Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One) (9 page)

“Well yeah.” As surprising as it was, it was actually the truth.

“Even though she’s been
ignoring
you for the last three years?” Jenny asked as she angrily gestured toward Nualla again.

Oh balls, why did I ever tell them that?

“I never
ignored
him. I never asked him because I thought he was dating you!” Nualla yelled back at Jenny. I wasn’t entirely sure if that was the truth, but it did make a lot of sense when you thought about it.

“
Ooooo
,” came a chorus of students around us. It was at that moment we all realized everyone in the atrium was avidly watching us.

Jenny turned bright red and started fiddling with her hair nervously. “We were never dating.”

“Could have fooled me,” Nikki snorted, rolling her eyes.

Jenny’s eyes welled up with tears, and she bolted from the atrium. Then it hit me, all the signs from Jenny that I had been missing over the years. Had she really been waiting for me to ask her out the whole time? Had she just sat there biting her tongue while I was pining over Nualla?

Crap.

I stood up. “Um, guys—I’ll be right back,” I said quickly before I ran out of the atrium into the front hall and stopped. I looked to the left and a girl sitting among a group of freshman girls pointed to the stairs.

“She went that way,” the girl announced continuing to point toward the front right stairs.

“How did you—?”

“We saw the whole thing through the glass,” she answered as she pointed out the window into the atrium.

“Ah, right,” I said before I charged forward, following her directions.

I found Jenny sitting on the floor second floor hallway, knees pulled to her chest, crying. “Jenny?” I said cautiously.

“Go away,” she said in a strangled voice.

I sighed and slid down the wall to sit next to her. “Jenny, I’m sorry I never realized you liked me.”

“Yeah well, you have the observational skills of a grapefruit, so I’m not surprised,” Jenny said into the sleeves of her black V-necked sweater that made up the top of the girls’ winter uniform.

I would have laughed if she hadn’t been crying. “Well that aside, I’m still sorry.”

“For
what
?” She lifted her head and sniffled, mascara already leaving black trails down her cheeks.

“That I couldn’t return your feelings and that I probably never will. I’ve found the person I want to be with. Can you understand that?” I hoped that she would get the hint because I really couldn’t explain that the reason I could never be with her was because I was already married to Nualla.

She looked away down the hall. “So she really likes you?”

“I sure hope so.” If she didn’t, we were both screwed.

“Well if it turns out she doesn’t…” Jenny said without looking back at me.

“You’ll be the first to know.”

We sat in silence for a while before Jenny sniffled and stood. “I probably look awful. I’ll see you later, okay?” And then she walked down the hall toward the girl’s restroom without waiting for my reply.

“Okay,” I said quietly as I watched her go. I felt terrible about the whole thing, but what could I do? I had absolutely no feelings for Jenny other than friendship.

With a sigh, I stood up and walked back to the atrium. It wouldn’t be very nice to abandon Nualla with my friends the first time she came to sit with us. I hoped that she wasn’t one of the jealous types that would see my running off after Jenny as something other than just comforting a friend.

As I walked back toward our table I tried to ignore the looks I was getting. Everyone aside from my friends was watching me as I moved through the forest of students and lunch tables. I swallowed hard as I slipped back into my seat next to Nualla. Everyone at our table was eating their lunches and not talking. And I had the distinct impression that nothing had been said since I left either.

“Hey guys,” I said cautiously.

“How’s Jenny?” Sara asked, looking worried.

“I think she’ll be fine,” I answered with a heavy sigh.

“So…Nualla, Nikki said you’d only had one boyfriend, and it wasn’t any of the guys you went to the dances with.” I could tell by the way Connor said it he had been dying to ask her since I left. I myself had been wondering the same thing, but would never ask her.

“Yeah,” Nualla replied, putting down her fork.

“So who was it?” Connor asked, leaning a little closer.

My head shot up. “
Connor
!” I snapped, glaring at him. Connor apparently had
also
known I would never ask her.

“No it’s okay, you’d probably just find out eventually anyways,” Nualla said with a sigh. “It was Michael,” she admitted in a voice that said she was completely disgusted with herself.

That had been the
last
name I had ever thought she would say. “
What
?”

“That prick who was harassing you?” Connor asked, sharing my total disbelief.

“The very same,” Nikki answered in an uninterested manner that told me it was old news.

