The Sight Seer (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning, Chloe tapped lightly on my door and I responded by groaning and burrowing deeper under the covers. She crossed the floor and sat down on the bed, the mattress sinking under her weight. Her fingers found their way under the covers to stroke my hair in a soothing manner. Just like Mom used to do. Swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat, I turned over so I could face her.

“Hey,” she said softly.
“Dad wants to know if you want to stay home today. He said he’d call in sick for you.” She arched her brows. “Considering he never lets us miss school, I think you should take him up on his offer.”

She was right.
We had to be sick, really sick, to be allowed to stay home. He thought the colleges cared about perfect attendance or something like that. And now he was saying it was okay for me to stay home? Damn, I must have looked even worse than I felt last night, and I had felt pretty lousy, let me tell you. Still felt, actually.

A free pass, huh?
It sure beat going to school and having everyone stare and whisper about me because Evan had showed up after school yesterday. And I was spotted with Rafe the day before. Was everyone’s lives so boring that they had to obsess over my (still non-existent) social life?! If I stayed home, they’d probably say I was off having a threesome with the mysterious blonde and dark-haired boy.

You know what?
Let them. Screw school.

“Guess I’ll stay home,” I told her.

Chloe pouted. “Lucky. Maybe I should tell Dad I caught whatever it is he thinks you have.”

“You might want to wait a day, so he doesn’t get suspicious.”

She brightened. “Good idea! He definitely owes me a sick day tomorrow! I could go to the mall, or get my nails done—”

“Chloe, that’s not what you use a sick day for!”

“What are you going to do, then?” she asked. “Mope around the house all day?”

“No!” I said, even thought that was exactly what I planned on doing.
My eyes strayed to the window; it was sunny out. “I’ll work in the garden. I’ve been neglecting it, and I feel guilty.”

“Ugh.
Playing with dirt when you could go out.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Hey, I know! Why don’t you call your mysterious boy over? Or should I say
boys
?” She poked me in the side and I swatted her hand away.

“Chloe, not you too, please!” I begged, not in the mood to start this all over again.

She gave me a smile as she hopped off the bed. “Kidding. I know you, Gabs. When you’re ready to tell me, you will. No point in getting angry and trying to force it out of you.”

I smiled, too.
My sister knew me way too well. “Could you do me a favor and remind Penny about that? She’s furious at me for not…well, for not telling her what she wants to hear!”

“I’ll talk to her at lunch.”
Chloe walked backwards to the door, her hands clasped behind her back. “I’ll tell Dad you’re staying home and let him know not to bug you. Go back to sleep, but don’t waste the entire day in bed!” She shut the door, but I still heard her mutter, “Or the garden.”

Wasting the entir
e day in bed did sound tempting. Rolling over, I snuggled under the blankets and shut my eyes.

* * *

The next time I woke up, it was because I had to pee. Grumbling, I slowly sat up in bed, reaching for my phone to check the time. My hands groped the surface of my night table, finding nothing. Pushing my mussed hair out of my face, I peered closer and discovered my phone wasn’t there. Odd.

After using the bathroom I scoured my room but couldn’t come up with my phone.
Pulling on my robe, I tied it shut and went downstairs. The kitchen clock read ten. Not as late as I hoped, but I’d find something to do. Something that didn’t involve obsessing over my mad friends or scary Silver Moon warriors coming after me.

My phone, much to my surprise, was sitting on the kitchen table.
Had I left it there last night? I paused, thinking. I had been a wreck when I came home, heading straight for my bedroom and locking the door behind me. I could have sworn I took my phone out of my bag and placed it on my night table, but everything was a blur. Oh well, it didn’t matter; there were no new messages for me, anyway. I contemplated texting Penny, but I was still too angry about last night to bother. The stuff we needed to say to one another needed to be said face to face. Hopefully it didn’t involve too much screaming.

Pouring myself some cereal, I sat down at the table and ate while I flipped through the papers.
Nothing exciting was going on in the world today. I wondered what the font headline would scream if people knew demons walked amongst us.

I put my bowl and glass in the sink, promising myself to wash up later, and then headed upstairs to take a shower.
I may have stood in the warm water a bit longer than necessary, but it felt good. After dressing and blow drying my hair, I grabbed my jacket and headed outdoors.

I stopped to inhale.
Spring and summer may be my favorite seasons to garden, but nothing beat the crisp, clean air of autumn. Letting myself into the garage, I grabbed my gardening tools and got to work.

