Archaic (14 page)

The last thing I remember was looking into his dark eyes, which had gone pitch black.

I woke up with a start, drenched in sweat. I took a couple of deep breaths and managed to calm myself down.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was the first day of school after my attack. I'd spent most of Sunday holed up in my room, struggling to bounce back to my normal self. Maybe I needed to give myself more time to get over my attack. Did I really expect to be okay with it after only a day or two?

I was dressed for school and about to leave my house to catch the bus when I got a message from Jared.

I'm outside
, it said.

Why would he be outside? I opened the door to see him leaning against his Jeep that was parked in front of my house. I walked over to him. He straightened up and opened the passenger door.

"Get in. I'm taking you to school," he said as he indicated for me to get into his car.

"This isn't necessary," I told him. He felt guilty for my attack--that was why he was working so hard at protecting me. I didn't hold him responsible for my attack and I didn't want him to feel guilty.

He studied me for a moment, still holding the door open.

"It wasn't your fault," I assured him.

"Please just get in," he said. "I'll feel better if I drive you to school."

I got into his car and he closed the door. When he got in, I touched his arm and he looked at me.

"I don't blame you for what happened," I said softly, needing him to know that I didn't want him to feel the way he did.

"You should," he said in a clipped tone as he started up the car. "I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again."

There was nothing I could say that would ease his guilt. His jaw tightened as he moved his eyes to the road. I shrugged my shoulders and turned to stare out the window as he drove us to school.

It was only when we pulled up at school and everyone turned to watch me get out of Jared's car that I realized the gossip about the two of us was going to start up again. He didn't seem to care who was watching when he helped me. There was nothing I could do about the gossip so I just ignored everyone staring, like Jared did, as he walked me to my locker. He remained glued to my side, and it was only when Stacy arrived that he left.

"What happened between the two of you?" she asked when Jared was out of earshot.

"We're just friends."

I couldn't tell her the truth--that I'd nearly died when Jared's evil brother had attacked me, and now he felt guilty because he'd been unable to protect me.

She looked unconvinced. Kennedy reacted the same when she asked the same question and got a similar answer. I stumbled through the rest of the day. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the whispers behind my back. Normally all the untrue gossip would have really upset me and I would work myself up about it, but today I didn't seem to care. Maybe nearly dying had put things into perspective.

Jared was always around. The only time he would disappear was when I was with Stacy or Kennedy. If I didn't have a class with Stacy or Kennedy, at the end of class he would be waiting outside for me. He would walk me to my next class and then disappear to his own class.

At lunchtime Jared still sat with his friends and I sat with mine but I could feel him watching me like a hawk the entire time. Andrew sat with us as well.

"Hey," Andrew greeted me.

"Hi," I greeted him back. Even his easygoing nature couldn't make me feel comfortable. He picked up very quickly that I wasn't my usual self.

"Are you okay, Ava?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied with a shrug. I just wanted to be alone, so I made up some excuse about having to get a book from my locker and dashed out of the cafeteria. I slipped into the closest bathroom.

I splashed water on my face and dried myself with a paper towel. There was something wrong with me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I studied my reflection in the mirror. I still looked a little pale. Maybe physically recovering from my attack was going to take a few more days. I hitched my school bag over my shoulder as I left the bathroom and I walked straight into a hard chest that belonged to Jared. His arms reached out to help steady me.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern. His deep green eyes searched mine. He held me by the arms while he studied me closely. Was he looking for physical changes?

"I'm fine," I replied, shrugging out of his hold. I walked away from him and he quietly followed behind me as I walked to my next class. The rest of the day went by quickly, and after school Jared gave me a ride home.

"Thanks for the lift," I mumbled as I quickly got out of his truck and ran into my house. He remained in his Jeep and watched me. Our eyes met briefly as I turned in my house to close my front door.

I needed to be alone. I was feeling weird, and being around people wasn't helping. Keeping up my usual self in front of people required energy I just didn't have. Upstairs in my room I closed my curtains. I walked into my bathroom and I looked at my reflection.

There was nothing specific that seemed to be out of place or that shouted to me I was turning into something else. I don't know what I was expecting. If I were changing like Catherine had suspected, would those changes be physical? I looked down to the palms of my hands. There were no scars like Jared had showed me.

What would I be changing into? Mason had attacked me and he was Hue, so did that mean I would change into a Hue? I closed my eyes for a moment as I contemplated that. Becoming a monster that would hurt innocent people truly scared me. Or would I be changing into something else?

I let out a frustrated sigh. I hated not knowing and wished there was a way to find out for sure but the only person who had the answer was Mason.

Could the changes be emotional? Could that explain why I'd felt so weird since the attack?

I leaned against the bathroom wall and slid down. So many thoughts ran through my mind and I struggled to focus on one. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down so that I could think.

Could I really be changing into a Hue? Was that even possible? A nervous laugh escaped my lips. Was it possible? After everything I'd experienced, I knew anything was possible. How much would I change? I dropped my head into my hands. Would I become a Hue completely? Would I become a cold psychopath?

