Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (12 page)

“I didn’t realize Jonathon’s family was so close to yours until he told me,” she said, attempting a short conversation, but I hesitated
to continue. It wasn’t something I wanted to expose to everyone.

“I’m really gl
ad you stopped by,” I said.

H
er cheeks rose with her smile. “Me, too.”

I opened her car door. “I’ll see you again.”

She stared at the gesture as if she couldn’t comprehend it, and I let my hand drop off of the vehicle. I didn’t know what she wanted from me. She seemed interested, but then she acted as confused as I already felt.

“Get some rest, Eric,” she said, climbing into her car.

“I will,” I promised, shutting her door. She met eyes with me through the tinted windows, and the shade seemed to change her blue eyes into the purple ones I had seen when I first met her. I wanted to kiss her, but the car jumped as it shifted into reverse.

I stepped back, shoving my hands into my pockets as she backed out of my driveway.
Her headlights blinded me as they cut through the dark and disappeared through the trees. That’s when I sensed him.

“She doesn’t remember Noah,” I said, knowing Jonathon had appeared next to me. He had already melted back into his human form.

“So, I was right,” he said.

M
y jaw locked. I didn’t want to say it aloud because there was a chance she would never remember those things. It was a risk we knew of when she agreed to it, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept.

“Do you think she’
ll figure it out?” I asked.

“She could.”

“This could be a problem,” I said.

Jonathon sat down on the sidewalk.
“It already is.” He was more willing to speak the truth than I was.

“What should I do?”
Jessica was coming around me, and there was nothing I could do, even if I wanted to. “I don’t know how she feels something for me when she doesn’t even know who she was.”

“Who she is,” Jonathon corrected, laying his arms on his knees. “And I think both of you always knew.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. “Last semester,” he began. “You like to pretend you didn’t know
who she was until you saw her human face, but you did.”

“I didn’t.”

“I’ve never seen you open up to another student, even when they begged you to,” he pointed out. “She never gave up on you, and you eventually gave into her.” Jonathon leaned backwards as if he couldn’t stay still. “You both knew it. You just denied the truth.”

I wanted to argue again, but I couldn’t
. I thought about the time she woke me up in my car, the time I asked her about adoption. I suspected her then, but she dismissed me, and I accepted her answer without another thought. Maybe Jonathon was right. We always knew.

“Everyone should’ve realized
you were the first descendant from the beginning,” Jonathon continued. “You were always more powerful than the rest of us.”

I tho
ught back to our childhood − all the times I succeeded in training before anyone else. I figured it was talent, nothing more, and I was wrong. “The elders must have had suspicions,” I said.

“I know I did,” he said, and he
flashed a grin. “Don’t look so shocked.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telli
ng me this now.”

H
e dropped his face. His glasses slid down his nose, and he pushed them back up. “I’m tired of seeing you this way,” he said. “You used to be excited to be the descendant—”

“Then
, I grew up and realized what responsibility was.”

He shook his head.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?”

I wanted to punch him, but h
is words were too quiet to start a fight over my maturity. “I like to think I understand it.” Especially after seeing Darthon.

“I don’t think we can,” Jonathon said. “Not now.”

“Not when I’m a human,” I joked, but Jonathon’s expression didn’t budge.

“Being human isn’t that bad,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“I can’t paint when I’m a shade.
” He glared at the darkness as if it were a cracked mirror. “Have I ever told you that?

I swallowed my nerves. “No.”

His eyes crinkled, and he shoulders rose. He seemed more like Pierce despite his human appearance. “There are things only humans are capable of,” he said, standing up to leave me to my thoughts. “Just remember that.”

Jessica

We were beneath the willow tree, and the heat of the day lingered on my bare skin. I stood between the dangling leaves, breathing in the cooling night air like it could cool off my sunburn, but nothing stopped the humid heat. A pound of hairspray couldn’t keep my curls down.

H
is fingertips skimmed the nape of my neck. His lips lingered on my shoulder, and chills ran down my arm.

“What are you doing?”

He wrapped his arm around my waist. I knew who it was without seeing his face. The boy from my dreams.

“En
joying this,” he whispered.

It wasn’t the voice I was expecting.

I spun around, nearly smacking him with my sudden movements. His sleepy face was tanned with sunlight and red with happiness, but I was still in denial. I had to look up to meet his eyes, and his height made me as dizzy as his identity.

Eric Welborn.

…

I woke from the dream in a way I never had before. I wasn’t scared, but I wasn’t dreaming of the boy I had seen so many times before. I was drea
ming of the one I was visiting.

I jumped out of bed and rushed to my bathroom. I twisted my wrist
to turn on the faucet and splashed water on my cheeks. The images remained, and I opened my eyes, blinking away water droplets to stare at my reflection.

My hair was black.

I fell over, smacking my head on the wall, and scrambled back to my feet. In the glass was the reflection I’d been used to my entire life, but my round face was blotchy and dripping. My curly hair was frizzing from the water.

I sucked in a breath and slumped on the countertop. Crystal and R
obb were right. My dreams were affecting more than my sleep. My vision was warped, my imagination was out of control, and my heart was obsessed with a man I had only seen in my sleep.

