Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One) (3 page)

“
Excuse me
?” Michael said in a low, deadly voice, shaking with barely contained anger. I was sure Michael had probably never been insulted like that in his entire life, and the shock had already begun to wear off.

“You heard me,” the stranger said, standing up a little taller. He was about an inch shorter than Michael, but was built far more solidly—though I doubted this would help him much if they started throwing punches.

I squeezed my eyes shut; I knew what was coming, and I really didn’t want to see it.

I waited for the sound of fist meeting face, but when I didn’t, I opened one eye. Michael was standing with one fist slightly out, looking at something beyond the stranger. I opened my other eye and leaned around the boys for a better look. Apparently the fates had not designed for the stranger to die today, because the one person Michael feared at the school, was coming down the hall looking at a tablet in his hands.

When he was only a few feet from us, Mr. Savenrue, Bayside Academy’s only daemon teacher, finally looked up. “Mr. Tammore, Miss Galathea, what are you doing in the hall? Class started nearly five minutes ago.” Mr. Savenrue looked over at the strange guy, a look of confusion briefly crossing his face. “Are you new here? I can’t seem to remember your name.”

“Patrick, Patrick Connolly. I’m in your first period class, sir,” the stranger answered, looking equally confused.

Mr. Savenrue looked at him for a moment. “Yes—yes of course you are,” he stammered uneasily before broadening his focus to the rest of us. “Like I asked before, what are the
three
of you doing in the hall?”

“I was
asking
Mr. Tammore to stop harassing Miss Galathea,” the stranger—apparently named Patrick—answered as he scowled at Michael.

Mr. Savenrue fixed Michael with a fiery gaze that could have melted ice. His gaze shifted to me where it cooled considerably to a look of sympathy. “Is this true, Miss Galathea?”

Without missing a beat I answered, “Yes, Mr. Savenrue. Michael was trying to coerce me into going to the Winter Ball with him. I tried to explain I was
already
going with someone else, but he just wouldn’t listen.”

“No one asked you yet; you’re lying!” Michael growled as he narrowed his eyes at me.

“
I
asked her,” Patrick said as he fixed Michael with a deadly glare. “
And
she said yes.”

Mr. Savenrue put his head in his hand and said with an exasperated huff, “Mr. Tammore, if a girl doesn’t want to go with you to a dance that’s her right. You can’t always get what you want, you know.”

“I usually do,” Michael mumbled under his breath.

“What was that, Mr. Tammore?” Mr. Savenrue asked, raising an eyebrow at Michael.

“Nothing, Mr. Savenrue,” Michael answered, looking sideways at nothing in particular.

Mr. Savenrue didn’t look the slightest bit convinced. “
Hmm
. Well, Mr. Tammore, why don’t you accompany me to the dean’s office.” Mr. Savenrue reached into his bag and pulled out two late passes. He handed them to me and Patrick with a strained smile. “Mr. Connolly, Miss Galathea, why don’t you head to class.”

As I watched the two of them recede down the hall to the stair I tried to decided what I should say next. I mean, Patrick had basically asked me to the dance without
actually
asking me. Did he really want to go with me, or was he just saying that to get Michael to back off?

I cocked my head to one side and looked up at Patrick. “
So
…I’m going with you to the Winter Ball?”

“Yeah…about that…” Patrick said as he ran his hand through his hair nervously. “You were just bluffing, right? ‘Cause if you already asked someone else you don’t have to go with me. I just said that to piss off Michael.”

Wow, someone who liked to mess with Michael nearly as much as I did. This guy was getting better by the minute.

“No, you’re right, I
was
bluffing. I hadn’t actually asked anyone yet. But I’ll go with you—if you ask me that is.” I looked up into his eyes and was lost in the beauty of them. They were deep pools of nearly black-brown. Throughout the whole of what had just happened I hadn’t really
looked
at him until now.

Patrick had a broad, square-jawed face framed by straight black hair that flared out with a slight curl at his ears. His bangs stopped just short of his eyes, which were almond shaped, hinting at a possible heritage. He was solidly built, not too skinny, but definitely not a bodybuilder either—which I liked. He was 5’ 9” at best, just a few inches taller than me. The more I looked at him the more it made me giddy and restless inside. And I had to wonder how I had managed to miss him these last few years, because he was
seriously
gorgeous.

Patrick cleared his throat but kept his eyes down. I could almost feel the waves of nervous energy flowing off him. He finally swallowed hard as he looked up into my eyes. “Nualla, would you go with me to the Winter Ball?”

I was more than a little shocked that he knew my name, but I hoped it didn’t show in my face. “I would love to.”

Up until this point he had seemed really self-assured, cocky even, but now he just looked at me for a bit, blinking. Finally he asked in a startled voice, “You’re
serious
?”

“Were you serious about asking me?”

“Well yes of course but—”

“Then yes, I’m serious, I’ll go with you to the dance.”

His reactions were kind of weird. He was the kind of cute that should have won him lots of female attention, but he seemed downright shocked that I had actually said yes.

