The Reaping of Norah Bentley (29 page)

“Still. They’re probably wondering where we are.”

He dropped his eyes back down to my insistent gaze. “Yeah. Okay.”

That giant raincloud did look like it was moving away from us. But somehow, the sky opened up right over the beach before we were even halfway back—I mean
way
up. We sprinted as fast as we could back to the house, but by the time we got there we were both completely drenched.

Luke’s face was flushed a brilliant shade of red, his hair a disheveled, frizzy mess; I probably didn’t look much better. We stood under the cover of the back porch canopy for a minute, laughing, trying to catch our breath while we watched the rain falling, each drop shimmering a quick, tiny reflection of the dark sky before soaking into the ground.

“The caught-in-the-rain look,” Luke started once he’d caught his breath. “It’s not real good on you.”

“Look who’s talking,” I said. “You look like a drowned rat.”

“How sweet.”

We laughed and teased all the way up the steps, were still doing it when we walked inside. But it stopped there, our voices dying on the threshold.

Rachel’s voice floated over from the kitchen, breaking the silence. “What took you guys so long?” she asked. I just shrugged; Luke answered by informing her it was raining outside, if she hadn’t noticed, and then asking her to go get us some towels.

Eli came around the corner and stopped. He smiled, but his eyes were on the door behind me. He didn’t move again until I started to shrug my way out of Luke’s oversized jacket, and then he moved to my side without speaking and helped me take it off. He handed it back to Luke, seemingly indifferent to the raindrops still dripping from it and splashing into a puddle on the tiled entryway floor. Then he walked over and grabbed his sweatshirt off the back of the sofa, came back and offered it to me before I even had a chance to start shivering.

“This might be a little warmer,” he said. His tone was impossible to read, but I couldn’t help feeling like I’d done something wrong.

“Thanks.” I took it and slipped it over my head, was comforted for a second by the scent of him that clung to it. The sleeves were way too long, and he was helping me roll them up, when his hand fell on the bracelet Luke had given me. He looked down, and jerked back like it had fallen on a hot stove instead. He just stared at it for a minute before quietly asking,

“What is that?”

I was so confused that it took me a second before I could answer. “It’s just…It was a present.”

He looked away from it then, turned to Luke instead of me.

“A present from you?” he asked, his voice filled with tight, coiled aggression.

Luke just smiled.

And then things happened very quickly. In one sweeping motion, Eli pushed me out of the way and dove at Luke, slammed him against the wall and held him there. Rachel came around the corner and gave a little yelp of surprise, and the towels she was holding dropped to the ground as her hands flew to her mouth. Eli never took his cold gaze away from Luke’s smirking face.

“Is this some kind of joke to you?” he asked.

“It’s not the funniest one I’ve ever heard,” Luke said, shoving him away.

Eli stumbled back a few steps. As soon as he regained his footing though, his fist clenched and drew back, and he lunged toward him again—but I jumped in the way and he collided with me instead. He lowered his fist in time, but couldn’t stop completely; I fell back under his weight, and the only reason I didn’t hit the ground was because Luke caught me. I shoved him away and stood up while Eli took a step away from me, shaking his head. I narrowed my eyes at him, fought to keep my voice steady.

“
Stop it.”

“Get out of my way, Norah.”

“You promised!”

“This is different.”

“How is this different?”

Luke’s hand on my arm made me jump. He leaned in close and, even though I couldn’t see his mouth, I could still hear the smirk in his voice when he said,

“He’s just jealous.”

Eli’s jaw clenched as he took a step towards us.

“Get your filthy hands off her,” he said.

“See?” Luke said, his lips brushing my ear. “I told you so.”

I wrenched my arm out of Luke’s grasp and intercepted Eli before he could take another step. My hands against his chest seemed to bring him back to his senses for a second, and at first he didn’t try to fight me. But I could tell he was fighting himself—that he was nearing the ragged edge of his restraint— so I dug my feet in and tried to push him back towards the door. He didn’t budge.

“Just get out of his way,” Luke said. “I’m all for settling this right here and now, if that’s what he wants to do.”

Eli’s lips curved into something cold and sinister, a smile that looked like it belonged to someone else. “I’d like nothing better,” he said.

I didn’t know what else to do. So I did step out of the way—but not before giving Eli one last, angry shove. I went over and snatched my keys off the table.

“You guys want to kill each other? Fine. But I’m leaving. I’m tired of this.” I was hoping to God that Eli would follow me out, that the thought of me leaving him behind would be enough to get him to forget about Luke for a second. I slammed the door as hard as I could on the way out.

The air outside was so heavy and wet that I could barely force it into my lungs. I wasn’t sure if the water shearing off my face was just the rain, or if it was tears, or both; whatever it was, though, it blurred my eyes and made it hard to see the lock on my car door. I was still trying to shove the key in when Eli’s hand closed over my wrist.

“Wait.”

I was glad he was out here, away from Luke, but all I could think to say was:

“Get away from me.”

“Give me the keys.”

I yanked my hand away. “I’m leaving,” I said.

“And I’m driving.”

I looked back towards the house, not sure what I was supposed to do now.

“I didn’t hurt him,” Eli said, “But if I don’t get away from here right now, I
will.
I swear to God I will.”