I was out there for awhile, pulling weeds, raking leaves, and checking on the pumpkins.
They were getting bigger, much bigger than I ever imagined possible. We could definitely carve one for Halloween and use the innards for Dad’s pumpkin pie. Next year I was going to try growing gourds, I decided. I was already mapping out the layout for next year when I heard someone behind me, crunching through the leaves I had just raked.

Heart thumping, I spun around, holding my hoe up like a sword as I prepared to face off against a demon, burglar, or maybe a Silver Moon member.

Well, I was sort of right. It was Rafe who stood there, a tray with two cups of coffee balanced in one hand, and a white paper bag with grease marks in the other.

Chapter Twenty

I gaped at him.
“What are you doing here?”

He gave me a half shrug and a full smile.
“Heard you were sick, so I came to see how you were doing. I was going to get you soup, but I figured you’d prefer dessert instead.” He held up the bag, and despite having eaten breakfast, my stomach betrayed me by growling loudly. He grinned. “Guess I was right.”

Blushing, I tried to play it tough by rolling my eyes.
I was going to put my hands on my hips, but they were currently covered in dirt. Actually, it wasn’t just my hands that were dirty. Crap, I looked like a mess. At least I had had the sense to tie up my hair before coming out here. I just hope there wasn’t a leaf stuck in there. Or a worm.

Gross.

Brushing the dirt from my hands, I gestured towards the stone bench Mom had bought ages ago. She had gotten it so she could sit and enjoy her garden, but whenever she was out here, she always saw something that needed pruning or watering and never managed more than thirty seconds on the bench. Now that she was gone, Dad and Chloe avoided it like the plague, but I had no problem sitting there with a book or my laptop. Of course, just like Mom, I saw things in the garden that needed to be taken care of and usually only lasted ten minutes on the bench before I was hopping off of it.

“Here, sit down,” I said.
“I’ll be right back. Let me just go change…” Rafe stopped me before I could walk past. I eyed the coffee nervously, not wanting to get too close to him. There was a good chance he’d end up dropping the whole tray…on me. Looking up, I saw a concerned look in his green eyes and tried not to drool.
He really is cute
, I thought distractedly, taking in his form-fitting clothes and messy looking (but messy in a
good
way) hair. One curl hung over his right eye and my fingers twitched to push it aside for him.

Wait, what?
Focus, Gabi!

“Are you really alright?” he asked softly.
“Your sister seemed pretty worried.”

“My sister?”
The pieces clicked together and I groaned. Of course! Chloe had swiped my phone when she came in to see me and called Rafe to let him know I was staying home from school! And that had prompted him to what, cut class to see me?

Because he was worried?

Trembling slightly (from the cold, I swear!) I took a step back and tried to smile. “I…ugh. I’ve been better.” What the hell? Why did I just say that?

The concerned look deepened.
He reached out for me, and that’s when the cups teetered dangerously. “Rafe!” I snatched the tray out of his hands before he could do any further damage to my clothes. “Seriously, what is with you? Do you want to destroy my entire wardrobe?”

He laughed.

I eyed him, wondering if my punch could actually hurt him. No, I’d probably break my hand and have to go to the hospital and it really wasn’t worth it, was it?

I shook my head, deposited the coffee on the bench and walked past him to the house.
This time he didn’t try to stop me, but that’s probably because he was laughing too hard.

* * *

I changed my clothes, ran a brush through my hair (there
was
a leaf in it, dammit!), and rushed outside. Rafe had settled down on the bench, the bag of desserts next to him. He took a sip of his coffee and eyed me over the rim of the cup.

“You really didn’t have to come,” I said, sitting down next to him.
I felt like a fool. He was probably missing a test or something equally important to come see me and I wasn’t even sick! Oooh, Chloe was going to get it!

Then I realized how ungrateful I sounded, especially after I had just accepted a free cup of coffee, so I quickly said, “Thank you.”

He nodded, thrusting the bag my way. Two glazed chocolate donuts rested inside; I inhaled deeply and smiled.

Chocolate really does make everything better.

We ate and drank in silence. I tried not to be a total pig, but I really wanted to gobble down the donut and then lick the chocolate goodness from my fingers. Rafe finished his first and leaned forward to set his coffee cup down on the ground. “What’s the matter?” he asked, noticing how slow I was going. “Not good?”

