Incubus (82 page)

leaving early today?”

“I just—” I unclenched my hands, trying to relax. “How are you feeling?”

Lucas sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I know I’ve been kind of grouchy. I just needed some time.”

“Time. Right.” I tried keep my voice level, afraid to show too much concern. “But, how are you

feeling today?”

“You mean besides under-appreciated and demeaned?” Lucas’s eyes cut back to the living room,

full of new Guardsmen lounging and goofing off. “I don’t know. Groggy, actually. I don’t think I slept

very well.” He gave me a sheepish smile and lowered his voice. “Maybe this no dream-visit thing’s

not such a good idea after all.” I smiled. Lucas misinterpreted my relief. “Yeah. I’ve missed our

dreams, too.”

Hale appeared at the top of the stairs, buttoning up his shirt. He saw me and nodded a greeting.

“Morning, Braedyn.” He glanced around, then gave me a pointed look. “Maybe you two should be

getting off to school?”

“Good idea,” I said.

“I’ll just get my bag.” Lucas raced up the stairs past Hale.

When Hale reached the foyer, one of the men saw him and snapped to attention. Instantly, the

others followed suit. Conversation abruptly ended. All eyes focused on Hale. “At ease,” he said. The

men relaxed, but no one spoke. “We’re patrolling in teams of four today,” Hale said. “Gretchen will

work out the rotation. Get some breakfast, first patrol leaves in 10 minutes.”

This was the order they’d been waiting for. Their idle conversation was replaced with purpose, and

in moments, most of the men were heading to the kitchen.

Hale saw my curiosity. “We’re still looking for the man who broke into Seth’s house,” he said.

“But now, with the added numbers, we’ve got a much better shot of finding him. Seth gave us a pretty

good description, and Jeremy used to work as a sketch artist in North Carolina. Here. Look familiar?”

Hale picked up a drawing off the entry table near the door. I hadn’t noticed it before, but as I took it

from Hale I recognized the face of the man who’d set Angela’s life’s work on fire.

“That’s him.” I found myself rooted to the floor.

“We’re going to find him,” Hale said, taking the image from me gently.

Lucas came down the stairs, slinging a backpack over his shoulder. “Ready?” he asked, not waiting

for me to answer before escaping through the front door.

Hale sighed. “It’s going to take some getting used to,” he said in a low voice. He glanced toward

the kitchen, now flooded with around two dozen Guardsmen. “For all of us.” His eyes returned to my

face.

The first sign of trouble came at lunch. Royal, Cassie, Seth, and I all showed up at roughly the same

time, having just gotten out of physics together. So we were digging into a tray of steaming lasagna by

the time Lucas arrived.

He dropped into his chair wordlessly. His face looked ashen.

“Dude, what’s eating you?” Seth asked. “You look like a zombie.”

“I’m pretty sure I bombed my history test,” Lucas said. “Which sucks because I studied for it all

weekend long.”

I felt a clenching fist of fear grip my stomach. I looked down at my lasagna before Lucas could see

it in my eyes.

“I should have just gone out to a movie,” Lucas said. “Sometimes I don’t know why I try. I’m not

cut out for academics.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Cassie asked, putting her fork down.

“It means he had a bad day, and he’s licking his wounds,” Royal answered. “Because he knows

you’d kick his butt if he suggested he wasn’t smart enough for school. Right, Lucas?”

“Right,” Lucas said. “You can stand down, Cass.” I could hear the grudging grin in his voice.

I looked up. Royal was staring directly at me. I might have hid my fear from Lucas, but Royal had

read me like a book.

After lunch, I stayed behind to clear our table. I knew that look in Royal’s eye. If he managed to

corner me, he was going to dig and dig until he heard an answer that satisfied him. My best bet was to

put a little distance between us and hope he’d forget or lose interest in his suspicions. It didn’t work. I

walked out of the dining hall and found him waiting for me, lounging on the low brick wall of a school

planter.

“So what was that all about?” He held up a finger before I could speak. “And let’s skip the part

where you play dumb.”

“I’ve got it under control.” I pulled my sweater tighter around my shoulders, but the chill

spreading down my spine wasn’t due to the surprisingly mild December day.

“Ah.” Royal looked at me sharply. “So the
something
is a Lilitu thing.”

“Royal,” I hissed. No one was close enough to hear us, but that didn’t soothe my frayed nerves.

“Something you’re afraid to tell Lucas.” Royal scrutinized me with ruthless focus.

“Can we do this later? I’m going to be late to class.” I tried to walk past him. He stepped into my

path, blocking me.

“What was the point of the whole ‘hey, I’m a teenage demon’ share-fest if you’re going to shut me

out now?” he asked. This time he kept his voice low. I looked into his face and saw genuine concern.

“Something’s going on,” he said. “It’s pulling you away from me and Cassie. It’s pulling you away

from Lucas. Are you sure you want to be driving all your friends out of your life?”

I dropped my eyes. His words stung. “I just—I just need to get through this week,” I said. “Then

things can go back to normal.”

“Just like that?” Royal asked, snapping his fingers. I bit my lip, unsure. Royal sighed. “I thought

you and Lucas were two peas in your own little supernatural pod. What could be so bad that you can’t

tell him?”

