Masquerade (45 page)

You’re so beautiful.
I couldn’t help but think.

He smiled but not enough
for the worry in his eyes to disappear.
Does the light hurt your eyes?

Not too bad.
It was actually better than before.

“
Here you go.” Gran set a
plate and mug next to him on the table. I looked up at her and
gasped, jumping in my chair.

“
What!?” she
exclaimed.

I shook my head, “Sorry, you startled
me.” It was a pathetic lie.

“
My goodness, you about
gave me a heart attack.” I stared at her even when she moved
away.

What’s going
on?

There’s a huge ring of
color around her. It keeps changing.

Are there colors around
me?

No.

Anything else?

No.

Sam glanced at Grandma and
moved to sit at the table next to me.
“I
brought some movies with me. I thought maybe you might like to
watch them today, if you don’t have plans, that is.”

“
No plans,” I said and then
turned to Grandma, who sat down across from us. “Would it be okay
if Sam hung out for a while?”

“
That’s fine dear. A movie
day is just what you need. And I won’t feel guilty for leaving you
alone to go to the store.”

Sam palmed a few movies that I hadn’t
even noticed and stood, pushing in his chair. “Thank you for the
muffin and coffee, Mrs. Montgomery.”

“
You’re welcome,
Sam.”

I stared at Grandma as the colors
around her shifted some more.

Come on, Heven.

I stood, grabbing my
coffee. I felt sluggish and tired. Sam took the mug from me and led
me into the family room where the TV and DVD player were. He went
about sliding a movie into the player, and I settled on the couch,
pulling a blanket over me. When he turned around I slid the
sunglasses up over my head.
What’s
happening?

Looks like we just
discovered the supernatural ability that Airis gave you.

We did?

You can see people’s
auras.

Did that even count as some sort of
supernatural ability? It wasn’t particularly exciting. And it
wasn’t that useful. Sam settled down on the sofa next to me, and my
first thought was to curl up in his lap and lay my head on his
chest. But then Grandma banged a pan in the kitchen and put an end
to those tempting thoughts. With a sigh I settled for scooting a
little closer and laying my head on his shoulder. With one hand he
pressed some buttons on the remote, and the movie flashed on the
screen. I didn’t notice what he put in because his other hand was
busy slipping beneath the blanket to slide his fingers through
mine. I closed my eyes and sighed, thinking that maybe if I went to
sleep, when I woke up my headache would be gone and there wouldn’t
be a ring of colors surrounding my grandma. Except I couldn’t
sleep. As exhausted as I felt, my mind wouldn’t shut off and leave
me alone. It was annoying.

Questions plagued me. If I really
could see auras then why didn’t Sam have a ring of color around
him? Would I be able to see colors around everyone that I looked
at? That was going to be extremely distracting. How was I supposed
to walk around school and not let on that everyone was glowing? I
felt like such a freak; first the hideous scar and now this. At
least this was something that no one else had to know about. And
how was I going to explain at school tomorrow where my scar went? I
couldn’t possibly tell the truth.

And what about my eye sensitivity?
When would that go away? Wearing sunglasses 24/7 just wasn’t an
option. I guess I could–

Stop.

Sam’s demand brought me out
of my swirling mind.
What?

Stop worrying. We’ll
figure it out.

I can’t, I have too many
questions.

Then let’s get some
answers.

How?

He hit the pause button on
the remote, and I looked over at the TV, noticing the movie for the
first time.
How to Lose a Guy in Ten
Days
?

He shrugged, “You’ve seen
it?”

“
Sure. Have
you?”

He shook his head. “It looked like a
girly movie, and I thought it would make you happy.”

I smiled. “You’d sit through a girly
movie just for me?”

“
Yes, although, I actually
think it’s kind of funny.”

“
Let’s finish watching
it.”

He shook his head. “Later. We have
something to do.”

“
We do?”

“
Go offer to go to the
store for your grandma. I’ll drive you.”

“
I don’t know if I want to
go out…”

“
Wouldn’t you rather learn
about what you’re seeing today at the grocery store with me instead
of at school tomorrow?”

“
Totally.” I tossed the
blanket to the side and tugged his hand as I stood.

We went into the kitchen where my
grandma was reading the newspaper. I stood there a minute trying to
get a handle on the colors that circled around her. The brightest,
most dominant color was blue. I watched in fascination as other
clouds of color in green and purple floated around her. Sam
squeezed my hand, and I cleared my throat. “Grandma, if you give me
your list I would be happy to go to the store for you.”

She looked up from her paper. “I
thought you had a headache.”

“
The pain reliever you gave
me really helped.”

“
Well, good. But I still
think you should rest.”

“
I really feel fine, and
you do so much for me. I really don’t mind. Getting out for a while
might be nice.”

“
You’ll drive her,
Sam?”

“
Yes, ma’am.”

“
All right then.” When she
walked across the room the colors went with her. She pulled out a
list and some cash. “Here you are. Make sure that you pick up
something for dinner tonight. Sam, you are welcome to join
us.”

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
“Thanks, Grandma. I love you.”

She smiled and the colors around her
flared a shade of pink. Somewhere inside me a voice told me that
the color of pink stood for love. “Love you too. Don’t stay out too
long.”

