Heal Me (A Touched Trilogy Book 2) (23 page)

“Right. We shouldn’t be kissing in school,” he said. Then kissed me again. But it was a short kiss, because this time he pulled away. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said.

There was a need to have the words spoken between us simply because they were so much a part of me. My life had completely changed in less than a year, and I knew that without Micah I wouldn’t be the person I was now. Every good and bad thing that had happened between us had forced me to step further away from the person I was. He hadn’t healed me, but he had given me a reason to heal myself.

We made our way back into the flow of students heading to class. I saw Chloe up ahead of us and the smile I wore vanished at the sight of her dropping to her knees. I surged forward, pushing people out of my way.

“Chloe?” I asked, rushing up behind her. She stared straight ahead, locked into one of her visions. I waited until she had refocused on the present then I reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

She swallowed and got to her feet shakily. “Yeah, I just... Could you...?”

I knew what she wanted and I nodded, letting the flow of her emotions rush through me. Her terror drew a gasp from my lips and I knew without a doubt that whatever she had seen would change our lives.

***

Keep reading for a sneak peek of

Watch Me

the final installment in A Touched Trilogy

Watch Me - Chapter 1

I don’t stare at guys. I normally let them do the staring. But I couldn’t help it. He was my sister Phoebe’s new friend, Sebastian. There wasn’t anything spectacular about him really. He’d moved to town a few weeks back and after fixing Phoebe’s cell phone when she managed to break it by simply turning it on, he was granted access into her little group of friends. He wasn’t ugly or deformed, but he wasn’t the kind of guy girls were panting over. Definitely not my type. He was just kinda weird. Tall and skinny, his hair was a bit too short, and his clothing looked like he bought them at the Sally Ann.

What had me staring was the haze that surrounded him. That was new. There’s no way I could have missed it. It blocked out almost everyone near him, thicker where it was closest to him and then thinning to a white puff about five feet all around him.

Thank God, he was on the other side of the classroom. I wasn’t in the mood for a serious slide show of his future. Maybe that sounded selfish. I knew Lily would have said so, but sometimes what I saw was best left unseen.

I tore my gaze away and focused on Mrs. Ellis. She stood with her back to us, scrawling the assignment on the white board. In front of me Nathan groaned as he copied it down. I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face. Nathan had been dating Phoebe for almost a year now and he was as big a slacker as she was when it came to school.

I leaned over my book and started writing down the page numbers when he abruptly flopped back in his chair and into my zone. The classroom faded back and Phoebe’s bedroom settled around me. Nathan lay on the bed with Phoebe draped over him. Way too much bare skin and heavy breathing for me to not know what was going on. There was a flash of the bedroom door opening and they looked back at the door. My dad stood in the doorway. I hadn’t seen his face that red since he fell asleep on the beach six years ago during a trip to Hawaii.

Nathan sat forward pulling his future away with him. I gave a snicker and kicked his desk. He glanced back, one eyebrow raised.

“My dad is going to kill you.”

“Why? What did you see?” He sat up straight and panic crinkled his forehead.

“Chloe? Nathan? Is there a problem?” Mrs. Ellis asked as she turned from the board.

“No,” I said, giving Nathan an evil smile. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, it was more that I knew he’d tell Phoebe and it would drive her crazy. She hated when I looked into her future, even if I had saved her ass a few times.

With my assignment written down, my gaze wandered back to Sebastian. He was watching me through the haze. Not that he could see it. Most peoples' futures were right there, hovering about an inch or so around them. I was usually careful enough to avoid touching it and if I had to touch them, I could push through without catching a glimpse. It was something that had become increasingly difficult lately. I wasn’t sure if my powers were growing or if I was getting sloppy, but it was getting harder to avoid reading the people around me. This school year I’d had to drop the cheer squad. Anytime we did a lift, I’d start reading the person I was touching and zone out. Vivian had been badly bruised from the fall she took. Phoebe thought it hilarious that her archenemy had literally fallen on her ass in front of the entire school, but I'd felt pretty guilty knowing it could have been much worse than a bruise.

I knew it was better to mind my own business. And that was exactly what I was going to do this time. The bell rang and still I couldn’t pull my eyes away. Knowing better did little to end my curiosity. Sebastian gathered his things and walked through the room and out the door. His future came so close to me, I could have simply reached out and for a second as he passed I would have had a glimpse.

“Hey, are you coming over tonight?”

I glanced up at Nadine and gave her a vague nod. My original plans had been to veg at home, maybe even watch one of my favorite cheesy romance movies, but saying no to Nadine was hard. We'd been best friends for nearly two years and I knew if I backed out of tonight she'd be pissed.

“Cool.” She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and gave me an expectant look. “You planning on sticking around for the next class?”

“No. Just feeling a bit spacey, I guess.” I shook my head and grabbed my things from under my seat.

