Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (5 page)

Eric’s stare relaxed, and the space beneath his eyes smoothed over. “It couldn’t have been that bad,” he spo
ke quietly.

I half-laughed.
“I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks.”

He hesitated.
“Nightmares?”

I gripped the table, unable to look at him.
Even my closest friends hadn’t been able to guess. “Yeah.” I fought my embarrassment from crawling over my skin. “I know it sounds childish—”

“What kind of
nightmares?” he interrupted with more questions. “Just curious,” he added.

I dug my nails into my hands. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about something I didn’t understand with a stranger.

“A lot of them,” I finally admitted, feeling the heaviness on my chest lift. Eric was surprisingly easy to talk to.

“Do they repeat?”
he asked.

“Are you an expert or something?”

His lip pulled up into a smirk, but he didn’t say anything.

“They’re a
ll different,” I clarified.

H
is smirk faded. I expected for him to respond, but he collected his things, tediously placing each notebook in the order he had taken them out in. He repeated these motions every day, and I knew what they meant − the bell was about to ring.

“Hope
you sleep better,” he said, and the classroom erupted with the shrill ring of our transition bell. He stood up, put on his headphones, and was gone as soon as he had started talking to me.

I watched him leave
, still wondering about the strange conversation. Unlike Robb, I didn’t feel as if Eric judged me. He listened, asked questions, and remained attentive − like we had been friends for years − and I had yearned for a connection with someone ever since school began. I didn’t care that he was Eric Welborn, the social outcast. He seemed nice enough to me, and I made a mental note to talk to him again.

“Jess,”
Crystal called out from the doorway. “Are you coming or not?”

I
grabbed my bag and threw my pen out as I passed the trashcan. “Can we ditch?” I asked.

Crystal popped her gum. “Is that even a question?”

She looped her arm through mine, and we left. I didn’t care about breaking the rules for one day. I needed a distraction, and school obviously wasn’t working. Crystal, however, would.

“We could meet up with R
obb,” she suggested, knowing he had taken the day off.

“What’s he doing?”

Her lip ring flashed beneath the fluorescent lights. “He’s at Zac’s house,” she said. “With Linda.”

I rolled my eyes, but Crystal was adamant about i
t, and I gave in. Ever since the summer, Zac hadn’t been as domineering. He was fun, and Linda was lightening up. They were starting to feel more like friends, and friendship was all I needed.

Eric

“What’s an eleven-letter word for fate?” Jessica asked, twirling her pen as she stared at her crossword book.

I glanc
ed around the classroom as if there were a chance she was speaking to someone else. She hadn’t attempted conversation with me since we had talked last week, but she looked up at me, and I held my breath.

She pointed
her pen at the white boxes. “I need an eleven-letter word for fate.” I didn’t respond, and she rolled her eyes. “I’m stuck.”

“Preordained,” I said.

She blinked her blue eyes. The color reminded me of the sunrise over the river.

H
er pen bobbed up and down. “You’re right,” she said, scribbling it in. Even her handwriting was perfect. “Thanks.” She filled in a few more before pausing.

I read
over her shoulder. “Silver,” I said.

“Which one?”

“Five down.”

She leaned back. “Looks like
I need your help more often.”

I couldn
’t help my grin. The moment was like old times, and I would live in the lie if it were only for a second.

“Jess.”

I scooted back as Robb pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Girls stared at him from across the room. I didn’t understand what they saw in him.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, but Jessica didn’t speak until Crystal
sat on the desk next to ours.

If it were the previous
semester, we would’ve been lectured, but our teacher had lightened up for our senior year. Her change in behavior was dramatic, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. Ms. Hinkel rarely lectured, and I wondered if she were involved with the Marking of Change, nervous for her children or, perhaps, herself. It was impossible to know.

“We can’t talk at lunch?” Jessica
eyed the room full of curious stares.

“Lunch starts in two minutes.
” Crystal pointed at her sparkling wristwatch. “We can start now.”

Jessica sighed. “Fine.”

“The date,” Robb spoke so suddenly my insides twisted. “Zac and Linda are meeting at my house, then we’ll come pick you up.”

Zac. How I hated Zac.

“What about you?” Jessica asked Crystal.

She
lit up. “I’ll be at your house, silly,” she said, tapping Jessica’s arm. “We have to get ready.”

“Get ready?” Jessica squeake
d. “It isn’t that big of a deal.”

“It’s a date,” Robb said, and the word reverberated my aggravation.

“No, it’s not,” Jessica clarified slowly.

“But Zac—”

“I don’t like him like that.”

I turned away
so they wouldn’t see my grin. I shouldn’t have been listening, but it was hard not to when they were inches away. Jessica didn’t like Zac, and I was positive my week was made.

Her friends started to argue, but the lunch bell rang, and they stopped
. “Usual place?” Crystal asked. They always sat outside.

“Go ahead of me,” she said.

I froze. I sensed Robb’s eyes on me, but he didn’t say anything. Crystal grabbed his arm, and the two filtered out with the class. Jessica and I hung behind, and she exhaled a shaky breath when she met my eyes.

“Ever feel like people are making decisions for you?” she asked, and the Dark flashed through my memory. Shades and lights from a hundred years ago dictated my entire life, and there was nothing I could
do but obey if I wanted to live.

“All the time.”

