“The what?” I rubbed the back of my neck as I dropped onto the couch.

“It’s a type of crystal—a very rare opal.” He sat beside me, so close that his thigh pressed against mine. I scooted away.

“What does it do?”

He rested his head back on the cushion and gave me a lopsided shrug. “From what I’ve learned, it can help increase our powers. Possibly even stabilize them so we don’t grow tired like the Luxen do.”

The whole crystal business didn’t make sense to me. It sounded like a bunch of New Age crap, but then again, what did I know? “Do you have one?”

Blake laughed. “No. They’re hard to get.”

Grabbing an abused pillow, I placed it under my head and closed my eyes, snuggling against the arm of the couch. “Well, then I guess it’s just me and sugar.”

There was a pause. “You did really well, though. You’re a fast learner.”

“Ha! You weren’t saying that the first week of training.” I yawned. “Maybe this won’t be so hard. I’ll get control of my abilities…and everything will go back to normal.”

“Things won’t ever be normal, Katy. Once you step outside the range of the beta quartz, the Arum will find you.” The couch dipped on my side, but I was too tired to open my eyes. “But if you can really control this, you’ll be able to defend yourself.”

And that’s what I wanted. To stand beside Daemon, not cower behind him. “You’re such a bearer of great news. You know that?”

“I don’t mean to.”

The cushion under me shifted even more, and I felt Blake’s fingers brushing my hair aside. My eyes snapped open, and I jerked up, twisting around to face him. “Blake.”

He sat back, placing his hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay over there.”

Was that all? Or more? Oh, man, this was so awkward. “Things are really complicated right now.”

“Understandable,” he said, sitting back. “You like him, don’t you?”

I clutched the pillow to my chest, not sure what to say.

“Don’t lie.” He laughed when I frowned. “You always blush when you lie.”

“I don’t know why people keep saying that. My cheeks are not a human lie detector.” I toyed with a frayed thread, knowing we needed to have that conversation, especially since we were working together. “I’m sorry. Just right now—”

“Katy, it’s okay.” He placed his hand on mine, squeezing reassuringly. “For real. I like you. I do. Obviously. But you have a lot going on, and probably some of that was before I even came here. So it’s okay. Really.”

The first real smile in two days turned up my lips. “Thanks for being so…understanding.”

Blake pushed off the couch, running his hand through his hair. “Well, I have the time to be patient. I’m not going anywhere.”

…

I sat in class, trying to focus on what Carissa and Lesa were talking about. My skin was alternating between hot and cold flashes.

“So, Katy, you’ve been hanging out with surfer boy a lot.” Lesa cocked an eyebrow. “Care to share the details on that?”

I shrank in my seat. “No. We’re just hanging out.”

“Just hanging out,” Lesa repeated slyly, “is like code for having sex.”

Carissa’s mouth dropped open. “No, it’s not!”

“You obviously haven’t dated a lot of guys around here.” Lesa sat back in her chair, pulling on a tight curl. “Actually, pretty much everything with guys around here is code for sex.”

“I’m going to have to go with Carissa on this one. Hanging out does not equal sex the last time I—”

Tingles shot across my neck and my heart rate spiked. I caught a glimpse of Daemon coming through the doorway and I focused on Lesa’s face as though she were my lifeline.

Daemon glided past my seat and took his behind me. I clenched the edges of my notebook, hoping our teacher wouldn’t take his sweet time getting to class.

A pen poked me in the back.

An unbelievably giddy rush swept through me. I turned slowly. I couldn’t pick up anything from his guarded expression.

“I see you’ve been…busy,” he said, lashes lowered.

Sucky part about living next to Daemon was the fact he pretty much saw everything I did. And that meant he knew I was still training with Blake. “Yeah, kind of.”

Daemon’s elbows scooted over the desk as he cupped his chin in his hands. “So what is Bobo doing?”

“It’s Blake,” I said, voice low. “And you know what we’ve been doing. You’re more—”

“Not going to happen.” He then laughed under his breath, but there was no humor to it as he inched a little closer. His irises deepened. “I really wish you’d think about this.”

“And I wish you’d think about this.”

Daemon didn’t respond. He pulled his elbows back toward him, crossing his arms. Our conversation was obviously over. I twisted around, feeling icky.

Morning classes dragged. Lesa was waiting for me outside of bio, stopping me from going in. “Can I ask you a question?” she said, glancing around.

I sighed. “Sure.”

She pulled me against an unoccupied locker. “What’s going on? You kissed Daemon before Halloween, went out with Blake once, and now you went out with him again, but you and Daemon undeniably have something going on.”

I made a face. “Gee, it sounds like I’m a ho-bag or something.”