“
When
?” After what I had seen last week, I couldn’t believe this could possibly be true.

“I made the huge mistake of dating him the beginning of freshman year,” Nualla admitted, her fork hovering over her lunch like she very much wanted to stab it.

“Then she found out how much of a jerk he was,” Nikki added, poking her cousin.

I rolled my soda can back and forth in my hands. “Well I guess I can see why he’s so angry.” I looked up into Nualla’s eyes. “I’d be pretty upset to lose you too.”

14

What Have You Done?

Monday, January 16th

NUALLA

I
could see Patrick out by the parking lot waiting for me as I stepped out of the school building. Even though I had tried to reassure him of my affections in every way, he was still nervously pacing back and forth. Poor thing. I could tell, even if everyone else couldn’t, that he was only barely able to handle all that the last week had thrown at him. That
I
had thrown him into.

I walked down the steps and started making my way toward Patrick. I was about halfway there when I felt a concussion to the air as someone grabbed my arm and jerked me backward. I didn’t even have to look to know it was Michael.

“You’re
dating
him now?” he spat venomously.

I ripped my arm from his grasp as I turned around to yell at him. But my voice caught in my throat as the ring slipped out, my rash movements flinging it from its hiding place.

Michael stared at it then recoiled in horror as if the sight of it hurt him. His eyes flicked toward Patrick. “You got…but he’s not.” His mouth snapped shut in a scowl then opened in a sneer, his lip curling back over his teeth. “Nualla, what have you done?”

“It’s none of
your
business, Michael,” I answered, a threat creeping into the tone of my voice.

He took a step forward and shoved a finger hard in my chest. “It’s
everyone’s
business, you broke the law. He’s not one of us.”

“I broke nothing. The law states I’m allowed to tell him what we are after we are married. It doesn’t say anything about him having to be turned first.”

Michael’s eyes went huge. “You
married
him?”

I swallowed hard.
Frak
. In Kalodaemon custom, the ring around my neck only meant that we were engaged, and I could have gone on for quite a while pretending we weren’t already married. However, I had let Michael get to me—
again
—and had now blown that option to shiny bits.

“And so what if I am?” I snapped defiantly back at him.

“You’re playing a very dangerous game Nualla, as he is he’s a threat to all of us.”

“He’s a
threat
to no one,” I said defensively.

A smirk crossed Michael’s face, “Maybe you’re right.” He looked off in Patrick’s direction a glint of malice in his eyes.

I let the threat curl around my words to make my point perfectly—
deadly
clear. “Michael, if you hurt him, I will kill you. Make no mistake in that.”

“I’m not stupid enough to touch him
now
,” Michael said, folding his arms. “Why don’t you just turn him, Nualla? What’s the point in not doing it if he already knows?” My face must have given me away because Michael looked at me in shocked disgust. “You haven’t told him what you are yet, have you?”

“No, not yet.” I looked down, so Michael wouldn’t see how nervous I was about telling Patrick my secrets.

“What are you waiting for?”

“I’m going to let him choose,” I answered, still talking to my boots.

“
Excuse me
?” Michael asked in a choked voice.

“You heard me,” I said, looking up at him defiantly.

Michael leaned closer. “You can’t
do
that, Nualla.”

“Get away from my girlfriend!” Patrick shouted from behind us. Apparently, I had shocked Michael so much his influence field had dropped without either of us noticing it.

Michael grabbed the ring around my neck and nearly ripped the delicate chain clear off. “Don’t you mean your—
wife
?” Michael asked through gritted teeth. He let the ring drop as if it disgusted him.

He took a step to the side and began to move away as Patrick stepped in front of me. It was like watching two circling jungle cats hiss at each other. Michael looked Patrick dead in the eye and let his illusion slip just the slightest, so the true ferocity in his eyes would show through. Most humans would have pissed their pants, but Patrick didn’t even flinch.

Michael looked around Patrick into my eyes his illusion already back in place. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Nualla—a
very
dangerous game.”

And with that last bit of warning he whipped around and strode off to join his group of friends. One of them—Penelope—eyed us with dark, hateful eyes. She had hated me as long as I could remember and my dating then snubbing of Michael, the one thing she coveted above all else, had only made that hatred worse. And Michael ignoring her as he pursued me in vain probably hadn’t helped either.

