The Havoc Chronicles (Book II): Unbound (5 page)

“And?”

“And he figured out that the girl who started glowing must have been me.” Also true.

Rhys turned to face me in the car. His beautiful eyes fixed on mine, concern radiating from him. It was really too bad all this was happening. I would have much rather simply enjoyed looking at him.

“And what did he think about that?” asked Rhys. “Is he going to keep your secret?”

Here’s where the lies came in. “Well, at first he wanted me to turn myself in. But once I explained that I had just been defending myself, he calmed down. He just wanted to make sure I wasn’t turning into the Incredible Hulk or something.”

Rhys visibly relaxed, a wry smile appearing. “Well, not only are you cuter than the Hulk, but I’m sure you could take him in a one-on-one grudge match.”

I leaned against Rhys’ shoulder and sighed dramatically. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”

He put his arm around me, pulling me closer. It was hard to concentrate on the joke when all I really wanted to do was to sink into his arms and stay there for as long as humanly – or was that Berserkerly? – possible.

“Yeah,” he said with heavy sarcasm in his voice, “you’ve seen how smooth I am with the ladies.”

I pulled back a little so I could see his face. “Do you really not understand the effect you have on girls?”

“I think you’ve got me mistaken for Eric. He’s the one all the girls swoon over.”

I shook my head. Boys are dumb.

***

The next day started out wonderfully. The morning news didn’t even mention the story about our attackers, which meant it had gone from news to history. I was perfectly fine with that because it meant that we had escaped with less exposure than we had feared. If it hadn’t been for Josh, it would have been a clean getaway.

When Rhys and I arrived at school, we headed straight for my locker. I dropped off my coat and backpack and got out the books I needed for class. When I closed my locker and turned around, coming down the hallway was a sight I hadn’t seen in months – Josh smiling. He looked like himself again, something I hadn’t seen since the night I’d first injured him. The sullen, moody Josh of the past several months had vanished overnight.

Feeling extremely relieved that I seemed to have cast the haze correctly, I watched Josh’s approach. He high-fived, fist bumped, and slapped people on the rear as he walked by. The reaction was incredible – a couple of sophomores actually started applauding as he walked by. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who missed the old Josh.

I expected him to continue down the hall when he got to me, but to my surprise – and horror – he walked right up to me, an infectious grin lighting up his face.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

I looked over at Rhys to see his reaction, but he didn’t look hurt or angry – more curious and confused.

“I’m fine,” I said. “You sure seem to be in a good mood.”

“Well, now that you mention it, I am,” he said. “Can I talk to you alone for a second?”

I looked around at the crowded hallway and shrugged. “I kind of doubt it. Besides, I don’t think Ginger would like that too much.”

Josh laughed. “I’m not too worried about her.”

I glanced over at Rhys and he shrugged. He didn’t seem to have any idea what this was about either. “I’ll see you in class,” he said and gave my hand a squeeze before walking away.

“So what’s going on?” I asked.

Josh casually leaned against the lockers. “I’ve been thinking a lot since yesterday,” he said.

Not exactly the words I wanted to hear. Clearly I had messed up casting the haze if he could remember it. My mind raced, searching desperately for a solution. I could try casting a haze again, but the hall was so crowded that it would be tough to do. Besides, if I didn’t get it right the first time, what were the odds of doing it right in a noisy hallway crammed with students?

“Listen,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I know you think my powers are out of control, but I promise you I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

 When I mentioned my powers, Josh’s eyes glazed. When I finished speaking, he shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts and continued on like I hadn’t even said a word.

“Like I said, I’ve been thinking a lot about you since yesterday.”

Now I was really confused. From his reaction, it sure seemed like the haze was working. But if he didn’t know about my powers anymore, why would he want to talk to me?

“Anyway, I know we broke up, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t even remember the reason
why
we broke up.” He took a deep breath and gave me a tentative smile. “So, I was hoping that maybe we could get back together and give it another try. What do you think?”

And there they were, the words I had desperately wanted to hear for so long. Only now instead of bringing me blissful happiness, they felt more like a punch in the stomach.

“But Josh, what about Ginger?” How much of his memory had the haze affected?

He shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “That’s not a problem. I’ll just break up with her.” His brow furrowed in confusion. “To be honest, I really don’t remember why I started dating her.”

This was bad. The haze was supposed to make him forget about my powers, not fall in love with me! I really must have messed something up to get this kind of reaction.

“Uh, Josh, I don’t think getting back together is such a great idea,” I said.

“Why not? We were good together.”

His blunt answer stopped me in my tracks. The truth was, we
had
been good together. For so many years he had been my fantasy crush, so far above me on the social ladder that I had no possibility of ever reaching him. For the briefest time we had been together, and I had been genuinely happy. Then my powers had shown up and ruined everything.

And there was my answer.

It was my powers that broke us up. Now that he had no memory of my powers, his mind had a hole in it that didn’t understand what had happened. As far as he was concerned, we could continue our relationship right where we left off.

I blushed as I remembered that first kiss. It had been sweet and wonderful – until I ‘zerked and almost killed him.

The warning bell rang, interrupting my thoughts.

“I, uh, I’ve got to get to class,” I said and rushed down the hall towards the Physics classroom.

