Aven's Dream (39 page)

“Will and I have some matters to discuss, if you’ll excuse us,” he said calmly.

I nodded, taking a shaky breath as James walked over to Will. As they walked out, Will turned back once, his expression regretful. I slid down on Will’s bed, exhausted, and looked out through the windows into the darkness. I was alone for a few minutes at the most, but it was long enough for my stomach to tie itself into knots. When Will returned, he was visibly shaken—his lips pressed together into a firm line, his brow furrowed.

“No matter how hard I try to keep you safe, I will always be the greatest threat to you while you’re still human.”

I shook my head.

“Don’t say that.”

“Even if it’s true?” Will asked.

“But it’s not—and you know it. I would have been dead before we even met if it weren’t for you. We just have to be more careful.”

When I tried to step down from the bed, my legs failed. Will caught my arm before I went sprawling.

“Can I have some of my energy back?” I smiled crookedly.

Will’s hand tightened on my arm as he bent down and kissed me—very carefully this time. I felt a jolt of energy. He let go, and before he could say anything, I moved toward the couch.

“Speaking of things that are actually a danger to me, while we were shopping, Gen saw something, didn’t she? Something that freaked her out?”

Will shook his head, like he didn’t know what I was talking about, but I sensed something was wrong. Something bad. Something very bad.

T
he gray light of early morning was seeping through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Will’s room when I opened my eyes. Will had stayed with me, at least until I had fallen asleep. But now that he was gone, I had a hollow feeling in my stomach. There was no question that James had saved me last night from Will—and myself. James, the one who hated me.

When I looked over at the table in front of the sofa, I saw a silver tray with an omelet, a chocolate croissant, a glass of orange juice, and sliced strawberries over yogurt. Smiling, I sat up and slid out of bed. There was a single blood-red rose laid across the tray.

“Breakfast in bed again? Be careful. I could get used to this,” I said when Will appeared in the doorway.

“I wasn’t quick enough this time.”

“That’s easily fixable,” I smiled.

Turning, I walked back to Will’s bed and hoisted myself up. Will set the tray on the nightstand and handed me the plate with the omelet.

“Expensive takeout again?” I smiled.

Will shook his head.

“I made you breakfast myself.”

I smiled as tasted the omelet, pleasantly surprised by Will’s culinary talent, especially for someone who never ate.

“This is delicious,” I said.

Will smiled.

“Why don’t you get ready, and we’ll meet the others downstairs.”

I tried swallowing, but my throat had closed off. Picking up the glass of orange juice, I gulped it.

“Why?” I croaked.

“There are matters that need to be discussed, and they involve you.”

Will touched my cheek before walking out. As delicious as it was, I had to force myself to finish my breakfast. Then I rushed to the bathroom and stayed in the shower longer than necessary, afraid of what would happen when I got downstairs.

I definitely wasn’t prepared to see James again after last night.

Stepping out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and looked in the mirror, regretting that none of the magic Gen had performed the night before remained. Then I got dressed and combed out my hair. Taking a deep breath, I walked out of the bathroom and into Will’s room before continuing down the hall to the stairs. Will met me at the bottom of the staircase, and we walked into the “dining” room where the others were sitting at the imposing table. When James looked over at me, I didn’t know what to feel.

I sat down stiffly beside Gen, and Will joined on my other side. Edmond and James sat across from us. It was such a strange feeling to sit in the company of these immortals. I knew their secret, and they knew mine. And for that reason alone, I felt a connection to them even if I clearly didn’t belong here. As a TV screen rose up from the center of the table, Gen was the first to speak.

“I didn’t want to say anything until I was certain, but now that I am … James, I’m sorry.”

James looked around at the others and smirked.

“I was under the impression that this intervention was Will’s, not my own.”

When security footage began playing on the screen, I frowned, trying to put together the pieces. Suddenly James froze, and his expression became blank. I hadn’t seen anything unusual on the screen. Just people walking by stores. I shivered when I saw the timestamp on the screen. It was from yesterday when Gen and I had been shopping. She
had
seen something, but why it would upset James was a total mystery to me.

