Death Before Daylight (17 page)

When I opened my eyes, she was staring at me.
Her face wasn’t flushed. Her fingernails didn’t dig into her palms.
She wasn’t even crying. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Jess?”
she repeated the name. “You never call me that.”

She was seeing the signs.

Every bit of me felt like it was breaking.
“Do you understand?” I asked.

For the first time, she looked away, her gaze
shooting over my shoulder and toward the field so many had died on.
The last thing Eu probably saw was the willow tree we stood under.
It was still alive because he fought, because he died.

“I understand—” Jessica’s throat moved. “I
understand you’re not being yourself, but you’re crossing a line,
Eric.” This time, she glared at me. “A big one.”

I could breathe again. “The first part is
more important.”

Her eyebrows pushed together. “We can talk
about this, okay? Whatever you’re going through—whatever
happened—we’ll get through it—”

“We can’t,” I stopped her from dismissing
what I had said. “We’re over.”

She flipped her hand up, but it wasn’t to
slap me. My mother’s ring shone in my face. “We’re engaged.”

“Not anymore.” I shook my head. “Not right
now.” I didn’t deserve it. “Keep the ring if you want.”

When I started to walk away, she grabbed my
arm. “You can’t be serious.”

I only touched her to remove her hands from
me. “I am.”

“
I don’t believe you.”
Her voice was
in my head.

I shut off our connection, and it sizzled
out.

That was when her eyes watered, and I
couldn’t stop myself from hugging her one last time. She shook
against my chest as I kissed her forehead. “Take care of yourself,
okay?” I said it expecting a response, but she never gave me
one.

I pushed myself away, spun around, and walked
down the hill. I had obeyed Darthon and left Jessica, but I
wouldn’t obey him for long. I would find a way to break the
illusion, and my first stop was the shelter.

The Dark would have to save me again.

22

He said it like it didn’t matter, like his
emotions were buried, like he was the Eric I had met, not the one I
had grown with. But he hadn’t sounded like he was lying.

I could barely breathe as I watched him walk
toward the student parking lot. He wasn’t returning to class. He
was leaving, and I knew where he would go.

I spun around on my heel and ran down the
other side of the hill, pushing my tears back. He couldn’t mean it.
He couldn’t. If anything were impossible, it was Eric’s breakup,
and I wouldn’t let him push me away when he was hurting. Whatever
Darthon had done to him had taken a toll, and there was one person
I knew who could help.

“
Jonathon.”
My mind throbbed from Eric
shoving me out, but I found the strength to call my guard.
“Jonathon!”

He didn’t respond, but I could feel the
trickle of his powers. Even though his abilities had shifted, mine
hadn’t. I would get through to him if I had to march into his
classroom.

“Jess.” Crystal was in front of me before I
realized she had been chasing me, and she was gripping me before I
could stop her. “Where are you going? Are you okay?”

I almost didn’t hear her. “What?”

“Robb told us,” Crystal informed me.

I looked over, realizing the others were only
a foot away. I glared at Robb. “What did you say to him?”

His hands were up like my glare was a gun.
“We talked about Hannah,” he promised. “That’s it.”

I ignored him because he was useless. “I’m
leaving,” I told Crystal.

“I’ll tell Ms. Hinkel.”

I walked away before she could continue our
conversation, but she called after me, “Call me if you need
to.”

I ignored her to focus all of my energy on
Jonathon.
“Where are you?”

It was a scream, and his connection leapt.
“Jess?”

“
Come to the front,”
I ordered.
“It’s an emergency.”

Even though he didn’t respond, I walked
straight for our meeting place, making sure to avoid the office as
I left the building. If they questioned it, I would lie.
I have
a doctor’s appointment. My mom is picking me up. She’ll tell you
about it when she gets here. I promise.
Luthicer would put up
an illusion later, and we would figure out what was wrong with
Eric. My plan would work. It had to.

“Jess?”

Robb, again. He had followed me, and his hair
stuck up like he had messed with it the entire way. His shirt was
even wrinkled. But he didn’t mess with any of it when he stopped a
few feet away from me. “Are you all right?”

“Perfectly fine.” I searched the entryway for
Jonathon’s face.

“Is it true?” he asked. “Did he leave
you?”