The bell rang right as I slid into my seat, so there was no opportunity to tell Rhys what had happened. Which, given my current state of emotional turmoil, was fine with me.

“That was cutting it close, Miss Montgomery,” Mr. Shumway said.

I did my best to pay attention in class, but it was tough to keep my mind focused on angles of reflection and refraction when it kept drifting back to my conversation with Josh.

The worst part was that I felt really torn about the whole thing. Josh had been my first and longest crush. But things were finally starting to progress with Rhys – extremely slowly – but he had told Amy that he was my boyfriend. That had to mean something.

When the bell rang, I hurried toward American History. Instead of going to his class, Rhys walked with me. Ordinarily this would make my heart skip a few beats, but I knew he wanted to find out what had happened with Josh, and I had no desire to talk about it yet.

“So, what did Josh want?” he asked.

Yep, exactly the one topic I didn’t want to discuss. “Aren’t you going to be late for class?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Probably, but seeing as how I don’t actually need a high school diploma, my grades hardly matter. I’m here to protect you.”

“Well, if you don’t need a diploma, then clearly I don’t either, right? I mean what use does a Berserker have for a high school education?” I just needed to stall a little bit longer, then I could avoid telling Rhys what happened until lunch. Of course I knew my procrastination was completely childish and would likely catch up and bite me hard in sensitive parts of my anatomy, but at the moment I didn’t care.

Rhys looked pensive and then grabbed my arm and stopped in the middle of the hall. “You’re right,” he said. “This whole education thing is a bit of a joke. Let’s get out of here and tell your dad you’ve decided to drop out.” He gave me a wicked smile. He was calling my bluff.

While it wasn’t convenient, I had to admit that wicked smile was very attractive.

I sighed and started walking towards class again. We both knew my dad would burst a kidney if he thought I really wanted to drop out of school.

Concentrating on American History class was next to impossible. Bits and pieces of my conversation with Josh kept intruding upon my thoughts, interjecting at inappropriate moments like an uninvited visitor walking into the house, tracking in mud, and bringing in a great big wet, smelly dog.

Study hall wasn’t much better. I tried to finish my physics homework, but ended up spending most of the time staring out the window wondering how I was going to fix this.

By the time lunch rolled around, I knew I would have to tell Rhys what had happened. The thought made me feel sick inside – not the weasels-fighting-in-my-stomach kind of sick, but more of a nauseated feeling of hopelessness and despair. Just as bad as the weasels, if not worse.

It took me a while to figure out why I was dreading telling him so much, but it finally dawned on me. When Eric had been here, Rhys had always taken a back seat and seemed content to be in the background. With Josh back in the picture, I was afraid the same thing would happen again. I felt like I was stalking a bunny rabbit – too much noise and it would bolt. Did I really just compare Rhys to a rabbit?

When we sat down for lunch, I could see the look of expectation on Rhys’ face.

“Are you ready to tell me what happened with Josh?” he asked. He smiled at me, and I took a deep breath, ready to spill it all. But before I could get more than a few words out, I saw Josh stand up from his usual table in the cafeteria and walk towards me.

Not exactly good timing.

“Hey, Madison,” he said, and pulled up a chair next to me.

I glanced over at Rhys whose face had gone smooth and blank. No help there.

“Hi, Josh,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Well, I just wanted to invite you to come over and sit with us,” he said. “Oh, and Rhys is welcome to come too,” he said, but the invitation to Rhys was clearly an afterthought.

“I think I’m just going to stay here with Rhys,” I said. “It will be easier for everyone that way.”

Josh flashed me a smile. “I see. You’re going to make me suffer for breaking up with you, aren’t you? Well, don’t worry. I’m here for the long haul. I’m going to keep trying every day and do whatever it takes to get you back. You just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. But for today, since you declined my invitation, I will leave you in peace.”

And with that he headed back to his table. Several of the guys looked over and laughed, slapping Josh on the back in commiseration. The girls all had their heads together in a whispered huddle that was too soft for me to hear even during a pre-zerk.

Rhys watched Josh for a while before turning back to me. He was smiling, but it looked forced and didn’t make it to his eyes. “I can’t wait to hear this story.”

There was no way to hide it now, so I told him everything. How Josh had confronted me, how I had accidentally placed a haze on him, and how he wanted to get back together with me again.

When I finished, Rhys looked thoughtful, playing with a cold French fry. “There’s never a dull moment when you’re around,” he said. “A Berserker with Binder powers? I probably should have guessed.”

“But what do I do?” I asked, a note of panic creeping into my voice. “How do I fix it?”

“Do you want it fixed?” Rhys asked. He met my eyes, asking me the hard question I wasn’t sure I knew the answer to. “Now you can have your cake and eat it too. Hmm, perhaps a bad metaphor,” he added when he saw the repulsed look on my face. “But the point is, you’ve been miserable since he broke up with you. Now you can keep Josh and be a Berserker. It’s the best of both worlds.”

“I suppose,” I said, but there was no real enthusiasm in it. Yeah, Josh was cute, and I clearly had some unresolved feelings for him, but what would this do to any possibility of a relationship with Rhys? Was he angry, upset, or even slightly jealous? He didn’t look like any of those things. He simply sat across from me looking beautiful and understanding.