Opal (29 page)

“Neither was my fault.” I’d been hiding my recently destroyed laptop from her. She’d go postal if she found it.

“True.” He held open the door for a little old lady and then let me shimmy past. “But I bet you go to bed every night dreaming and thinking about a shiny new laptop.”

A warm breeze blew a strand of hair across my face as I stopped at my car. “Besides dreaming about you?”

“In between dreaming about me,” he corrected, placing my mail on the backseat. “What’s the first thing you’d do if you got a new laptop?”

Letting him take the keys from me, I went to the passenger side and thought about it. “I don’t know. I’d probably hug it and promise it that I’d never let anything bad happen to it.”

He laughed again, eyes twinkling. “Okay, other than that?”

“Make a vlog thanking the laptop gods for bestowing one upon me.” I sighed then, because that would be the only way I’d get one. “I need to get a job.”

“What you need to do is apply for college.”

“You haven’t,” I pointed out.

He cast me a sidelong glance. “I’ve been waiting on you.”

“Colorado,” I said, and when he nodded, my mom’s horrified expression loomed in my head. “Mom would freak.”

“I think she’d be happy with the fact that you’re going to college.”

He had a point, but the whole college thing seemed up in the air at this point. I had no idea what next week would hold for us, let alone a few months down the road. But I had good grades and I had looked into scholarships for next year’s spring enrollment.

In Colorado…and I knew Daemon had seen the pamphlet from the university. The prospect of going away to college with Daemon like normal teenagers was appealing. The problem was that getting my hopes up and not being able to do something like that would suck too much.

My house was silent and a little warm. I opened a window in the living room while Daemon helped himself to a glass of milk. When I walked into the kitchen, he was running the back of his hand over his mouth, his hair a mess of waves and eyes as green as spring grass. The movement pulled his shirt taut over his biceps and chest.

I bit back a sigh. Milk did a body good.

His smile was just as wicked. Putting the glass on the counter, he moved so fast I didn’t see him until he was standing in front of me, taking my cheeks in his hands. I loved that he was able to be real around me. I used to think the freaky alien speed thing was to annoy me, but it was just his natural state. Slowing down to human speed actually caused him to use more energy.

But then he kissed me, and he tasted of milk and something richer, lush and smooth. I didn’t realize he was guiding me backward and that we were at the bottom of the stairs until he lifted me up without breaking the kiss.

I thought the whole thing with Blake would ruin this afternoon, but I had underestimated the magnetism of Daemon and his kisses. I wrapped my legs around his waist, reveling in the feel of his muscles under my hands.

He didn’t stop at the top of the stairs but kept going and kissing and my heart was pounding. Turning, he gently kicked my door open and then my heart was doing the skipping thing, because we were in my bedroom and there was no one around to interrupt us. Nervous excitement enveloped me.

Daemon lifted his head. A lopsided grin appeared on his lips and I slid down, breathing fast. I watched in a daze as he moved back and sat on the edge of my bed, his fingers slowly letting go of mine, trailing across my palm. I felt the tingles all the way up my arm.

Then he looked at my desk.

My gaze followed his and I blinked, thinking a mirage had appeared in my bedroom, because I couldn’t be seeing what I was.

Resting on my desk was a MacBook Air in a cherry red sleeve.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say. My brain emptied. Were we in the right house? I took in the familiar surroundings and decided that we were.

I took a step toward the desk and stopped. “Is that for me?”

A slow, beautiful smile crept across his face, filling his eyes. “Well, it is on your desk, so…”

My heart stuttered. “But I don’t understand.”

“See, there’s this place called an Apple Store and I went there, picked one out. They didn’t have any stock.” He paused as if to make sure I was following him, and all I could do was stare. “So I ordered one. Meanwhile, I ordered a sleeve. I did take some liberties, since I prefer red.”

“But why?”

He laughed softly. “Man, I wish you could see your face.”

I clasped my hands over my cheeks. “Why?”

“You didn’t have one and I know how much blogging and that stuff means to you. Using the school computer isn’t doing it for you.” He shrugged. “And we really didn’t do the Valentine’s thing. So…here we are.”