“Um…okay,” he said as he ran his hand nervously through his hair again. His expression barely concealed the panic behind it.

It was almost painful watching him wrestle with himself, so I decided to throw him a safely line. “We should probably get to class.”

“Oh yeah, you’re probably right.”

We walked the rest of the way to class in silence. His quiet, shy demeanor was in sharp contrast to the person he had been only moments before. Maybe he had a Lancelot complex or something. Or maybe he found me more intimidating than Michael—though I seriously doubted it.

As we stepped through the classroom door, Mr. Lucas turned to us with an exasperated expression, sucking in breath for a burst of lecture. But before he could get even a single word out we held up our passes.

He let the air out with a sigh and turned back to what he had been doing. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence. You two can take one of the back tables. Since you both missed out on today’s earlier activity, you are now lab partners.”

As we made our way back to our seats Nikki eyed me with a curious expression. Either she was wondering why I was late, or she was wondering who the hell Patrick was—or both.

Mr. Lucas didn’t even wait for us to make it to our seats before he resumed his lecture about today’s class work. Mr. Lucas liked to periodically switch our seats and lab partners around so no one got too comfy—or lazy. Today was apparently one of
those
days.

It wasn’t until the end of his lecture that I realized I had left my tablet in my locker.
Frak me
—he was never going to let me go get it after being as late as we were. I put my head in my hands and rubbed my temples.
Blah
, this day was already starting to suck, and it wasn’t even close to being lunch yet.

I heard a light clattering, and when I opened my eyes, a tablet was sitting on the table in front of me. “You can borrow mine if you like,” someone offered from next to me. I looked up at Patrick and he continued. “You forgot to grab yours because of Michael.”

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I.”

Patrick went back to quietly examining the smart board in the front of the classroom with today’s assignment on it. I couldn’t tell if he was shy or just nervous. The more I looked at him, the more I wondered why I hadn’t noticed him before. How could I have possibly missed a cute boy like this wandering the halls for four straight years? Even if he was terribly shy I wasn’t
that
blind, was I? Maybe he was a new transfer or something.

I rested my jaw in my hand and released a bit of my own influence. “So…how long have you been a student at Bayside Academy?”

Patrick looked at me in confusion. “Four years—why?”

3

Parallel Universe

Monday, January 9th

NUALLA

“S
o who are you going to ask to the Winter Ball?” Nikki asked, staring out at the students around the atrium.

“I already have a date,” I replied as I flicked through Facebook on my tablet. I was trying to see if Patrick was in any of the pictures I had taken in the last four years. Maybe he was like a vampire and wouldn’t show up in photos. That would explain a lot, really.

“
Really
? Who?” Nikki asked, soda halfway to her mouth.

“Patrick Connolly,” I answered still flipping through pictures.

“
Who
?”

I pointed across the atrium to Patrick. “Him.”

“Never seen him before, he a new student or something?” Nikki asked as she looked curiously at Patrick.

I gave up flipping through the photos and rested my chin on my hand. “No,
apparently
he’s been here all four years—which is odd because I can’t remember ever seeing him before today. Hell, even Mr. Savenrue didn’t remember him, and Patrick’s
in
one of his classes.”

Nikki stared at me in disbelief. “
What
?”

“Yeah it’s weird, he’s in a lot of my classes, but I can’t remember seeing him before today.”

“That
is
kinda weird. Hey wait, when did this happen?”

“In the hall right before Chem. Michael was trying to make me go to the dance with him and Patrick stepped in.”

“So he saved you from
Michael
?”

“Yep.”

“
Damn
he’s good,” Nikki said, with a choking laugh. “You should keep him around; Michael repellent is always a good thing to have.”

“Ya
think
?” I said sarcastically.

“Though it was
your
damn fault for dating Michael in the first—”

“
Hey
, you said you wouldn’t pick on me for that anymore!” I said, pushing her.

“Sorry, it’s just so hilarious how badly you frakked up there.”

“I know I did, so
please
stop reminding me,” I sighed in exasperation. It was nice to see that my screw-ups made for an endlessly entertaining spectacle for my family.

I poked at my lunch as I looked out at Patrick. “What nationality do you think he is?”

“A mix,” Nikki replied without much thought.

“Well
yeah
, I figured that much, but a mix of
what
?” I asked as I turned my eyes away from Patrick to Nikki.

“My bet’s on some European and Asian,” Nikki answered after staring at him a few seconds longer.

“Yeah, I think you’re right, Nikki,” I agreed, turning back to look at Patrick.

“He’s
really
hot.”

“Most definitely,” I agreed over my can of soda. Nikki nudged me, and we both burst into giggles.

“
So
ladies, what’re we talking about today?” Shawn asked as he leaned between us with his tray of food.

“Nualla’s date to Winter Ball.”

“
Really
, who is it this time?” Shawn asked, sliding onto the bench next to us.

“Patrick Connolly,” I answered, jabbing a fork at my lunch.

Shawn paused, his burrito less than an inch from his mouth “
Who
?”

“Him,” Nikki said, pointing at Patrick.

