Amethyst Tears (YA Paranormal Romance) (Luminescence Trilogy) (18 page)

She grinned at me like a proud parent. “Took you long enough. I figured you’d recognize my…subtle hints.”

Subtle
? My aunt had been there. She was clueless about the madness that I now find myself surrounded in. “I should have,” I muttered in hindsight. “Though, I would have expected something more dramatic from you.”

“True I do like things dazzling. In this case
, I just wanted your attention. Instead I got shoved out, by my own granddaughter.” She didn’t look the least upset by it.

“
What do you mean I pushed you out?” I asked.

“You have more skill than you give yourself
credit for. What you lack is self-assurance my dear. Then you’d be unstoppable.”

Unstoppable?

I shivered. I didn’t want that kind of power or responsibility.

“It’s yours w
hether you want it or not love,” she informed with a hint of a smile on her deep cherry lips.

She did it again. “Will you stay out of my thoughts,” I growled. “How is that even possible?”

She tsked her tongue. “So young. So naive. So much promise, so much to learn. I could show you. Show you it all and more. And more… And more…” The last words echoed over and over in my head as her form begin to flicker. My time with her was coming to end as I descended out of the dream and back into the comfy fold of my bed.

My eyes popped open, a quick glance at the red numbers on the alarm informed that I had lost plenty of beauty rest.
There was only an hour before school started. A dull ache had taken up residency behind my eyes. The side effects from these dreams were really starting to suck some serious ass.

Dragging my
sorry butt out of bed, I showered and changed into loose clothing. I was careful not to have anything harsh touching the still sensitive and sore skin at my lower back. Turning in the mirror, I tugged up my shirt and checked out the stunning glimmering ink.

It was beautiful.

I was such a rebel.

And this rebel was going to be late for school if she didn’t shake a leg.

Chapter 19

SCHOOL WAS UNEVENTFUL, AND EVENTUALLY the pounding in my head subsided. Gavin had shown up in-between each of my classes like old times. The world felt right as rain again.

In chem
we took our usual seats at our table together. He stretched out his long legs. “Break any new rules since yesterday?” he asked, giving me a sinful smile that had fireflies rocketing in my belly.

I leaned on my elbow.
“I think I am going to stick to the straight and narrow path from now on.”

He twirled the hoop in his bottom lip playfully. “And here I thought the whole
bad girl
suited you. I bet you still have the ID.”

The corners of my mouth tipped. “Maybe I’m not ready
to let go completely. A girl can never be too prepared.”

“That’s what mom is always telling Sophie, but I’m pretty sure she isn’t talking about
fake ID’s or tattoos.”

I flushed a beet red.
His words painting an explicit picture of the two of us in my head, and the satisfied smile on his lips said he knew exactly where my thoughts had headed. Suddenly I wanted to be anywhere but here, in a class filled with prying eyes, and a gossip mill waiting to explode.

But when he looked at me like that, the room disappeared. My body on its own accord leaned closer to him. There was this
invisible pull between us, and his smoldering eyes did funny things to my stomach. His thumb played with the jumping pulse on my wrist. I inhaled the unique woodsy scent that was all him.

My gaze dropped to his
totally kissable lips, and an unhealthy dose of excitement hummed through my body – a mixture of magic and teenage hormones. I started to get all kinds of crazy ideas, and his grin turned down right wicked.

Just as I was thinking about covering those full lips with mine, o
ur ancient chemistry teacher shuffled in, balancing a stack of books and a wad of papers. The sound of chalk shrieking on the chalkboard brought me down from seventh heaven - regrettably.

Those sapphire eyes heated like a blue flame.
“After school…” he mouthed.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
My body was screaming.

Then my
tummy dropped, and my face fell. Today I had already made plans for another vigorous training session with Lukas. I shook my head. “I can’t today,” I murmured, an apology bursting in my eyes.

And just like that the mood was broken.
There was an unsaid understanding in his blue eyes that said he knew precisely what I was doing after school and with whom.

~*~

Lukas was waiting for me in my driveway when I pulled up after school. Sometimes I wondered if he even went to classes. He was always readily available. Weird.

The autumn sun picked up highlights in his hair, looking more like a member of a boy band than a witch.
For the beginning of December we were having the most perfect weather. Large puffy white clouds rolled above in a clear blue sky.

“Hey,”
I greeted, slamming the car door behind me. Tossing my bag over my shoulder, I forced a smile. My heart just wasn’t in practicing. I couldn’t help thinking about Gavin and what could have been. So much time had been wasted these last few weeks. I hated the thought of losing an ounce of what could be spent together.

Lukas
followed me inside, and I propelled my bag in the corner. Heading to the kitchen I got us a couple cans of coke. Lunar wove in and out of my legs yowling for attention, until he caught sight of my guest. Then like a bat out of hell, Lunar took off, nails shrieking against the floor. What a spaz. Trying to forget about Lunar’s nutty behavior I asked, “What’s on the agenda today?”

He popped the top on his coke, the fizz hissing.
“How about we do a little dreaming?”

I took a swig of my drink, the can cooling in my hand.
“You mean dreamscaping?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about going under again. My head had just recovered from last night’s escapade, and I wasn’t thrilled about another round. My body needed rest. It seemed the more magic I used within the dream, the harder the effects hit when I woke up.

A half smile played across his lips.
“Let’s see if we can get you to control it, prevent or block it.”

“You can do all that?”