It hit me then that he’d been planning this all day. “When did you put it here?”

“This morning, after you left for school.”

I took a deep breath. I was about five seconds from full fan-girl mode. “And you got this for me? A MacBook Air? Those things cost a lot of money.”

“Thank the taxpayers. Their money funds the DOD who then turns over the money to us.” He laughed at my expression. “And I save money. I have a small fortune stashed.”

“Daemon, it’s too much.”

“It’s yours.”

My gaze was drawn back to the Mac like it was my own personal mecca. How many times since I could spell
laptop
had I dreamt of a MacBook?

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “I can’t believe you did this.”

He shrugged again. “You deserve it.”

Something deep inside me snapped. I tackled Daemon, and he laughed, sweeping his arms around my waist. “Thank you. Thank you,” I said over and over again, in between raining quick kisses all over his face.

He tipped his head back on the comforter, laughing. “Wow. You’re pretty strong when you’re excited.”

I sat up, grinning down at him. His face blurred a little. “I can’t believe you did this.”

Smugness filled his expression. “You had no idea, did you?”

“No, but that’s why you kept bringing up the blog stuff.” I smacked his chest playfully. “You are…”

He folded his arms under his head. “I’m what?”

“Amazing.” I leaned forward, kissing him. “You’re amazing.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying for years.”

I laughed against his mouth. “Seriously, though, you shouldn’t have.”

“I wanted to.”

I didn’t know what to say, other than scream from the top of my lungs. Getting a MacBook was like Christmas and Halloween rolled into one.

He lowered his lashes. “It’s okay. I know what you want to do. Go play.”

“You sure?” My fingers itched to explore.

“Yes.”

Squealing, I kissed him again and then rolled off, diving for the laptop. Carrying the super-lightweight book to my bed, I sat beside Daemon and placed it in my lap. Over the next hour, I familiarized myself with the programs and went through several phases of feeling extraordinarily cool and smart for having a Mac Book Air.

Daemon leaned over my shoulder, pointing out certain features. “There’s the webcam.”

I squeaked and then grinned when our faces appeared on the screen. “You should do your first vlog right now,” he said.

Giddy, I hit record and shrieked, “I have a MacBook Air!”

Daemon laughed as he buried his head in my hair. “You dork.”

I hit the stop button and noticed the time. Powering down the laptop, I placed it beside us and threw my arms around him once more. “Thank you.”

He pulled me down and reached up, tucking the hair behind my ear. His hand lingered. “I like it when you’re happy, and if I can do something small, then I will.”

“Something small?” Shock heightened my tone. “That’s not something small. That had to have cost—”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re happy. I’m happy.”

My chest swelled. “I love you. You know that, right?”

A cocky grin appeared. “I know.”

I waited. Nothing. Rolling my eyes, I sat up on the other side of him and kicked off my shoes. Glancing out the bedroom window, I saw nothing but beautiful blue skies. It was nice enough for flip-flops. Flip-flops!

“You’re never going to say it, are you?”

“Say what?” The bed shifted as he sat up, placing his hands on my hips.

I looked over my shoulder. Thick lashes shielded his eyes. “You know what.”

“Hmm?” He slid his hands up my sides, distracting as usual.

It might bother some girls that their boyfriends never said the four-letter word. With any other guy, it might’ve bothered me, too, to be honest, but with Daemon, well, those words would never be easy for him to say, even though he had no problem showing it.

And I was okay with it. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t tease him about it, though.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek and slid off the bed. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I
love
it.”

Daemon raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously, I do love it. I can’t thank you enough.”

Now he waggled that brow. “I’m sure you can.”

I stood and pushed him lightly as I scanned my bedroom floor for my flip-flops. I hadn’t really looked for anything since the night Carissa had been here. I was still finding stuff they’d put away in odd places. Dipping down, I lifted up the edge of my polka-dotted comforter and peered into the no-man’s-land under my bed.

Several loose sheets of notebook paper cluttered the floor. Rolled socks were everywhere. One sneaker was near the top, next to a couple of magazines. The other sneaker was nowhere to be found and appeared to have run off with half the socks, since none of them looked like a match.

