FORBIDDEN (12 page)

She nodded. “So now that you’ve saved me, what does that mean for you? Are you really going to be stuck in this position forever?”

“I thought you didn’t think I could even get out of it in the first place?”

She shook her head vigorously. “I didn’t say that. I just was wondering why you trusted something that was obviously evil at face value. But go on, explain things.”

I laughed. “Alright, nosey,” I tapped her on the nose and smiled when she beamed. “So Ethan wasn’t lying when he said we aren’t supposed to tell you when you’re going to die, try to stop it, and most importantly, touch a Call. Those rules are in place for our safety. We’re punished if we do them.”

Hannah sucked in a breath, but I held a hand up to stop her. “Just wait. So like I was saying, we’re punished. The thing that gets me is this: we were always told we’d experience unimaginable pain if we touched our Call. It would be beyond anything that our boss had exacted on us.”

Her eyes were as wide as saucers. “You let me curl up on you!”

I smiled. “Yeah, I did. I’m not gonna lie, I was trying to avoid it. Then you touched me, and it was unreal.”

She closed her eyes, as though if she shut them the truth wouldn’t be as bad or something. “How bad did it hurt?”

“It didn’t hurt. It was amazing.”

Her eyes flew open. “You didn’t hurt?”

“No. It was the best feeling in the world. I could feel again. It was like a light switch was turned on. Where I hadn’t felt anything in over one hundred years, I felt you. Your soft skin, your warmth, your beating heart. It was amazing.”

She smiled and put her hand on my chest. “And this? Does this hurt?”

I put my hand on top of hers. “Not at all.”

She took my hand and put it on her chest. “And this? What do you feel?”

“Your heart. And I love it.”

“Good. Because you need to guard it.”

I nodded. “And I will, even if I’m damned because of it. You weren’t the first reason that landed me where I am,” I laughed, but Hannah didn’t seem as amused by it. I continued, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. “You’re the key to something, Hannah. Why else would they tell me not to touch you? Why would they say your time is up before you’ve even lived? I think there’s more to this than we’re seeing.”

Hannah nodded and pulled herself closer into my chest. “So what do we do now? Besides get out of this corn, I mean. It’s making me itch all over.”

Ethan chuckled as he landed in front of us. “Good thing we’re almost out of the corn maze, then. I’ve got a ride waiting for us.”

I smiled at Ethan. “Thanks. You’re driving.”

He shook his head and crossed his arms. “Of course I am, Miss Daisy. No one else knows how to appreciate a Mercedes like I do.”

Hannah looked alarmed. “You didn’t steal it, did you?”

Ethan smiled. “Nah, not at all. I just explained to the man that he was better off walking to work. Health reasons, you know?”

I rolled my eyes. “So where are we going, fearless leader?”

“You know how I got the hook up with the Guardian ladies?”

Ethan was seriously messed up but definitely a help right now, so I went along with his delusions of grandeur. “Of course.”

“Well, we’re going to see Reina.”

“Who?”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Reina. Reina Hart. She’s kind of a big deal.”

I sucked in a shocked breath. “
The
Reina Hart?”

Hannah was nonplussed. “Who’s that?”

Ethan whooped and clapped his hands. “She’s only the head honcho of the Guardians. She also happens to be a personal friend. The kind of personal friend that yells and slaps me when I try to make a move.”

Hannah groaned. “She won’t help us if she hates you!”

“Oh yes she will,” Ethan countered. “She’s had a thing for Levi for quite some time. I just hadn’t told you, man. So uh, yeah. Play nice and flirt a little so she doesn’t kill us on sight. I might have gotten a little too fresh last time I talked to her.”

FOURTEEN

“Shotgun controls the radio. Therefore, no one will be riding shotgun because I want to listen to the Rolling Stones,” Ethan declared as we piled into the car.

Hannah gave me a look before she made a comment on Ethan’s musical preference. The music started blaring, and she laughed. “Sympathy for the Devil? Really?” she said as the music invaded our ears.

Ethan laughed. “Hey, you gotta hear both sides of the story, Bob. Just sayin’. However, I will give you this. I can appreciate a woman who knows her Stones.”

Hannah rolled her eyes before she curled up against my shoulder. I deposited Angie on the other side of us, so I was effectively smushed between two girls. First time for everything, I guess, even if one of them was drugged. That’s probably all I could ask for. One girl seemed like too much in my opinion. “I’m really tired,” Hannah muttered, repositioning herself to get more comfortable.

I put my arm around her and pulled her closer. She sighed under my touch, so I rubbed her back. It was like a piece of humanity had come back to me. Ethan watched curiously in the rearview mirror.

We rode in silence for about a half hour before Ethan finally had the courage to ask what I knew was on his mind. “You can’t tell me you’re not in excruciating pain right now,” he said as he watched Hannah sleeping soundly on my shoulder.

