Ethereal Knights (17 page)

I wave my hands across the expanse of the walls, and the tissue-winged creatures flutter to life. They loosen themselves from their pins and fly around the room in a flurry of pinks and blues.

Nope, Skyla isn’t here for Chloe.

I’m pretty sure destiny brought her here for me.

Now all I have to do is convince Logan of that—and perhaps Skyla, too.

***

I finally manage to haul Ellis’s ass out the front door and drive us home before he gets too wasted to walk.

The lights are on in the kitchen, and I’m hoping to find Logan and Skyla innocently indulging in milk and cookies at the table.

The kitchen’s empty. I head for the family room, where the television refracts a blue rainbow across the walls in spasms.

And there they are.

Shit.

Skyla lies folded in Logan’s arms like a kitten, her hair rumpled over the side in a waterfall of curls that I would pay in blood to bury my face in.

My stomach tightens at the sight.

I send my keys crashing to the coffee table, and the room rattles to life.

Skyla bolts up, casting a glance every which way, still groggy and half asleep.

“Party’s still going strong.” I try to sound enthusiastic about it like it’s a good thing.

“We should get back there.” She looks from me to Logan.

He presses a kiss into her neck before stretching his arms to the ceiling. Must be nice.

Skyla lowers her chin at him apologetically. “I really do love kissing you.”

Ha
. She fell asleep while he bored her with his body—classic. Logan should market his lips as the next best sleep aid. 

Logan shakes his head. “Stay here.” He pulls her in by the waist, and everything in me burns with a jealous fire. “You’re going to want to kick everyone out. No point in being a buzzkill. Besides, it’ll be four by the time we get there.” Good old Logan is still hopeful she’ll land in his bed tonight.

Skyla relaxes into him. “I won’t be able to sleep knowing they’re destroying the house.”

“Nobody’s destroying anything.” I fall on the couch across from them and close my eyes a moment, trying to get the visual of Logan’s body knotted up with hers out of my mind. “Ellis was having a good time. He didn’t want to come home.”

“You have a good time?” Skyla asks, and I perk to attention. If I say yes, she’ll think I’m not that into her, but if I say no, she’ll think her party sucked, so I opt to change the subject. 

I give a loose nod. “So you up on all the celestial B.S.?” Good, make it sound like no big deal.

“It’s not B.S.” Her face crumbles, clearly hurt by my brilliant analogy.

I press out a dull smile.

I’m screwed if I do and screwed if I don’t.

“Sorry.” I pull a small pillow over my head. Maybe I should head upstairs and give them some privacy. I bet he’s been wowing her with his extraterrestrial sexual abilities all night long. Unless, of course, he went traditional and taught her how to use her powers.

I peer out from under the pillow. “You guys try anything out?”

Skyla gives him a dirty look and shakes her head.

Looks like I’ve found an open door. 

“Maybe I’ll help you out sometime,” I offer.

Logan puffs up his chest like an ape gone wild. “Maybe you won’t,” he counters.

“I want to.” Skyla says it loud enough to let Logan know she means business. “I want to try things out. And you said my powers could grow. It’s like a muscle, right? The more you use it, the stronger it gets?”

“No.” Logan grazes me with that I’ll-beat-the-shit-out-of-you-later look. “The more you use it, the more trouble you can get into. Definitely not like that.”

“I know enough to be careful,” she says, determined not to end this conversation.  

“You know enough to be dangerous.” He says it so quickly it makes him sound like an ass. I know he’s trying to protect her, but he’s efficiently pushing her away—hopefully in my direction.

Skyla looks from Logan to me as if she were deciding who to trust. Her eyes settle over mine, and a smile warms her lips.

Skyla knows she can trust me.

I’ll make sure to fill every need Logan denies her.

And dear God, I hope he denies her everything. 

13

Logan

The Battle Standard

The next morning, I wake to the heavenly scent of bacon. The sound of the coffeemaker percolating in the distance has me craving a cup before my eyelids crack open.