The flip-flops were halfway in the middle. I lay down and stretched, smacking at the floor.

“What are you doing?” Daemon asked.

“Trying to get my flip-flops.”

“Is it really that hard?”

Ignoring him, I concentrated on the shoes and willed them toward me. A second later, one hit my hand and when the second pair hit, something warm and smooth-feeling bounced off my palm.

“What the…?”

Tossing the flip-flops aside, I felt around until my hand landed on the object. I wiggled out from under the bed and sat up, opening my palm.

“Oh my God,” I said.

“What?” Daemon knelt beside me and sucked in a sharp breath. “Is that what I think it is?”

Resting in my palm was a shiny black stone with red streaked through the center, like a vibrant red flame. It must’ve been Carissa’s and although the bracelet portion wasn’t attached and must’ve been destroyed along with her body, this survived.

I was holding a piece of opal.

Chapter 31

We sort of stared at each other like two doofuses, and then we both sprang into action. Taking the stone that was a little bigger than a nickel, we went downstairs. Our heart rates picked up.

I handed him the stone. “Try something—like that reflection thing.”

Daemon, who’d probably been jonesing for a piece of opal since he learned what they could do, didn’t refuse. He wrapped his palm around it, and concentration tightened the line of his mouth.

At first nothing happened, and then a faint shimmer surrounded the outline of his body. Like when Dee got excited and her arm would glimmer and fade, but then the shine spread over his body and he disappeared.

Completely disappeared.

“Daemon?” A soft chuckle came from the vicinity of the couch. My eyes narrowed. “I can’t see you at all.”

“Not at all?”

I shook my head. Weird. He was here, but I couldn’t see him. Stepping back, I forced myself to focus on the couch. Then I noticed the difference. In front of the middle cushion and behind the coffee table, the space was distorted. Sort of wavy, like looking at water through glass, and I knew he had to be standing there, blending in like a chameleon.

“Oh my God, you’re totally like the
Predator
.”

There was a pause and then, “This is so cool.” Moments later he reappeared, grinning like a kid who just got his first video game. “God, I am so going to sneak into your bathroom like the Invisible Man.”

I rolled my eyes. “Give me the opal.”

Laughing, he handed it over. The stone was body temperature, which I thought was weird. “Want to hear something crazier than me being completely invisible? It barely took any energy away. I feel fine.”

“Wow.” I turned the stone over. “We need to test this out.”

Taking the stone, Daemon and I headed to the lake. We had about fifteen minutes before anyone else showed.

“You try it,” Daemon said.

Holding the opal in my palm, I wasn’t sure what to try. The hardest thing and the one that took the most strength was using the Source as a weapon. So I decided to go with that. I concentrated on the rush and it felt different this time—potent and consuming. Tapping into it came faster, easier, and within seconds, a ball of whitish-red light appeared over my free hand.

“Wow,” I said, smiling. “This is…different.”

Daemon nodded. “Do you feel tired or anything?”

“No.” And usually this wiped me out pretty darn quickly, so the opal really did have an impact. Then I got an idea. Letting the Source fizzle out, I searched the ground and found a small branch.

Taking it to the bank of the lake, I squeezed the opal in one hand. “I could never do the heat-to-fire thing. Burned my fingers pretty badly the last time I tried it.”

“Should you be trying it now, then?”

Ah, good point. “But you’re here to heal me.”

Daemon frowned. “Worst logic ever, Kitten.”

I grinned as I focused on the branch. The Source flared once again, traveling along the slender, crooked twig of a branch, encasing it whole. A second later, the stick collapsed into an ash replica, and as the whitish-red light receded, the branch fell apart.

“Uh,” I said.

“That wasn’t fire, but it was pretty damn close.”

I’d never done anything like that before. Had to be the opal-enhanced alien coolness, because I just turned a stick into Pompeii.

“Let me have it,” Daemon said. “I want to see if it has any effect on the onyx.”

Handing it over, I followed him to the pile of onyx, wiping the ash off my fingers. Holding the opal in one hand, he uncovered the stones and, jaw clenching, he picked one up.

Nothing happened. All of us had grown a tolerance to the rocks, but there was usually a gasp or flinch of pain.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Daemon lifted his chin. “Nothing—I don’t feel anything.”

