Minutes Before Sunset (11 page)

“Crystal?” he guessed, and my eyes widened. It was as if he knew everything about my life, yet I hadn’t told him anything.

“Don’t look so surprised, Jess,” he chuckled. “I’ve known her since kindergarten, and Robb was my best friend.”

I pointed at him. “Best friends?” I asked. “I knew you guys were friends, but—”

He nodded, continuing to laugh.
How was this so funny to him?

“I’ve changed,” he said. “A lot.”

“Since the accident?” The words fell out, and Eric’s brow darkened.

“I thought they told you about that,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Hannah Blake.” His eyes fogged over as he stared at the ceiling, and my entire body tensed. “She was friends with all of us—my girlfriend actually.”

I bit my lip.
Why was he telling me this?

“She died in a car wreck my freshman year; her parents did, too,” he said, frowning. “I was the only one who walked away, and I didn’t have a scratch on me.”

Eric paused as he tapped his pencil against his forehead, his brown hair waving in front of his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t talk about this—”

“It’s okay,” I said, swallowing my confusion. “I’m glad you can talk about it.”

His brow crumbled, and he tilted his head. “You’re a good person, Jessica,” he said, and I smiled.

“It’s Jess, remember?”

He shook his head and cocked a grin. “I think Jessica is a beautiful name,” he said, and his emerald eyes locked onto mine. “Would you mind if I called you that?”

“Do I have a choice?” I asked, and he laughed.

“Of course not.”

“I’d rather be called Jess.”

His eyes lit up at the challenge. “Jessica is better.”

I sighed, my chest sinking. “Jessica it is then.”

“You didn’t have a choice, Jessica,” he reminded me, and I dug my pencil into the notebook in front of me.

“Do you purposely try to piss me off?”

“I don’t know,” he sang. “Is it working?”

I glared. “What do you think?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“You’d be correct.”

He laughed, hitting his knee, and I shook my head at him.

“You’re one interesting kid, Eric.”

He raised his brow and focused on me. “So I’ve heard.”

I sighed at his confidence, wondering how he could go from hating me to confiding in me. He seemed completely comfortable with himself, yet I felt as if I was starting to lose my confidence. He was beginning to make me nervous.

“Can we—?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, sitting up on his knees as he rested against my arm. “We can finish this project.”

22

I rolled onto my side and stared at the wall. It’d been two hours since Jessica left, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation. I’d told her so much—too much—and I had no clue as to what had gotten into me. The only girl I told anything to was the nameless shade, and Jessica wasn’t her—to my knowledge.

Anyone could be anybody. Even Mindy could’ve been a shade or a light, but we had no way of knowing. It was one of the main reasons I stopped being friends with Crystal and Robb. What if they ended up being someone I had to kill? I didn’t want to think about that.

My door creaked open, and I listened to soft footsteps tiptoe across my carpet. I sighed. “Get out of my room, Noah.”

He groaned. “How’d you hear me?”

Because I’m a shade.
“You’re loud,” I said, flipping over to face him. The brunette boy blinked his brown eyes and clutched the half-empty bag of cookies against his chest. I sighed again. “What do you want?”

“I thought we could share the last few,” he said, his cheeks ruddy.

“Not now, Noah.”

His eyes squinted. “Jim said you had to.” He referred to my father—his stepfather—by his nickname. His name was James.

I sat up, running a hand through my hair. Ever since I’d almost lost my friendship with the nameless shade, I’d been trying harder to sympathize with my stepfamily, but I wasn’t in the mood. “I’m sleeping.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Noah,” I practically growled. “Please. Leave me alone.”

“But I already did.”

“Only when I gave you cookies,” I pointed out, and he threw the remaining cookies on my bed.

“I don’t want them anymore,” he said, folding his pudgy arms.

“Fine,” I said, refusing to touch them. “But that doesn’t mean I’m hanging out with you.”

“Then I’m not leaving you alone next time Jess comes over,” he threatened, and I fought a laugh.

“She isn’t coming back.”

“Yes, she is,” he said, raising his little brows. “You were practically drooling over her. I heard Mom and Jim talking about it.”

“What did you just say?” I asked, sitting up, and his brown eyes widened.

“Mom and Jim—”

“Before that.”

He tilted his head. “You were drooling over Jess.”

“I wasn’t drooling,” I argued, only thinking of the girl I was training. She was my every other thought. I’d never felt so strange before—so vulnerable—yet I trusted her. I couldn’t explain it, but it bothered me.

“There you go again,” Noah said, smirking. “You haven’t had that stupid look on your face since Hannah.”

“Don’t.” I held up my hand and glared. “Don’t talk about her.” Hannah deserved to be remembered by her Dark name—Abby—not by humans who didn’t even know her.

“Sorry.” Noah’s face paled. “I just thought—”

“You thought nothing,” I growled. I hated my stepfamily.

Noah dug his foot into my carpet. “I wish I had a cool older brother like Johnny,” he muttered. Johnny was his best friend. Just as annoying too.

“I’m not your brother,” I said, waiting for him to leave, but he stood his ground.

“We have the same parents.”

“No, we don’t,” I said, cringing. “Your mother married my jackass father; we’re stepbrothers.”

He frowned at my curse. “Still has the word ‘brother’ in it.”

“That’s it.” I pointed to my door, and it sprang open, reacting to my powers. It slammed against the wall, and Noah leapt into the air. “Get out.”

In a millisecond, he was gone, running past the door, screaming. I waved my hand, and my door slammed shut and locked. Then, I waited. My dim room illuminated, adjusting to my shade powers, and my vision burned. Using my powers had disadvantages. My clock shone, and I squinted my eyes as the secondhand ticked loudly. If my calculations were correct, my father would burst in at any moment.

