CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (21 page)

"Dad?" He stood over the sink, a flood of water dousing the black sheet pan, and steam streaming from it with a wicked sizzle. "Maybe we should start smaller?" Kade pointed toward a mound of
half-brown, half-black things that resembled hockey pucks.
Sometimes,
she wondered how he'd become a surgeon. "Like Rice Krispie
Treats? Just melt the marshmallows and voila."

Her dad glanced toward the smoking sheet pan, and the
“cookies” stacked haphazardly in a bowl on the counter. "That's not a bad
idea." He turned the water off, a cloud of smoke still hovering
around the kitchen ceiling. "Good day at school?"

She shrugged, reaching for one of the lighter brown cookies.

"What's really wrong, Kadey?" He tossed the kitchen towel on the counter.

"Did I tell you I got Pre-Calculus on my schedule?" She took a tiny bite of the cookie. Yep. Burnt. Yuck.

"You did. And? What happened?"

"Nothing bad."
The teacher is total jerk, though.
"But I need to transfer into something I have half a prayer of understanding."

"It's your senior year, Kadence. These classes are important, and I'm not sure there are many other math options for your grade."

"I barely passed Algebra II, Dad. Math's not my thing. It's your thing."

He pushed away from the counter. "As long you promise to keep your grades up in all your other classes, I'll go down to the school and meet with your counselor. Maybe you can retake one of the courses you didn't do so well in the first time."

"You mean a remedial class?"

"I mean I'll see what your options are, and we'll go from there. Deal?" He gave a resigned smile.

“Deal.” She pushed to her feet, starting toward the stairs before turning back. “Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Um...there's something I wanted to ask you." She took a breath. "There's a...dance. At school...the Fall Dance." Her hands fidgeted. "It's a totally casual thing. Just friends hanging out."

His brows arched.

“Anyway, Giselle and Lindsey are going and we were talking about going as a group, all together, and," she glanced at her striped socked feet, "and this guy, Jake—"

His jaw tightened.

Oh, god. Don't say anything else. Just go upstairs and leave it alone.

Her dad shook his head, hands already waving at her to stop talking. "No boys. You know the rules."

"Dad, I'm seventeen. And a senior, like you said—"

His jaw clamped. Wrong thing to say, Kade. Senior in high
school and seventeen probably screamed “sex” to a dad with a daughter.
Dammit.

"That's not what I meant. I hardly know Jake—"
Shut up, Kade.
"I just thought it would be fun...to go to a dance." Her chin dropped. "I've never been to one before." When her dad didn't answer, she turned toward the stairs. Even if Jake showed up at her house and asked to take her to the dance, her dad would likely chase him across the yard like a psycho killer. All the way back to his pretty Mustang. She grinned. It really wasn't funny. Her life had become a series of moves and no friendships that lasted longer than a few months. She tried not to think about how sad that was.

Kade reached for the stair railing, and a biting pain tore through her right hand. With a slight yelp, as if she'd been bitten, she looked at her palm. In the very center, a deep red dot had formed. As if a drop of blood had hit her hand with a splat. It resembled a lightning strike. The way the electricity fissured when it hit. A networked grid
of tiny converging red lines, or maybe it resembled a miniature spider web.
Great, now both of my palms have something wrong with
them.

The doorbell rang, and she tripped up a step, and caught her elbow on the railing. Before she could right herself, or relieve the funny-bone sensation speeding through her shoulder, her dad was out of the kitchen, across the living room, and at the front door with it swung wide.

"Yes?" His tone was clipped.

"Mr. Sparrow, sir. It's nice to meet you. I'm Jake. Jake Phillips."

Oh god, no.
Kade eased up the stairs. Such a coward.

"I wanted to ask your permission to take Kadence to the dance on Saturday. Would that be all right with you?"

No response.

She snuck up a few more steps.

"I could have her back home as early as you'd like."

Nothing.

"Sir?"

Another three steps and she'd be at the top. In the clear.