His answer was a sunny grin.

I’ll take that as a yes.
“You suck,” I added sorely.

He was completely unaffected by my charm.
“Let’s change it up. This time I’ll pull you in. You’ll get the feel of being on the other side, the one summoned into the dream.”

At least someone was excited, I couldn’t say the same. Strolling into the family room I asked over my shoulder,
“So how are we doing this?”

He grinned
, loving this. “Assume the position sleeping beauty.” His hand swooped over the couch like it was my royal chamber.

“
Clever,” I added snarky.

Setting the coke on a
coaster, I kicked off my shoes. Hey, if I was going to take a nap, I deserved comfort. Lying on the couch, I tried every which way to get relaxed. The fact that Lukas was watching me did not help. He kneeled over me, his emerald eyes shining above me. “No funny business,” I warned.

“Never,
” he swore, a corner of his mouth lifted. That was so not believable and did nothing to calm my unease. “Close your eyes,” he instructed.

“But how are you–”

He put a finger on my lips, silencing me. “Don’t question. Just trust me.”

Trust.

Such a complex and simple concept. Why was it so hard to trust Lukas, but Gavin I inexplicitly trusted with my life? All these thoughts and questions tumbled into my head as I shut my eyes. I assumed he did some kind of hocus pocus mojo to put us both under.

Before I knew it Lukas was calling my name. His voice had that underwater muffled quality to it, like it was being over powered by something else. Time ceased to exist. It could have been seconds or minutes, eventually
I followed his familiar voice.

A whole new world of vibrant, flashing color opened against the blackness. Music blared all around me in
patterns with erratically disco lights. The floor shined under my feet.

“Took you long enough.
”

I whirled around at the sound of his voice, my hair flying out around me.

“Remind me to have us work on your timing. It blows.” He stood in the middle of a sea of people bumping and grinding, well mostly grinding, to heavy bass music.

There was a clear straight path to him like the red sea parti
ng, I walked right up to him, and socked him in the gut.

“Ouch,” he complained, but not really in pain. There was too much amusement sprinkled in his eyes.

I grinned. “Well at least I know you can be hurt here. And my timing does not suck.”

He gave me a dry look. “Very funny. Whatever happens here can very easily affect us in the real world.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I had learned that lesson the hard way.

I glanced around my surroundings. We were at some underground club complete with the
half-naked girls hanging from the rafters, strobe lights, and ear-deafening music. I would be lucky if I don’t have a seizure with the amount of flashing and flickering lights. It was out of this world. Literally.

“So this is what you dream about? Figures. Typical guy.” I had to admit though, it was pretty freaking cool.
And so out of my league. Gaping, I could feel color staining my cheeks. The place oozed sweaty bodies, perfume and sweet alcohol. It wasn’t necessarily a bad combination.

He was unfazed by my sarcasm. Holding out a hand, he asked, “Dance?”

I bit my lip. Everyone around us was doing some form of dirty dancing. It was like sex on the dance floor, a real classy joint.

“I don’t bite…much. You aren’t scared are you?”
he asked baiting me, knowing very well I would take the hook.

Please
. “Only that I will trample your feet,” I subtly warned.

He chuckled.

I put my hand in his and we swayed with the music, but I made sure to keep a reasonable distance between us. Occasionally our bodies brushed, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was deliberate. I definitely wouldn’t put it past him.

“So who are all these peo
ple?” I yelled over the pumping dubstep.

With a snap of his finger they all vanished, leaving just him and me. “Nothing but a product of my ingenuity. None of their faces are real to me, just a part of the illusion I created.”

Slowly I pulled away, needing some distance. We stopped dancing.

Lukas grinned. “Playtimes over, it’s time to move into
phase two. I summoned you here, now I want you to block my thread to your dream, pull yourself out.”

I looked at him like he was speaking Greek. Here I was, in an empty underground club
and he wanted me to do magic? I couldn’t even think past the blazing music and the lightshow overhead.

After minutes of nothing but me standing there like a lost puppy he tilted my chin up.
“Push out,” he stated like it was the simplest thing. He should have known better. Nothing with me was simple.

“How?”
I countered skirting near frustration.

“
I’ll show you. We can share magic. Give me your hands.” He held out both of his. “It’s easy as pie.”

Nothing with magic was ever easy as pie.

Our hands clasped, on cue a bolt of energy charged the air. I had only ever shared magic with Gavin once and Morgana, if that counted. But immediately I noticed something off. An edge of darkness hugged over my skin and in my spell. It was addicting in a bad way. I like it too much and that scared me. There was a hint of something shady in it, something I just couldn’t put my finger on.

Shaking my head, I starte
d to protest, but Lukas’s grip tightened. Everything inside me wanted to reject what we were brewing. I had to stop this.

Now.

Power surged inside of me as I pulled energy from the source. It emitted an electric shock from my fingers tips, loosening Lukas’s hold. I ripped my hands from his, severing our connection not only to each other, but the dream as well. The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds, but my insides felt like they were being ripped in half. Inhaling sharply, I tore open my eyes. Bolting upright, I seethed with annoyance as I looked over at him in the recliner, eyes just starting to flutter. Everything all at once went to my head, dizziness overtook, and my stomach rolled.

“What the hell was that?”
I demanded, hands still tingling.

He dragged in a ragged breath, eyes
beaming like a glowworm. And he didn’t look pleased. “You ended things abruptly. That doesn’t come without a price.”