I studied his face, looking for clues. A moment later, it almost looked like he was going to cry, which terrified me more than anything else. I held my breath, waiting for someone to say something. Then James was gone. There one second, gone the next. Exhaling, I looked to Will, Gen, and Edmond.

“Okay, is anyone going to tell me what I just missed?” I asked.

“Grace is back,” Gen said.

My mouth dropped open.

“From the dead?”

“In a manner of speaking,” she said.

I shook my head.

“Uh-uh. No way. What does that
really
mean?”

“Fidatov didn’t kill her; he turned her,” Gen said.

My stomach pitched.

“You mean … she’s
with
him?”

Suddenly I understood the look on James’s face—the total and utter devastation resulting from total and utter betrayal.

“What happens now?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“The same as before—we keep you safe at any cost,” Will said.

“And James?”

“He has to make his own decisions,” Edmond said. “Either he’ll come back and help us hunt Fidatov, or he won’t. I’m willing to wager he will now that he knows the truth about Grace.”

***

Sitting in the driver’s seat of my dad’s old Volvo, I drew in a shaky breath as I turned the key in the ignition. This morning was my first “official” attempt at driving without my dad or a DMV official watching my every move—because I didn’t count the events from the weekend when I had driven the Aston and the Tesla. It was time to get back to reality.

The Volvo’s engine sputtered and turned over reluctantly. Early November in Oregon had me rethinking my definition of cold. I glanced nervously at Will, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat looking like he was watching me for signs of a meltdown or fainting spell—any excuse to drive rather than suffer at the mercy of a mortal driver.

When we had gotten back to my house the day before, he had tried every strategy possible to talk me into driving the Tesla, but I had refused. Not because I didn’t love a fully electric vehicle that drove like a rocket ship, but because my dad had given me his car. That meant a lot.

I shivered and rubbed my hands together as I let the car warm up. Unlike the Aston, the Volvo took a few minutes before it could blast hot air and drive simultaneously. As soon as I was satisfied that the temperature was at an acceptable level, I checked my mirrors—a couple of times—before putting the car in reverse and tapping the gas. The engine revved, but the car barely moved. I looked down. I had the car in reverse. Frowning, I hit the pedal with a little more force. The car lurched, but still didn’t budge more than a few inches. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Will shaking with barely contained amusement.

“What?” I snapped.

“E-brake?” he asked, composing himself into the epitome of sincerity.

I glared at him as I released the emergency brake. Pressing the gas again, I jumped a little when the car lurched backwards down the driveway. At the curb, I looked again for traffic on our empty street before slowly pulling out. The roads were slick from rain, and the car’s wheels spun as I turned the corner.

“Not a word,” I warned.

We would have been at school already if Will had been driving. Just that thought made me punch the gas pedal more aggressively than I should have, causing the engine to growl. Then I remembered that I couldn’t outrun the police or talk my way out of a ticket.

Even though I had left early for school, we still arrived on campus just a few minutes before the first bell. I pulled into a space, and a second later Will opened my door. Taking his hand, I got out and looked across the parking lot where Edmond’ SUV was already at the far end. Then I heard someone shouting my name. Turning, I saw Sean rushing toward us. Before I could say anything, he picked me up and twirled me around, setting me down when he saw Will, whose blue eyes turned into ice the instant Sean cuffed me on the shoulder.

“Way to go, Aven! Driver’s license before your eighteenth birthday!” Sean whooped. “And your old man gave you the car?”

I nodded, beaming.

“Yep, and I’m going to need that job, if your boss is still hiring. I have to pay for gas somehow.”

“Or you could simply drive an electric vehicle,” Will muttered under his breath.

I jabbed him and then regretted banging my elbow into solid rock.

“I’ll ask the boss man this afternoon, I swear,” Sean grinned. “Hey, we should go to lunch to celebrate. The usual?”

I nodded, smiling—until it occurred to me that Sean was not so subtly ignoring Will. Frowning, I tried to brush it off as Will and I walked toward my first period. At nutrition, when we reached “our” classroom, I hopped up on the back counter and waited for Will to join me—watching in disappointment as he sat down at a desk a few feet away. I sighed and tried to think of a way to distract him.

