Archaic (7 page)

My eyes widened. It was like science fiction.

"It's a long story," he added, clearly not wanting to go into all the details.

I had so many questions flying through my mind. There were so many that I struggled to pick one to ask.

"You can shoot energy out of your hands. What else can you do?" I asked as I crossed my arms again and looked at him expectantly.

"You just get right to it, don't you?" He was clearly enjoying this. I shot him a dirty look and then he proceeded to tell me more.

"We heal quicker than other humans. I can harness energy and exert it. It does tire us out, so we only use it when we have to."

"Like in the clearing?"

"Yes."

"So how do you recharge?"

"Rest. We can also recharge by draining energy from another life source."

"Define life source," I asked, feeling a little apprehensive.

"Any living creature."

I was a living creature, which meant he could drain me. I didn't like that idea at all.

"Who were the strangers in the clearing?" I asked. I saw anger flash in his eyes, and I could swear I saw his eyes darken as the anger flowed through him. His hands slowly fisted at his sides as he struggled to control his emotions. It took him a few moments to calm down.

"We call them Hue. In the first generation of mutations, some children were born Archaic and some were born Hue."

"How are the Hue different from the Archaic?" was my next question.

"The Archaic mutation allows us to embrace our human nature as well as our powers, but the Hue are different. Their mutation has kept their human side limited, almost like a defect."

"What does that mean?" I asked out loud.

"They might look like they're human, but they don't feel emotions like humans or we do, they only feel a little of the negative emotions like anger and jealousy. They have no empathy and no sense of what is right or wrong. They're cold-blooded killers."

That sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn't imagine only feeling those types of emotions. It would be like having a really bad day every day.

"They look different," I observed.

"Archaic have colors similar to humans but the Hue always appear as the exact same color. Blond, blue eyes and pale skin," he further explained.

He continued to watch me intently with a serious face and waited for me to ask my next question.

"Are your friends like you?" I asked.

"All except for Felicity."

I gave him a questioning look.

"Most children born from an Archaic parent carry the mutation but there are rare occurrences when a child is born without the mutation, a human."

"So are the other Archaics the same as you?"

"Like with humans, not every Archaic or Hue is exactly the same. Some of us are more powerful than others. From what we've been able to understand, the villagers who'd gone to investigate the meteor crash seemed to have been more affected than the others. Maybe it's because they received a bigger dose of the radiation."

He paused for a moment.

"Their children were more powerful than the others. The Archaic and Hue that descended from them are called Descendants."

I arched an eyebrow at him. I knew the answer before he even gave it.

"Archaic Descendants have a white scar on the palm of their right hands," he said as he held out his open right hand for me to see. In the middle of his hand was a white jagged scar that looked like a lightning bolt. "I'm an Archaic Descendant."

Great!
Just what he needed, a bigger ego.

"Do the Hue have the same?" I asked, lifting my eyes to his.

"They have the same red scar in the palm of their left hand."

I wasn't sure why I asked the next question but it just seemed to pop straight into my mind.

"What do they do with the humans born to Hue?"

He paused for a moment.

"They kill them."

I shouldn't have been surprised. He'd said they were cold-blooded killers but his words shocked me. It was something I couldn't comprehend.

"Why did you pretend not to see me in the clearing?"

"The argument in the clearing was explosive enough. If you'd been found, it probably would have escalated and you would have gotten hurt." He sounded like he actually cared. Then he opened his mouth again. "I have enough to worry about without having to worry about you as well." And with that he put me back into my place.

"I don't need you to babysit me," I replied angrily at him. My temper sparked to life. "If you had been doing what you were supposed to and that was keeping your secret, we wouldn't be in the predicament, would we?"

"If you hadn't been so nosy we wouldn't be in this mess either," he fired back.

It didn't matter now. I knew. Nothing was going to change that.

CHAPTER SIX

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I was getting tired, so I sat back down on his bed and lay down. While staring at his white ceiling, I asked, "So what happens now?"

"Like I already explained, you need to keep my secret. Your life and mine depend on it," he said with a serious tone.

I lifted my head off the bed to meet his eyes.

"I promise I won't say anything. Your secret is safe with me," I assured him. And even if I did want to tell someone, who would believe me anyway?

My eyes met his as he studied me for a moment. Maybe he was trying to figure out if he could trust me. The problem was that he really didn't have a choice.

"Okay," he said, dragging a hand through his hair.

"You didn't need to go all caveman and drag me from the party to talk to me. You could have just come over to my house and asked to talk."

Even as the words left my mouth I knew I would probably have been too scared to answer the door. I would just have continued to avoid him.

"You were scared of me and the only way that you would've talked to me was if I cornered you," he stated rather smugly.

"It doesn't matter, it leaves me with more explaining to do. My friends are going to be asking why I left the party with you," I told him as I lay back down on his bed and fixed my eyes on the ceiling above me.