Another pair of kids exited the dining hall behind us. We waited in silence for them to pass. When

they were out of earshot, I turned back to Royal. “I think I hurt him,” I said.

“Hurt?” Royal eyed me, suddenly uncomfortable. “Not—you didn’t—?”

“Sleep with him?” I smiled bitterly. “I’m pretty sure if I’d done that you’d be able to tell.”

“So what did you do?” Royal looked sickly fascinated.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I hurt him and I don’t know how to make it right. Or if I can make it

right.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Talk to him,” Royal said. Instead of answering, I shook my head. “Okay. Think this through. Did

you mean to hurt him?” Royal asked.

“No, of course not!” I snapped. Then, when some part of me rebelled against this half-truth, I

shook my head. “I didn’t realize it would turn out like this. I never wanted to cause him pain.”

“So tell him that,” Royal said, like it was the most obvious idea in the world.

I stared at Royal. “You don’t understand,” I said. “Lucas can
never
know what I’ve done.”

Royal shook his head. “I think you’re underestimating how much that guy likes you.” He turned

and walked away.

Why do you think I can’t tell him?
I asked in my head as I watched Royal walk away. Lucas’s love

was one of the truly good things in my life. I needed him. It wasn’t just that I’d stolen the secret of the

vessel from him, or that I’d ripped the memory of my crime out of his mind. I’d made Lucas give up

the one thing he’d sworn to Hale and my father he’d protect. I’d made him betray the Guard. And if he

ever found out, I’d lose him for good.

Seth eyed me all day, clearly eager to get me alone. I wasn’t ready to tell him what I’d learned about

the vessel. I’d stolen the secret from Lucas. It didn’t feel like it was mine to share. Seth didn’t seem to

see it that way. I ran into him in the hall between fifth and sixth period, and he pulled me aside before

I could enter my trigonometry class. The hall emptied as students entered their classrooms, leaving us

mostly alone in the hall.

“So, we didn’t get a chance to finish our conversation this morning.”

“Our conversation?” I asked, feigning distraction.

“The vessel.” Seth prompted. “Did you find out where it is or not?”

“Braedyn? In or out?” Ms. Yates, my trig teacher, called from the doorway.

“Sorry,” I said to Seth, concealing the relief I felt. “See you next period?” I followed Ms. Yates

into her class without looking back. I couldn’t stomach his anticipation. In an effort to avoid him, I

made sure I was late to English. I arrived as Mr. Avila started writing notes on the board.

“Braedyn, nice of you to join us. Have a seat.” Mr. Avila waited until I’d dropped into a desk in

the front row to turn back to the board. I dug in my backpack for the reading assignment, catching a

glimpse of Seth’s face a few rows back. I shrugged, feigning helplessness. Seth gave me a faint smile.

I couldn’t tell if he guessed I was trying to avoid him or not. I spent the rest of class staring at the

board, but keenly aware of Seth’s eyes boring holes into the back of my head.

When the bell rang at the end of seventh period, I took my time packing things up. Seth stopped by

my desk, as determined as he’d been that morning.

“I need to talk to Mr. Avila,” I said. “Meet you at the car?”

Seth glanced at Mr. Avila and back to me, confused and more than a little frustrated. “Sure.”

I took my book to the front of the class. Mr. Avila looked up from his desk. “Sorry about coming

in late,” I said.

Mr. Avila looked a little surprised. “Thank you for the apology.” I felt Seth lingering in the

doorway; I couldn’t leave just yet. Mr. Avila sat back in his chair. “Is there something else?”

My mind cast around for something to say. “I was thinking about doing an independent study on

Shakespeare next year,” I said.

Mr. Avila’s eyes lit up. “That’s a wonderful idea. I actually thought your essay on
Twelfth Night

had some very astute observations. Are you looking for a faculty advisor? I’d love to help you, but you

should also talk to Dr. Gloer. She did her PhD on the nature of love and passion in Shakespeare’s

England, believe it or not. Did you have her for English freshman year?”

As we talked, Seth gave up and left. By the end of my conversation with Mr. Avila, I had half-

convinced myself that I really wanted to do this independent study I’d pulled out of thin air just

moments earlier. Mr. Avila gave me Dr. Gloer’s email address and promised to talk to her about me at

the staff meeting later this week.

I made my way to the parking lot. Lucas and Seth were standing by my car, talking. They looked

up as I arrived.

“Sorry, didn’t mean for that to take so long,” I said. My voice came out a bit too cheerfully, but

neither Seth nor Lucas called me out. I drove us back to my house. As we were getting out of the car,

two Guardsmen raced up the block and into the Guard’s house.

“Where’s the fire?” Seth asked.

“Seriously.” Lucas stared at his house, uneasy. “Maybe we should check it out, make sure

everything’s okay.” We walked into the Guard’s house. Two of the newcomers stood guard in the

foyer.

“Sorry, kids,” one said. “You’d better hang at Murphy’s today.”

“We’ve got practice,” Lucas said, bristling. He tried to push past the Guardsmen. They stepped

closer together, blocking his path.

“Practice is cancelled.” Max entered from the living room, carrying an old leather satchel that

looked like it had seen a lot of abuse. As he shifted it in his grip, I heard the sound of metal objects