Unfaithful (26 page)

“You are fucking awesome!” Jake exclaimed as Ginevra returned.

 “You sure it won’t come back?” Jeneane asked, her face still pale.

“Don’t worry, he won’t,” she said. “Sorry,” she whispered to Pete as she passed him, “but we all need to overcome our fears. They’re limitations we impose on ourselves.”

“What a coincidence,” Brandon said. “We were talking about your fear of snakes and then one showed up right next to you.”

“Good thing you’re not afraid of bears!” Jake said, breaking the tension. Everyone laughed and began to relax.

Ginevra sat down next to me as the rest of the group murmured admiringly about her. “Congratulations,” I said acidly, watching Peter’s face, still slack with shock. “You got what you wanted.”

“It’s not like you think. I did it for him,” she said.

“For him?!” I retorted bitterly, feeling a wildness hidden deep inside me come to life and burst out at Ginevra. “What were you thinking? Look at him! He’s terrified!” I said, shocked by the anger in my voice. Ginevra stared at me as if she didn’t know me, as stunned as I by how I’d blurted out the thoughts I’d been holding back.
But I couldn’t stop them
.

“All right,” she admitted. “Maybe I overdid it a little, but now you’re the one overdoing it. What’s gotten into you? It was just a stupid joke! Would you chill?” she hissed.

Like a slap in the face, her words snapped me out of it, awakening my conscience. For a moment I found myself watching the scene from a distance. I’d felt it again: the uncontrollable impulse that drove me to react this way.
It was inside me
. I opened my mouth to speak but closed it before my thoughts took shape. Ginevra studied my bewildered expression and rested her warm hand on my leg.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “I don’t know why I reacted like that. You’re right. Deep down I knew Peter wasn’t in any danger, right?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I was in complete control of the situation. I knew exactly what Peter was feeling. I could hear his thoughts. I wanted to help him overcome the trauma that’s haunted him since he was little, when his horse got spooked by a snake and threw him from the saddle.”

My mind filled with memories. “You’re right,” I said in a low voice, shaken. I well remembered the episode with the horse and the snake. “I thought he’d gotten over it.”

“No, but tonight he was on the verge of doing it. He was about to face that snake, you know.”

“I had no idea. I’m sorry,” I whispered, mortified.

“That’s okay. There was no way you could have known.”

“Why don’t you just use your powers of persuasion instead? I’ve seen what you can make people do.”

“My power, like Evan’s, can only make people act against their will. I can’t eliminate a deeply rooted fear inside them. It would just keep resurfacing. Only Simon can work on such a deep level.”

“I’m such an idiot! I ruined everything!” I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured me, stroking my knee.

“You wanted to do him a favor and I thought you were just being a bitch! I’m such a mess. Forgive me! I’ve been losing control so easily lately and—” I covered my mouth with my hand and silence fell, a silence all our own. Meanwhile the voices of the others in the background faded into the distance.

“Speaking of which . . .” I looked up at her. “You know how much you mean to me,” Ginevra said, “and I know you’re the nicest person in the world, but lately there’s something about you I can’t figure out. It’s like you’ve got a split personality. Your thoughts stop dead, you have mood swings, even the smallest things totally set you off. Maybe there’s something worrying you that’s making you react like this. We can talk about it if you want.” She looked at me thoughtfully. It was so strange for her to ask me to talk to her about something she didn’t already know.

“Believe me, I have no idea what’s going on. You’re probably right. Maybe I haven’t totally overcome the whole death thing. Maybe I just hid it somewhere inside and when I get too emotional I can’t handle it any more—I feel overwhelmed and lose control,” I confessed regretfully. “It’s like I’m constantly afraid an Executioner is out there waiting for his chance to attack me, and the feeling is wrecking my nervous system.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Months have gone by and nobody’s come looking for you,” she said, trying to reassure me.

“It would be great to believe that, but I can’t control it. There’s this tingling sensation under my skin like my instinct has reawakened, and I keep getting a terrible feeling in my stomach. It’s cold, creepy.”

