“Yeah, didn’t think so.”
“So,” I sang, sensing a need to change the subject. “What are you gonna do at Tennessee?”
“Architecture.”
I remembered Caleb telling me that’s what he was doing.
“Is that a family business?”
“Mmhmm,” he mumbled around a bite.
I pursed my lips and waited but he didn’t say anything further. So we ate. He asked me about school, why I’d dropped out of everything. Why I hardly came to school anymore and stopped eating lunch with them. This whole time, he thought it had been because of my dumping Chad.
I told him everything. I don’t know why. I just did. Things I didn’t even tell Rebecca and she was the closest thing to a best friend I ever had but I even felt withdrawn from her lately. I told him how my mom left, taking everything of value with her: all our plates and dishes, the money, our savings, my college fund, my parent’s bed. My dad had slept on the couch in the den for ten months. I told him how she used to call me and try to explain how much she had hated her life and everything in it. I told him how my dad was bitter now and spiteful, his life just spiraling down and he was slowly taking me with him. I told him how I had to get a job to help out because my dad lost his.
He listened quietly as he ate. He waited to see if I was done, watching me closely.
“I’m sorry, Mags. Everyone just assumed you’d ditched Chad and just didn’t want to hang out with us anymore. No one knew- I mean, we knew your mom left but the rest...you should have said something.”
“I didn’t know what to say. How do you tell someone that your boyfriend dumped you three days after their mom left and their dad sits in his room and doesn’t even speak to you. No one wanted me around anymore,” I said softly and stared at the ravioli I no longer wanted.
“I wanted you,” he admitted just as softly. I looked up and caught his hazel brown gaze. “I’ve always wanted you. But it was always you and Chad. And now, it’ll be you and Caleb. And not only that, but I’ll have to see you together, everyday, because you’ll be family.”
“Kyle.” I pushed my plate away and began to toy with my hoop earring. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“No.” He sighed roughly and grunted. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I still want to be your friend, Mags. Now I get to be your cousin too.” He forced a grin. “The Jacobson’s are a weird bunch, I’m warning you now but, they are fiercely protective. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Your mom and dad are idiots for leaving you, but you have a new family now.”
I didn’t know whether to smile or run at his comment so I just bit my lip and chuckled under my breath.
“So, you ready to get out of here? Wanna see a movie?”
“Sure. We can’t go back to your house can we?”
“No. Not tonight. There’s gonna be a lot of crap going down tonight at my house with the whole family there. Believe me you don’t want to be there anyway.”
I could beg to differ. Caleb was there and whatever this imprinting this was, it wasn’t a joke. I could still feel his heart beating if I thought real hard about it.
“Ok. What do you wanna see?” I asked as he flagged down Callie for the check.
“Anything you want, even a chick flick if it’ll cheer you up.”
I wrinkled my nose.
“I’m not really into chick flicks. I’m more of a Sci-Fi girl.”
“Ah, you’re gonna fit right in,” he grinned and took my hand to pull me up. “And I know just the movie.”
I let him pull me to the car, again feeling that ping of wrongness for holding his hand, but not before Rebecca and the rest of them saw us. Her eyes bulged and I saw her glance at our hands. Then I saw Chad, sitting in the very back of the group. I should’ve known. That’s why Callie was asking about him.
He was here.
His face was a textbook description of hurt and confusion and anger. He looked like he wanted to stand but thought better of it. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and glared at Kyle. Boy were they all wrong about what was going on but I’m sure it still looked bad. It might have been better if he saw me with Caleb instead, they didn’t know Caleb, but he knew Kyle. This was like betrayal to Chad.
I quickly turned and left the restaurant before any of them could move towards us.
“Kyle. You shouldn’t have done that. Those are your friends. Now Chad’s gonna be all weird around you.”
“I’m leaving and so is he. It’s not like I’m gonna talk to him anymore. We only hung out in our group and at football. I wasn’t really his friend. Besides, from what you just told me back there, he’s a complete idiot anyway.”
“Still.” Then a thought hit me and I pulled him to a stop. “Did you do that on purpose? Did you see him back there?”
“No. But I might have done it on purpose if I had. He’s not worth your time. He cared more about football than you. He proved that when he ended it when you guys could have tried to work out some long distance relationship or something. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I know,” I started as he towed me again. “But that doesn’t mean I want to hurt him on purpose.”
“You’re too sweet, you know that. You can’t let people just do away with you. You are too good for him, even your parents, if they can’t see how great you are.”
He opened my door and put me in, reaching over to do my seatbelt.
“Uh, Kyle, I can do it.”
“Oh. Right.” He smiled bashfully before going to his side. “So, are you a popcorn or candy girl?”
“Popcorn,” I answered.
“Ah,” he groaned and shook his head. “You’re killing me here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, just...you’re pretty awesome.” He gave me a sidelong look at the red light, staring with a little smile and I blushed involuntarily, looking away. “Huh,” he said smiling wider, looking entirely too pleased with himself. “Maybe Caleb’s got some competition after all.”
“Kyle-”
“Ok, I know. I know,” he said, his hands raised in surrender before taking the wheel and turning into our spot in front of the theater.