Lesa made a face. “I’m so not the one who’s going to slut shame. Trust me. I’m just curious. Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

One of the reasons I liked Lesa? She didn’t beat around the bush. She spoke what she thought, and because of that, I was more open with her than anyone. “I honestly don’t know. I mean, I do. I’m not…dating Blake. And I’m not dating Daemon.”

“You’re not?”

I leaned against the cool steel and sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“Can’t be that complicated,” she said. “Who do you like?”

Closing my eyes, I finally put voice to it. “Daemon.”

“Ah-ha!” She bumped me with her hip. “Wait. How is it complicated? Daemon’s got it for you big time. Everyone can see that, even when you guys are at each other’s throats. And you like him. What’s the deal?”

How could I explain how messed up everything was? “It’s just really complicated. Trust me.”

Lesa frowned. “I’m going to have to take your word for it, because Blake is coming down the hall.” She whipped around so quickly it was like she’d been caught peeping down my shirt.

Bio was uneventful. Blake typically acted like we weren’t mutants or anything while we were in school, and I appreciated him for that. Here, I could be normal, as odd as that was.

I discovered they were serving cold lasagna and salad that smelled funny for lunch. Yum. I slopped some on my plate while craving a strawberry smoothie. Doubtful I’d get that delivered today. Daemon had stopped bringing me treats about the time training had started. I missed it. I missed him.

Dee and Adam were joined at the mouth when I sat down. I glanced at Carissa. She rolled her eyes, but I smiled. My sucky love life aside, I was still on Team Love Rocks. The only thing I honestly couldn’t deal with was my mom and Will making out, which I’d gotten an eyeful of yesterday before she left for work. Ew.

“You going to eat that salad?” Dee asked.

“It’s cute how you stopped kissing for food.” I laughed, pushing my tray toward her. “Hey, Adam.”

His cheeks were flushed. “Hey, Katy.”

“Sorry. I worked up an appetite.” Dee grinned.

“And I lost mine,” Carissa muttered.

Blake never arrived at the cafeteria, but Daemon had. He’d taken his seat beside Andrew and Ash. Against my will, I watched him. Daemon glanced up, holding a smoothie. He smirked.

Bastard.

I shifted my gaze to Dee. “How can you eat that? I swear the edges of the lettuce are brown. It’s gross.”

Adam laughed. “Dee can eat anything.”

“So can you.” She offered him the tomato on her fork. “Want some?”

“Okay.” I sat back. “If you feed him, I’m going to have to find a new table.”

“I second that,” Carissa added.

Dee rolled her eyes but relented. “I like to share. What’s wrong with that?” Then she looked at me, her expression hopeful. “I’m glad you’re eating with us…alone today.”

Uncomfortable, I nodded and focused on pulling apart my lasagna. I hated layered food, unless those layers involved chocolate and peanut butter.

Lunch and the afternoon classes finally ended, and I swung by the post office to pick up the mail before Blake came over.

As I was placing the junk and packages on the backseat, I caught sight of one of the black Expeditions parked at the edge of the parking lot, as if they’d pulled over abruptly and left the engine running.

It could be any Expedition, I told myself as I closed the door, but a shiver danced down my spine and all the tiny hairs rose on my arms. Maybe I’d developed some kind of wicked sixth sense along with my alien mojo?

Going to the driver’s side, I kept an eye on the Expedition. Smoke plumed out of the muffler, choking the air.

Suddenly, the passenger door jerked open and I saw two people. Brian Vaughn, the DOD officer who owned the creepiest laugh ever, was leaning over the passenger, grabbing for the door. His mouth was a thin, angry slash as he groped for the door with one hand while his arm braced a girl against the seat.

Squinting, I took another look at the girl when I should’ve been climbing into my car and getting the hell out of there. The last thing I needed was for Vaughn to catch me peeping at him, but…I knew this girl.

I’d seen her face on a flyer, taped on the glass windows of FOOLAND. Her brown hair was pulled back tightly from her pale, elfin face. Her eyes weren’t dancing with laughter when she turned to the door, watching Vaughn pull it shut, closing her in…closing me out.

Her eyes were empty.

But it was her.

It was Bethany.

Chapter 22

Bethany—Dawson’s girlfriend—was alive. And she was with the DOD. It sounded insane, and I went through every stage of denial as I made my way home, but it was her. That face had been burned into my memory. I paced the house until Blake showed up, stunned by what this could mean.

He took one look at me and frowned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I have.” My hands opened and closed at my sides. “I think I saw Bethany today with this guy from the DOD.”

Blake frowned. “Who’s Bethany?”

It felt wrong telling Blake about this, but I needed to tell someone. “Bethany was Dawson’s girlfriend. And Dawson was Daemon and Dee’s brother. They were supposedly attacked by an Arum and killed, but their bodies were taken away by the DOD before Daemon or Dee could see them.”