It wasn’t a question. Ethan didn’t work like that. He had been a Guard for long enough that he believed everything Owen told to him. I smiled. “If you want, I can say I’m in excruciating pain. Does that make you feel better?”

“Not really. It’s not like I want you to be in pain, but you’re doing it to yourself.”

I shook my head. “E, I’m not in pain,” I said quietly. “It doesn’t hurt to touch Hannah. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. I can feel again. I can feel the softness of her skin, the heat of it, the goodness of her. How long has it been since you felt anything good?”

He kept his eyes on the road as he fumbled through his iPod for new music. His attempt to avoid my question was kind of pathetic. “Damn electronics,” he complained. “They never work for longer than a year. Don’t they think someone might want to use this for more than a year?” He shook the little device savagely. The album art changed directions and music started again. Ethan sighed and sat the thing down. “It doesn’t respond to my touch. Humans touch the thing and it works. I have to frigging wave it around like a wand or something.”

“It’s heat sensitive, you moron. You’re dead. Hence, no heat,” a voice said beside me.

“Oh, joy of joys. My supposed-to-be-dead Call has returned to land of the living.”

Angie pulled herself into a sitting position and stretched out her neck. “If you weren’t already dead, I’d kill you.”

I laughed. “Ethan, you certainly have a way with the ladies.”

Angie gave me a once over. “Who are you and why is my bestie asleep in your arms?”

Ethan snorted. “You’re behind the times. They’re a thing,” he air quoted the word ‘thing’ as he continued, “Which, by the way, will not be happening with us. You’re not in my league, love. I prefer the girls whose hearts have stopped beating. That means they don’t talk as much as you do.”

She shot right back at him with no hesitation. “That’s fine, Frankenstein. I go for guys with a pulse, a brain, and manners. You don’t qualify in any of those categories.”

Ethan acted like he was pulling a dagger out of his heart. “Ouch. Levi, watch out. Human girls are as vicious as Fallen. They’re also blind and deaf, it seems, because anyone with two good eyes and ears would see that not only am I better looking than you, but I also articulate better. It only makes sense that I have a brain.”

I rolled my eyes and stopped Angie before she started to retort once more. “Just stop while you’re ahead. Someone has to be the bigger person.”

“Yeah, Bob Number Two. Someone has to be the bigger person, and since I’m not a person, it’s gotta be you.” Ethan smiled innocently.

Angie looked at him. “Bob Number Two?”

“Don’t ask,” I said lamely. I returned to my conversation with Ethan that we’d begun before Angie woke up. “So as I was saying, I don’t feel –”

“Not now,” Ethan said shortly.

I was assuming he didn’t want to talk about it in front of the humans. It made sense, I guess. The bridge that connected Ohio and Kentucky over the river was coming up. “We’re going to Kentucky?”

“Heck no!” Ethan exclaimed, apparently horrified. “Haven’t you heard that if you hear banjo music, you run in the opposite direction?”

I hadn’t, but I didn’t tell him that. “So if there’s banjo music in Kentucky, why are we going towards it?”

Ethan shook his head sadly. “Because Reina decided she wanted to live in Hickville, USA.”

Angie snorted. “You know, there’s a lot of really smart people that are from Kentucky.”

“And they’re smart because they moved away,” Ethan retorted.

Somewhere deep down, Ethan was normal. I knew it. Since I’d fallen for Hannah, though, his sarcastic nature had become more and more antagonizing. I couldn’t figure out why he was lashing out at the girls and not me. Shouldn’t he be mad at me for dragging him into this mess? He just seemed annoyed he had to be on speaking terms with Hannah and Angie.

Angie breathed deeply, then turned ten shades of puce. “Aren’t you guys dead? Why are you still able to fart?”

I laughed at her. “What are you talking about?”

“It seriously stinks in here, and it wasn’t that bad a minute ago.”

“I didn’t fart,” I said defensively.

“And if I farted, you’d be dead,” finished Ethan.

Angie shook her head and started to roll down the window. “Whatever. You guys are disgusting.”

“I think there’s an old saying of ‘whoever smelt it, dealt it,’ if I’m correct,” said Ethan.

“I’m not capable of that nasty smell!”

I smelled the air again. “You know, E, she has a point. It smells like the Fallen is still here.”

“Well I’m not surprised. He was all over you and Hannah. The smell is sure to linger.”

I nodded and looked at Angie. “Sorry, it’s probably us, but we didn’t fart, I promise.”

She laughed, but her eyes were playful. “Great. Nice dead guy is now my bestie’s boyfriend and he’s giving her dead guy B.O.”

Although it was a minor knock, the sound of me being Hannah’s boyfriend had a nice ring to it. Last time I’d checked, it wasn’t true. It didn’t mean I didn’t think it was a bad idea, though.

Ethan turned off on an unmarked road and hit a pothole that threw us all into the air. At least, that’s what I thought did it.

Angie let out a shrill scream that could break windows. She was sputtering and pointing, which made Ethan look back at her in confusion.

The crash was deafening.