“You’re crazy,” I said. And he laughed—a hollow, empty sound that added to the shivers the rain was already causing me. I grabbed the bracelet, yanked it so hard that the fastener broke apart and went spinning underneath my car. “It’s just a stupid bracelet,” I said, holding it up in a clenched fist. I wanted to throw it in his face, but instead I just shook it at him and asked, “What the
hell
is wrong with you?”

He jerked his arm towards me, so fast that at first I thought he was trying to hit me. I flinched, and when I opened my eyes again he was rolling up his sleeve to reveal what at first glance looked like a tattoo just above his bicep, its ink dark against his fair skin. But it wasn’t a tattoo. It was more like a scar.

“What is that?”

“It’s my mark,” he said. “All reapers have them.”

My mouth, open and ready to shout at him some more, abruptly closed. I lifted the wooden symbol in my hand, wet from my sweat and the rainwater that had managed to seep in through my fist. With trembling fingers, I turned it sideways and pressed it lightly against his arm, over the scar.

It was a perfect fit.

The whole ride back, Eli’s words were balanced like tiny razors against my skin, cutting a little deeper every time I moved or tried to take a breath.

He knows what I am. Luke knows what I am.

I kept very still. It felt like time had stopped for the entire world, instead of just for me; like it was an eternity before I finally managed to ask,

“What does this mean?” My voice was weak, barely audible over the drone of the engine and the rain pounding against the roof of the car.

“I’m not sure.” Eli didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Nothing good.”

“How? How could he…”

“I knew there was something weird about him from the start,” he said, his fingers gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

“I know. But he said the same thing about you. I thought you were both just—”

“You should have stayed away from him.”

Something like anger unfurled in my chest. “He was—he
is
my best friend. I couldn’t just stay away.”

“Question.”

“
What?”

“Are all your best friends such wonderful liars?”

“He didn’t exactly lie,” I said, my fingernails scraping the worn upholstery of the bucket seat. “He just…he just didn’t tell the whole truth.”

“Lying by omission, then.”

“Oh, like you haven’t been doing the same thing since the day we met!”

He looked over at me then, his gaze piercing. “I’ve told you everything I could,” he said.

“You say that, but for all I know,
everything
you’ve ever said to me was a lie.” The words were coming out on their own now, in a biting voice that didn’t sound anything like mine.

Eli shook his head but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, though; I could see the hurt in his eyes, guarded as they were. And that same hurt moved into my chest, soothed some of the fury building in it. After a minute he very quietly repeated,

“I told you everything I could.”

I turned and focused on the misty world outside my window.

“And I’ve never lied to you,” he added after a minute.

“Well what does it matter, anyway?” I rolled the window down a little ways. Rolled it back up. Rolled it down a little farther and then up again just as quickly, the worn-out pulley whirring softly underneath the door panel. “So he knows what you are,” I said. “So what? It’s not like anybody else is going to believe him if he tries to explain—”

“Try telling that to Sam.”

“Sam doesn’t have to know.”

“You think he can’t find out?” Eli shook his head. “He probably already knows. Trust me—things are about to get a lot more complicated.”

I stared at him for a second, then rocked back against the seat, closed my eyes and lifted my chin. Concentrated on breathing without screaming. “Oh good,” I said. “Because I was starting to think we had it too easy.”

His hand closed over mine on the center console. He stayed quiet after that, and I was tired of talking, too. I wound my fingers a little more tightly through his, leaned over and rested my face against the cold window. It seemed like there should have been a lot left to say, but the silence that accompanied us home was unapologetic.

I didn’t lift my head again until we were back in Sutton Springs, pulling into the driveway of his house. The only reason I lifted it then was so I could turn and look at the cell phone vibrating against my leg. I moved too slowly, though; Eli glanced over and saw the name on its screen before I could grab it.

“What does he want?”

I read the text about four times, just to convince myself that it was really there—that this was all really happening—before I answered, “…He just wants to talk. In person.”

I unhooked my seatbelt. My fingers had already reached for the door handle before the car completely rolled to a stop. I pushed the door open, and was thankful to find the air I stepped out into was a lot lighter here than at the beach. The ground looked drier too, like most of the rain had missed Sutton.

“Just talk?” Eli asked, walking around to my side.

“Yeah.” I didn’t want to say the next part out loud, but I didn’t know how to get around it, either. “He…he said wants me to be alone, though.”

“Not happening.”

“He just wants to explain things, he said he—”

“He can explain anything he wants with me standing beside you.”

“He’s probably afraid you’re going to attack him again!”

“He
should
be afraid.”

“Why are you being like this?” I asked, frustrated. “He didn’t actually
do
anything to me, you know.”

He didn’t reply at first, except to take both of my hands in his and pull me a step closer to him.

“This is all just some misunderstanding,” I said. “If I could just talk to him, maybe he could help us—”

“Help us do
what?”

“I don’t know, I just—”

“I don’t trust him,” Eli said flatly.

“Well I do,” I said. It was a lie, though. I didn’t even realize it as I said it. But the doubtful look on Eli’s face was all it took for me to recognize the same feeling in myself, and then that realization settled into a cold, queasy knot in the pit of my stomach. I kept talking only because I desperately wanted to take my mind off it.

“I told you,” I said. “I told you I’d trust Luke with my life, didn’t I? Nothing’s changed. He probably just wants to talk to me because he’s worried.”

“He has nothing to worry about.”

“But
he
doesn’t know that. If he knows what you are, then he’s probably thinking all kinds of crazy things, he probably just wants to protect me from—” I cut myself off, but I’d already said too much.