"Jake, was it? I'm not sure how you knew where my daughter lived," her dad began, and Kade froze, shocked he hadn't simply slammed the door in Jake's face. It wouldn't have been the first time. "But Kadence isn't allowed to date, so I'm afraid the answer is no." The front door squeaked to shut. Jake's signal to get the hell away from the house.

"I wouldn't really call it a date, sir," Jake piped up. He had guts. "I mean, not that I don't like Kade. I do."

Oh, no. Shut up, Jake.

"But the dance is just a group thing, really. Welcome back to school, and all that. No pressure."

No pressure?

The door slammed, marking the end of that conversation, or any other communication Kade would likely ever have with Jake again.

Thanks, Dad. Everyone will think I'm a social leper. Again.

Kade crept into her bedroom, hoping her dad didn't come in asking how Jake knew where she lived. Google maps, maybe? The doorbell rang again.
You have got to be joking
. Kade rushed the bedroom door like a defensive end and creaked it open.

"Sir? I'm sorry if I said something to offend you. It wasn't my intention, and I respect your decision of not allowing me to take Kadence to the dance."

"Oh?" Her dad's tone was flat, uninterested, and annoyed.

"Yes, sir. You don't know me, and Kadence is new to Boulder. I just wanted to say thank you for your time."

The front door creaked slightly
before Kade heard a deep sigh.

“
Jake?" her dad called.

Kade stepped onto the threshold of the stairs.

"Yes, sir?" Jake's voice sounded small, and Kade guessed he must have been halfway across the front yard.

"I appreciate your honesty."

What?

"Let me give some thought about you taking Kadence to the dance. She'll let you know my decision at school."

Kade edged her way down the stairs.

"Yes, sir." Jake's voice boomed. "I'll have her home early. We'll go straight to the dance, and straight back home. Nowhere else—"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." The door shut, and Kade found herself at the bottom of the stairs, staring at her dad like he'd been replaced by some other life form.

His expression was tense when he turned, mouth in a hard line.

"Dad?"

"I can't keep you locked up forever." He gave a pained smile. "I'll think about the dance. If I agree, you have to promise you won't get into any trouble."

"I won't," she said way too quickly.

"Kadence, this is very important. I know you don't want to move again."

"I won't get into trouble, Dad." She knew she sounded like a ten-year-old Girl Scout, salute and all.

"And your Latin, you've barely cracked your book since we moved."

"I'll study. I promise. Every day." Not that she wasn't practically fluent in Latin already, having been forced to learn the language since she could read. God only knew why.

"I'll think about it," he said.

She nodded, too stunned to respond further, as he walked past the staircase and into the kitchen.

"HE'S REALLY LETTING YOU GO?"
Giselle jumped up and down the next morning. "I thought it was impossible."

"Me too." Kade was still too shocked to absorb it. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Shop for a dress? Did her dad even know what going to a dance entailed? She doubted it.

"This afternoon it is. Dresses." Giselle's face glowed like a light bulb. She rambled about open-toed shoes versus closed toed because of the cold, and said something about having to wear coats over their dresses. Kade lost track of her chattering, unable to take it all in.

I'm going to a dance? The dance? With Jake?
It was huge deal, and she should've been excited, ecstatic, but she wasn't. Not at all.

***

During first period, Cole didn't even look at Kade. Not once. She glanced over her shoulder a few times, acting like she was checking
the clock. Nothing. Jaw clenched, muscles working as if he was grinding his teeth to nubs, his hands gripped the sides of his desk, and his right knee jumped up and down in a steady rhythm like he
was ready to pounce. No smart remarks? No usual cocky attitude? No hello?

The second the bell rang at the end of class, he was gone. He moved so fast, if Kade hadn't been paying attention, she doubted she would've noticed. That anyone would have. He moved that fast.

Too fast.

