New Sight (12 page)

Chapter 16

L
ys tried
to push away from him, but he wrapped his arms around her. Before she could begin struggling in earnest, he spoke.

“There you are, baby. You’re late.”

The words seemed so absurd that Lys’s eyes flew up to the face of the voice’s owner. To her complete surprise, Kamau stood above her.

“I’ve been waiting.” He smiled, but it spoke of disapproval as did the possessive tone in his voice.

Lys couldn’t talk. Her mouth opened, hinging up and down, but no words came out.

“Really, baby,” he said in a low voice. “You hanging out with these guys?” He shot a withering look at the four figures in the alley.

Finally she got a word out. “No.”

Kamau continued to glare at them. “I didn’t think so.”

The tone in his voice caused the four guys to step back. Kamau’s presence towered above them even though he had to be a few inches shorter than the tallest of them. Lys found herself clinging to him, and hating herself for it—hadn’t she just vowed to leave his world behind? Her hands wouldn’t stop trembling, and her heart pounded so hard against her ribs that she was sure Kamau could feel it.

“Why don’t you guys go find someone else to help?” Kamau said.

The words lashed out like a whip, and the four guys jerked, shaking their heads. One of them started to stutter something, but another grabbed his arm and they backed away. Kamau continued to stare at them until they turned and ran.

A breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding escaped from Lys’s lips in a stuttering exhale. She inhaled, gulping in the much needed air.

“Are you alright?” Kamau asked, pushing her away, hands on her shoulders.

Lys swallowed. She had to be strong. She leveled her eyes at his chest before she spoke. “Thanks for helping me, but I’m not going back.”

Kamau digested this. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to call my parents and . . .” And what? Go back to where she started? Right now it seemed like the only option. “I’m going to call my parents,” she said again. Tears threatened to begin cascading down her cheeks.

“How?” Kamau asked.

The question struck Lys as funny, and she let a short laugh escape. “With a phone.”

“You don’t have any money.”

Lys had an answer for that one. “I’ll call collect. I just need a pay phone.” Or someone’s cell phone.

“Why?”

Lys shook her head. He wouldn’t understand.

“Lys,” he said, leaning down to try to look into her eyes. “Why do you want to leave?”

The Need didn’t rear its ugly head, but Lys only looked at his eyes for a moment. “Because I don’t want this.” Now a tear did come. “Mr. Mason said he could cure me. He lied.” The last two words were packed with all of the betrayal and loss that Lys carried in her. She lowered her head and began to sob. “I just want to go home.”

Kamau wrapped his arms around her and drew her to his chest. At first she couldn’t respond. All she could do was cry.

“Shhh,” Kamau said, stroking her hair. “It’s okay.”

She didn’t believe him, but the words gave her the strength to cling to him. The tears and the sobs continued—an unstoppable wave of emotion that tried to wash away the hurt she’d been carrying around with her.

The flood engulfed her. Lys had no idea how long they stood there in the dawning morning, this boy she barely knew trying to comfort her when true comfort was impossible. She tried to let the pain wash away, but not all of it would go. Part of her knew that this would never be over. Part of her knew that the magic existed, and that it lay inside of her like a disease.

Kamau didn’t say anything more. He just held her, resting his chin on the top of her head. When the sobs died down, and Lys ran out of tears, Kamau stroked her hair again. “Do you want to go home?”

Lys looked up at him and nodded.

“I will help you.”

“You will?” Lys expected that he would try to talk her out of it.

“Yes.” He stepped back, releasing Lys.

For a moment she felt naked and alone—the barrier against this new world gone. But then she remembered that she’d made this decision. She wanted to go. She did.

Kamau glanced behind him at the road. “I believe I saw a gas station just around the corner. Would they have a pay phone?”

“Yes,” Lys said. A gas station. Good.

“Come on,” he said.

Gratitude for his understanding filled Lys, but when he took her hand, a different emotion came into play.

No,
she thought to herself.
This is not the time.
But that thought didn’t stop her from intertwining her fingers with his before they walked to the end of the alley and onto the street.

