Second Sight (20 page)

“
Elizabeth,” he pleads. “We
need to talk. Come away with me.”

It takes everything I have to ignore his
voice when I want to scream at him, tearing him up inside just as
I’ve been torn—not that it would do any good. I want to ask why he
won’t leave me alone when Kane tells me this isn’t his first
go-round at hurting people. Even other angels aren’t safe.

“
Elizabeth,
please.”

This time, the voice is inside my mind.

“
Get out of my head,” I
growl. “I never want to see you again. Period.”

He stands on the balcony for a moment longer,
his wings spread open majestically. Then he slowly turns and flies
away, leaving me alone in the darkness, more broken than ever. I
could ask him why, but sometimes why doesn’t really
matter—correction, most of the time, it doesn’t matter.

“
Morning,
sleepyhead.”

I feel sleep dropping out from beneath me,
and I force my eyes open to find both dawn and Kane have invaded
the room. At first, I feel confused because I don’t know where I
am. Then last night comes back to me. He stands in the doorway,
trying to give me my space. I wipe my hand across my eyes, trying
to clear away the sleep, but even as I sit up, my head feels as
though it’s stuffed with rags, and I can’t seem to get my thoughts
straight.

“
Morning.” I run my hand
through my hair, and from the feel of it, it’s tangled and
wild.

“
You’ve got about an hour
before school.” He leans against the doorway. “You want some
breakfast?”

“
No. I’m good. Thanks.” I
rub my hands up and down my arms. “I think I’ll just get
dressed.”

He nods. “I’ll get out of your way, then.” He
walks out the door and closes it after he leaves, and once I’m sure
he’s gone, I slowly get out of bed and walk to the window. Both the
curtain and the window are closed, and I slowly pull the curtain
back to peer out, half-expecting to find Lev still out there,
waiting for me to come out.

But Lev isn’t there. Isn’t that what I
wanted? I swallow hard and grab my clothes from the chair so I can
change. Even as I put myself together, the cotton fluff in my head
won’t go away. There’s still a remainder of the headache lingering.
I run my fingers through my hair, detangling the ends before
quickly braiding it and pulling the rubber band from around my
wrist to tie off the end. I make the bed and sit, feeling I’m
groundless. I don’t know what to do. I pull out my cell phone, not
to check the time but to see if Jimmie has called. One missed call.
I scroll to the bottom. Jimmie. Still, there’s no message, which
means I have nothing to go on, no way to know what Jimmie is
thinking. I close my eyes, my stomach tied in knots. There’s no
point in going to school at this point.

Besides, what difference does it make? Right
now, there’s nothing anyone is going to teach me that’ll help get
me through this.

Kane softly knocks on the door, and when I
don’t answer, he slowly opens it and calls out, “Hope you’re
decent.”

“
Yeah,” I finally manage. I
palm the cell, wishing I could just undo the last year of my life.
I want to forget, but there’s no going back.

“
It’s about that time,”
Kane says, slowly stepping into the room. “How’s your
head?”

“
Still hurts.” My voice is
tightly controlled and so is my breathing; both are good signs that
maybe I can just keep going and put my feelings into a box they
can’t escape.

He moves to the bed and sits. “What about the
rest of it?”

“
It is what it is,” I
finally manage, closing my eyes, trying to breathe.

“
Just take it easy,” Kane
says, settling his hand over mine.

The breath catches in my throat, and I think
about pulling away from him, but I can’t. “Lizzie, look at me.”

My shoulders tense, and I finally glance into
his dark eyes, immediately feeling the draw.

“
You’re strong enough to do
whatever you need to do alone. You know that, right?”

I try to ignore the sudden light-headedness
but I can’t shake it. The longer I sit here, the more aware I am I
feel so lousy, and I probably won’t make it through school. I take
a deep breath, unsure where I am going, but I figure I’ll know when
I get there.

“
Thank you for letting me
stay.”

“
Glad I could help.” He
slowly rises. “Are you still on for that sleep- over with Jayzee
and Sarah?”

