in shock. Will you grab those blankets and cover her
while I grab the smelling salts?”

Suddenly, I noticed that I
was no longer in pain, and I could tell what everyone in the whole school was
doing and thinking. I could focus on one person easily enough, or I could shut
out everyone. That had never been possible. Suddenly, I was pissed.

“She’s waking up. She wants
water,” I said to the nurse.

“Wait, tell me what
happened. Where are you going? What do I tell her?” she asked with an accusing
tone.

“Call Chase in 506 and
Elsie in 402. I need to go,” I said through the door jamb.

*
* *

“Damen?”

I woke up in a stark white
room with an older blonde lady leaning over me.

“Oh honey, it’s okay.
Here’s a blanket. You’re going to be just fine. You just passed out.”

“How’d I get here?”

Suddenly, I heard Damen’s
voice in my head. “
Duh, I brought you there.”

 
“You brought me here? What
happened? Where are you?”

At the same time, the nurse
said, “Oh dear, I didn’t bring you here, and I was hoping you could tell me
what happened. That boy just ran out.”

In the back of my mind, I
could hear Damen cussing.

“Whoa, can you yell a
little quieter? My head hurts,” I said.

“Oh sweetie, sorry, I’ll
get you some hot tea,” the nurse said.

I was alone in the
infirmary, and yet I could hear Damen’s sexy, clear voice. I could tell he was
forcing himself to be calm for my benefit.

“Do you understand what’s
happened?”

“No, and why can I hear
you?”
I
asked in my head.

“
You’ve linked us. We
are both telepathic, and when you healed me you connected us.”

I could feel his anger, and
I saw flashes of red in his brain. He was upset that I had hurt myself trying
to heal him.

“Mm…maybe I’m not done
healing you, and that’s why we are still connected?”

“We’ll talk later. Come
over tonight after your groupies come.”

I could see that he knew
Chase, Elsie, and Connor were walking down the hall.

“I suggest for our sanity,
we keep this new event to ourselves,”
he said.

“Okay, tonight! Wait, don’t
we have a curfew?”
I
asked.

“I don’t have a suite
officer due to my abilities. I have a quad to myself. Plus, I’ll know if we’re
in trouble. Just get here when you can, Rae.”

I could tell he was
aggravated and busy thinking a million things at once. I tried to put up a
wall, but it was more like a sheer curtain. His nickname for me made me smile
to myself. I tried to focus on my guests.

“OMG!!!” Elsie screamed as
she ran in and hugged me, and then held my hand.

“What the hell happened?
I’m going to kill that dumb ass!” Chase said.

I could hear chuckling in
the back of my head. I shut my curtain hard, and I heard a grunt. Connor was
holding a caramel Frappuccino and handed it over, smiling weakly.

“Chase, calm down. I’m
fine. We were just doing the assignment, and I passed out. Damen brought me
here, and the nurse said I was fine, so he left. It was probably just the
humidity, guys,” I said.

“What a JERK! I can’t
believe he just left you here,” he said.

I immediately felt flames
on the other side of the curtain.

“Could you stop already?
That’s so rude!” I said out loud.

“Crap, I thought that was
to you, Damen.”

“Okay. I’m sorry, Raegan,”
Chase said. He grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes, giving me a kiss on
the forehead. “I’m just glad you’re alright,” he said.

“Nurse Brown, do you think
we can take Raegan back to our room?” Elsie asked.

“Yes, but make sure you get
her some orange juice, maybe a cookie. Raegan, stop by tomorrow so I can fill
out an incident report.”

“Sure thing,” I replied.

I let my friends drag me
back to my room, put a chick flick on, and bring me orange juice and cookies. I
curled up next to Chase, who had his arm wrapped around me and was stroking my
back. I felt so safe and comfortable. We were halfway through the movie when
Elsie paused it.

“Hey guys, so sorry, it’s
already ten. You boys have to go now.”

We said our goodbyes and
planned to meet for breakfast before class.

“Chase, after class
tomorrow, I have a meeting with Taylor.”

“Oh, you do? That’s fine, I
think I’m going to go shoot some hoops with the boys if you are feeling
better,” he said as I gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“Raegan, Connor and I are
going to take a walk. I know you need your rest. I’ll be back soon,” Elsie
said.

“Okay, bye guys.”

As I lay on the couch I
realized I hadn’t heard anything from the other side of my curtain for a while.
I wonder if this was all a mistake. I bet I can’t hear Damen anymore
. I
pushed my makeshift curtain out of the way and there was Damen’s voice. I could
hear the words he was reading: “A telepathic link has never been recorded, but
there are documents that speculate that two people with a close connection can
purposely, or accidently, become connected. This kind of connection is
extremely rare. Some researchers believe that the only way to permanently break
the link is for one or both parties to die. This kind of connection can
strengthen the other’s powers, but can also drain the other’s powers as well.
It is also speculated that there would be power struggles if the parties were
to be separated by long distances.”

“Whoa, that’s interesting!
What are you reading?”

I immediately heard a
response.
“Now who’s eavesdropping? Are you coming down here or what? I
would like to sleep at some point tonight.”

“Okay, okay. I need to
write E. a note.”

“Tell her you’re with me.
She will understand,”
he said.

“She’ll understand what?
That I’m sneaking out to see you when I just said good night to Chase?”

“Oh, well hurry and write
your note. You can make it here safely. No one’s in the halls, and your boy toy
is snoring already.”

I could feel that
everything Damen said was true. I scribbled a note to E. saying that I was
going to grab some food and maybe a book, and that I’d be home in an hour or
so.