It was literally two blocks from Pablo’s.
I opened my own door this time, feeling a little more like my old self. I was even starting to wonder why I was taking everything so well. I mean, I just found out there are people out there with powers or abilities or something. Not human. I have bound myself, unintentionally, to one of these people I just met and couldn’t get him out of my mind. Shouldn’t I be freaked?
“Two for Battlestar National, please,” Kyle said to the attendant then smiled at me. “You’re gonna love this. Have you seen Lord of the Rings?”
“Of course,” I scoffed.
“Well, this is nothing like that.”
I laughed and he laughed too. The attendant rolled her eyes as she passed him the tickets. He took them and we made our way in the doors and to the concessions stand. I took off my jacket, stood behind him and waited.
My mind drifted to Caleb. I scolded myself. I’d never been so smitten in my life. I mean, this was borderline boy crazy. I didn’t even remember being like this with Chad. I felt a little foggy thinking of Caleb. I had an urge to leave, right then. Head out the door and straight to Kyle’s where I knew Caleb would be. A lump grew in my throat the more I thought about it. My hands twitched at my sides and I took a deep, steadying breath.
Kyle looked back at me and frowned.
“Don’t think about him, I told you.”
“What’s happening to me?”
“It’s just new. It’ll fade.” He grimaced. “Some.”
“You both keep saying that. What does that mean?”
“Just stop, ok? Don’t think about him and you’ll be fine,” he said irritated.
He turned to place our order and handed me a drink while he squirted butter on our huge bucket of already pretty
yellow popcorn.
We started towards our theater and I heard someone call Kyle’s name from behind us. I groaned as I turned, thinking it was guys from school but it wasn’t. I’d never seen these guys before. There were six of them and they were all black haired and tall. Kyle groaned beside me so I didn’t feel much better.
“Jacobson,” the guy said lilting and sardonically. “What brings you out? Oh, I see,” he said like he hadn’t seen me already. I raised an eyebrow at him as his eyes perused me openly. “My, my, I do see. Hello.”
“Alright, Marcus, enough,” Kyle barked and I balked at his tone.
“What? I only said hello. So, Kyle, you breaking your clans rules now? I always knew you were a rebel at heart. What movie are you seeing?”
“Not interested in adding to our group, but thanks.”
Kyle tried to turn us but Marcus grabbed my arm. I had another jolt and for just a second I worried than I was imprinting with someone else. But I realized, that was the last thing I was doing. My veins screamed in protest and my skin burned hot on my arm. My body was warning him. My blood, whatever, however it worked. This guy’s intentions were not to keep me safe and the imprint reacted.
He released my arm with a curse like I shocked him. He and his group eyed me with wide, scared eyes and something else, anger.
“She’s your significant! Impossible!”
“Not mine. She belongs to Caleb. Now back off.”
“She’s human. She’s what...fifteen?”
“Seventeen,” I butted in annoyed.
“Impossible,” he repeated but this time he growled it and I stepped back, Kyle pulling me behind him.
“Don’t freak out. You’ll call Caleb and all hell will break loose. Breathe,” he told me quietly and waited for me to take a deep breath, then turned back to Marcus. “Back off. You know now that Caleb’s imprinted, it’ll only be a matter of time until he get’s his ascension. You’re not stupid enough to mess with his girl, are you?”
“Marcus, let’s go,” one of the guys said behind him. “Enough already.”
“For now, human,” Marcus spat and eyed me evilly before they moved on.
One guy hissed at me. Hissed. I shook my head.
“What was that?”
“Bad news. Crap, why tonight? They are a rival clan. They haven’t been imprinting for a while either. This will definitely stir up the pot now that they know about you.”
“Why is everyone so hard pressed to date? I don’t get it. So you don’t find your soul mate. There are tons of single people of there. It’s not like you can’t live that way.”
“No. You don’t get it. Wait.” He looked around and pushed our theater door open, taking us to the very back to sit down. “See, if we don’t imprint with anyone, we don’t ascend. If we don’t ascend we don’t get our abilities. It’s not just about being single. This is our whole life, our heritage, being an Ace, protecting our family, having the power to do that. But without finding our mate, we can’t do that and it’s crippling our clans, making us vulnerable.”
The full weight of what he’d been trying to tell me hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s what Caleb meant when he said I was special. This was a big deal. No one had imprinted in years. Caleb was the first one of his kind in a long time and they were gonna make a fuss about this, good or bad, and I was stuck in it with no way out, but wasn’t sure I wanted out.
The screen blinked with an advertisement for concessions then went straight into a movie preview. I settled back in my seat and tried not to think about Caleb. Whenever I did I felt a zing in my chest, an ache but a pleasure as well. It was all very confusing and frustrating. While I sat and pretended to watch the movie, my mind was somewhere else. On a blue eyed, brown haired boy. And though it made me feel anxious, his heart beat coming to me in waves and pulses the harder I thought, and I fought to stay in my seat, I did it anyway. I thought about this boy.
A boy that apparently now belonged to me.