Vibrant pink filled the eastern sky, silhouetting the hotels. A cool breeze blew past them as they emerged, and Lys felt her spirits lift a little. She saw the gas station immediately, and true to his word, Kamau led her toward it.

“What did Mr. Mason tell you when he found you?” he asked as they walked past the entrance to a seedy-looking club.

Lys sniffed. “He came to the hospital and told me that he could help me.”

“Help you with what?”

She shot a look at Kamau. Was it possible that he didn’t feel the Need? Mark said everyone exhibited different symptoms. “Help me stop wanting to hurt people.” She didn’t want to discuss it. Apparently Kamau caught the hint.

“And he said he could help you?”

Lys nodded. “He’s the only person who didn’t think I was crazy.”

“Were you using your magic?”

“I don’t think so.” Lys hoped that the urge to rip people’s eyes out did not constitute using magic. “It’s something else.”

“Did he say he could cure you?” Kamau asked as they walked across the small parking lot that surrounded the gas station.

“I asked him if he could help me, and he said he could. I asked if he could cure me and he . . .” Lys thought about it. Did he ever actually say that he could cure her? “He didn’t say he couldn’t,” she finished.

Kamau said nothing as he opened the door and held it for Lys.

Inside the gas station, a skinny man sat behind a counter in front of a display of cigarettes. He didn’t bother to look up from texting on his phone as they entered. The news played on a flat-screen TV in one corner, but the sound was drowned out by the loud rap music that came from a radio next to the clerk.

“Do you have a pay phone?” Lys asked. She’d checked outside and saw nothing.

“It’s in the back.” He pointed toward the restroom signs, still not looking up.

“Thanks,” she said automatically.

Kamau followed her through the little store and to the doorway in the far corner. The pay phone sat huddled in a nook, right around the corner from the fountain drinks. Patches of the white paint on the walls and ceiling peeled back, revealing a dull, gray color underneath. Cracks riddled the linoleum and Lys could smell the toilets from the end of the hall.

Suddenly Lys realized that she hadn’t used a toilet in ages. The thought of going into the bathroom here made her cringe, but this need couldn’t wait much longer. She looked over at Kamau and saw him eying the men’s door with suspicion.

The phone lay just a few feet away, but Lys decided that she’d rather talk to her parents without having to cut it short or do the “I have to go” dance.

“I think I’m going to—” Lys jerked her head toward the women sign.

“Good idea,” Kamau said. He released her hand and Lys quickly strode into the bathroom before she could think too much about Kamau, magic, her parents, or Mr. Mason.

The solitude rattled her resolve. The smell kept the trip short. As she washed her hands, Lys noticed her eyes. They still swirled gold—beautiful really. She stared at herself in the mirror, wondering absently why she never felt the need to go after her own eyes. But that’s not what she wanted to dwell on. She had to get out of here and find someone who could really help her.

But could anyone do that? If she was a magic user, what would happen to her? Did anyone besides Mr. Mason and the guys trying to kill them know about magic? Surely someone had to. A secret society maybe, or ancient guardians? Brady probably had a few ideas.

The gold in her irises mesmerized her for a moment before she shook her head and grabbed a paper towel. Too much thinking.

Out in the hall, Lys found herself alone. Her stomach constricted at the thought that Kamau left her, but she took a deep breath and decided it didn’t matter. She’d be leaving him in a little while. Why prolong the agony?

She walked back toward the phone and found Kamau browsing the shelves. He gave her a smile when he saw her. Unable to stop them, her lips curled into a grin as well. Heartened, she turned and picked up the phone. With the age of the cell phone, Lys could honestly say she’d only used a pay phone one other time in her life, and that had been on a dare. However, she did remember that to get an operator all you had to do was dial 0. She pressed the button and waited.

Silence filled the receiver, and Lys wondered if she’d done it wrong. Her hand hovered over the flap to hang up, but just before she pressed it, a woman’s voice came on the line.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“Yes,” Lys said, and she could hear the excitement in her own voice. “I’d like to make a collect call please.”

“What is the number you are trying to reach?”

Lys recited the number and waited. As she did so, her thoughts turned to magic. Could it be true? And if so, why would people be trying to kill her?

A hand landed on her shoulder.

