Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (55 page)

“Uh. Yes. I’m fine, thanks,” I replied, panicked, still trying to shake off the weird feeling I got looking into his familiar yet
unfamiliar eyes. He could have
been Brian’s doppelganger.

“You’ve got blood all over you and you…” He leaned closer and grimaced. “You smell like alcohol. I think you need to see a doctor. Did someone hurt you? Should I call the pol—”

“No!” I said, so loudly the receptionist glanced over at us. “I mean, no. Please, don’t. I’ll be fine. It was an accident and it looks worse than it really is.”

The man brushed a lock of hair out of my face and looked me in the eye.

“Please, just tell me what happened to you,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Is everything okay?” The receptionist had overheard our brief dispute and was taking a step out from behind her counter.

“We’re fine, thanks,” the man replied, raising his voice so she could hear him. He returned his focus to me. “You
really
don’t look well,” he said. “You should come with me. I’m here on the first floor and you can sit down for a few moments and maybe get your bearings.” He placed a hand on my cheek and a rush of warmth went through my body. I felt dizzy—weak all of a sudden. Maybe I’d lost too much blood. Or…

“Uh…” I tried to take another step, but I staggered, my knees trembling. “O-okay.” The walls shifted and phased in and out of focus.

“I’ll help you,” he said, and then he wrapped an arm around my waist to stabilize me. We started walking.

He sat me down on the edge of the bed in his room and took a bottle of water from off his desk. He unscrewed the lid and handed the water bottle to me. I took a sip. The room started coming back into focus again.

“Thank you,” I murmured, wiping a stray drop of water from my chin. “I don’t normally drink so much but… I don’t
know. Never mind.” I couldn’t seem to put my words together.

The man knelt down in front of me and set a hand on my knee. “Name’s Taylor. Do you mind if I ask for yours?” He offered his other hand out to me and smiled.

“Kareena,” I replied, keeping my hands in my lap. “So, what are you staying here for?” I looked around his room and didn’t see anything that gave away his occupation.

“Business,” he answered. “Not pleasure, unfortunately.” He grinned. His smile was much warmer than Brian’s had ever been. “Kareena.” He sat beside me on the bed and pressed his hand over mine. “I can’t say I’m an expert on giving advice or anything, but it seems like you’re going through something really bad right now. Is there anything at all a stranger like me can do to help you with whatever it is you’re facing?”

I closed my eyes involuntarily at his gentle touch and a flush of heat went through me again.

“Do you have someone you can talk to about it?” he asked as his warm palm cupped my fingers.

“Thank you, but no. There’s nothing you can do for me.” I lowered my head. “And yes, I have people here I can talk to. I mean, the group I’m staying here with. They’re my friends—sort of.

“Sort of?” He got up and slid the desk chair out so he could sit across from me.

“I didn’t exactly choose them as friends, but we get along.
One of the guys is kind of a jerk sometimes. He doesn’t
take what I say seriously even though I think he should.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that, Kareena.”

He kept using my name as if he liked the way it sounded when it rolled off his tongue. I kind of liked the way he said it, too. It made my heart beat faster. Either that, or it was the alcohol affecting me.

“I should be getting back,” I said, standing on wobbly legs. “They’ll be worrying about me.”

“Oh, alright.” He stood up. “I’ll be here for a few more
days. If you want to… um… hang out or talk or anything.” He took a slip
of paper from his desk and scribbled
something on it. “Here’s my cell number if you want to call. Anytime is
fine.”

I chuckled.
Hang out?
He was hitting on me, in a sweet kind of way.

“Sorry. I’ll probably be busy,” I replied, “but thank you.”

“No problem.”

He walked me to the elevator and pressed the up button for me. The elevator dinged and I stepped inside.

“I’m here if you need a friend,” he whispered just as the elevator doors closed.

“Thanks,” I raised my voice as he was shut out of view.

I looked down at my feet as the elevator ascended.