Eric Welborn was a differen
t story. Why I dreamt of him was unknown to me. I had spent a lot of time worrying about him, but I didn’t think I let him consume my thoughts as much as I obviously had.

The fantasized kiss
was stolen time from the dreams I wanted to figure out. Even with a shake of my head, I couldn’t get the images out of my mind. Eric Welborn was overwhelming. If I wanted to have my other dreams again, I would have to avoid him.

Jessica

Everything was reminding me of Eric − the teacher’s green shirt, the heat blasting from the ceiling, the smooth desk in front of me, the empty seat next to me. I couldn’t get my mind off of him, and it didn’t help that everyone seemed to be talking about his arrival.

“He should’ve taken the opportunity to drop out.” The girl spoke behind me without any clue that Eric was now one of my friends.

“I know,” her friend agreed. “I really don’t understand why he keeps coming back.”

“No one does.”

I ignored their words and watched the clock, tapping my fingernails against the desk. It seemed like everyone had already seen him and his injuries. I didn’t think he looked that bad, considering the accident. His black eye was the worst part, but his internal injuries were the most detrimental. I hated to think about the pain he was in, but I hated to think of how I dreamt of him any more than I already had.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were excited for this class.”

The voice controlled me.

I stopped tapping my fingernails, and I straightened up, looking
into the eyes of the boy who had kissed me in dreamland.

“You’re back.” I blurted it out.

Eric was right in front of me, and the entire classroom had dropped their voices to whispers. He didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he slipped into his chair with an ease that suggested he had never been injured at all. I wanted to know how he remained calm all of the time.

“They never stop talking,
do they?” he joked, gesturing his head at the girls behind us. Apparently, I was wrong. He had heard everything.

“I guess not.
”

“How much did I miss?” he asked.

I tried to ignore his lips as he talked. The dream was distracting me more than I hoped.

He pulled
out a notebook from his backpack, and his shoulders shifted beneath his black shirt. His words dissipated until he stared at me. His black eye looked darker against the color of his clothes. “Jessica?”

“What?”

He cocked a grin, and I was suddenly relieved that he hadn’t lost any teeth in the accident. “I asked how much I missed.”

A blush crept up my neck, and I turned to the front of the classroom. “Not that much,” I said, but I didn’t know. I couldn’t collect my thoughts. “I’m sure Ms. Hinkel will want to see you.”

“Speaking of which—” His voice faded as our teacher entered the classroom. Her focus immediately landed on him, and she waved him up to her desk.

I studied his walk, hal
f-expecting a limp, but he was fine. How someone could survive crashing at speeds over a hundred miles per hour was beyond me. He was a walking miracle.

“We’ll start class in a few minutes,” Ms. Hinkel announced, and everyone erupted into chatter. This time, no one spoke of Eric, and I wondered if everyone knew how good he was at eavesdropping.

“Jess.” Crystal swung into Eric’s chair at the opportunity to talk. Her lip piercing matched her fluorescent clothes. “Robb’s parents are going out tomorrow night. He wants us to come over.”

I glanced
at his empty seat. He was missing more school than usual. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” she said, waving her hand around. “But he’s really excited to have the house to himself. It never happens.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll have to check with my mom, but I think I can come over.”

“Great.” She was glowing.

“What’s going on?” I asked, suspicious of her lightened appearance. She always had an attitude in school.

“Zac called me last night.”

“And?”

“He wants to
go out sometime,” she said.

I patted her knee. “That’s awesome.”

“I’m excited,” she said, kicking her feet like a child. I had never seen her as happy as she was now. “We haven’t made the plans yet, but I hope it’s soon. He says he has good news.”

My stomach twisted at the words. I didn’t know Zac, but it was hard for me to imagine any news
coming from him was good.

“Maybe he’ll come over
to Robb’s,” she continued.

M
y eye twitched. I rubbed it, and I opened my eyes to Crystal’s mouth hanging open. She was facing Eric, and he didn’t look as happy as he had before.

“Can I have my seat back?” he asked in
a low tone.

Crystal leapt up, leaving without another word. By the way she reacted, it was hard to remember they used to be friends.

He sat down so suddenly that his chair moved backwards. I wondered if he remembered what he had said in the hospital about Zac and Robb, but I didn’t want to ask.

“You okay, Jessica?”
His whisper was barely audible.

“Of course.”

His gaze landed on the blank notebook in front of us. “You really are a terrible liar,” he said as the teacher took over the classroom’s attention.

Eric was right. I wasn’t okay. I was more worried about Crystal dat
ing Zac than I wanted to admit.

Eric

The sun was setting on Hayworth, and the usually golden glow was gray and cold. It hovered over the still trees, and I breathed in the dense air. I knew the feeling. Rain was coming, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it would be the last time before the transition to snow. Winter was coming earlier than usual.

The realization hit me as soon as her energy did. It was electric, but it was dull, and I knew Camille was in my father’s office. Darkness followed it, and the hair on my arms stood up. Whatever was happening in my house was big, and I didn’t know about it.

I rushed inside, but Mindy and Noah were nowhere in sight. They were gone, confirming my thoughts, and I ignored the overwhelming sensation to transform. If the elders were in my house, they could handle my identity.

“What’s going on?” I began talking before I even had the door open.