I frown, mulling that over, and while I’m so
not ready to face Jayzee, that would give me a place to stay for
another night. I can do anything for just one night, no matter how
unpleasant.

“
You think Jayzee will rat
me out to Griffin?” I can’t read Jayzee—or Sarah, for that matter.
Usually I’m pretty good at that sort of thing.

“
I’ll talk to her, see if I
can convince her to keep things hushed until you figure out what
you want to do. Would that help?”

“
Yeah, it would, and, if
she can keep quiet, I’ll probably go.” I stand up and grab my purse
as I head for the door. A latent throbbing in my head forces my
hand to it, but even massaging it doesn’t totally get rid of
it.

“
You look like you’re in
pain,” Kane says, following. “Sure you’re all right?”

“
It’s nothing.” I force
myself to smile even though that’s the last thing I feel like
doing.

“
If you say so,” he mutters
and looks down at the keys in his hand. “ I guess I’ll see you in
first hour?”

Shaking my head, I pull my own keys from my
pocket. “I think I’m going to take a break today and try to get my
head wrapped around all this stuff. Just tell Jayzee I’ll be
there.”

“
Sure your head is okay?”
he asks, walking to his vehicle. One hand sets the sunglasses on
his face while the other unlocks the driver’s door.

“
It hasn’t fallen off yet,
Kane, so I think I’m doing all right.” I don’t wait for his
response but get into my Jeep and start the engine. No matter how
hard I try, I still can’t shake that damned dream. It refuses to
leave, and I don’t understand what any of it means. If I were a
sane person, I’d think God was trying to tell me something in
settling all these angels around me, but I’m beginning to believe
sanity isn’t much of an option these days.

Knowing Kane can’t back up until I do, I
slips the Jeep into reverse and pull out of the lot, giving the
huge house one more look via the rear-view mirror. It is definitely
a beautiful house, but there’s one thing which bothered me I
couldn’t put my finger on last night. It’s only now, in the morning
light, it comes to me: the place is empty. By empty, I don’t mean
lacking people. I mean lacking meaning. I’m not sure how Kane’s
house got to be that way; I only know what it feels like. I should
be an expert, considering how much emptiness has seemed to be
packed away inside since Lev died—or I thought Lev died. Part of me
wants to search for him—you know, the stupid part that believed
everything he ever said. Maybe I was just a good way to while away
time between his sojourning duties. Who knows?

Chapter
Fifteen

I remember when I was little how I used to
wonder what happened when I was at school. What had I missed?
Today, driving around in my Jeep, I realize I hadn’t missed
anything—or maybe I feel too old at seventeen to think whatever’s
happening around me is important.

Jimmie tries calling again, and I’m so close
to answering. Then I try to figure out what I’d say, and nothing
comes. Stupid, really. So I shut the phone until it stops ringing
and checked the battery to find I’m on my last bar. Pretty soon I
won’t know if Jimmie’s called because the phone will be dead.

I drive to the cemetery again, and from a
distance, I spot Bob in his usual place, but I don’t think my heart
could stand the breaking if I go over there. While I’m pretty sure
there aren’t any more surprises in store for me regarding Lev, I
know I’ve had enough, and even one more might be just the
proverbial last straw. I know what my limits are, and right now Lev
is pushing them as hard as he can; I’m barely breathing and
bleeding out, trying too hard to hold onto the idealistic notion he
is everything he said he was. But that only makes me wonder what
else Kane knows about him.

And what about that dream?
Now
that
was
weird.

I wait until about 6:30 before following
Kane’s instruction to Jayzee’s place. Last night I’d about both
Sarah and Jayzee, just in case, and he’d drawn me a map to use when
getting around. While Tellico Plains is a small town like others,
it still has a less desirable side, a fact I realize, standing as I
am outside a seedy apartment building. Slipping through the
entrance, I find not only the pool, which considering its
cloudiness could definitely use some kind of chemical treatment,
but also something I can’t explain or escape.