Taylor seemed nice. David was okay and all, but Taylor was definitely more my type. Too bad we couldn’t see each other somehow. So much drama going on around us and then there were my—

Shit!

I slammed the stop button.

Migraines! But my head wasn’t hurting. Nor had it hurt at all when Taylor had touched me.

I looked at my arm again and brushed a hand over where the
open gash had been earlier. David was the only man I’d been able to be with since I’d become a Fluorescent One.

Had things changed? Or… were they, maybe, done punishing me?

I waited for the doors to open and then pushed the first floor button at least a half dozen times until it started to
descend. After the ding, I rushed out through the open doors and
down the hall toward Taylor’s room.

“Taylor!” I shouted after him. His back was turned. He swerved around to face me and my heart plummeted.

Violet light glimmered in his veins, glowing and flickering through his right hand and up his arm like purple lightning.

“Are you okay?” he asked, jogging over to me. “Kareena?”
He took my hand and looked into my eyes. “Kareena, talk to me.” His fingers anxiously squeezed mine.

I closed my gaping mouth and licked my chapped lips. “I-I…”

“What? What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“No. Not a ghost,” I said, shaking my head. His hazel eyes stared fearfully back at me. “Something… worse.”

Chapter
11

I
closed the door behind me as gently as I could, pressing a hand up against the lock to
dampen the click.

“Where have you been?” David asked just as I turned around.

I couldn’t really see him with the lights off, but I could see his amber glow glittering from the other side of the room. He flipped on the lamp by his bed and got up to walk closer.

“Well?” He looked down at me. “The others are worried about you.”

“I met someone and we started talking. I lost track of time,
that’s all.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Why? Why do you care anyway?”

“You found him, didn’t you?”

My jaw dropped.
Him?

“The purple one?” he added.

“You know about him?”

“Yeah.” He turned away and heaved a sigh. “He’s been here for as long as we have.”

“So you’ve met him already? You’ve met Tay—”

“No. I saw his aura when I went walking the other night. But I didn’t want to say anything yet because I was hoping I could learn something about him first. You know, find out if he’s on our side or not.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” I scoffed.

“I wasn’t, at first.” He lifted a hand and brushed his fingers
over my ear. “Or have you already put that behind you?”

“Seriously, David.” I turned my face, pulling away from his hand. “Is everyone out to get you?” I walked over to the window and pried open the curtains a few inches so I could see the busy streets down below.

“That’s not it.” He came up beside me and tugged the curtains closed. “We can’t trust anyone.”

“No. We can’t. I’m aware.” I shook my head. “Damn it, David, don’t you start trying to control me. Brian thinks he can tell me what to do, but he can’t, and neither can you.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” David’s eyes
narrowed. “Kareena, listen to me for a minute.”

I turned and pointed a stiff index finger at him. “You didn’t want to listen to me when I tried to tell you what I saw inside you.”

He bit his lip and looked down. “I’m sorry about that, but I’m not used to getting help from anyone. I don’t trust people. How do you think I’ve made it as far as I have? How do you think I’ve survived all of the shit I’ve had to deal with in my life?”

I shrugged.

“You’ve seen my scars, Kareena.”

Yes…

“Well, they each have a story—pretty shitty ones at that.” He looked into my eyes again. “I’ve spent the last few years trying to right my wrongs, but you know what? Karma’s a bitch, and things like to come back to bite you in the ass. I’m the way I am because I have to be. Because I want to make it out of this damn world alive.”

Hearing all of that made my stomach uneasy. I knew David was independent, but I didn’t know he held such a grudge against society.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice raspy from my throat tightening up. “Can you help me figure out what to do about the new one then? About telling the others?”

“Yeah.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t you get some sleep first?” His fingers drifted down my arm to where my implant once was. He caressed his thumb across my bicep. “You’ve been through a lot of hell yourself. You could use the rest. Clear your mind.”

