Strange Magic (11 page)

          “Aren’t you glad you came?” she asked.

          “Yes, I had fun.”

          It was like I had locked a part of me away.  I was going to deal with it later, and so was Duncan.

          On Monday, Duncan didn’t sit with us at lunch.  I wasn’t surprised, since he had told me in English that he was now going to really and truly keep his distance from me.  The way he was looking at me almost made me forget that we were sitting in a classroom.

          “What you said.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  If Anna finds out how I feel…”

          I just watched him without saying anything.  I was locking all of this away into that same secret place in the back of my mind.

          “Don’t be mad, Susannah.”

          “I’m not mad.”

          The bell rang, and class began.  I heard Duncan sigh as I turned my attention to the teacher, and I didn’t look at him again until class was over.  As the other students filed out of the classroom, Duncan and I gazed at each other silently.  I was the one who finally looked away as I stood up and took a step toward the door.

          Then I turned to look at him one last time.  “See you later, maybe.”

          I didn’t think about him again until Caitlin mentioned him at lunch.  “Why isn’t Duncan sitting with us?”

          I shrugged.

          “I wanted to invite him to my birthday party.  It’s in three weeks.”  She turned to Anna.  “I hope that’s not short notice for you.”

          “I wouldn’t miss it.”

          “Great!  I guess I’ll talk to Duncan later.  I wonder where he’s at.  Is he at school today?”

          “Yes,” I said.  “I saw him in English.”

          Surprisingly, Anna said nothing on the subject.  She steered the conversation to other topics, and I contributed actively to the discussion.  When I thought about it later, I would be amazed at the way I was able to focus exclusively on what was going on at the moment.  In some ways, it was like taking a test.  I put all other thoughts out of my mind.

          What was brewing below the surface was a different story.  All day I walked around calm and in control, unaware that pent up feelings were building inside of me.  Caitlin had rehearsals after school, and I was taking the bus home.  That didn’t explain why I was walking in the opposite direction from the exit.  Anna and Brad passed me in the hallway, and I said bye to them.  Then I continued down the hall until I found Duncan at his locker.

          “How do you feel?”

          His eyes scanned the hallway.  “Susannah, I thought I explained—“

          “I just saw her leave with Brad.  Now answer me.  How do you feel?”

          “What?”

          “You said that you don’t want Anna to know how you feel.  So, how do you feel?”

          Duncan turned away from me to close his locker.  “I don’t want to talk about that.”

          “Why?  You said that I can tell you anything, and I did.  I told you, even though I didn’t want to.  I told you how I feel about you.  Now you owe me the truth.  I want to know, no matter what it is.  I want to know how you feel.”

          “Susannah, please just leave it alone.”

          “Duncan—“

          “No!”  He started to walk away.

          I leaned back against the locker I was standing next to and concentrated on his thoughts.  He turned back and closed the distance between us in two long strides.  His hand slammed into the locker above me as he leaned over me.

          “I told you not to do that!”

          I stared at him in shock.  “S-sorry.  I just wanted to know.”

          “You can’t do that.  If Anna picks up on it…”

          “So what if she does?  It’s something we all share.”

          Duncan’s laugh was harsh.  “Anna doesn’t like to share.”  He leaned down so that his face was the only thing in my field of vision.  “Listen to me carefully, Susannah.  She can’t know about your abilities.”

          I caught my breath.  Suddenly, Anna was the last thing on my mind.  The way we were standing right now mirrored the kiss that he had projected into my head to show me how visions worked.  I found myself wanting to experience that kiss for real.  Duncan’s pale eyes had darkened, and his breathing had changed.  His gaze shifted to my mouth.  I couldn’t seem to control my breathing anymore, and I felt so weak that I was sure the locker was the only thing keeping me from falling down.  His mouth descended toward mine until I could feel his warm breath.

          Someone laughed.  “Poor Duncan,” Mandy said as she walked past us.  “Still pretending.”

          Duncan startled and straightened up to his full height.  He took a step back, and his voice was husky when he spoke.  “I’m sorry, Susannah.  I—“

          I cut him off when I took a step forward and raised my arms to grab hold of his neck and pull his head down.  It was everything that I had dreamed it would be.  As soon as my lips touched his, Duncan seemed to become just as lost in the kiss as I was.  I don’t know how long it went on, but when he finally managed to pull away the entire hallway was empty.

          “Susannah,” he rasped.  “We can’t.”

          My lips were still tingling.  “Duncan,” I breathed.

          “God, Susannah.”  He ran a hand through his hair.  “Don’t look at me like that.  It’s already hard enough to stay away from you.”