Griffin and Jayzee stand by the pool. Someone
else who seems familiar stands just a few feet away, his body
glowing with white angelic heat. Shaken, I rush toward them, trying
to recognize the angel who stands before them. I hear arguing, but
the words escape me. Sensing the world is about to shift, I start
running. The angel lifts his hands towards Jayzee. Griffin throws
himself in front of her, his body suddenly glowing with hot light.
His entire form goes rigid. His hands, once fluid with motion
stiffen into nerveless claws. A wide grimace claims his mouth, and
an unnatural scream comes from his throat. Yet none of the
neighbors seem to hear his tortured cry.

“
Leave him alone!” I yell,
rushing forward.

The eyes that turn toward me are a brilliant
blue, and the blond hair looks almost white, like the heat
radiating through him. Evan. The electricity stops flying from his
fingers, and Griffin slips to the ground.

“
This is none of your
concern,” an ethereal voice commands, turning toward me.
“Go!”

He turns toward his cowering prey—Jayzee. She
has fallen to her knees, trying to shrink into nothingness,
desperate to avoid Evan’s rage, and when the angel’s hands rise
into the air, she screams.

“
Help me,
Lizzie!”

Without thought, I rush into the madness,
blocking Evan’s path with my body. He growls, and the flat palms
which extended the electricity before suddenly curl into fists.

“
You know not what you do,”
he warns. “Find Lev. He guards the truth about those you surround
yourself with.”

I point at Griffin. “I know you hurt a mortal
who meant no harm. He was trying to save the woman you seem to want
to kill, and if Lev is guarding some kind of secret, it stays with
him. You want to destroy her, you’ll have to go through me.” I lick
my lips. “And I have never done wrong to you or anyone else. You
know that.” I swallow hard, wondering if he’ll actually go through
with it as his white hands waver in the air.

For a moment, all I see is an angel bent on
destruction. His face is a hard mask I never could have imagined
and don’t understand. I never would have believed this. I risk a
peek over my shoulder where Jayzee cowers, tears streaming down her
face as she shudders.

“
She isn’t what you think,”
Evan says softly, the white-hot glow slowly fading from his
form.

“
And Lev was?” My body
starts shaking. “And you were? It appears all I knew about any of
you is that you were angels, nothing more. Certainly none of this.”
Tears prick my eyes, and I feel my breathing start to get ragged. I
peer over my shoulder and tell Jayzee. “Get up and get out of here.
I’ll deal with Evan.”

Her nervous eyes dart from me to the angel
and back again as she slowly starts to rise. Evan raises his hand,
but I keep blocking his path. “You don’t know this being, Lizzie—or
what she is capable of.”

Jayzee starts toward the door, and I block
her exit. “And what was Griffin capable of that you attacked him?
Neither of them were hurting anyone.” Ahead, I see the stone arch
that will allow her freedom. Just a few more feet….

“
You only have a part of
the story. You can’t understand all of it.” His gaze is getting
more desperate as he realizes I did not lie. If he really wants
Jayzee, he’ll have to go through me. What he hasn’t realizes is
that, to me, none of this is about Jayzee. It’s about the lies
twisted upon other lies I can’t stomach anymore. I
won’t.

“
It doesn’t matter, Evan.
I’m tired. You want to destroy someone, here I am.” Tears streak
down my face and I open my arms wide. “Go ahead.”

His arms fall to his sides, and the glow is
gone, just as Jayzee completely vanishes from our sight. But he’s
not looking at Jayzee, just at me, his expression haggard. “So Lev
was right. You understand nothing and believe everything that comes
across your path. You are lost, Lizzie. Lost.” He comes toward me,
but I scurry back.

“
Don’t touch me.” My back
hits a wall.

“
I won’t hurt you.” He
steps toward me, and I hedge toward Griffin, who still hasn’t
budged.

“
Is that what you told
Jayzee? That you wouldn’t hurt her?” My head is starting to ache
again, and I wonder how long it’s going to hurt.

Evan stops and lowers his hands. “Jayzee is a
walking lie, and you have no idea what letting her go will cost.
You can’t begin to fathom that. But I do.” His voice is soft,
almost painful as he slowly turns away.

“
What did you do to
Griffin?” I ask, rushing toward the still form lying on the
cement.