Ginevra wrapped her arm around my shoulders affectionately. The others weren’t paying any attention to us. “Sooner or later you’ll put the whole thing behind you, you’ll see. No Subterranean who isn’t one of us will ever manage to get near you.”

When I rested my head on Ginevra’s shoulder she lowered her voice. “You’re safe with us, Gemma. Take my word for it, no one’s going to hurt you.”

I felt sleepy and her words became fainter. My eyelids grew heavy and I could barely keep them open. I finally surrendered, closing them.

“You’re not going to die . . .”

The words echoed in my head, sweet and soft, as my eyes opened, dazzled by the blinding sunlight reflected off the lake—a perfectly still mirror of water that stretched to the horizon like a pane of glass.

I rubbed my eyes, filled with an unusual feeling of lightness. It soon vanished, overpowered by a stronger emotion—a strange and now familiar sense of uneasiness. It gripped my mind as soon as my gaze landed on a distant figure veiled in white. It was a woman. She had her back to me and was clad in a pearly gown. Her hair flowed down her back like molten gold with a strange hint of copper that made it gleam with an unusual light. As if she’d sensed my presence, she turned her head and met my gaze, startling me. Her honey-colored eyes summoned me like an ancestral call. I felt something deep within me awaken, something new and intriguing. It battled the instinct that was warning me not to give in to the primitive need I felt to draw closer to the enchanting woman. But the need was stronger than the instinct and it prevailed.

The closer I came, the clearer the woman’s outline appeared. When I was quite near her I discovered she wasn’t alone. Another figure, hidden by her gown, was facing her, perfectly still. A shiver ran over my skin like a premonition.

“Evan,” I whispered, bewildered, barely moving my lips. He didn’t look at me or even acknowledge my presence, but focused all his attention on the woman. “Evan, what are you—”

The words died on my lips when the woman closed her eyelids, fringed with long lashes, and opened them again gracefully, fixing her gaze on mine. She rested her hand on Evan’s neck and walked around him slowly, almost as if they were dancing. Her long legs made the white silk flow with each step until she stood behind him. She peered at him with a strange light in her eyes.
Desire
. With a satisfied expression she raised her amber eyes to mine. I couldn’t move a muscle. Her hand moved slowly over Evan’s skin and he tilted his head, following the movement as though it gave him pleasure, still paying no heed to me. I frowned, disconcerted. The woman smiled at me again and moved her lips to him, slowly sliding her finger down his neck and touching her mouth to his ear as if whispering something to him. Evan half closed his eyes with pleasure.

“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I tried to reach them but couldn’t move. Something was keeping me glued to my spot. My heart skipped a beat, then shrank back as Evan took the woman’s hand, lifted it to his lips, and kissed her palm like he always did mine. “Evan . . .” I could barely breathe.

They gazed at each other for a long moment while I—powerless, trapped in my body—watched the woman rest her lips on his neck again. Evan encouraged her with his eyes. Desperation flooded me. Overhead, the clouds slid by quickly and the sun sank beyond the lake, dragging my heart with it into the darkest depths.

“Evan!” I shouted, but he couldn’t hear me. My muffled voice echoed against the walls of my brain as if I were sealed in a crystal sphere. “Don’t do it!” I shouted with all the desperation I felt.

She heard my cry and her eyes sought mine. A shudder ran through me and I squinted at her. Something about her looked familiar, almost as if I were staring at my own distorted reflection in a pool of water. I had the feeling that part of me had always known her. Suddenly my surroundings blurred and a stabbing pain in my head doubled me over. Confused images began to revolve around me as I writhed in pain. They suddenly stopped, showing me a serpent with yellow eyes, two narrow slits that stared at me. I flinched.