“Why do you care?” I snapped.

Robb’s brown eyes widened.

“Sorry,” I muttered, my hands shooting up to
my temples. I rubbed them, hoping to ease the pain Eric had caused.
“It’s just a lot—”

Robb’s palm landed on my shoulder before I
realized he had walked closer. “It’s okay, you know.” He spoke like
he knew I would believe him. For once, I didn’t feel the urge to
push him away. I felt warm.

“Just breathe,” he coaxed. “Go home if you
need to.”

The warmth was familiar, like the ring I
wore. I took a breath, and the fog melted away. The crisp air was
fresh and natural, a soothing reminder that spring was nearing.
When my heartbeat calmed, I realized it had been racing before. I
wrapped my arms around Eric’s jacket. It smelled like him.

Tears pushed against my eyes, so I closed
them. “I’m okay.” I stepped away from Robb’s touch. “I will be.”
Once Jonathon comes.

“Jess?” Right on time.

I looked over as Jonathon approached,
stumbling like it was his natural way of walking. His glasses fell
down his nose when he stopped by my side, and for a moment, I swore
his blind eye even saw me. They both widened. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you in the car,” I said, knowing
his car was in the parking lot. “Can you drive?”

“You two are friends?” Robb interrupted.

I looked over. “Yeah.”

Jonathon didn’t bother defending our
friendship. “We can leave right now.” He was already walking toward
the parking lot.

“I’ll call you later,” I lied to Robb, only
to tell him the truth after, “Thanks for calming me down.”

He nodded, but he looked far from calm. His
expression made him look like he was the one who was broken up
with. I looked away before I saw myself in him.

“What’s going on?” Jonathon muttered as we
walked out of earshot. “I haven’t heard you that panicked
since—”

“We need to go to the shelter,” I directed,
picking up speed as we neared the parking lot. “Now.”

Jonathon grabbed my arm, nearly losing his
stance. “Wait.” He forced me to face him. “Tell me what’s going
on.”

“Eric—” I stumbled over his name, and I had
to close my eyes and take a breath before I could speak again.
“Eric isn’t Eric anymore. Something’s wrong with him.”

“I told you,” Jonathon began, “he just needs
space.”

“Too much space,” I interrupted. “He just
broke up with me.”

Jonathon’s hands dropped from my arms. His
bottom lip hung open, and his breath escaped him in a fog.
“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat it,” I muttered,
leaning against his car—the same one Camille drove before she
died.

“Jess, wait.” Jonathon took off his glasses
and cleaned them with his shirt. “You’re probably
overreacting—”

“He said he was serious,” I sputtered out the
words. Eric’s emotionless voice was hardly audible. If it weren’t
for my powers, I doubted I would’ve heard him at all. “He said he
doesn’t love me anymore.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”
Jonathon’s face reddened with an anger I wanted to snatch from him.
“Eric loves you. He always has, and he always will.”

“I know,” I interrupted, “but he said it
anyway. He—”

“He gave you a ring, Jess.”

“His jacket, too.” A laugh escaped me, and
guilt consumed me for it. The coffee stained the clothing. “I
shouldn’t be laughing.” As I said it, I knew I wasn’t. My escaped
tears were freezing against my cheeks.

“Jess,” Jonathon’s voice was as soft as his
embrace. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

I nodded against his sternum.

“You won’t lose him.” Jonathon only let me go
to open the passenger door. “And I won’t either.” His grin was
wide, like the one he had when he was Pierce. “Let’s go to the
shelter.”

I agreed, jumping into his car before he
joined me. As we sped out of the parking lot, I remembered the
first time I got into Eric’s car, how I learned his middle name,
how he questioned why I wanted to get to know him more than anyone
else. I hadn’t been able to explain it back then because I didn’t
know, but I knew it now.

I loved him, and I wasn’t going to allow him
to be alone anymore.

23

“You’re fine, Shoman.” Luthicer stepped away
to fill out the clipboard he brought with him.

“Are you sure?” I leapt off the examiner’s
table to stand by his side. “You didn’t find anything? Not at
all?”

Luthicer’s beard practically hit me when he
whipped around. “Not a single spell.” The edges of his eyes
radiated as they formed slits. “Should I have found one?”

