Shane looked confused. “You honestly believe this?”

"I don’t know what I believe. I don’t want to hurt you, though. Just in case.” I sounded nuts, there was no doubt. He didn’t look like he believed me, but he wasn’t giving me the same look Blake was.

He smiled, but something about his eyes worried me. “Get out of the shower and meet me in the guest room.”

He bent and kissed me, tracing his lips over mine as he left the shower. My stomach leapt at the thought of going back into the guest room.

I quickly washed the things I hadn’t been able to and jumped out when he left the bathroom. I wrapped myself in a towel and made my way, slinking through the basement into the guest room.

Blake was apparently not home yet. He was no doubt keeping my sister occupied and convincing her not to come to his house.

Shane was putting his clothes on when I got to the room, wrapped in a towel. “You’re leaving?”

He nodded and looked around. “Yeah, we can hang at my place, Aimes. This feels weird.”

I laughed. “Okay. Meet you there when I’m done cleaning up?”

"I can stay and help you clean up."

I shook my head. "It's nothing major." I felt my face redden at the thought of him stripping the sheets with me.

He nodded and walked to me in his jeans without a shirt. He rubbed his hands up my arms. “I love you, Aimee James. I love you so much. Please, don’t leave me again.”

He bent and kissed me.

I sat on the bed in my towel, waiting until he was gone to change.

“Be fast.” He kissed my forehead and walked from the room. My face was on fire, thinking about what we had done. I grabbed the blanket we hadn’t touched and rolled myself in it like a cocoon.

As I lay there, the room started to spin. My stomachache, which I hadn’t noticed since Shane had come, was finding it way up into my chest.

I slipped out of the sheets, trying desperately to ignore the pain in my chest. I would need to clean the sheets if I was going to leave and stay with Shane. I threw on my clothes quickly and started on the guest bed.

“Uh, why are you washing the guest room sheets?” Blake’s voice made me jump.

I turned to look at him. “I’m heading to Shane’s house.”

He laughed, looking at my red face and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “Want to tell me something, Aimes? Did Shane come over?”

I frowned. “No. What?” My tone raised an octave.

He cocked his head. “Why are you blushing like that? You look super guilty. Did you break something?” He looked around panicking, making me laugh.

I shook my head. "I'm not Alise, dude." I closed the washing machine on my sheets and walked out of the laundry room.

“Your sister is getting suspicious as to why I can’t have her over right now while my parents are away."

"You can. I'm leaving."

"So why are you washing the sheets to the guest room you haven’t even slept in if you're leaving?”

He closed the laundry room door and slumped onto the couch with one leg up on the back of it. He was sprawled out, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t think you should be leaving."

I laughed and sat on the couch across from him. “Why?"

He smirked, still looking at the ceiling. “Because you still need to tell me who you had sex with in my guest room.”

“I never had any sex. I was seriously just cleaning the sheets, ‘cause I want them fresh, you know. I like the smell of fresh sheets.” My excuse made no sense. He looked amused.

“I found this though, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t mine or my dad’s.” He pulled a white undershirt out of the couch cushions. I frowned at him, puzzled. It was Shane’s undershirt. I wanted to grab it and smell it, but I resisted. I knew my eyes had already revealed more than enough with my surprised look.

“I stashed it when I heard you in the laundry room. I saw the bed all rumpled and ripped apart. It was on the floor of the guest room. Now spill the beans or I’m phoning Shane and asking why you couldn’t just do it at his house.” He joked, but I knew he was enough of a pest that he would do it.

I dropped my face into my hands, ashamed. “Okay—God! I lost my virginity in your guest bed. I’m so sorry.”

He grimaced. “Throw the sheets out, Aimee. Damn, we aren’t hard up for sheets around here. My mom has a whole closet with just sheets in it. Where is Shane, anyway?”

I felt even worse and groaned into my hands. “The sheets are fine; I’m washing them to be polite. Shane went home.”

He sat up. “Is he okay?”

I shivered. “Yeah, he’s fine? Why?”

“What about the guardian angel and the death prophecy?” He seemed more sarcastic than usual, but of course Blake didn’t believe Aleksander was real. He was part of my drug-induced brain tumor.

I looked up, meeting his worried face. “The magical guardian angel and I are done.”

His eyes flashed with recognition, as he recalled that part of the story. “But the demon with molasses blood did say you were a danger to other people?”