Four
I woke the next morning and felt terrible, like I had the flu or something. I rolled over in my bed and clutched my queasy stomach, feeling a pounding in my head and chest. The pound coincided with my heartbeat.
I sat up and saw stars. That had never happened before. At first I was alarmed. Maybe it was something worse than the flu. I stood and went to the mirror. I looked haggard.
Kyle had brought me home right after the movie last night. It wasn’t that late when I got home but dad was no where to be seen. As usual. I went straight to bed, feeling more exhausted than I had in long time.
And now, I could see my face was dark with fatigue. My eyes were dull and shaded. What in the world? I lifted my arm to push my hair back to check the little gash on my forehead and froze. There was a black handprint burned into my skin, black and grayish like it was charred, right by my elbow on my right arm. What the-
Then I remembered. My arm burned hot when that Marcus guy grabbed me yesterday. And now, I had a strange black grip burned into my skin. What was going on here?
I heard the phone ring but didn’t answer it. It was probably Chad, looking for answers, though he had no right to any claim over me anymore. So I went to take a shower instead.
That was one of the best showers I’d ever had. I still felt bad but better, the hot water did wonders for my skin color. My face seemed back to normal and my eyes were brighter. But, I still needed some serious makeup. Then I remembered. Caleb. He said he was coming to get me today.
I scrambled to my room and pulled some clothes out. I actually thought about what I was putting on. I had jitters. I was freaking out. I slipped on my blue chiffon peasant blouse over my black cami and some jeans with some silver hoop earrings then I went to fix my hair and slick on some make-up.
All the while, I felt a bubble of anxiety and nerves. What had happened last night? I couldn’t believe I saved some guys life. I couldn’t believe I was bound to him in some, twisted soul mate thing. I couldn’t believe Kyle had a crush on me. I couldn’t believe I was so crazy about some guy I barely knew. I couldn’t believe they weren’t human.
I started to have a mini-panic attack, swallowing down the lump in my throat. Then it began to escalate to full blown.
What if Caleb didn’t come today? Why did I need him to so badly? What was going to happen to me? Would I just marry some freak guy and live in their cultish community forever? Could I run away before he got here? Did I really want to? No, I didn’t and if he asked me to marry him right now I’m not sure I could say no. What was going to happen to me now?
My breathing was crazy out of control and I grabbed the sink to hold myself up. I felt all wrong and my muscles twisted in my body as I kept Caleb in my thoughts. I was just about to really worry, maybe call somebody, though I didn’t know who, when I felt arms around me. Turning me and pulling me to them.
“I’m sorry.” He pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me and whispering in my ear as his hand ran up and down my arm. “I got here as fast as I could.”
Caleb.
I sighed in relief as I felt a release of all the tension, the queasiness, the aching muscles, the painful breaths, everything, as I settled my arms around his waist. I felt brand new, like he was a drug and I’d just gotten a hit.
I pulled back to look at him slightly and was wowed. He was even better looking in the daylight. I blinked up at him and he looked back down at me. I could see into his mind as if it was made of glass. He had felt me begin to panic he was already half way here. He ran. He knew I’d be upset when reality crashed down on me this morning. He was feeling withdrawals for me too and pestered Kyle for over an hour before he got out of bed to give him my address, though once the panic attack hit he didn’t need it. He could find me anywhere. He also loved my freckles and thought I looked gorgeous in blue.
I smiled and bit into my bottom lip at his thoughts.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” he said smiling widely, his arms still around my back. ?
??Are you ok now?” He reached up and brushed my hair back from my forehead. “How’s the head?”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Did you sleep ok?”
“Yeah, I slept great, actually.” We both seemed to realize the awkwardness of it all and stepped back to give a little space. “And I was fine, I mean I felt a little weird, like I had the flu,” he nodded to confirm, “but it wasn’t until I started to think about things- um, you, that I freaked.”
“I know. It happens, especially the first few days after an imprinting.”
“Why?”
He shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter I’m here now. And I have no intentions of going very far.”
“Good,” was all I could say.
He seemed to like my answer.
“Did you have fun with Kyle last night? I didn’t have a chance to talk to him much. I waited up for him last night but he went straight to bed. I’m sure he would have told me if something had happened.”
“Yeah, we had an ok time, mostly.”
“Why mostly?” he said suddenly concerned. “What-”
He saw my arm and his eyes went wide. I’d forgotten, the angry black burned hand print. His face twisted in anger.
“What happened? I can’t believe Kyle didn’t tell me about this. Who did this to you?”
“Some guy called Marcus,” I rubbed it like it could come off.
He pushed my fingers away gently to run his thumb across it, almost reverently.
“Marcus touched you?” he said softly and I knew not to mistake the softness for anything but fighting for control.
“He grabbed me when we tried to walk away. But as soon as he knew that I- you- we...”
“That we imprinted.”
“Yes. He left. I didn’t see this until this morning.”
“It’s what happens to warn them that you don’t belong to them.”
“I know, I felt it but, why didn’t it do that when Kyle touched me?”
“Kyle touched you?” he said with a slight edge.
“He held my hand a couple times,” I explained truthfully. “Mostly to make me keep up with him but, it never did that with him.”