“Let me try.” We switched off and he was right. The bite of onyx wasn’t there. We stared at each other. “Holy crap.”

Footsteps and voices carried into the clearing. Daemon swiped the opal, sliding it in his pocket. “I don’t think we should let Blake see this.”

“No doubt,” I agreed.

We turned as Matthew, Dawson, and Blake appeared at the edge of the woods. It would be interesting to see if the opal had any affect in Daemon’s pocket or if we had to be physically touching it.

“I talked to Luc,” Blake announced while we were all standing around the onyx. “He’s good for this Sunday, and I think we’ll be ready by then.”

“You think?” Dawson said.

He nodded. “It’s either going to work or not.”

Failure wasn’t an option. “So the Sunday after prom?”

“You guys are going to prom?” Blake asked, scowling.

“Why not?” I said defensively.

Blake’s eyes darkened. “Just seems like a stupid thing to do the night before. We should be spending Saturday training.”

“No one asked for your opinion,” Daemon said, hands curving into fists.

Dawson shifted closer to his brother. “One night isn’t going to hurt anything.”

“And I have prom duty,” Matthew said, sounding absolutely disgusted with the idea.

Outnumbered, Blake let out a disgruntled mumble. “Fine. Whatever.”

We got started then, and I kept my eyes trained on Daemon when it came to his turn. When he touched the onyx, he immediately flinched but held on. Unless he was faking it, the opal had to be touching flesh. Good to know.

Over the next couple of hours, we did our rounds with the onyx. I was seriously beginning to think my fingers and muscle control would never be the same again. Blake kept the required ten feet distance and didn’t try to talk to me. I liked to think my come-to-Jesus discussion had gotten through to him.

If not…then, well, I doubted I’d be able to control myself.

As we broke apart for the night, I lingered back with Daemon. “It didn’t work in your pocket, did it?”

“No.” He dug the thing out. “I’m going to hide this somewhere. Right now, I don’t think we need anyone fighting over it or it getting into the wrong hands.”

I agreed. “Do you think we’re ready for this Sunday?” My stomach dropped thinking about it, no matter how long I’d known that this day was coming.

Daemon slipped the opal back into his pocket and then gathered me in his arms. Anytime he held me, it always felt unbelievably right and I wondered how I could’ve denied it for so long.

“We’re going to be as ready as we ever will be.” He brushed his cheek along mine and I shivered, closing my eyes. “And I don’t think we can keep Dawson off much longer.”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around him. Now or never. Oddly, in that moment, I felt like we didn’t have enough time, even though we’d been practicing for months. Maybe it wasn’t that.

Maybe I just felt we didn’t have enough time together.

…

On Saturday, Lesa and I piled into the back of Dee’s Jetta. Windows rolled down, we enjoyed the seasonably warm temps. Dee seemed different today, too. It wasn’t the pretty pink summer dress she’d worn, paired with a black cardigan and strappy sandals. Her hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail and her thick hair cascaded down her back, revealing a perfectly symmetrical face that bore an easy grin—not the one I was so familiar with and missed painfully, but
almost
. She was lighter somehow, her shoulders less tense.

Right now, she hummed along to a rock song on the radio, speeding around cars like a Nascar driver.

Today was a turning point.

Lesa grasped the back of Ash’s seat, face pale. “Uh, Dee, you do realize this is a no passing zone, right?”

Dee grinned in the rearview mirror. “I think it’s a suggestion, not a rule.”

“I think it’s a rule,” Lesa advised.

Ash snorted. “Dee thinks yield signs are a suggestion, too.”
I laughed, wondering how I could’ve forgotten Dee’s terrifying driving. Normally I’d be clutching a seat or handle too, but today I couldn’t care as long as she got us to the shop in one piece.

And she did.

And we only narrowly avoided wiping out a family of four plus a religious tour bus once.

The shop was downtown, occupying an old row house. Ash’s pert little nose wrinkled as her heels touched the gravel we parked on. “I know it looks less than savory from the outside, but it’s really not bad. They have cool dresses.”

Lesa studied the old brick building, doubtful. “Are you sure?”