After nearly four years of trying to get me back, Michael now had no choice but to give up on me and walk away. But the question was would he now pay attention to Penelope, or would he continue to ignore her affections?

Our conversation may have ended, but I had the feeling this was far from over.

PATRICK

N
ualla took a deep breath and tucked the ring back under her black V-necked sweater. I scowled at Michael’s back as he stalked off with his pack of arrogant jerks. Where did he get off acting like that?

I turned back to Nualla; she was nervously playing with her pendant. “So he knows then?”

“Unfortunately,” she answered with a grimace.

“Won’t he say something about it to everyone?”

“Not likely, he also has a lot to lose if people found out—
and
I’d kill him.”

“Seriously? Like what has he got to lose?” I asked, gesturing toward the now nearly out of sight Michael.

Nualla sighed. “Pride. Pride is Michael’s fatal flaw.” Then she looked at me curiously. “If you were him, would you really go around telling everyone you had lost?”

“No…you’re right, I wouldn’t,” I admitted as I looked back out at the parking lot.

“Look, Patrick, don’t worry about Michael,” she said, touching my arm. “I have to go; I’ll see you tomorrow before school, ‘kay?” She walked off in the direction of her car where Nikki was leaning up against the driver side, staring at the clouds.

“Okay,” I said to no one but myself.

I just stood there watching her go; which in the short time I had been with her seemed to happen a lot.

“What’s got him so pissed off today?” Connor asked, filling the space beside me that Nualla had left.

I was in an off mood and not really paying attention. Today had been an exhausting emotional roller coaster. “Oh I don’t know, gee, maybe he’s pissed that I married
his
girl.” My breath caught when I realized what I had just said—out loud.

Crap.

I slowly turned to face Connor who was staring at me, mouth hanging open. “Did you just say you were—?”

I threw up my hands. “Wait, don’t say it!” I looked to both sides; there were
way
too many people still milling about to be having this conversation here. Plus if anyone found out, Nualla might kill me. Or her parents might. Hell, even
my
parents might.

“Walk with me,” I said as I took off toward the street. I walked quickly down the sidewalk weaving past the other pedestrians; not stopping.

After we were a good city block from the school Connor finally called out from behind me, “Is it safe to talk
now
?”

Subtle Connor,
real
subtle.

I stopped and stepped close to a building, so I wouldn’t get knocked over by a distracted pedestrian on their cell. Looking around I saw none of our classmates; it was probably safe.
Probably
. Connor looked ready to burst with pent up questions. “Yeah, we can talk now,” I said reluctantly.

“You’re
married
?! Since
when
?”

“Um, since last Friday. Actually, it was more like Saturday morning,” I answered as shoved my hands in the pockets of my
Bleach
hoodie and avoided his eyes.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“Never,” I replied looking up, slightly chagrined.

“Dude, that’s cold, I’m your best friend,” Connor said, folding his arms.

“Yeah well, it was on a need-to-know basis,” I said, looking nervously down the street; we were inching closer and closer to the truth.

“Hey, why wasn’t I invited?”

“Um, gee, well because it was kinda spur of the moment. And I was in Las Vegas, and might I add completely
drunk
at the time.” Once I had said it, I instantly wished I hadn’t.

The thoughts playing across Connor’s face came to a screeching halt. “Wait, when were
you
in Vegas?”

“Last weekend.” I had given up trying to skirt the truth; the worst damage had already been done.

“Patrick, I’m lost here, care to fill me in?”

“Okay, I told you I ran into Nualla at the mall, and she asked me to come hang out with her and her friends right? Well apparently
their
idea of hanging out is catching a plane to Vegas.”

“
Seriously
?” Connor asked in disbelief.

“Seriously. So while there, we got really drunk, and I woke up Saturday morning in a hotel room—married. That about sums it up.”

Connor was silent for a moment before he spoke. “Wow you must’ve been really,
really
drunk.”

“Oh, my head would have agreed with you on that one,” I said with a slight smirk.

“So what are you going to do about this?”

“Nothing,” I said firmly.

“
Nothing
?”

“What is there to do? I’m married to Nualla—
Nualla
, Connor. This is in no way a problem until she tells me it is.”

Connor looked at me for a second before a smirk started to spread across his face. “Your life has gotten so weird.”

“Tell me about it.”