Burn (5 page)

“Shit!” He stumbles backwards. His face bleaches white as paper. I flail my bloodied hand out to grasp him. I want Gage to hold me, tell me everything is going to be alright as I lay here breathing through a fat, blue, straw, sticking erect from the center of my neck.

He steadies himself against the counter before turning and retching into the skink. A river of brown vomit spurts out of him causing me to dart my eyes back towards Marshall.

 
Dr. Oliver and Logan burst into the room. Dr. Oliver with his warm apathetic smile, Logan with his eyes rounded out in horror.

Logan comes up alongside of me and gently wipes the hair off my forehead.

“It’s going to be OK,” he whispers directly into my ear. I close my eyes briefly and let his voice wash over me.

“It looked superficial, and the girls insisted I call you,” Marshall explains. “Brielle mentioned
Skyla
hates hospitals.”

I look over at him, standing there with his hands waving through the air as though it were true. I had never told Marshall anything about hating hospitals before, had I?

“How’s your breathing?” Dr. Oliver twitches a flashlight over my eyes.

I try to nod, but can’t bear the pain.

Logan clasps his hand over mine.
Do you want to go to the hospital?

Thank God for Logan. I can hear anyone telepathically if I touch
them
, but he’s the only one who can hear me speak in return.

Not if I don’t have to
.

“She says no.”

I need Marshall to touch me
.

Logan compresses his lips. “Mr. Dudley, I think maybe it would help if you held her other hand.” He increases his grip as he says it.

“Done.” Marshall glides over with pride and picks up my injured finger. “This too.” He holds it out for everyone to see.

“Good Lord,
Skyla
. What the hell happened?” Dr. Oliver plucks bottles of ointment, gloves, and an array of tools from out of his giant black bag of tricks.

You can’t let on that you know Marshall’s a Sector
, I say to Logan in a mild panic.
That will drag this day into a whole other direction for me.

Marshall threatened to capture me if I told. Of course I told, but Marshall’s the last person who should be in on that secret.
  

I won’t say a word
. Logan looks to his uncle. “No use in asking her questions. You’re only going to frustrate her.” He returns his attention back to me. “I’ll get you something to write on later.”

Marshall squeezes my hand ever so slightly.

Fantastic
, Marshall marvels.
Logan thinks that I don’t know he’s a
Celestra
. Go ahead and converse with him all you want. I’ll play dumb
.

I squint over at him. It hurts to move even a micro millimeter. Not even Marshall’s good vibrations are enough to quell this dull burning pain.

“I don’t have the proper filament. All I have is black and it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb against your ivory skin,” Dr. Oliver says adjusting a spool of thread.

I look up in time to see a fat silver needle catch the light.

Oh God. A shiver runs through me and suddenly I have the urge to bolt.
 

He threads it with what looks like the thickest black chord known to man—a rope.

“I’m going to stitch you up now,” Dr. Oliver announces.

That’s what I was afraid of.

Chapter Seven

Out and About

Good thing Halloween is coming up.

I admire myself in the mirror while convalescing on the Oliver’s couch. A row of uneven
x’s
scissor across my neck in a very distinct Frankenstein-like fashion.

Dr. Oliver left to take Brielle home—Brielle who herself couldn’t breathe due to the trauma. Speaking of breathing, Dr. Oliver removed the straw from my neck and coaxed me into taking slow deep breaths on my own. After I stopped inhaling my own blood and choking, everything was fine—everything but my voice.

I feel like I’ve run a marathon
. I squeeze Logan’s hand.

“You lost a ton of blood.”

Gage sits next to me. “I want to talk to her too.” He picks up my other hand and gives a weak smile.

“What’s that
Skyla
?” Logan exaggerates his tone. “You don’t want to speak to
Gage
? You wish he would disappear forever?” A sarcastic smile slides up the side of his cheek.

“Very funny,” Gage shakes his head over at him, before directing his attention back to me.
Don’t listen to him he’s an idiot.

“I can hear you, too.” Logan shoots daggers at Gage. “See?”
He holds up my hand. “We’re all connected.”

Enough
.
I glare at the two of them momentarily.
Who the hell slit my throat?