I stifled a yawn. I was ready to finish this conversation and go home to climb straight into my bed. Maybe it had something to do with the restless sleep I'd had the night before. While I continued to lie on his bed I studied the ceiling as I waited for his answer.

"I don't know. Just make sure it's something believable," he replied vaguely.

Is he for real?
I lifted myself up by my elbows and sent a glare at him.

"I'll just tell them you desperately needed my English notes, so you came all the way to a party to drag me home to fetch them," I said sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be good at lying? You've had to lie all your life to keep your secret, so surely coming up with something believable for tonight would be a piece of cake for you."

"Fine," he said, sounding exasperated. "Tell them we hooked up."

At this point I started laughing and I couldn't stop. I was laughing so hard, tears were running down my face. I felt the bed dip and his face hovered above mine.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a deep frown that masked his strong features.

"Me..." I took a deep breath to control my hysterical laughter. "You..." I took another deep breath. "Hooking up." The laughter erupted again.

I continued to giggle as he hovered over me.

When I finally managed to calm myself down, I saw something in his eyes change. I continued to stare at him as he touched a gentle finger to my cheek, causing my breath to catch in my chest. His eyes captivated mine. They were green and glinted, like emeralds.

I couldn't move.

He moved slightly closer until I felt his breath tickle my face. I licked my bottom lip as he trailed his finger down my neck and then finally stopped when his finger trailed to my hip. His hand held my hip firmly. The air locked in my lungs. His lips hovered over mine, and his eyes flickered to my lips and then back to my eyes. I let my eyes flutter softly shut almost on instinct, a reaction to the feelings that he was creating in me. He was going to kiss me, and so I waited.

And I waited.

But the kiss never came. With my eyes still firmly shut, I felt him move away from me and the bed dip as he got off.

"Laugh all you want. We have chemistry," he assured me as I opened my eyes, shocked that he'd pulled away at the last minute, making a fool of me. He shrugged. "People will believe it," he said like he was stating a fact.

"You're an asshole! You did that just to prove a point." I was so angry.

He just stood in front of me with his arms crossed and smiled smugly. I couldn't be in the same room with him anymore without potentially harming him so I pushed myself off the bed and stormed out of his house.

He didn't follow.

He's a conceited douchebag
.
I stomped a couple of houses down the street until I recognized my house and let myself in the front door. I was seething.

"You home already?" I heard Anne yell from her bedroom upstairs.

"Yeah," I shouted back.

With all the ups and downs of the evening, I was shattered. I quickly got dressed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. I threw Jared's hoodie into the hamper. I would return it once it'd been washed. Just the thought of him again stirred my anger back to life.

Sundays were the best. I usually spent the day around the house, doing as little as possible. Anne decided to do some gardening while I did my puzzle in the living room on the coffee table.

I was surprised that by the time eleven o'clock came around, I still hadn't had a call from Stacy or Kennedy. Maybe they were still sleeping their hangovers off? I wasn't looking forward to lying to my friends, but I had to. Even though Jared was a douchebag, I still had to protect his secret.

It was only when I sat down and thought about what exactly I was going to tell my friends that I started to question whether people would believe it. He'd proven that we had chemistry, but I doubt anyone would believe that he had chosen me over Felicity. That was just crazy. She was beautiful--the type of girl who had the looks to become a model. It was an ongoing rumor at school that they were together. Nobody would believe he dumped her to hook up with me. How did I expect my friends to believe something I wouldn't?

The doorbell rang. I stood up and groaned as I stretched before I got up to see who it was, but when I peered through the little peephole, I couldn't believe my eyes. What was he doing here? He impatiently rang the doorbell again. I ground my teeth together in frustration as I opened the front door before he could ring it again. I pushed him back and stepped onto the front porch as I closed the front door behind me. I hoped Anne was still working in the back garden so she wouldn't have heard the doorbell.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered angrily at him.

"We need to get our stories straight about last night," he said as he crossed his arms while he matched my glare.

"Ava? Who's at the door?" Anne yelled from within the house. Before I could reply, Anne opened the door and found Jared and I standing on the front porch.

"Hi, Jared," she greeted. Of course she'd know who he was; he lived on the same street.

"Hi, Mrs. Harris," Jared greeted, laying on the charm. Anne smiled at him. And just like that, she was putty in his hands. How did he do that? Maybe that was another power he had forgotten to mention.

"It's lovely to see you," she said.

"I just came over to get some notes from Ava. We're in English together. My mother's been meaning to make an appointment to see you," he replied.

It was so weird watching him interact with my family member when I knew exactly what he was.

"Tell her if it makes it easier I can always come over after hours," she offered.

"I'll tell her," he assured her, giving her a charming smile.