I rouse from my stupor to find myself alone on the couch. No sign of Skyla, or Gage, who I know for a fact fell asleep across from us like some night watchmen. I’ll have to thank him later by gifting him a porcelain baptism. I haven’t shoved his head in the toilet in a good long while. I think its time to employ some creative justice for his third-wheel performance.

I stumble into the kitchen and find Gage showered and shaved, his hair slicked back and glossy. Skyla sits across from him at the breakfast nook while he tries to seduce her with those giant blue marbles stuck in his head. She’s fixated on him, with her fingers revolving around a strand of her hair. Her leg bounces over her knee from under the table intermittently touching his, and neither one of them notices me standing here like some late-to-the-party douchebag. 

I clear my throat and smile right at her. “So you ready to head out?”

***

Unfortunately, Skyla’s house has the appeal of a third-world country after a long, drawn out war in which they were pillaged, sacked, and efficiently destroyed. We wade our way through discarded plastic cups and a sea of soda cans—a few condom wrappers sprinkled around for effect. If Skyla needed more evidence that Brielle is rife with bad ideas, I think this should solidify the theory.

Skyla walks from room to room whispering a steady choir of
no, no, no.

The sofa is missing a cushion, and the curtains are hanging on for dear life. I’m pretty sure there’s damage here we won’t be able to repair with a trash bag and a broom.

“I’m toast.” She turns and bolts upstairs.

My foot gets caught on something blue and lacey, and I pluck myself free from a bra with a black leather wallet nestled in one of the cups. I open it up to see Ellis’s goofy grin staring back at me.

“Figures.” I slip it in my pocket before heading upstairs where I find Skyla busy hyperventilating at the end of the hall. I peer into the master bedroom from over her shoulder, and see that the bed is wrecked. The entire room has a general ground zero appeal to it. 

“I’m going to die,” she whimpers. “My parents are going to execute the world’s harshest judgment upon me, and I’ll never leave the house again. We need to go back in time.” She snatches at my T-shirt as if this were a viable option.

I shake my head at the carnage. “You can’t use that for something like this. It falls under domestic detail.” Crap. It’ll take hours for the two of us get this place in shape. “I’ll call Gage.” Her eyes widen at the prospect, and my mood plummets. “We’ll clean up as much as we can.”

Drake and Brielle emerge from his bedroom just as Nat and Kate show up.

Downstairs, I try to put the furniture back in place, ignoring the fact that vital pieces are missing, like sofa cushions and a leg from the coffee table.

Skyla comes into the living room and wraps her arms around my waist.

“I might be homeless after today.” She bites down on her lower lip, greeting me with her bedroom eyes, and I can feel the heat rise in my pants, ten degrees.

Skyla might be a lot of things after today, but homeless isn’t one of them. I’d sell the bowling alley and buy her a house if I had to. Of course, it’d be a one bedroom, and we’d have to share the bed. I lean in and brush her lips with a kiss. She pulls me in by the back of the neck and offers something deeper, something that has the power to melt away third-world war zones and missing pieces of furniture. Her tongue swipes over mine in a heated exchange that assures me she’s more than willing to take this relationship to a viral level.

A ruckus in the entry catches our attention.

Skyla pulls back with her hand still firmly planted over my neck.

Gage
?

It’s not Gage.

It’s her mother. 

The funny thing is, that’s not who she was afraid would catch us.

Gage

An endless stream of black days drift by without Skyla gracing me with her presence.

Brielle asked me to pick her up for work this morning because her jeep is in the shop, and I was tempted to run over and see how Skyla was doing. I thought about teleporting to her room, maybe showing her the jewel that lurks in the attic and making the butterflies dance just for her—but apparently, her parents are pretty ticked. According to Logan, they accused her of sleeping with him and getting loaded on who knows what the night of the party. I can’t imagine Skyla getting high or chugging down beers—hell, even the wine coolers I see Michelle and her friends downing seems out of the realm of possibility. Skyla is innocent, far more so than her parents are aware of. Logan mentioned the fact she was still a virgin, and I swelled with relief when he said it.