“Eric.”

Wow. He was earlier than usual.

“Eric.” My father pounded on my door, and the wood shook against the hinges. “Don’t ignore me; open this door.”

I leaned my back against the wall and shook my head. “Come on in.”

The doorknob shook. “Unlock this door now.”

“You unlock it,” I tested him, knowing he could use his powers at any moment.

Shadows shifted from my floor, and my father appeared in a mist. His black eyebrows furrowed together as he slowly melted back into his human form. His brow was gray.

I smirked. “Mindy must be downstairs,” I said, knowing he wouldn’t have used them if she was anywhere near him.

“Don’t talk like that,” he said, waving his hand, and I felt the silence barrier cloud my bedroom. He didn’t want his human family to hear our discussion. “Why don’t you give them a chance?” he asked, continuing to raise his voice. “I know Mindy isn’t your mother.”

Duh.

“And you’re not used to having a kid brother.”

I don’t want to get used to that either.

“But they’ve been around for a long time—”

“Time isn’t everything,” I said, meeting his gaze as I used my last year of life against him. “Time is short.”

My father’s expression faltered and he hung his head, running a hand through his balding hair. “Not this again.”

“If I have to live with it every day,” I started, straightening my posture. “I think you should at least have to listen to it.”

“Fine,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “How’d the project go?” he asked, changing the subject, and I fell back, rolling my eyes.
Of course.

“We finished it.”

He sat down on my computer chair. “What did you say that girl’s name was again?”

My jaw locked, and I had to pry it open to speak. “I didn’t.”

“Jess, right?”

“Jessica,” I corrected. “So what?”

He leaned his elbows on his knees and placed his chin on his hands. His brown eyes bore into me. “What’s your relationship with her?”

I gaped at him. “You must be kidding me.”

He blinked. “About what?” he asked, attempting to hide his thoughts, but he couldn’t. Unlike me, he was a terrible liar.

“You think I like her,” I accused.

He shrugged. “Noah said you wanted to be alone with her.”

“To study.”

“You could’ve studied in the kitchen,” he pointed out, and I glared.

“With Mindy hovering over us? No, thank you.”

He frowned, and wrinkles covered his cheeks. “I have the right to wonder, Eric,” he said, dropping his tone. “I am your father, after all.”

“And by being my father, you should know by now that I haven’t been like that since Abby,” I retorted, my lip curling. “Even if I wanted to, I’m not allowed, or have you forgotten that rule?”

His brow lowered, darkening his eyes. “That rule was placed for a reason.”

“Why?” I asked, and he glared.

“You know why,” he said, knowing I was forcing him to say it.

I raised my brow. “I’ve forgotten.”

He growled. “Eric—”

“Your wedding killed her,” I said, remembering how the Light attacked us on the way to his ceremony.

“No.” His voice was a snarl. “Showing your sword to her killed her,” he said, knowing what we all knew. I activated my powers. The Light traced me, and I was with her when they found me.

“But they didn’t kill me,” I said, shaking my head as I waved my hands in the air. The image of the blonde girl sent after us remained in my memory. She’d looked into the car, seen the death, met my eyes, and left me. She didn’t care to murder me—only Abby. I still didn’t have an explanation. Nobody did.

After a moment, my father sighed. “That was a blessing, Eric.”

“Abby’s death isn’t a blessing.”

“Your survival was.”

“It shouldn’t be,” I growled, jumping to my feet and pointing at my chest. “They should know my identity. They should’ve already killed me, but they haven’t,” I said. “Explain that.”

His shoulders rose, but he didn’t speak. Something wasn’t right.

“Is this why you don’t like Mindy and Noah?” he asked quietly. “You blame them.”

“This isn’t about them.”

“It is,” he said. He was changing the subject. Again. “They barely knew Abby.”

“You’re right,” I agreed sharply. “They knew Hannah.”

He sighed, dropping his face. “Eric—”

“What?” I was too bitter to listen to his scorn. “You’re the one who brought a human home.”

“Mindy is a very nice lady.”

“Very human,” I said.

“There’s nothing wrong with humans,” he said, glaring. “You used to be friends with a whole group of them, both Abby and you.”

“Exactly why I’m not friends with them anymore,” I spat. “They could be shades—or lights—then what?”

My father didn’t speak.

“What if Mindy was a light?” I asked, and he stood up, pointing at me with a shaky finger.

“Don’t talk like that.”

“Don’t talk like what?” I asked. “Truthfully?”

His brown eyes twitched. “Maybe I should come back later,” he said, dropping his gaze for the umpteenth time.

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

He didn’t seem to hear me as he grabbed the plates from my table and stared at the one I left full. He knew it was mine. “Why aren’t you eating?” he asked, and I prepared myself to lie.

“Not hungry.”

He sighed, breaking down our silence barrier, and moved toward my door. “I had a surprise for you,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out keys and tossed them onto my bed. “It’s in the garage; be safe with it.” He didn’t look at me. “Goodnight, son,” he said, unlocking the door and leaving.

I shut it behind him, kicking my bed in a fit. I collapsed on it, gripping my scalp as my eyes flicked over the silver keys.
Dodge.
He’d gotten me a car.

I snatched them up, running my fingers over them, and my heart sank into my gut. As much as I appreciated it, the gift felt like a distraction. Between my mother’s suicide and Abby’s murder, it was obvious he wasn’t telling me everything, and I wanted to know. I had to, and I was determined to figure it out, even if I had to learn the truth on my own.