“It’s delicious,” I said with a full mouth, trying not to spray crumbs all over him.
I’m so charming.
I swallowed, took a sip of coffee, and placed the cup next to his. “Seriously, though, Rafe, you didn’t have to cut school, you know.”

He shrugged.
“I was worried. Your sister sounded concerned, and I figured she wouldn’t contact me if it wasn’t a big deal.” He leaned closer and my heart skipped a beat. “So, what happened?”

I looked away, chewing on my lip.
I barely knew Rafe. Sure, I knew his big secret, and apparently he didn’t open up to many girls, if Evan could be believed, but what were we doing right now? Did he honestly expect me to confide in him so easily?

He was waiting for an answer, though.
Running my finger over the rough stone surface of the bench, I said, “Just a bunch of things happened at once and I needed a break.”

“Bad things?”

Now it was my turn to shrug. “To a high school girl, sure, they’re bad. But I’m sure in a few years I’ll look back and laugh at how pathetic I’m acting.”

“Is it because of me?”
His words were careful, and very serious.

I winced, and that was all the answer he needed.

“Gabi, I—”

“Look, Rafe, don’t worry about it,” I said.
“I’m a bad liar and it pissed off my friend. She’ll come around.” I hoped.

“What did you lie about?”

You.

“Oh, you know
…” I trailed off, hating that I had just admitted I was a bad liar. Now how was I supposed to lie to
him
?

“Gabi, please.”
Rafe looked like he was about to put his hand on my shoulder but thought better of it at the last second. I tried to ignore the twinge of disappointment that fluttered around my heart. “I want to help you. Don’t push me away, please.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t stand sitting on that bench for another second.
Hauling myself up, I started pacing in front of him. “Fine, you want to know what happened? People saw us at the mall on Sunday.”

Rafe paled.
“What did they see?”

“Not the demon-slaying stuff,” I said, waving my hand back and forth.
“The other stuff. You, and me. And now suddenly everyone is talking about me, and I could care less about that stuff, but my friend Penny? I ended up accidentally lying to her, and now she won’t talk to me.”

I picked up a leaf and twirled it between my fingers.
“And then Evan shows up after school telling me—”

“Whoa, wait a minute!” Rafe said, getting up abruptly.
“You saw Evan yesterday?”

“Yes, along with the entire student population.
And now Penny thinks I have two guys—” I snapped my mouth shut, mentally cursing myself.

But Rafe didn’t even acknowledge that slipup.
He was still stuck on the whole Evan visiting me thing. “What did he want?”

“To warn me,” I said, watching his face carefully.
“About your fellow hunters.” Something gleamed in his eye, but it vanished quickly.

“Ah, Evan is exaggerating as usual,” Rafe said, relaxing.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So they wouldn’t come after me if they found out about my Sight?”

“They might be interested,” he said with a shrug.
“Do a little research on your family, to see if you’re related to hunters or not. But they won’t chop you up and do experiments on your body or anything like that!”

I blanched.
“Thank you so much for that lovely image.”

“You have nothing to worry about!” Rafe
insisted. “Come on, Gabi, let’s go for a drive. It’s too nice of a day to spend covered in dirt.” He did stop to give my backyard an appraising glance. “It
is
beautiful back here. I never got the chance to tell you, but you’ve done a wonderful job.”

“Thanks, but my mom did most of the hard work, so I really can’t take credit for it.”
The words were out of my mouth before I even realized what I was saying.

Oh, crap.

I never talked about Mom with anyone. Not Penny, not Harrison, not even Dad or Chloe. It was a taboo subject, and we all danced around it like it wasn’t there. But it was. It was always there. Every waking minute of every day, she was there.

The concern
was back in Rafe’s eyes. “Gabi.” This time he reached for me, but I slapped his hand away.

“Don’t.”
I turned around so he couldn’t watch me try and compose myself. Tears burned my eyes, and a large lump had formed in my throat.

“Okay,” he said.
“Do you want me to leave?”

Never.

What did I want to do? Did I honestly want to run upstairs and cry into my pillow for the rest of the day, or did I want to go for a ride with a nice boy who had not only cut class but had brought me coffee and donuts because he heard I wasn’t feeling good?

Don’t be an idiot, Gabi.

I turned around and gave him a small smile. “I thought we were going for a ride?”

The relief on his face nearly took my breath away.