“I bet you do, Eric,” she said, lingering on her words as if she didn’t understand them herself. Her eyebrows pressed together, and she shook her head as she grabbed her bag. “See you later,” she finished, walking out of the room.

I wanted to talk to her, to
listen to her, but I knew I couldn’t. She didn’t know what her words meant to me, and I wondered if her subconscious part was aware of what she’d said. A part of her, no matter how small, recognized our fates, and I was forced to fight that as much as I was fighting myself.

I couldn’t stay in school any longer. I had to go to the shelter and train.

Grabbing all of my things, I pulled my keys out of my pocket and rushed to the parking lot. I avoided the lunchroom and used the side door to escape. No one would notice, and if someone did, no one would stop me. The teachers had learned to leave me alone as much as the students did. I wasn’t interested in lectures, and their words wouldn’t stop me from getting around the rules. Especially with Luthicer’s help. He was useful for some things, after all.

“Hold the door.
”

I recognized the loud voice befo
re I saw his black hair, and I let the door shut, knowing it would lock.

“Sorry, man.
” I moved past Zac.

He raised his hand as if he woul
d run it through his mane, but he stopped himself. Apparently, he didn’t want to mess up his carefully constructed hairdo.

“It’s cool,” he said
. He was the tallest teenager I had ever seen. “You think they’ll notice if I just go around the school?”

“Teachers are hawks around here,” I lied, continuing to walk.

“Thanks anyway.”

I didn’t bother speaking to him again. I needed to get away from
him fast. If I didn’t, I would confront him about Jessica, and I no longer had the right to. She had her own life, and I had to survive mine without her. We had agreed on it, and that was enough to push me forward. That and my car.

I jogged over the small slope leading down the left side of the school
to where the black Charger waited for me. In seconds, I was inside and revving the engine, sighing at the beautiful sound. It was mine, and it was the only solace I had left. I took off, my thoughts slipping away with the speed, tearing out of the parking lot as if I could drive away from it all.

Eric

Being a capable shade wasn’t enough. I had to be able to fight as a human as well, and today was my day to train as one.

Luthicer watched as
Camille held up my punching bag. I threw one last punch before I stopped to catch my breath. Kickboxing was more of a cardiac workout than I thought.

“
You should probably stretch,” Camille said.

I swung my arm over my chest, and she walked over to the wall. She grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it
over. I stopped stretching to catch it, and water droplets trailed down my arm with my sweat.

“Thanks,” I said.

She started to walk over, but Luthicer tapped her arm. “Can you get the timesheets?” he asked, referring to a workout sheet trainers used for young children after the Naming. “I left them in my office.”

Camille opened her mouth to remind him that I didn’t use them, but Luthicer lowered his brow, and she obeyed, heading to the door. Her dark eyes met mine, and she widened them. I prepared myself for the worst. Luthicer didn’t want Camille around for a reason.

I opened up my water bottle and took a quick drink. “What was that about, Luthicer?” I asked, refusing to rollover for the half-breed elder.

He patted the wall. “You should work on your core,” he said. “Sit ups.”

I hesitated but moved forward. I sat down, making sure my feet didn’t touch the wall, and began. We continued this for a few minutes, but Luthicer didn’t look at me.

“Do you hate the Light?” he asked, his voice rigid and quick.

I sat up to rest on my knees. “They’re my enemy.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I cleared my throat and wiped the sweat from my brow. I needed a shower, not a chit-chat. “Sure,” I gave in to the conversation. I hated Darthon and Fudicia, but they weren’t everyone in the Light. “Hate” seemed like a strong word for a group of people.

Luthicer’s cheeks were sunken in as if they’d dried up with his thoughts
. He looked as tired as I felt.

“You are aware of what will happen to
the sect if you defeat Darthon, right?” he asked.

M
y stomach muscles twisted on top of my workout’s intensity. “They’ll lose their powers,” I responded as if he had given me an oral exam. It was a vital piece of information. Whoever won would retain power. Whoever lost would lose their identity.

“But some will die
.”

I tried to ignore this fact, but it was true. To have half of your life ripped away would pr
ove to be too dire for some. We had seen it happen to banished shades. It was only natural for it to happen to lights, too.

“I’m awa
re,” I said.

Luthicer threw
his white beard over his shoulder like it was a fashionable scarf. “And what do you think about that?” he asked a question that wasn’t on the exam. The prophecy never asked how we felt about it. It was factual, and that was all we were expected to know.

I
rubbed my temples as I tried to comprehend our conversation. “It doesn’t really matter.”

Luthicer pressed his back against the w
all as he glided to the floor. “It does,” he argued, slowly turning his neck to meet my eyes. “If there is a battle involving others − not just Darthon and you − I need to know you believe in their malicious nature.”

“I know they’re evil, Luthicer.
” I remembered the determination in Darthon’s eyes. His actions had no sympathy or hesitation, and I had witnessed his brutality on my own family. Not to mention Fudicia. She had killed Hannah when she was fourteen. To describe the Light as ruthless was an understatement.

“You didn’t always know this,” Luthicer continue
d as if he hadn’t heard me.

I lay
on my back, stretching my leg over my stomach. “At least I figured it out.”

Luthicer
stared at the farthest wall, and I studied the man longer than I ever had before. The shadows that hung beneath his eyes were darker than usual, and his wrinkles seemed deeper. Still, he was calm, and he didn’t move.