The Watchers (29 page)

Margaret would have to get
through me first,
he said firmly
.
He didn’t have to hear the whole sentence to
know what Margaret had said. He obviously knew her well.

If you’re
alive…
I corrected.

I pulled his arm around my shoulders,
ending our private conversation.
“Can you stay for
dinner tonight?” I asked aloud. “I mean…” I made a funny motion
with my hands. “You know…if it’s not too boring watching me eat. I
know Ellen would love to meet you.”

He kissed my cheek. “How could spending time
with you be boring?”

“Was that a rhetorical question?” I
asked.

“I believe it was.”

We walked into the classroom then, our
conversation ending. I ignored the thoughts and images, which were
immediate with our entrance, and took my seat. Even Alex looked at
us curiously, her thoughts full of curiosity.

Daniel started tapping on his desk with his
pen as the boy in front of him turned around to talk to him. He had
his fake charm look on as he talked, but I wasn’t deceived. I
wondered how I had ever missed how much effort it took for him to
act so normal around the others. That brought up another question.
Why did he bother with the charade? With his skills at charm and
lying, he could be doing anything he wanted. Why attend high school
at King’s Cross? Why attend high school at all? Why come here?

I started playing with my necklace as I
thought about this. I knew he and his family liked being close to
nature and having privacy to perform experiments – which often blew
up – but that didn’t seem like reason enough. There had to be a
better explanation.

“Afternoon, everyone!” Mrs. Heart called
happily as she bustled into the room, her arms stacked high with
her books.

A couple of people mumbled replies, but the
majority just kept talking to their neighbors. I sank into my seat
when she started talking about a project she was about to assign,
tuning back in long enough to hear her pair me with Daniel, loving
her for it.

As I stared out the windows, my mind brought
up the memory of the female Watcher’s eyes. How was it possible for
someone to look and feel that evil? She made those demonic dogs
look tame and friendly by comparison. How could any human not be
scared of her? How could any human work for her? Thinking about it,
trying to understand even one thing about the memory, and my role
in it, it took me a while to notice Daniel trying to get my
attention. When he saw me look over, he made a face, obviously
having had to wait a while for me to notice him. He stretched out
his hand across the short aisle, and I took it.

I can’t stay for dinner. Beatrice is going to
have an encounter with the Seekers. Nothing serious, but I want to
be there just in case.

An encounter? That was vague.

Can I come?
My
heart was pounding at the thought.

It’ll be worse if you’re there. They’re just
trying to get a feel for us. They’ve heard a lot about us from
Marcus, and they are realizing that their human helper isn’t
getting them the results they want. They’ll try and pretend they
are just passing through.

Fine
, I
huffed.

He gave me an apologetic, yet unyielding,
look and turned to the front where Mrs. Heart was preparing to hand
out a pop quiz.

Thinking about the vision I had seen in
Daniel’s head, a rash plan formed. If I couldn’t come along on his
adventure into danger, maybe I could, at least, have some time with
him that was just ours. No reading other people’s thoughts, no
worries about the future, or what all the strange things around us
meant, just us being two regular people. I could handle ‘normal’
for a night. As I handed my paper to Mrs. Heart, I formulated
strategies to get him to agree with me. Daniel watched me
suspiciously as I returned to my seat, his green eyes penetrating
and alert. They told me he knew I was up to something, and I knew I
had better be convincing.

*

“I don’t see why it’s a big deal,” I said,
crossing my arms in preparation for a fight.

Daniel was driving me home after school. I
had just suggested my plan to him. I couldn’t tell if he thought it
was inappropriate or if he was scared. I didn’t figure him for
someone afraid to break the rules…but fear seemed wildly unlike him
as well.

“It’s dangerous,” he said.

“It’s not dangerous!” I exclaimed. “It’s the
opposite of dangerous! You’d be there!”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

I tried a different tactic. “I know you’re
lonely, you told me you were.”

“I was,” Daniel admitted.

“If you came over you wouldn’t be alone.”