“I-I guess,” I whispered beneath my breath. “I’m… still shaken from earlier, though. I mean…what the hell, you know? What the hell were the Saviors thinking tearing my… my damn implant out? What the—”

“Kareena, that’s enough.” His grasp on my arm tightened unintentionally and I winced. He immediately let up. “Sorry. That’s enough for tonight. Get some rest, please. We’ll worry about it in the morning.”

. . .

“Hey! You’ve got to… Stop… together.”

The words were mostly inaudible.

My eyes eased open and I rolled over in bed, straining to hear the muffled angry voices coming from the hall.

“Don’t… what to do… You can’t…”

The voices kept fading in and out. I couldn’t make out who was speaking. Brian and…?

I sat up in bed.
Oh, my head.
There was a pounding in my temples.
A hangover?
I didn’t remember drinking
that
much last night.

“You can’t… Someone’s going to… Stop… an idiot!” More
arguing in the hall. David. His accent was a dead giveaway.

I slipped my feet out of the covers and onto the floor. It was freezing in the room. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself as I
crept over to grab a robe from off the nearby sofa and
throw it on over my clothes. The thermostat had been set low. Maybe David had changed it in the middle of the night.

I walked over to the front door and listened for a moment
, pressing my ear against it. It was definitely Brian and David bickering about something. I opened the door a crack and squinted, struggling to focus on the shapes in the hall. My head still ached and their raised, angry voices only made the pain intensify.

“You can’t go wherever you want!” David said.

Brian stood across from him, both hands curled into fists. “And you can’t tell me what to do! You can’t make us stay here forever. How long are we gonna be safe here?”

I opened the door a little more, my fluttering eyelids still fighting the fatigue of a restless night.

“Guys?” It came out slurred. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Guys! What’s going on?”

Brian shot a glare at me and threw up his hands.
“This idiot wants us to stay here for a few more days or
something, but I said we should keep moving. We’re not safe in one place.”

“We’re safe here right now,” David hissed in a lower tone.
“Keep your damn voice down, too,” he added through gritted teeth
. “Do you want people to start asking questions?”

Brian narrowed his eyes. “Shut up.” He sneered. “I don’t care what you say, David. Alice and I are leaving and you and Kareena can—”

“There’s another one!” I blurted out, opening the door wider.

“What?” Brian’s gaze met mine.

David’s eyes widened and he shook his head at me, trying to silently tell me not say anything else.

But I had to. Brian and Alice needed to know.

“There’s another Fluorescent One here in the hotel.”

David sighed and looked at me, disappointed.

“Another one?” Brian’s jaw dropped and he unclenched his fists. “Wait. Did you know about this, David?”

David looked away and Brian took a step closer to me. “You knew about this person and you didn’t even bother to tell us?” he asked. The dark shadows under his eyes were more prominent than ever.

I folded my arms and lowered my head as I replied. “Yes,
but we were going to tell you. We just wanted to learn more about him first.”

“Him? Well, where is he?”

Alice had already poked her head out of the room and she was now standing in the hall behind Brian, listening to us.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” David said. “We don’t know anything about him yet.”

“You’re one to talk,” Brian added. “You’re the one who tried to kill me before asking any questions. You’re the one they sent to punish us for disobeying.”

“Exactly,” David snapped. “All the more reason to wait before running downstairs to make friends with the new guy who could be exactly like I was… or worse.”

“He’s not,” I butted in. All eyes were on me. “I talked to him last night for a while. He seems okay. Friendly. Hell, he didn’t try to choke me right away.” I shot a glance at David and then looked away. I’d already forgiven him for that.

Alice stepped out from behind Brian. “What does he do?” she asked. “What color is he?”

“Purple,” David and I said together.

Brian’s eyebrows twitched as he mouthed the word to himself.

“I don’t know what he can do, though,” I said,
shrugging.
“Not yet, at least. I don’t even know if he’s figured that
out yet, either. He said he was here for business.”

Brian took Alice’s hand. “We’re going downstairs to find him.”

“Brian. Come on.” David lowered his voice. “I don’t
think it’s a good idea. We need to keep our heads down.”