Dread filled my chest and it became harder to breathe.

What would Jared do if he knew? What would they do with me? I thought about Anne. If I was turning into a cold-blooded killer, did that mean I was a danger to Anne and others around me? No, I wouldn't let myself hurt them. I would stop myself if I needed to.

I wouldn't let myself become like Mason.

Just the thought of his name brought back the wave of memories from my attack. The cold, dead eyes that had looked at me with no remorse while he'd tried inflicted an unbearable pain. I shook my head, trying to stop the thoughts of him and the attack.

Jared was convinced Mason would return but we weren't sure why. If he'd intended to kill me, I would be dead, so what was the purpose behind my attack? It didn't matter how much I wracked my brain, I wasn't going to be able to answer that question. I was going round in circles and getting more frustrated with every passing minute.

Deciding to follow Jared's request to not go out, I went downstairs and started flicking through the channels to try and find something that interested me, but I couldn't find anything to watch. There wasn't anything to do and I was getting restless.

I thought about calling my parents but they were going to be unavailable for the week. In my last conversation with them, my father had told me they would be staying in a remote city where there wasn't cell phone reception. It had been a last-minute romantic getaway. He assured me they would call me as soon as they were able to.

Bored and needing something to do, I decided to start with supper. I decided to make some pasta. I took all the ingredients out and tried to keep my mind focused on the task of cooking. While I chopped up the onions, my thoughts wandered back to my previous thoughts, and my hand slipped and I cut my finger.

Ouch!
The cut was quite deep. I got a paper towel and held it on the cut while I looked for a Band-Aid.

Once the bleeding stopped, I put a bandage over the cut and threw the bloodied paper towel into the trashcan. That is what happened when I didn't concentrate on what I was doing. Ignoring the slight throb of the cut under the bandage, I finished preparing supper.

Anne made it home at the same time she usually did. She would always give me a quick rundown of her day and then she would ask how my day went. We chatted while we ate.

It was hard pulling myself out of my heavy and chaotic thoughts to appear as my usual self in front of my grandmother. After we'd finished eating and I was in the kitchen, Anne hollered that she was going to go and have a bubble bath.

I quickly did the dishes and went upstairs.

In the shower I noticed the bandage I'd wrapped around my finger a couple of hours earlier had fallen off. The cut was gone. I studied the skin carefully for any evidence of the cut but my skin held no evidence of my slip-up with the knife in the kitchen. There was no evidence that my finger had been cut a couple of hours before. Jared had told me that they healed faster than humans.

That's when the reality hit me. I was definitely not just human anymore.

It was my first concrete evidence that I was changing. Any doubts that I'd had before disappeared. I just wasn't sure exactly what I was changing into. And that thought scared me.

I lay down in bed, thinking about all of this. Unable to sleep, I tossed and turned for most of the night.

Just after one in the morning, I began to sweat. A slow ache began to creep over my body, and everything hurt. I couldn't help but wonder if this was part of the change.

I was too scared to go to Anne. How would I explain this? What if she wanted to take me to the doctor? Would they find out something they shouldn't? Going to Jared at the moment wasn't an option. If I was becoming a Hue, I would be their enemy and what did that entail for me?

In that moment, I realized I had no one I could turn to for help. I was alone. With that thought, tears silently fell down my face as I quietly endured the pain, closing my eyes when the pain spasmed through me.

The next morning I woke up, feeling better. I glanced over at my clock and it was nearly time to get up. Although I still ached a little it was nowhere near what I'd endured earlier, and it was manageable. Slowly I sat up and tried to get out of bed but when I tried to stand up I swayed as a dizzy spell hit me, so I sat back down. Staying home wasn't an option. Jared would come to check on me and he would know there was something going on. I had to go to school.

For a few minutes I sat on my bed, taking a few deep breaths and trying to ease the fear I was feeling. This time I stood up and I could walk without my world tilting. I decided to go downstairs and get something to eat, hoping it would help me feel a little better. Downstairs, still dressed in my pajamas, I made myself some cereal.

I ate it quickly and began to feel better. Back upstairs, I got ready for school. Jared would be waiting downstairs for me soon, so I pulled a brush through my hair and brushed my teeth.

When I opened the front door, Jared's Jeep wasn't parked in front of my house, but instead there was a black SUV. I hesitated until I saw Tyler jump out of the driver's side and walk around the vehicle to open the passenger door for me.

"Hi," he greeted me with a genuine smile, which caught me off guard. It had been the first time he'd ever smiled at me. "Jared had some stuff to take care of so I'm going to give you a lift to school."

"Oh...okay," I replied nervously, tightening my hand around the strap of my bag. I hadn't really spent any time around the other Archaic. The only ones I'd really felt comfortable with were Jared and Catherine. The others were strangers and they made me nervous. It was only when I climbed into the passenger seat that I realized that Neve was seated in the back.

"Hi," she greeted me with a friendly smile that reached her eyes.

"Hi," I greeted back.