The stairwell leading to the first floor was overly crowded, causing everyone to move slowly. Maybe because it was nearly ten degrees warmer in the tight space between floors.
Kade kept her focus on her feet. Concrete stairs and rubber soled boots were definitely at odds with one another.
On the landing, she turned and started down the second flight, when dark brown Vans fell in perfect sync beside her footsteps. She glanced to her left,
wondering why someone would be deliberately holding up the flow of traffic.
Cole grinned, a quick, tight-lipped smile that instantly faded.

"You're going to the dance with
Jake
?" His eyes were an angry color.

Stunned by the question,
and her own eyes not being where they
should be—on her
feet,
she tripped, and went flying. Like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun, Cole was directly in front of her, underneath her, stopping her body, and her head, from splatting against the concrete. She landed on top of him at the bottom of the
landing.

"I'm sorry," she breathed, trying to push herself up.

"You've been on top of me so much, I feel like I should propose or something." Cole grinned, but he was breathless, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, eyes wide. "Seriously, are you
okay?" All his cockiness vanished.

A familiar thrum, accompanied by a pulse, almost like a
heartbeat, shimmied through Kade's body. They stared at each other and she was acutely aware that their bodies were directly in line—molded together like puzzle pieces. Something was familiar about that, too. Like a memory.

"I'm okay,” she breathed.

Cole's lips parted, his gaze smoldering, and the energy in Kade's core radiated outward. She tried to stop it, but it was building. Like the energy that propelled her to fight the Shadows, or to run, except this energy was propelling her to do something else. Something very
inappropriate. Cole seemed to sense it because his breathing
increased,
as Kade's gaze trailed over his mouth. He was so close. Close enough to...

She gripped his arms with both hands and wrenched herself up, but her unbalanced weight lurched forward. She threw a hand out to stop her head from colliding with Cole's face, and ended up brushing his neck with her face. The sweet, spiciness of clean cotton and fire flooded her senses. She jerked back.

"Oh, my god.” She stared down at him.

His eyes darkened further. "
Damnare
," he whispered. The Latin word for damn. Or she thought that was what he said, but she couldn't really concentrate—not with the memory of falling in the snow...busting her head, and someone,
someone
, rushing her home faster than... faster than...the speed of light. Someone whispering her name. Warmth wrapping her body, stopping her from shivering. The sweet,
familiar
voice telling her she was safe, to sleep.

Oh, god.

Kade pushed onto unsteady feet, and the motion drew Cole's
sleeve up his arm. Red tendrils wound his right wrist, radiating from his palm. The tattoo was beautiful. Long, flowing lines that resembled a lightning strike when it hit the ground. It looked exactly
like...

Her breath seized up in her throat, and she could no longer focus.

Cole yanked his sleeve down, and
pushed to his feet, touching her cheek with a gentleness she would never have associated with his arrogant personality. A gentleness she knew.

"That was...almost bad." He sounded stricken, face paled to white, chest rising and falling.

She nodded, finding it hard to think with his hand lingering on her cheek. She wanted to lean into it, into him. It would be so easy,
so natural
.

"You're bleeding." The butterfly bandages over his eye were
splitting, tiny red spots seeping over the long narrow cut. Kade pressed her fingertips against the bandage, and her voice died in her throat as Cole placed his hand over hers, lacing their fingers together.

"I don't care."

Her brow cinched at the pain in his tone, and she realized everyone
in the stairwell had stopped, and they were all silent and staring. The new girl was always such fun to look at. New girl falling down a flight of stairs and landing on top of the hottest guy in school? Bonus.

"Kade?" Cole tilted his head. "You're staring at me like usual, but you're not really talking." He cracked a smile. "You didn't hit your head again, did you?"

Again?
He said again.

He moved his hand away from hers and slid it down the side of her head with the same tenderness. A sharp pain radiated over her skull and she flinched. "Yep. There's the culprit. You've got a little bump right here." His hand moved back, cradling her jaw as he lifted her chin to look at him. "You have to be careful on the stairs."