“
Skyla
wants to know what the hell you’re still doing here.” Logan restrains a wicked grin.

Gage shakes his head over at him.
I know you’re not thinking those things
. There’s
a gentleness
in his eyes and it warms me.
I’m
gonna
run up and take a quick shower. I’ll be right back. I don’t want Logan upsetting you anymore than he has
. He glares over at him before heading upstairs.

“She says, she’s glad you’re gone,” he shouts up after him.

You’re not funny
, I say.

Logan’s features smooth out. He relaxes into a calm, measured nod.
I apologize
.

So did Gage have a certain conversation with you?
I have
an inkling
.

Logan glances around with a heavy gaze.

 
I’m sorry I ever suggested he be with you. Does that make me selfish?
There’s a genuine sadness in his eyes.

Why would that make you selfish? You did it to protect me
. I lean into his shoulder. It feels good to be here, safe at the Oliver’s.

He picks up my hand and kisses my bandaged finger.
And now look at you
.

Did you give the book back to Ellis?
I’m dying to know what names graced the pages of that bloated roll call of Counts.

 
He nods.
Walked it across the street that next morning.

So I guess now we know
who
to slaughter.
I give a weak playful smile.

We’re not killing. The goal is not to kill
, he counters.

Reality check
. I point up to my throat.
I will kill whoever or whatever I have to, not to breathe through a straw like that again. And by the way, I think they have a lot worse planned for me. I’ll kill them by the heard if I have to—for you and for me.

And what about for us?
His features soften.
Am I losing you
?

My mouth falls open at the thought. Before I can formulate anything coherent to say, he adds,
Well, then,
his amber eyes light up like flames.
I’ll have to get you back
.

***

Logan’s Aunt Emma helps me wash off the blood that’s already rusted onto my body. She loans me a pink and red scarf, carefully wrapping it around my neck just before Gage drives me home.

This can’t go well. My Mom and Tad are going to freak if they see what’s under this scarf.

I shoot Gage a look of discontent as we head through the front door.

“Here he is,” Tad balks as he passes us on the way upstairs. “Someone warn the refrigerator.”

Only once has he ever seen Gage get anything from the fridge, and on that day it was a water bottle.
Water
.
Tad’s
so cheap he can’t share water.

My mother rushes up after him.

“Hey you two.” She speeds past us in a tizzy.

“You mind if we study up in
Skyla’s
room?” Gage calls after her.

I can’t believe how brazen he is. Of course she’s going to mind, she—

“Nope. I trust you.” And with that, she’s out of sight.

My father would have answered with the blast of a shotgun.

Gage helps me upstairs and I briskly shut and lock my door in the event my mother’s sanity decides to restore
itself
.

I grab a notepad and a pen and make myself comfy on the bed with Gage slouching down next to me.

They’re going to rut
. I spell out.

“Nice.” He folds his hands. “Should we?”

No
.

He shakes his head slightly while brushing his thumb up against my cheek. “I know.” He presses his lips together. “I don’t want you to be alone right now.”

I’m glad you’re here
. Which reminds me, this was once Chloe’s bedroom and the fact she oddly named
Gage
as the love of her life still confuses the hell out of me.
You ever kiss Chloe?
I scrawl across the page.
  

He squints in to read it as though it were written in some foreign language.

“Nope.” His cheeks turn pink as he answers.

I drop the pen and take up his hand, press it against my lips. There’s definitely something developing here, a progression, something linear pulling me towards Gage. I wish I didn’t feel it. I wish I didn’t make Logan feel like he had to do something to win me back because he still has me so completely, and I wonder how it could be that my heart has found itself strangely settled in two places at once.
  

Gage penetrates me with those crystalline blue eyes. He wishes he could read my thoughts as easily as Logan. But it’s my face that says it all. He leans in and presses a soft kiss against my forehead. I think he already knows my heart is lying in two very distinct pieces.

Chapter Eight

Read On
  

I plan on spending all of Sunday in bed losing myself in Chloe’s diary. With my newfound sore throat, Mom pretty much agreed I should stay under the covers and simultaneously ignored me all morning. Instead of plying me with hot tea and soup, like old Mom would have done, she’s busy holing up in her room coupling with Tad like some baby hungry cougar.