Shawn looked over at Patrick, burrito still a few inches from his mouth. “Never seen him before; he new?”

“
See
what I mean? It’s like he just appeared out of nowhere,” I said, throwing my fork down. This was starting to get really weird, and that’s saying a lot coming from people like us.

“Maybe he’s here from a parallel universe and just doesn’t know it yet,” Nikki said, looking at Patrick curiously.

“Nikki, I think you’ve been watching too much of the SyFy channel,” Shawn said, gesturing at her with his lunch.

“Hey,
you
watch it too!” she snapped back indignantly.

PATRICK

“T
hat Galathea girl is checking you out,” Connor said, in complete disbelief as he looked past me.

“Really?” I looked up, and sure enough Nualla and her cousin were looking at us—at
me
more specifically. Nualla was sitting with Nikki and Shawn, the pale January light making them look even paler. Like a handful of students at Bayside Academy, they seemed unusually pale even for foggy SF. They were all extremely pale, not in the chalky vampire sort of way, but in that I’m-Irish-and-have-always-lived-in-Seattle kind of way.

I scooted around the circular picnic table nonchalantly to be able to better look at Nualla without
actually
appearing to be going out of my way to look at her. As I did, Beatrice scooted to fill my spot without her eyes ever leaving the book in her hands.

“Wonder who she’s going with to the dance this time?” Connor said, between bites of his lunch. This speculation had been torture in past years but not anymore, because I knew who she was going with this time.

“Me.”

“In your
dreams
, dude,” Connor said, rolling his eyes.

I pulled my eyes away from Nualla to look at Connor. “No seriously, I’m taking her to the dance.”

Connor pointed at me with a french fry. “You’re full of it.”

“I am
not
!”

“He’s telling the truth, I heard Tara Spellman talking about it in third period,” Beatrice said, without looking up as she pushed her black cat-eyed glasses back up her small nose.

“How did
she
know about it? I just asked Nualla second period!” I asked, incredulously.

“She overheard you guys on the way to the restroom.” Beatrice took a sip of soda, almond eyes still firmly fixed on her book. She was always reading a book—
always
. I had never seen Beatrice outside of class without one in all the years I had known her.

“Wait, I want to know how
you
ended up asking her to the dance. I mean have you even
talked
to her once in the last four years?” Connor asked as he looked at me skeptically.

“Um, actually…no,” I admitted to my lunch tray.

“
So
…” Connor said, leaning in.

“Well, that prick Michael was trying to bully her into going with him to the dance. So I stepped in and told Mr. Savenrue
I
was taking her.”

“Wait, why was Mr. Savenrue there?” Connor asked in confusion.

“He came down the hall and saw me and Michael arguing. He scolded Michael and took him off to the Dean’s office, and sent me and Nualla to class.”

“Oh man,
seriously
? I would have
paid
to see that!” Connor said, laughing.

“Paid to see what?” Jenny, one of our other usual table mates, asked as she walked up with Sara. They placed their lunch trays on the table and sat down.

“Mr. Savenrue berate Michael and haul him off to the office,” Connor answered, barely containing his laughter.

“What did Michael
do
?” Sara asked, before biting into an apple.

“He was demanding Nualla Galathea go with him to the Winter Ball, but she’s already going with Patrick,” Beatrice answered, over the top of her book.

“
Really
?” Sara said, nearly choking on a bite of apple, her pale green eyes wide with disbelief.

“Well actually I asked her
after
I told him she was already going with me,” I admitted, running my hand through my hair.

“Well played man, well played,” Connor said, clapping me on the shoulder. “That was a gamble you could have lost spectacularly.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know,” I said, with a self-deprecating smile.

“
Oh
, but I was—” Jenny sputtered, a piece of Caesar salad halfway to her mouth. Then her ice blue eyes narrowed. “Wait, I thought you had never talked to her?”

“Well no, not before today at least.”
Geez
, if even my friends didn’t believe me how was anyone
else
ever going to?

“And she said
yes
?” Jenny asked, in complete disbelief.

“Of
course
she did. She had the choice between Michael and Patrick. Who the hell do you
think
she would pick?” Connor said, gesturing to me.

“Thanks Connor, that’s not really a winning endorsement you know,” I said, flatly.

Sometimes I thought I must just be a joke to my friends. I really couldn’t blame them though; I had been pining for a girl who was way out of my league for the last four years. But now that I had a shot with her—albeit a slight shot—I was at a loss as to what I should do. I had to play my cards just right, or I was going to go down in flames.

“So you were late to class because you we asking her?” Sara asked, looking at me inquiringly.

“Yeah, among other things,” I answered, looking out across the atrium toward Nualla.

“That’s right, she’s your Chem partner now too, huh?” Connor said as he nudged me.

“Yep,” I answered with a huge grin.

“Bet you’re
really
glad now you didn’t take Field Biology,” Beatrice said, smirking over her book.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Biology!” Jenny said, indignantly.

“Yeah, but in Chem you get to blow things up,” Connor pointed out as he demonstrated an explosion with his hands.