I nodded.

He grimaced again. “Why did Shane leave? Is he hurt?”

I threw the couch cushion at him. “He was weirded out by what happened in your guest room, hamtard.”

Blake shook his head, disgusted with me. “I can't say I blame him; really could have happened at his house, dude.”

Sheepishly, I nodded. “I know. I’m so sorry.”

“Hope you don’t mind that I told him what you told me, or that you were here.”

I shook my head.

“See the reason I did is, uh, well we think you need medical help. I'm kinda sickened Shane had sex with you. He agrees with me that you need psychiatric help.”

My eyes shot up at him. “What?” That had come up out of nowhere.

“We just think that there is seriously something wrong with you, medically, and this brain tumor or whatever is wrong with you needs to be checked out. You’re delusional. One minute you’re soooo in love with some guardian angel, and then the next, it’s Shane. Then some demon makes you drink his black blood and you’re all better. Come on, Aimee. Listen to yourself for one minute.”

I was lost. He was my best friend in the entire world and he wanted to lock me up.

Shane had agreed with him.

I was alone.

Blake’s face hardened. I had never seen his face grow so cold. "You have to go with me. I promise I won’t let them hurt you. Psychiatry has come a long way. This is for the best."

I looked down. "I'm not coming with you. I'm not going to an institute."

He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. “Aimee, come on. Be reasonable."

"No."

"Then I think you need to leave. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you anymore. I’ll keep your secret but that’s it. If you’re sick and won't let me help you, then I can't have you here hiding out. I can’t keep this from your dad and Alise anymore. I’m part of the family now.”

I was in agony. I pressed my lips together and stood up from his couch. I picked my fleece off of the back of the computer chair and walked up the stairs to sneak out of his house, the way I had come in. I was ashamed of everyone I knew.

"Aimee, I'll take you back to the hospital. If you'll come, I'm sure that they'll find what's wrong," he called after me, but I ignored him.

I had been abandoned.

How could Shane agree with him?

How could Shane think that I needed to be committed and still have sex with me?

When I got out of the garage door, I ran. I ran as fast as I could, until I reached the old highway where our secret beach was. I ran down the old road to the trail. When I crossed the road into the thick forest, I savored the cool air I got when I entered the trees. I didn’t feel afraid of the forest, which I wished had been from feeling invincible, but unfortunately was from a lack of care. If I died, I wouldn't care.

I ran along the trail, barely seeing the greenery and trees as I made my way to the ocean. I could smell the salt and seaweed when I approached where the forest cleared and the trail ended. I ran down to the beach, still feeling angry with Blake and Shane.

I walked along the small part of the sandy beach, enjoying the feel of the sand under my sneakers. Slowly, it turned to rocks, the usual West Coast beach. The rocks got bigger, and it became more difficult to walk along.

I smiled, looking at a huge rock, and remembered my sister helping me to lift the rocks that were much too large for one small child. We poked at the crabs with sticks gently until they clamped a pincher on a stick. Then we would run around with the stick and the crab. I couldn’t help but shake my head, remembering the terrified crabs as we each ran up and down the beach. No amount of running would make them let go; they hung on until their little crab feet touched ground again.

I wished I had that ability to hang onto something with all of the force and strength I had. I wished I were able to stay on my stick, no matter the amount of turmoil I was put through. Instead, I sat on some driftwood far down the beach and looked out at the grey, choppy waters. I had nowhere else to go. I wasn’t completely cold, but I wasn’t comfortable. I missed Blake’s house. I contemplated if the shoe were on the other foot, if I would have tolerated this sort of madness from him. I knew the answer. He had made the right choice. I thought about Shane and imagined him walking up the beach with open arms, ready to believe my crazy story, knowing we loved each other.

Chapter Fifteen

Cabin fever without a cabin is called insanity.

I didn’t sleep, and out of desperation, I made a small campfire on the beach the old-fashioned way. Rubbing dry sticks together did produce a fire. It was lucky my muscles never cramped, because it had taken me forever to get a spark with the damp wood.

I didn’t know what to expect with the changes, but I definitely expected more than the odd stomachache or random sweat. I started to wonder if I was ever going to change, or if that was it. I was stronger, faster, required very little to survive, and didn’t need a lot of sleep. I was like a super being but without anything cool.