Sam waited downstairs as I
went to change out of my PJs. As I dressed I couldn’t help but feel
the irony. Just last week I would have been thrilled to go out in
public without my gross scars, and now that I could, I was too
nervous to enjoy it. I
was afraid that Sam
was right and that I really would see everyone’s aura. It made me
feel like I was still a freak, just
in a
different way.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Heven

The parking lot at the grocery store
wasn’t crowded. I was incredibly relieved because I was already
shaking. From the minute we’d turned onto the busy street I was
assaulted with too many bright colors. Everywhere I looked there
were people exploding with different hues, so much so that my head
began to pound all over again. It was sensory overload to the tenth
degree.

Sam parked the truck and turned off
the ignition, but made no move to get out, instead turning to look
at me.

“
How am I supposed to
process all of this at once?”

“
You don’t have
to.”

I snorted. “Are you kidding? I don’t
have a choice.”

“
Yes, you do.” The raspy
quality of his voice soothed me. “It’s like going to the mall.
There are dozens of stores all with different colors, lights,
music. There are different scents from all the different food
places, there’s a lot going on. But you don’t really notice it, you
know? Sure you know it’s there, but you aren’t really thinking
about it all at once.”

The idea made sense. “Just because I
can see the colors doesn’t mean I have to pay attention to
them?”

“
Exactly. Unless you want
to.”

I nodded. “I guess I could try
it.”

I took Sam’s hand and let him lead me
through the parking lot, keeping my head down and my sunglasses on.
The light was still a little too bright for my eyes. Once inside I
took a breath and looked up. I couldn’t help but notice every
person that was near. Each one of them had colorful rings of color
around them. All of the colors varied in shade and intensity. It
overwhelmed me, and my chest began to feel tight.

Don’t pay any attention to
them. Look at me.

It wasn’t hard to lose focus of
everyone else and concentrate only on Sam. I did it all the time.
He was gorgeous and if that wasn’t enough, now I had another reason
why he took my breath away. He was the only person I looked at that
wasn’t surrounded by color. He made me feel like things were
normal.

He laughed out loud,
drawing a few stares.
I make you feel
normal?

Stop listening to every
thought I have.

He had the grace to look
chagrinned.
Sorry.

I pulled Gran’s list from my pocket.
“Come on.”

Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone that I
knew. At first it was hard to concentrate on the list because
seeing a rainbow of color at every turn wasn’t as easy as I’d
hoped. Sam was super gracious leading me from aisle to aisle, only
stopping in front of the things I needed to get. When we finally
made it over to the dairy aisle (the last aisle that we needed to
go), I was relieved and a little more relaxed. I somehow managed to
get through the store and no one seemed to notice that I stared at
everyone and everything. I reached into the large cooler for a
gallon of milk and stepped back when a man brushed by me. I gasped,
dropping the gallon at my feet where milk exploded everywhere. I
pressed my back against the cooler door and stared at the man who
glared at me before stalking away.

Sam stepped in between me and the view
of the man. “What’s the matter?”

That man is so
ugly.

He glanced over his
shoulder.
He isn’t that scary
looking.

I shook my head.
Ugly on the inside. Angry too. The colors around
him are icky and brown.
I
shuddered.

Block it out,
Hev.

“
Guess I’ll get someone to
clean up this mess I made.”

“
I’ll go.” He turned just
as someone was coming out of the stockroom. The man looked at the
mess and told Sam he’d come back with a mop. When he returned I
smiled. “I’m really sorry about the mess.”

“
Don’t worry about
it.”

“
Can I help?”

“
Nah, it’s okay.” The
colors around him were mostly blue, and it felt like he wasn’t
angry at all, and it made me feel better. After the milk was mopped
he reached into the cooler and grabbed me another gallon. “Here you
go.”

“
Thank you,” I accepted the
milk and added it to the cart.

After we paid for the groceries, we
loaded them in the truck and were walking back from the cart return
when Sam pointed to the ice cream shop next to the grocery
store.

“
Can we get it to go?” I
asked.

“
Sure.”

The place was packed, and I panicked.
Quickly I slid the sunglasses over my eyes to help keep out some
light and hide my expressions. Sam put a palm to my lower back, and
I concentrated on the feeling it gave me. I managed to make it
through the line to order (strawberry in a cone for me, a to-go cup
of butter pecan for Grandma and a double scoop of chocolate for
Sam) and navigate through the crowd. Outside on the sidewalk I took
a deep breath of the spring air and enjoyed a taste of ice cream.
It was silly to feel proud of myself, but I did. I managed to get
through the menagerie of colors without losing it in front of
everyone.

Then I looked up.

Kimber and Cole were coming
through the parking lot toward us with Kimber waving at me
fanatically. I checked my watch. Yep, school let out just twenty
minutes ago. I looked back up at my friends.
Colors of bright shades in yellow, orange, red and most
dominantly
–
turquoise
–
shot out around her, almost like flames. Her aura was so bold
that it practically fought for space with Cole’s. His was bright
too, but the colors were not as frantic; they didn’t burst around
him like they might attack me. They were much more soothing to my
eyes in green and blues. There was also a dominant magenta shade, a
mix of purple and pink that surrounded his head. It was the first
time I had seen a color like this. Sure, I have seen pinks and
purples, but they were always temporary bursts, they never stayed
like this color, and the purple and pink never mixed together to
create a new shade. It was different, but it seemed to fit him
perfectly somehow.