“A person can be in a room full of people and
be alone, Clare.”

“Only if those people are invisible…or you’re
a poem by Edgar Alan Poe.”

“Was that an outdated reference meant to be
obscure, yet alluring?” he asked.

“Just obscure…”

He looked at the shops we were passing in a
blur, his face thoughtful as he considered my plan. “I don’t
know…”

“Oh, quit being such a girl! If you don’t
come over tonight, I’ll just go wandering around in the forest
again looking for you. Then those Seekers might get a shot at me,
and it would be on your head. You wouldn’t want that kind of guilt
would you?”

His lips pursed. I couldn’t tell if he was
fighting anger or laughter. “I’m pretty sure that’s blackmail.”

“Is it blackmail if I don’t have
incriminating evidence to hang over your head?”

“It’s the term I’m applying to this
situation,” he said irritably.

“Now, if I said I would expose the fact
that you are the son of a fallen angel
that
would be blackmail.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“I think that I’m just shamelessly guilting
you into agreeing to something that’s really not that big of a
deal.”

“Not a big deal to you, maybe.” He pulled to
a stop in front of my house.

“Okay, define ‘big deal’.”

“I’m…not a good person. I don’t…” His hands
twisted the steering wheel in agitated thoughtfulness as he
searched for the right words.

I finally caught up to the point he had been
making. “Daniel, I’ve seen the worst parts of you. I saw the girl
you loved, who hurt you so badly that you probably still think of
her every day. I saw the women you were with. I saw the people you
killed and the darkness you’ve lived in.” I unbuckled my seat belt.
“You spend all your time trying to atone for things in your past,
but I’m not going to be a continued source of that punishment. And
since you’re not going to let me run away to protect you, you’re
stuck with me. ”

He released the steering wheel, sparing it
from certain destruction, and stared at me. We shared a moment of
wordless communication then I leaned over and kissed him. What I
had meant as a brief goodbye kiss changed as he wrapped his arms
around me and drug me onto his lap. His lips were almost desperate.
I caved into the feel of him, my lips just as hungry.

I jumped in surprise when, having gotten into
the moment a little too much, I hit my arm on the car horn. I
laughed and looked for the curious eyes I knew were on us. I saw
the lady next door scowl at us through her kitchen window and
laughed harder. My elbow hit the horn again as I tried to crawl out
of Daniel’s lap.

He stopped me. “I didn’t realize how much of
the…unsavory things you saw.”

“I’m sure you saw some things about me I’d
rather you didn’t.” I climbed back into my seat and grabbed my bag
off the floor. “I’ll see you around…eleven?” I paused. “You can
sneak in without Ellen hearing you, right?”

“I could sneak in, steal all your furniture,
even the bed you were sleeping on, and you’d never know the
difference…until you woke up, at least.”

“Which is why I’m glad you’re on my side.” I
bit my lip as I thought about what he was going to do. “Be
careful…you know, later.”

“Careful is my middle name,” he said doing
his best James Bond impression.

“Seriously.”

“I promise to be careful,” he said brushing
back a strand of hair from my face.

Accepting his word, I got out. He waited for
me to open the front door before he drove away. I watched him go,
noticing that he kept his eyes on the rearview mirror the whole
way. When he was gone, I dropped my bag by the door, feeling sad
that he didn’t know how much goodness he had inside, and went into
the kitchen to make a casserole.

I had almost finished my homework and taken
the casserole out to cool when Ellen came home. She slammed the
door behind her as way of a ‘hello’. I froze as her thoughts,
practically a battering ram, assaulted me. I didn’t get much time
to absorb them before she appeared in the kitchen door. “You were
unconscious! Did you even go out to dinner last night? What
happened in the woods? You tell me right this minute or
I’m…I’m…I’m…”

“Going to ground me and not sign the slip to
get me out of dissecting the pig in biology next year?” I
supplied.

“Yes!”

“I just didn’t want you to worry.”

She crossed to the table and gripped the back
of a chair.