The image vanished, replaced by another that was even more dangerous: the woman’s sharp, seductive gaze locked on mine. Eyes closed, I pressed my fingers to my temples to banish her cunning smile from my mind and the image of the serpent took its place only to disappear again, alternating with that of the woman. Now Evan’s dark eyes filled my head and gripped my heart and again, the serpent. I covered my ears with my hands, unable to stop the rapid sequence of frozen images tormenting me; it was as if my brain had gone haywire and no longer responded to my commands. I felt like I was going insane as the flashes alternated faster and faster. The woman. The serpent. Evan. The serpent again.
Enoooough!
My screams pounded against the walls of my mind, blowing them up, but not a sound came from my lips. Again the woman. Evan. Again the serpent.
Stop it!

The flashes suddenly focused on Evan’s face. His eyes went wide as if someone had just struck him in the chest. He looked at me and I knew he could finally see me. “Evan,” I murmured, but his eyes of ice were frozen in dull pain. “Evan,” I whispered again.

The picture in my head blurred and disappeared, replaced by an image of Evan’s arm as it fell heavily to the ground. Unbearable pain gripped my chest and the blackest darkness swallowed me up.

“Evan!” I screamed, panting, as a knot in my throat choked me and tears burned my eyes.

“Easy, Gemma,” Ginevra whispered, brushing back the hair that clung to my damp face.

“Ginevra,” I whispered in a daze. Neither the burning sensation in my eyes nor the pain in my chest had faded.

“Everything’s fine. Evan will be here soon, you’ll see,” she said, trying to calm me down, but the feeling in my heart was stronger.

“He’s dead! Evan’s dead! Don’t you see?” I hissed, confused, as tears continued to stream down my face. I clung to her comforting gaze in an attempt to climb out of the pit into which I’d fallen.

“Evan isn’t dead. You had a bad dream, that’s all.”

My lips were trembling. I had a terrible presentiment. “Do you—do you think it’s possible I can see things before they happen?” I asked, still shaken.

Ginevra looked at me with compassion. “Evan can’t die,” she said softly. “Gemma, you’re just a little stressed. Try to relax.” For a moment she fell silent and stared back at me, matching the intensity of my gaze. “I’ll admit that at first I didn’t think you’d be able to handle all this, but then I found out how strong you were, Gemma. You’re stronger than you think. It’s perfectly understandable for you to be so stressed. In fact, it’s the least we expected. And I know you’re shaken because Evan brought you into his world and shared things you thought were forbidden, and you’re right. Sometimes my brother just doesn’t think things through. Still, you have no reason to be so worried. It’s just fear awakening your instinct and it seems my prank shook you up more than I thought it would.”

Her words crept into my mind like a cloud of fog as my gaze, lost in the darkness of the woods, spotted something moving. My heart leapt to my throat and I cringed. A shadow. Ginevra read my thoughts and followed my gaze to the trees, then looked back at me, her expression calm, and squeezed my hand. Maybe she was right. I was starting to get paranoid.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and glanced at the clear sky. My star smiled at me, twinkling. Evan was fine and in a few hours I’d see him again.

“That was my mom.” Faith’s voice shook me out of my thoughts as I put my phone into my backpack. “Seems something horrible has happened in Iraq. She said there were massive casualties, including a lot of our soldiers. My brother called to say he’s okay.”

I shuddered so violently Ginevra sensed it through my skin. We exchanged a glance and a chill descended on us. “We’d better go,” Ginevra told the group, squeezing my hand. “It’s late.”

When I woke up, I had a hard time remembering how I’d made it to bed. The light streaming through the window told me it was daytime, but that meant Evan should be there with me. I looked around, frustrated. No one was in the room with me except Irony, snoring on his cushion.

I dragged myself out of bed to get ready for school. My head was a heavy mass that weighed on my neck and my thoughts wandered, fleeting and muddled, leaving me in a daze. When I was ready I opened the door to leave, my stomach in a knot, ignoring the table laid for breakfast. The ice-cold air lashed at my face. It was strange no one had come to pick me up. There was no sign of Evan or Ginevra on the deserted street. What could have kept them?