“You thought I was awful this morning, didn’t you?” I accused jokingly. “Confess.”

“You are a perfectly competent driver,” Will answered seriously.

“What was with you in the parking lot, then?”

Will stiffened, like he was bracing for an argument.

“You don’t need a part-time job,” he said plainly.

I stared at him.

“Okay. Then how else am I going to pay for gas?”

“Easy. The Tesla is yours. No fossil fuel required.”

“And what about my dad’s car?”

“I’ll pay your father for it, and the insurance.”

I jumped off the counter.

“That’s not the point, Will! My dad gave me the car—an act of kindness I never expected. Besides, I wouldn’t have access to a Tesla if it weren’t for you.”

“Aven, don’t be stubborn. It’s not as if I don’t have the means,” he snapped in exasperation.

“Yeah, well I can’t just exit my normal life because I met you.”

I swallowed, wondering if I would be ready to make a decision about my mortality by my eighteenth birthday.

“I thought you gave up on normal when you fell in love with an immortal,” Will teased before becoming serious again. “My point is that working late at night and coming home alone would allow Fidatov the perfect opportunity.”

“I wouldn’t work more than a couple of nights a week, maybe one weekend day.”

“Does that mean you would let me drive you to and from work, then?”

“Do I have any other choice?”

“I’m only trying to keep you safe until Fidatov is dealt with.”

Sighing, I walked over and sat on the desk where he was. Offering to pay for my transportation expenses was just crazy, but his intentions were good. The bigger problem was: I couldn’t live this way forever.

“When does it end?” I asked quietly.

Will looked away from me.

“I don’t know.”

At lunch, things just got worse, with cracks already beginning to appear in our newly forged social circle. In other words, Sean was being a jerk and pretending like Will, Edmond, and Gen didn’t exist. Then, just as I was thinking the situation was at its worst, James showed up. He didn’t say a word to anyone—he just sat down and stared at me like I was the reminder of something he wanted to forget but couldn’t. The only good thing was that I didn’t get the feeling that he hated me. His hostility seemed more directed at Will, which I couldn’t understand, either—even after their confrontation over the weekend. I was stabbing at my salad with my fork when my phone buzzed. Looking down, I frowned at the text from Sean.

What’s with the psycho?

I looked up and glared at him, but he just shrugged. Still, I was pissed, so when I got to sixth period, I went into the layout room to confront him.

“Sean?”

He didn’t turn around, and I watched in irritation as he continued working on the op-ed page. Still staring at the screen, he announced that he, Lizzie, Matt, Megan, and Jeff were going to Ford’s. He stopped short of saying Will and the others couldn’t come, but I got the message.

“Seriously, Sean? What is up with you suddenly?” I demanded.

“Nothing,” Sean shrugged, continuing to face away from me.

“Right. Who’s acting like the psycho?” I snapped angrily before stomping out.

“At least I’m not a robot or an alien,” he muttered so quietly that I barely heard him.

Retreating into the main classroom, I shook my head. The last thing I needed was for Sean to become a freaking overnight conspiracy theorist. I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling like everything—including my sanity—was being held together with duct tape. Had I taken too much for granted in thinking that I could combine Will’s world with mine, even just for the rest of my senior year?

When class ended, I ducked out quickly to avoid Sean. Then I stopped and stared across the hall at James. The truth hit me hard in the chest as I realized that we reminded each other of unpleasant truths. I reminded him that his long, lost love was with Fidatov, and he reminded me that Will wasn’t the infallible hero from fairy tales. Instead, Will had faults—or at least one very big one. Whether I liked it or not, he
was
dangerous to me. As soon as Will came around the corner less than a second later, James pushed off from the wall and began walking in the opposite direction. For a few seconds both Will and I glared after him, each locked in our own private resentments.

By the time we got to my house, I was a nervous wreck from driving. Will always seemed so calm and relaxed behind the wheel, while for me, it felt like every cat and every squirrel in Oregon had recently decided it was a great idea to jump in front of the girl who had just gotten her license.