I’d been ditching Nadine a lot the past few weeks. Visions of the future came with a hard price. Most of them stayed unspoken. When I was younger, I’d reveled in the power it gave me over people. To have them really listen to what I said, because according to them I had some weird sixth sense. It was how my sisters and I had ended up with the Freaky Matlin Triplet title.

Black and white. That’s the future. I know, because it’s how I’ve always seen it. If I saw it, it happened.

Most people though aren’t prepared to hear that their lives are predestined, or that they were going to do certain things they never thought they’d do. What I’d seen of Nadine’s future had crushed me. Her betrayal of me would be so complete that it was hard to look at her and know what is coming. But how do you tell someone you can’t be friends with them because of something they haven’t even thought of doing yet?

Besides, my friendship with Nadine would lead to certain parts of my own future happening. Without her, I wouldn’t get into Berkley next fall. Without her, I wouldn’t have the worst night of my life that would show me how little the word love meant to some people.

Black and white.

There wasn’t supposed to be any grey area. There wasn’t supposed to be anything that wasn’t right. Yet everything I saw had started shifting just a bit left of center. The first time had been with Phoebe a year ago. Parts of her relationship with Nathan hadn’t gone according to plan. It had smoothed out for a while, then Lily’s boyfriend Dylan died. He died after I told Lily they’d be going to prom together. I still didn’t understand how I could be so wrong about it.

So many times over the past year I’d seen things that hadn’t happened and never would. It terrified me to think of how many it had been. I wanted my black and white back. Even if it meant hiding behind a fake smile and standing next to the girl who would help rip my heart out. There was no way I could tell her the truth.

I gave Nadine the smile and walked with her to our next class. At the beginning of the school year Nadine and I had managed to convince the counselor that we needed to have similar schedules in order to facilitate our cheerleading practices, at that point they didn’t know I was off the squad.

I ran a hand over my side braid, smoothing down the wispy pieces that had escaped. My fingers hit the hair tie at the end and visions of Lily flashed. When the pictures faded away, I smiled. I’d seen her future so many times, but parts had been blocked. Now that Micah had started to lower his guard, pieces were filling in.

The two of them had been playing hot and cold for the past few months. Yesterday had been a turning point when Lily finally figured out that he really did want to be with her. I could have told her it was a pointless game. Although the presence of Micah’s ex-girlfriend, Jaime, hadn’t helped his case much. Today, though, Lily and Micah were finally going to be official. It was nice to think that after all the heartache Lily had been though this year, that she would finally get a happily ever after.

I just had to do my little part and that meant being late to class.

“Hey, I need to go find Lily. I’ll see you in class,” I said to Nadine and took off before she could ask any questions.

I turned the corner and saw exactly what I’d expected. Micah and Lily were kissing right in front of her locker.

“So, can I just break it to you now?” I asked over Micah’s shoulder.

They slowly pulled apart to at glare at me.

“Micah’s happy. Lily’s happy. You’ll stop macking on each other right before Mrs. Ellis turns the corner and gets ready to remind you about appropriate student conduct and later today Jaime’s gonna tell you that she’s going home.”

“What?” Micah and Lily said at the same time.

I held up a finger for them to wait.

“Mr. Davidson, Ms. Matlin, do I need to give you a reminder about appropriate student conduct?” Mrs. Ellis’s said as she stopped beside us.

They dropped their hands and took a step back.

“No, ma’am.” Micah coughed into his hand in a poor attempt to cover his laugh. Mrs. Ellis gave him a stern look and then walked off.

“I rest my case. See you Thursday, Micah.” I sauntered off, a smug grin stretched across my face. I glanced over my shoulder and sure enough, the two of them were again completely absorbed in each other.

I almost made it to class when I noticed Sebastian heading the opposite direction. I tried to steer through the crowd to get to the other side of the hall, but the rush of people forced me even closer to him. A few feet from him, the haze I had seen earlier hit me and I was consumed by a vision.

Everything was red and black. Sebastian. Blood. A gun. Lots of blood. People falling. Lily screaming, her hands pressed to Micah’s chest. Nadine and Andrew on the ground, their sightless eyes fixed on the darkening sky.

The horror of the images sent me to my knees.

“Chloe?” Lily’s voice came from far away and I pulled myself away from the images. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

I swallowed and got to my feet shakily. “Yeah, I just... Could you...?”

She nodded and instantly my terror was gone replaced by a sense of calm that let me focus on the impossibility of what I’d seen. Micah, Nadine and Andrew couldn’t die. Not yet. I knew they would have long lives. Micah was Lily’s future, her ‘till the end love. Andrew would out live me by six months, and Nadine would live even longer.

So, what had I seen if not the future?

**Coming Winter of 2013**

About the Author

Angela Fristoe grew up in Alberta, Canada. She dreamed of becoming the next Dian Fossey or Jane Goodall, until she realized she wasn’t all that keen on the outdoors or animals. Instead she went into education and helping struggling readers. Her passion for writing was ignited by The Hunger Games and Twilight crazes. She lives in Colorado with her husband and daughter.

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