Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (25 page)

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know.”

Her frustration
turned to tears. “Why don’t I believe you?”

I had to remind myself that she had a knack
for predicting liars. After she got to know me, even I wasn’t immune to her talent.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

She lifted her face, her blue eyes shifting over my expression. In seconds, her confusion fluttered away, and it was replaced with emptiness I never imagined I would see on her face when she looked at me.

“I hate you,” she said it like it was a fact, emotionless and undeniable.

My heart dropping was the only part of me that moved. Jessica, on the other hand, was out the door, leaving like it was the last time I would ever see her. I couldn’t allow it to happen.

I ran after her, barely containing my human form as I shot into the darkness. She
opened her car door, but I slammed it shut. Breath hissed between her teeth, and I heard the air shift as she lifted her hand to hit me.

I grabbed her wrist in midair, and the blood in her veins shook beneath my grasp. I wrapped my arms around her before she could move again. “I’d never hurt you, Jessica,” I whispered. “Never. Even if you hurt me, I’d never consider laying a hand on you.”

I loosened my embrace, half-expecting her to smack me, but she curled her fingers against my shirt. “Do you know why I kissed you?” she asked.

It was the last question I was prepared to answer, and my silence grew when she pressed her ear to my chest. “You have this heartbeat
− and I know it. I’ve dreamt about it.”

I already knew
about her dreams. But I couldn’t talk about it. Not now. Not when Darthon was watching me.

“I think you need sleep
,” I said, barely able to push her away. I had to close my eyes to say the rest. “But you can’t come here anymore. Understand me?”

The sound of her holding her breath was worse than
her hateful words. I knew what she would do before she even grabbed her car door and opened it. “I wasn’t going to come back anyway,” she said, climbing inside.

I didn’t stop her
this time. I had said everything I had to say to keep the secrets that guarded her life. It was the only reason I didn’t lose my control when she drove out of my driveway, screeching the tires as she did so. I was no better than the devil in her eyes. She didn’t need to know the real Satan was after her until Darthon was dead.

“You should’ve told her.” My father’s words didn’t faze me as they usually did. “It’d be easier.”

“Easier could also lead to the Dark’s death,” I retorted, but my voice wasn’t as confident as I planned to sound.

“Eric—”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” I said, drifting away into the dark. “I’ll be at the shelter.”

Jessica

I wasn’t sure what was worse − rejecting Eric, or the fact that he rejected me seconds later.

I was wrong from the beginning, and my guilt was more overwhelming than my confusion. Eric hadn’t attacked me, but someone ha
d, and he knew what happened. His tone never sounded stilted when he talked to me. But I didn’t know why he would keep anything from me either. I was there for him when he was in the hospital, and he was there for me when Robb was drunk. His sudden shift in personality didn’t calculate. And it was the only reason I could stand at his locker and wait for his arrival.

Crystal had told me Robb was back from his suspension, so Eric must have been
, too. I had yet to see either one of them, and classes were about to start. I would wait until classes started if that’s what it took to apologize to Eric. If I didn’t do it now, I was afraid I wouldn’t have an opportunity in homeroom.

“What are you doing here?”

I spun around, ready to face the boy I had accused. “Eric—” I stopped when I realized it wasn’t him. “Zac?”

“That’s what I prefer to be called,” he said, glancing from me to the locker I was leaned against. “You waiting for Welborn?”

I didn’t want to answer. “What are you doing here?”

His eyes lingered on the lockers. “I asked you that first.”

“It’s more appropriate for me to ask that question.”

He waved a piece of paper in the air. “I’m transferring, remember?”

I wished I didn’t, but I couldn’t deny it. Considering Eric’s locker was next to the office, Zac’s presence made sense, but mine didn’t. My locker was two yards away. I was about to excuse myself when his hand landed on the wall, inches from my face.

“Actually,” his voice lingered. “I was hoping to run into you.”

Zac always said the last thing I wanted to hear.

“Why?”

“I heard what Robb did.”

“I don’t want to talk to him
− or you − about it,” I snapped, but he didn’t move away. In fact, he leaned closer.

“I thought you’d want to talk to someone.”

I stepped away. “I have Crystal, thanks.”

His lips slid into a smirk. “Interesting girl,” he said, but his focus remained on me
. “I’ve been talking to her more.”

“Good for you.”
I didn’t know what else to say.

“I’ve gotten closer to her.”

He was lying. Crystal was ignoring him, too. “And?”

“And she’s your friend,” he added.

Crystal was right. Everyone had lost their minds.

“That doesn’t mean I know everything about her,” I managed, glancing down the hallway, but Zac maneuvered into my vision.

“You seem to know a lot about other people,” he said, lowering his face so that his black hair swung in front of his eyes. He lifted his hand and tapped Eric’s locker. “Like Welborn.”

I crossed my arms, fighting the urge to leave. I wouldn’t let Zac scare me out of talking to Eric. I was staying.
“He stood up for me—”

“
Are you friends?”

I doubt
ed Eric considered me one.

His face was glistening. “More than friends?”

Someone else answered for me. “Definitely not.”

I turned around to see Eric
standing less than a foot away. His backpack was hanging off one shoulder, and he flipped his keys over his hands.

“Mind if you two hav
e your meeting someplace else?” Eric slid his eyes to me. “Your locker doesn’t look occupied.”