She spun around, heart racing, hoping the guys from the alley didn’t follow her.

Kamau stood, watching the television in the corner. Following his gaze, Lys felt her jaw fall open.

She couldn’t hear the commentator over the hum of the coolers and the music from the radio, but she could clearly see Mark’s face on the screen.

“What?” Lys asked.

Kamau held up a hand. He seemed to be listening. “They say he is a dangerous criminal. He is reportedly armed and suspected to be involved in a kidnapping,” Kamau whispered.

The picture on the screen changed from Mark’s face, to Lys’s face. She groaned. Was it her year book picture? No, they’d used one that had been taken when she went to Sea World. She was soaked—they’d been sitting in the splash zone.

“Oh, no!” Lys whispered, the implications cutting through her mortification. “What are they saying?”

Kamau kept watching. “That you disappeared from a private camp. Mark is supposed to be a counselor, and they are saying he forced you to go with him.” Kamau looked down at her, an amused smile on his lips. “What were you doing in that picture?”

“Don’t ask,” she grumbled. She heard the phone start to ring in her ear. Her parents would take the call, and then she could explain.

After two rings a familiar voice answered. “FBI, can I ask who is calling?” Lys’s blood ran cold.

The operator started off on the collect call spiel. Lys slammed the phone down into the cradle and stepped back like it might bite her.

“Was that Doyle?” Kamau asked.

Lys nodded. “He must be at my parent’s house.”

Kamau’s still-silvery eyes swiveled back to the television. Then he glanced at the clerk, who was now watching them intently.

“He’s looking right at us,” Lys said through clenched teeth, shifting to the side so Kamau’s body hid her. “We have to get out of here. If Doyle’s at my parent’s house, and I’m on the news, the police will be looking for us. I wonder if they know Doyle just wants to kill me.” And what was he doing at her parent’s house? Posing as FBI?

Kamau put a hand on her shoulder. “Look, I think I can get us out of here, but I’ll need to get close to the clerk, and I’ll need his undivided attention.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can use my magic on him,” Kamau said, glancing over her head at the clerk. “But we’ll need to hurry, and we need to be convincing.”

“But . . .”

“What do you like to eat?”

“What are you talking about?”

Kamau glanced back at the clerk. “If we buy something we’ll seem more normal. I can work better with that.”

“We don’t have any money!”

A twenty dollar bill appeared in Kamau’s hand. “I picked it up in the alley. Now grab something to eat. Then you’re going to have to play along.”

Lys let Kamau guide her to the nearest shelf where she grabbed a bag of pretzels. Kamau took two candy bars and a box of gummy worms.

“What do you mean play along?” Lys asked. She caught the clerk watching them again. He still held his phone in his hand.

“I have an idea that might work.”

“What?” Lys asked.

“We will pretend to be, uh, together. If he believes we are a couple traveling through town I can get him to forget about his interest in you.”

“Forget?” Lys asked.

Kamau studied her face. “I know you do not believe wholly in magic, but I do. It exists. Can you trust me?”

“Sure,” Lys said, not quite understanding if she meant it.

Kamau wrapped his arm around her, twisting her to face him, and pulled her very close. He handed her the candy. “Help me dump this stuff on the counter, but stay facing me. Pretend we’re together.”

“What?” Lys hissed. Her face was buried in his shoulder, the rest of her pressed right up against him.

“You’re going to have to act a little more interested than that,” Kamau whispered in her ear.

Oh, he meant
that
together.

Before she could react, Kamau had them moving. Lys tried to keep her feet in synch with his, mirroring his steps so they wouldn’t tread on one another. Just before they got to the counter, Kamau leaned down and kissed her ear. “Giggle,” he whispered.

Well that wasn’t hard. The brush of his lips on her ears tickled. Not to mention the fluttery feeling blossoming in her stomach.

“Dump the stuff,” Kamau said softly.

A small squeak escaped as Lys felt her back side collide with the counter. Without turning, Lys shoved the candy and pretzels at the clerk. Kamau’s now free hand went around her shoulders. Trying to look convincing, Lys returned the favor, her hand having to stretch to get around his neck. She never realized just how tall he was.