Sashaying past her, Ash cast a mischievous grin over her shoulder. “When it comes to clothing, I’ll never steer you wrong.” Then she frowned and reached out, flicking green-painted nails along Lesa’s shirt. “We need to go shopping one day.”

Lesa’s mouth dropped open as Ash spun and headed toward the back door that bore an OPEN sign written in elegant calligraphy.

“I’m going to hit her,” Lesa said under her breath. “You just watch. I’m gonna break that pretty nose of hers.”

“I’d try to resist that urge if I were you.”

She smirked. “I could take her.”

Ah, no, she couldn’t.

Finding dresses didn’t take very long. Ash went with one that barely covered her ass, and I found a really great red dress I just knew Daemon would go gaga for. Afterward, we headed to Smoke Hole Diner.

Going out to eat with Lesa felt good, and Dee being there was like the proverbial icing on the cake. Ash? I wasn’t so sure about that part.

I ordered a hamburger while Ash and Dee ordered practically everything on the menu. Lesa went with a grilled cheese sandwich and something I found entirely gross. “I don’t know why you drink cold coffee. You can just get regular coffee and let it grow cold.”

“So not the same,” Dee answered as the waitress put our sodas down. “Tell them, Ash.”

The blonde Luxen peered up from ridiculously long eyelashes. “Chilled coffee is more sophisticated.”

I made a face. “I’ll be uncivilized with my warm coffee.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Ash arched a brow and then turned her attention back to her cellphone.

Sticking my tongue at her, I smothered a giggle when Lesa elbowed me. “I still think I should’ve gotten the transparent wings for my dress.”

Dee smiled. “They were cute.”

I nodded, thinking Daemon would’ve loved them.

Lesa tugged her curls out of her face. “You guys are lucky you found dresses on this short notice.”

Since her and Chad had made plans to go like ordinary people months ago, she had gotten her dress from some shop in Virginia. She had gone mostly along for the ride.

As conversation picked up and Dee started talking about her dress, I sat back against the booth. Sadness trickled through me, followed by bittersweet memories. I thought I’d known Carissa, but I really hadn’t. Had she known a Luxen? Or had she been picked up by Daedalus and used? Months had passed and there had been no answers; the only reminder was the piece of opal I had discovered under my bed.

Some days I’d felt nothing but anger, but today, I let it slip off my shoulders with a deep breath. What had become of Carissa couldn’t tarnish her memory forever.

Ash smiled. “I’m thinking my dress will be a hit.”

Lesa sighed. “I don’t know why you don’t just go naked. That little black dress you found is little and nothing else.”

“Don’t tempt her,” Dee said, grinning as our food was delivered to the table.

“Naked?” Ash scuffed. “These goods aren’t showed off for free.”

“Surprising,” Lesa muttered under her breath.

It was my turn to elbow her.

“So, are you going to the prom with anyone?” Lesa asked, ignoring me as she waved her grilled cheese sandwich at Dee. “Or are you going solo?”

Dee shrugged one shoulder. “I wasn’t going to go, you know, because of… Adam, but it’s my last year, so… I wanted to go.” There was a pause as she pushed her chicken tender around her basket. “I’m going with Andrew.”

I almost choked on my bun. Lesa gaped. We stared at her.

Her brows rose. “What?”

“You’re not…like, going out with Andrew, are you?” Lesa’s cheeks flamed—
Lesa’s
. “I mean, if you are, cool and what not.”

Dee laughed. “No—God, no. That would be way too weird for the both of us. We’re friends.”

“Andrew’s a douche,” Lesa said what I was thinking.

Ash snorted. “Andrew has taste. Of course you would think he’s a douche.”

“Andrew has changed a lot. He was there for me and vice versa.” And Dee was right. Andrew had simmered down a bit. Everyone had changed. “We’re just going as friends.”

Thank God, because even though I didn’t want to judge, Dee hooking up with Adam’s brother would be way too weird. And then Ash dropped the bomb of all bombs as I munched on a thick french fry. “I have a date,” she said.

I think I might’ve developed a hearing problem. “With who?”

One delicate eyebrow arched. “No one you would know.”