Zac was between us. “So
, you’re the guy who hit Robb,” he said it like it was a delightful thing.

Eric’s shoulders were squared. “Don’t tell me he sent someone else to get his revenge.”

Zac chuckled, but he rolled up his white sleeves. “I could care less about that,” he said, and Eric’s stern expression wavered for a millisecond. It was the first time I had seen it happen.

“So
, we have nothing to talk about,” Eric said, brushing past Zac to his locker.

Zac stepped aside, and I sighed in relief too early. Zac laid a hand on Eric’s shoulder, and a burst of static electricity sizzled through the air. Both of them leapt back.

“Ouch.” Zac waved his fingers through the air. “Didn’t mean to—”

“What?” Eric snapped. “Touch me for no reason?”

Zac was grinning. “Didn’t think your bubble would be so small when you’re always getting into everyone else’s,” he said, laying his hand on my shoulder. I shook him off, but Zac didn’t seem to care. “Have a good day, Jess.”

With that, he was gone, disappearing down the hallway and into the office. When I turned back to Eric, he was staring at me. “Come to yell at me again?” he asked, shoving books into his locker. “Because I was hoping for that.”

“It isn’t like that—”

“Then
, what is it like?” He was tenser than usual. “I come back from fighting one guy only to find another waiting for me.” His knuckles were white.

“Zac wasn’t waiting for you,” I explained quickly. “I was.”

My words affected him. His shoulders dropped, and he exhaled sharply. “I already told you what I know.”

“I know you’re lying, but I don’t care,” I said, but my voice
was shaking. I thought the apology over all night, but it was hard to say it aloud. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me, and I’m sorry.” It was all I could manage.

Eric held his locker like it was the only thing holdin
g him up. He glanced away, and the side of his jaw popped. He wasn’t going to speak. I was rejected again.

I sucked in a breath. I had
done everything I could to rebuild what I destroyed, and all that was left to do was walk away. I went straight to my locker, trying to suppress my rapidly beating heart. Only Eric could affect me that way, and I had to ignore it if I were going to function for the remainder of the day.

I put my books away and grabbed my drawing pencils for art class. At least I could distract
myself by talking to Jonathon. I wouldn’t be completely alone.

“You aren’t alone.”

I nearly fell over from Eric’s voice. He was right next to me. “Wha—what?”

He was smiling. “You were talking out loud.”

Heat shot up my spine and crawled across my neck. “I was not.”

He ignored me. “If you didn’t want to be alone, you could’ve aske
d me to walk you to class.” He had returned to his usual, smirking self, and I couldn’t even bring myself to be irritated.

“Then
, walk with me,” I said, surprised by myself as I stomped away.

He did exactly what I told him. He bounded up to my side and walked next to me. It took every inch of my confidence to glance over, but he was focused on the hallway, his eyes darting from person to person.

“Are you looking for someone?” I asked.

H
is face turned so quickly that I was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “Why would you ask that?” His voice was rushed, almost breathless.

“You were glancing around.
”

“I always do,” he said, shifting his backpack higher onto his shoulders. He was definitely stressed, and I wanted more than anything to help him.

“Would you mind if I come over after class?” I asked, hoping to talk to him about whatever was on his mind, but he shook his head as we stopped outside of my classroom.

“I meant it when I said you can’t come
over anymore.” His tone was sharp. “Family stuff.”

“Oh.”

He laid a hand on top of my head. “Don’t worry that curly head of yours.” His fingertips brushed across my scalp. “Everything’s good between us.”

I could barely breathe. “That’s good.”

He removed his hand only to grab my shoulders. “Now, go to class,” he said, spinning me around to face the door. “I’m sure Jonathon is waiting for you.” I could feel his words on my neck. “I’ll see you later.”

His warmth dissipated before I tu
rned around. “But—” He was already walking away, waving over his shoulder like he always expected me to face him again.

Eric

She was impossible to ignore, so I left school early, hoping to at least avoid her. Teresa – or Camille – joined me as soon as I asked.

“She wasn’t talking out loud,” I ex
plained to my guard as we strolled down the only shopping street in Hayworth. “I heard her thoughts.”

Teresa’s lip pulled up in a grimace. “But that’s impossible.”

“It should be,” I agreed. “She doesn’t have any powers.”

“Well, obviously she does,” Teresa commented, tightening her maroon coat. The color stuck out in the plain
, winter clothes everyone seemed to be wearing.

“She doesn’t seem to be aware of it,” I added, noting how easy it was to convince her that she was talking out loud. She trusted me, even though she had hated me
the day before.

Teresa exhaled, and I half-expected to see her breath fog out in front of her. “She needs to know, Eric,” she said. “You need to tell her.”

“You sound like my father.”

“Bracke told me what
she said to you,” she said, and I wished I hadn’t brought Jessica up.

“She meant it, even if it were just for a second,” I mumbled.

“And when she gets her memories back, that meaning will disappear,” she argued. “The elders know about the list with your name on it. I’m sure Luthicer would take the block down if you talk to him.”

Luthicer’s scars took
over my vision. “I don’t think we have time for another meeting.”

“And we don’t
have time for your hesitation.”

W
e only had a week before my birthday.

The house was already decorated, and the intens
ity in the air had increased. I had begged my father to take Mindy and Noah away, but he wouldn’t. Not when it could expose us more. No matter what we did, every decision felt like the wrong one.