Yes.
I wanted to say it, but I
couldn’t. “Did you check my neck?”

“You were there, weren’t you?”

He had. Luthicer had checked every part of
me, even the parts I wished he would stay away from.

I hit the wall.

Luthicer jumped back. “Shoman—”

“I’m fine.” My knuckles burned. The injury
would take more time to heal now, but it didn’t matter. Darthon’s
spell wasn’t detectable because I agreed to it. The illusion was
everything he wanted it to be.

Luthicer stared at the cracked wall. “Your
father won’t be happy to hear about that.”

My dad. Mindy. Noah. My family. They were
relying on me just as much as the Dark was, yet I had barely seen
them in the past few weeks.

“I’m going home,” I muttered. “Thanks for
your help.”

“Try not to further your injuries,” he called
after me, but I almost didn’t hear him.

I was in the hallway, and I wasn’t alone.
Jonathon stood in front of me, and Jessica stood behind him. They
had followed me.

I tried to walk past them, but Jonathon
grabbed my arm. “Wait—”

“Let me go,” I snarled.

Jonathon didn’t listen. He transformed, and
his strength dug into me. If I were going to fight him, it would
have to be in our shade forms.

“You’re going to explain yourself,” Jonathon
as Pierce spoke as his grip tightened, “and we’re going to help
you—”

“You can’t,” I snapped.

“What’s going on here?” Luthicer’s voice
bellowed over us as he entered the hallway. “You guys should be at
school. All of you.”

“We would be if Eric hadn’t dumped Jess,”
Pierce said to the elder, but he was glaring at me. “Now, tell us
why.”

“What?” Luthicer interrupted Pierce’s anger.
“What are you talking about?”

“That’s enough, guys,” Jessica interrupted
the elder as she tried to pull Pierce off me. “Let him go.”

Pierce yanked his arm away from Jessica, and
she stumbled back. My anger boiled. Pierce glared because he could
sense it.
“Stop fighting us.”

I shut him out—just like I had shut Jessica
out—and everything burned. It only got worse when Pierce’s hand
collided with my jaw. I hit the ground before I realized he had hit
me.

“Pierce,” Jessica screamed as Pierce latched
onto my shirt.

His green eyes bore into me as he spoke,
inches from my face. “I’m tired of your shit, Eric,” he growled. “I
know you’ve been through a lot. We all have. We all lost Eu.
Camille died for this—”

I punched him.

Pierce flipped back into his human form when
he slammed against the ground.

“It’s not like that.” My scream tore against
my throat.

Jonathon wiped his mouth, and blood smeared
across his hand. Blood I had drawn out of my best friend.

I stepped back.

Luthicer was staring. Jessica was, too. The
entire hallway was creeping into chaos as shades poked their heads
out from various rooms. Two young kids huddled behind someone who
was probably their dad. Their blue eyes were like mine.

“It’s—it’s not like that,” I stuttered
again.

“Then, what is it like?” Jonathon asked as he
pushed himself off the floor. He was already transforming
again.

Luthicer stood between us with his arms
raised at each of us. “That’s enough, boys.”

“Are you going to explain yourself or not?”
Pierce pushed his chest against Luthicer’s hand. “Or are you going
to continue shutting us all out? We’ll just die that way.” I had
never heard Pierce scream before. “And we would’ve already if Jess
hadn’t saved you.”

I backed against the wall.

“Leave,” Jessica spoke to me as she moved to
the side, revealing the open hallway. “Go.”

“Don’t you run away,” Pierce was fighting
Luthicer in an attempt to get to me. “Face something for once. Face
it.”

“Pierce,” Luthicer was yelling back at him.
“Calm down.”

“I’m not calming down over this,” Pierce
spat, and blood flew off his torn lip. “You’re destroying
everything. You’re letting her die in vain—”

Camille. She died to save Jessica, and she
wasn’t coming back. She would never be trained by Luthicer, or
laugh at Pierce’s jokes, or help me stretch again. She was
gone.

“Eric.” Jessica’s hand wrapped around mine
before she pulled me toward the exit. “Go.” She practically shoved
me away. “Go home.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, hoping she would
grab me again, force me to stay, but she pushed again.