It had everything to do with the ache in his gaze. Then he pivoted around, tipping his head back. Moments passed in silence. “The stars… They’re beautiful tonight.”
I followed his gaze, a little thrown off by his sudden change in topic. The sky was dark, but there were a hundred or so bright dots glimmering against the inky night. “Yeah, they are.” I bit my lip. “Do they remind you of your home?”
There was a pause. “I wish they did. Memories, even bittersweet ones, are better than nothing, you know?”
A knot formed in my throat. Why had I asked him that? I knew he didn’t remember anything about his planet. I tucked my hair back again and stood beside him, squinting at the sky. “The Elders—do they remember anything about Lux?” He nodded. “Have you ever asked them to tell you about it?”
He started to respond, then laughed. “It is that simple, right? But I try to avoid the colony as much as possible.”
Understandable, but I wasn’t entirely sure why. Daemon and Dee rarely talked about the Luxen that remained in the colony hidden deep within the forest surrounding Seneca Rocks. “What about Mr. Garrison?”
“Matthew?” He shook his head. “He won’t talk about it. I think it’s too hard on him—the war and losing his family.”
Tearing my gaze away from the stars, I looked up at Daemon. His profile was harsh and haunted. Christ, they’d had a tough life. All of the Luxen. War had turned them into refugees. Earth was practically a hostile planet to them, considering how they had to live. Daemon and Dee couldn’t remember their parents and had lost their brother. Mr. Garrison had lost everything and God only knew how many of them shared the same tragedy.
The knot was growing bigger in my throat. “I’m sorry.”
Daemon’s head swung toward me sharply. “Why would you apologize?”
“I…I’m just sorry for everything…you guys have had to go through.” And I meant it.
He held my gaze for a beat and then looked away, laughing under his breath. There was no humor in the sound, and I wondered if I’d said something wrong. Probably. “Keep talking like that, Kitten, and I…”
“You what?”
Daemon backed off my porch, his smile secretive. “I’ve decided to go easy on you. I’ll keep New Year’s Day as the deadline.”
I started to respond, but he was gone before I could, moving too fast for my eyes to track.
Placing my hand against my chest, I stood there and tried to make heads of what just happened. For a moment, a crazy moment, there had been something infinitely more than mad animal lust between us.
And it scared me.
I went inside and eventually was able to push Daemon to the back of my mind. Grabbing my cell, I went from room to room until I got a signal and called Mom, leaving her a message. When she called back, I told her about my arm. She said I probably bumped it on something, even though it didn’t hurt and it wasn’t bruised, either. She promised to bring me home a salve, and I felt better just hearing her voice.
I sat on my bed, trying to forget about all the weird stuff and focus on my history homework. There was an exam on Monday. Studying on a Friday was the height of lameness, but it was either that or I fail. And I refused to fail. History was one of my favorite subjects.
Hours later, I felt the weird warmth that was becoming increasingly familiar creep across my neck. Closing the textbook, I hopped off the bed and crept toward the window. The full moon lit everything in a pale, silvery glow.
I tugged up the sleeve of my shirt. The skin was still patchy and red. Did being sick have anything to do with the locker, the glass of tea and the connection to Daemon?
My gaze moved back to the window, drifting over the ground below. I didn’t see anyone. A yearning sparked in my chest. I pulled the curtain back farther and pressed my forehead against the cool glass. I couldn’t understand or explain how I knew, but I did. Somewhere, hidden in the shadows, was Daemon.
And every part of my being wanted—needed—to go to him. The ache that had been in his eyes… It was so much, going beyond him and me. More than what I undoubtedly could wrap my head around.
Denying that desire was one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I let the curtain slip free and went back to my bed. As I opened my history text again, I focused on my chapter.
New Year’s Day? Wasn’t going to happen.
…
I was having one of those days where I wanted to start throwing things because only breaking crap would make me feel better. My limit for acceptable weirdness in my daily life had been maxed out.
On Saturday, the shower turned on before I even got in it. Sunday night, my bedroom door opened as I walked toward it, smacking me right in the face. And this morning, to top it all off, I’d overslept and missed my first two classes, plus my entire closet emptied itself onto my floor as I debated what to wear.
Either I was turning into an alien, about to have one crawl its way out of my stomach, or I was crazy.
The only good thing about today was that I’d woken up without that itchy rash on my arm.
The whole way to school, I debated what to do. These things couldn’t be brushed aside as a coincidence any longer, and I needed to get over myself and confront them. My new outlook on not being a bystander in life meant I had to face the fact that I’d really changed. And I needed to do something about it before I exposed everyone. Just thinking about that possibility left a bitter taste in my mouth. There was no way I could go to Dee, because I’d promised Daemon not to tell anyone that he’d healed me. I had no other option but to saddle him with another one of my problems.