“We don’t have secrets, Clare. Well…we have
secrets, but we’ve always told each other the important things.
This feels wrong.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” I repeated more
forcefully.

“I worry about you all the time, sweetie. One
more thing on the pile isn’t going to change that. Besides, we’re a
team. Mighty Mouse and Wonder Woman. We work together.”

I took a deep breath, smiling a little at the
nicknames we had given each other. “Are you sure you want to
know?”

Her eyes glinted, determined. “Yes.”

I told her the things I had been keeping from
her. As I finished, she sat down in the chair with a dazed look, a
hand on her chest.

“I don’t think I want to know anymore,” she
said. “Can I have a take back?”

I sighed and patted the hand gripping the
table. “There’s no take back on the truth. How did you know about
it anyway?”

“Sam. One of the hunters who was
helping look for Susan, came in this morning for some paperwork on
a claim he’s filing – a faulty rifle took off a toe last month. He
and Sam were talking, and I overheard. Sam said it’s all over town
that you were unconscious, and that Daniel and his friend whisked
you away after you saved Susan.”
Then he
asked me out to dinner, a real dinner in town this Friday, but I
don’t know if I should tell her that.

“You just did,” I said getting up to serve
the casserole.

“Oh. Right.” She kicked off her heels and
pulled down her elegant bun. “You don’t mind do you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“But the other thing…” She bit her lip. I
heard her running through our options, wondering if we should
leave.

I kept my face towards the window as I spoke.
“Our running hasn’t done any good. They’ve been following us for
two years. Two years! I think if we pack up again they’ll just
follow us, and we won’t have the Adamses around to look out for
us.”

“You mean we won’t have Daniel,” she said
pointedly.

“No, I mean the entire family. Beatrice and
Han have been following you to make sure that nothing happens to
you.”

She blushed, and I saw some potentially
embarrassing conversations she’d had with Sam.

“I’m not sure if I like that.”

“Like it or not, it’s going to stay that way
until we get rid of the Seekers. I won’t risk you getting
hurt.”

She laughed, and I heard her stand. She
crossed the kitchen and I felt her arms wrap around my waist. We
stared out the window for a brief moment. “You’re too good for me,”
she whispered in my ear.

“Nah.”

She laughed again and kissed my cheek. “I’m
going to go change.”

“Kay.”

Ellen climbed the stairs and, with a lazy
slam of the door, went into the bathroom. Just as she shut the
door, I heard the front door open. Pausing on my way to the kitchen
table with my plate of food, I listened, but couldn’t hear any
thoughts. That could only mean one thing – the Seekers had come
here after all. Why hadn’t Daniel foreseen this? That was sort of a
big thing to miss. Was someone watching the house now? Did I have
help?

The door closed, and I glanced around for a
weapon. I spotted my Algebra book and picked it up. I backed toward
the door that led into the backyard wanting to lead whoever it was
away from Ellen. At the very least, I could give her a chance to
get away. Or, hopefully, lead whoever it was to one of my new
friends.

I hoisted the book to attack, my heart
pounding in my throat, when I heard the familiar thoughts of Alex
trailing down the hallway like a soft breeze. Relieved, I quickly
set the book down, so she wouldn’t see I had been about to kill her
with math. She would never forgive me for that. I hurried to sit
down to my food, breathing heavier than normal.

I hadn’t realized until Daniel had left that
I was on edge, coiled like a spring and ready to either attack or
run. Susan’s memory was obviously more embedded in my thoughts than
I had realized. It made all the fear I carried around anyways ten
times as noticeable. I took a deep breath as she appeared around
the corner. “Hey…do you want some food? We have plenty.”

“I’m worried,” she said, skipping the usual
pleasantries as she sat.

“What about?”

“Ever since our talk about Amanda, I’ve been
trying to talk to her, or just say ‘hi,’ but she hasn’t been at
school.”

“Since the accident at the pool?” I asked,
remembering the thoughts Amanda had about wishing she had been in
the fire. My stomach sank.