I glance around at the bowling alley.

It’s dead today. Logan is busy in the kitchen, trying to work on the electrical panel. I told him to leave it to the pros or he’s going to set himself on fire—which will be a first for a Celestra—but he wouldn’t hear of it.

An uninvited visual of Skyla and Logan pops in my head.

Skyla’s parents view Logan as her boyfriend.
Skyla
views Logan as her boyfriend. And soon, all of West High will solidify that status. There’s no way I’m getting between them once that happens. If Skyla shows no interest in me by the time fall rolls around, I’m cutting loose any hope I’ve sunk into those visions. If they’re real, it’ll happen on its own. And if not, I’ll wish Skyla and Logan a happily ever after—at least verbally. Mentally, she’ll still be mine. I’ve drilled her into my DNA, stamped her soul over mine in every one of those dreams.

I grab a stack of score sheets and a pen before taking a seat overlooking the lanes.

I scribble out a few stupid sketches. What I really want to do is write just one more fucking poem.

Mute Days

The battle’s first casualty is me.

All is quiet without my heart.

The girl who held it sailed away.

Plant me face down where the headstones glitter,

behind the church where the crosses bloom.

If she would have said my name, if she would have offered the bread of her lips,

not even gravity could have held me down.

Destiny offered her a fork in the road—she never considered my route.

I saw the beauty that resides in the unknowable future, our lips, our bodies fused as one. But now those dreams, those visions are nothing more than holograms of what could have been.

Everything is finished—her path converging with another.

I gave my heart away in a dream.

And I waited.

I still wait.

14

Logan

A Kiss for You, A Kiss for Me

Skyla asked me to meet her at the Mall, so I do.

I find her hovering over the fountain, the wind lifting her hair with its fingers, exposing her beauty for the entire world to see.

I can’t shake the stupid grin blooming on my face as I pull her in and greet her by way of a deep-throated kiss. 

“Let’s blow this joint,” she says before glancing at the parking lot.
The last thing I need is spotting Mia and Melissa every five minutes. They’re totally safe. I can feel it in my creaky bones. It’s not like I left them alone—they’re not seven. They’re thirteen.

***

We start down the highway with the windows down. A fresh whiff of soil and pine perfumes the air—Paragon’s signature scent. Skyla showed off the fact she could get into my truck without breaking her neck, and I applauded the effort. I would have
sold
the truck if she wanted me to—built her a scaffolding just to get in it if it were her wish. There’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do for Skyla. 

“So where you taking me?” She shouts above the roar of the wind. I hadn’t noticed her hair blowing wild until now, so I roll up the windows.

“It’s a surprise.” I give a little wink.

I’ve been meaning to take Skyla to the Black Forest and teach her how to use her powers ever since that night Gage threatened to do it himself. There’s no way I’m letting him wedge himself into our relationship. Speaking of which, I’d like to drag his ass out here one day and do a little field practice using him as the ball.

We veer off the main road and drive down a curtain of pines. The evergreens create a dark, looming circle, and the forest defuses the light in the clearing. We get out of the truck, and Skyla extends her arms, proud to have stuck the landing.

“You take all the girls here?” She flirts when she says it, but I can tell a natural curiosity is layered just beneath.

“I don’t think I’ve taken anyone here.” I pick up her hand and lead her down a pebbled path, deeper into the woods.

“It’s kind of creepy.”
Even though I’m with Logan, I feel entirely vulnerable.

Don’t. We’re safe.
I reach up and clasp a fattened tree limb, snapping it in half with minimal effort.

Skyla’s mouth opens with awe.

“I’m going to teach you how to do that.” I’m breathless taking in the wonder on her face. I want to teach her how to do far more intimate things and using our powers is nowhere near the top of the list.

“I’m all ears.” She steps into me like a seductress, and for moment, I wonder if this afternoon is going to take a turn for the fantastic.