          I was thrilled to hear him say that.  “Why do you have to stay away from me?”  Sudden doubt crept in.  “You don’t still want her back, do you?”

          “I’ve never wanted her back!  Mom and I would have taken off again when she showed up here, but we couldn’t leave you alone with her.”

          “Wait,” I said.  “You mean you left California because of Anna?”

          Duncan was pacing now.  “I never thought she would follow me here.  I thought she’d just move on to her next victim.”

          “Victim?  Are you saying she’s a stalker?  Have you been to the police?”

          “The police can’t deal with her.  Besides, she hasn’t broken any laws.  That doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous.”

          A teacher came walking down the hallway.  “You two waiting for a ride?”

          I looked at Duncan.  “I missed the bus.”

          He nodded at the teacher.  “I’ll give her a ride home.”

          As we walked outside, I looked at Duncan with concern.  “How is she dangerous?”

          His answer was evasive.  “If we’re lucky, you’ll never have to find out.”

          “Duncan,” I said carefully.  “I don’t know what happened between you and Anna, but she’s been nothing but nice to me.”

          “First assess the situation, and then use it to your advantage.”

          We were approaching his car.  “What?”

          He took out his keys and unlocked the doors.  “It’s something her father taught her.  He was talking about business, but Anna lives her whole life that way.”

          We got into the car, and Duncan drove out of the parking lot.  “Her dad has been grooming her to take over the family business from a young age.  He taught her how to play golf and even took her on business trips with him all over the world.  She told me that she spent more time around adults than kids while she was growing up.  Her dad was always proud of how impressed they were by her manners.”

          “It’s nice that her dad spent so much time with her.  Caitlin’s dad is a workaholic too, but she hardly ever sees him.”

          “I don’t know if nice is the word,” Duncan said.  “He taught her that you have to be ruthless to get what you want.”

          “Do you think he’s going overboard, because he doesn’t have a son?”

          “He actually does have a son from his first marriage.  He’s a teacher at an elementary school.  Mr. Thorne decided that he’s too soft, doesn’t have the killer instinct.  Not like Anna.”

          “Where’s her mother?” I asked.

          “She was on her fifth marriage the last I heard.  Anna hasn’t seen her since she was a little.  A kid would have slowed down her party lifestyle.  Plus, Mr. Thorne thought that she would be a bad influence on Anna.”

          I felt kind of sorry for Anna.  Her life hadn’t been so perfect after all.  “Does her dad know that she can read minds?”

          “No.  Anna learned about that from one of her nannies.  Mr. Thorne hit the roof when he found her reading a book about psychic abilities.  He fired the woman for exposing Anna to what he called complete nonsense.  After that she researched it secretly on her own.”

          We were both lost in our own thoughts until Duncan pulled into my driveway and turned off the car.  “I’m going to walk you to the door, and then we have to go back to only seeing each other at school.  Just like I told you this morning.”

          I put my hand on his arm to keep him from getting out of the car.  He looked down at my hand and then up into my eyes.  I leaned closer to him.

          “Duncan,” I said softly.

          He drew in a ragged breath.  “No, we have to stop this.”  His eyes, though, were saying something completely different.  I watched as the pale blue turned darker again.

          Excitement coursed through me as I watched him lose his battle with himself.  In the next instant he was kissing me.  This time it was even more incredible, because he deepened the kiss until we were both breathless.

          He pulled back and looked at me with accusing eyes.  “No fair,” he said between breaths.

          I waited until I had caught my breath.  “First assess the situation.  Then use it to your advantage.”

          “That’s not funny, Susannah.”

          “You’re right.  It’s not funny.  I think we have something special, but it’s no good because your ex girlfriend doesn’t approve.”

          “You don’t understand,” he said.

          “I’ve never felt this way before.  Of course, I don’t have your
experience
.”

          Duncan flinched at my emphasis on that last word.  “It was all a lie.  Nothing that I felt for her was real, because she was never the person I thought she was.”

          “Duncan.”  I tried to touch his hand, but he pulled back.  “So what now?  You can’t ever be in another relationship?”

          “Not now.  She already suspects that you’re important to me.  I don’t want to give her anymore proof.  I’m hoping that she’ll get bored here and leave.”

          “I’m important to you?”

          “How can you not already know that?” Duncan asked.

          “Maybe because you keep pushing me away.”

          “You don’t know how hard that is for me,” he said.  “How much I want to be with you.”

          I held his gaze.  “Then be with me.”

          “I can’t!  I won’t be able to hide it.  She’ll see it.”

          “See what?  What will she see, Duncan?”

          “That I love you.”

          That left me speechless.  I sat in stunned silence and stared at him with huge eyes.  My heart was so full, it felt like it would burst.