Second Sight (30 page)

“
I’m not going anywhere,
Jimmie. But you need to relax and rest. You’re
exhausted.”

His eyelids are drifting downward. “You’ll be
here when I wake?” His voice sounds so childlike it cuts through
me.

“
Of course. Just
rest.”

I watch until I’m sure he’s drifted off and
stopped fighting Evan’s efforts to heal him. I look at Evan and
find his eyes are closed, and his head is bowed. I start to ask a
question, but Lev motions for me to remain quiet before taking my
hand and leading me to the guest bedroom where Griffin lies. At
least when I look at him, I can see his chest rise and fall with
each breath. His hair is dark, rumpled silk against the white
pillowcase, and even his slumber seems too still.

“
How is he?” I ask,
flinching as I recall Evan striking him.

“
Still recovering. Evan
didn’t mean to hurt him. Luckily, his power just drained Griffin,
nothing more.”

I nod. “Has he regained consciousness?”

“
No.” Lev slips his arm
around me. His fingers stroke my back in a soft, swirling motion
that reminds me of butterfly wings.

“
I hate this,” I whisper
and lean against his him, tucking my head under his
chin.

“
I know.” His voice rumbles
through me, and suddenly I realize I’m still pretty tired myself as
my world suddenly tilts slightly. Lev’s arms immediately tighten,
and he says, “I know what you need, Elizabeth.” Then, without
further discussion, he slips his arm beneath the bend of my knees
and lifts me, carrying me to my room. The exhaustion is so strong
it’s almost palpable as he sets me on the bed and lies beside
me.

“
Shouldn’t I be close to
Jimmie when he wakes up?” I try to rise, planning to head that way,
but Lev sets a single palm on my chest to keep me
inclined.

“
Evan will remain with him,
and he will sense when Jimmie is rising toward consciousness. There
is no place for you to rest there, so stay here. With
me.”

At this moment, with half-closed lids, I see
his wings suddenly appear and furl around us. Then I look into
those ocean eyes and find myself drifting.

Chapter
Twenty-
Three

The world around me is
quiet as I slowly ease from sleep into the soft warm bliss of Lev’s
arms. As I
slowly open my eyes, I feel
Lev’s gaze upon my face. His mouth starts out in a neutral line and
then gently curves into a gracious smile.

“
There you are,” he
whispers, one hand gently toying with a strand of my hair. Slowly,
his wings melt away to reveal night has slipped into the sky, and
the moon’s pastel glow seeps in. Once Lev’s wings shrink back to
the minimal glow on his back, the soft light caresses his naked
shoulder and chest.

“
How’s Jimmie?” I
ask.

“
Still sleeping, I would
guess. But we can check on him.” I nod, and Lev props himself on
one elbow before rising and reaching for my hand.

“
Did you rest well?” His
fingers close around mine.

“
I always rest well with
you.” I slowly rise and stand next to him.

“
Unless you think I’m
dangerous, and then you really don’t rest at all.”

Flinching, I can feel my shoulders stiffen.
“I’m sorry.”

He swallows hard. “Not half as sorry as I am,
Elizabeth.”

He tugs me toward the door, and we head to
Jimmie’s room. As Lev predicted, Jimmie is still sleeping while
Evan sits in the chair beside the bed, his elbows resting on his
thighs, his chin in his hands.

“
How is he?” I walk up to
the bed and peer at his face, relieved to see his expression seems
much more tranquil and he’s not sweating anymore. I fold my arms
across my chest and take a deep breath.

“
Much better. I think the
next time he wakes up, the effects of Theresa’s influence will be
gone.”

“
Will he remember what
happened?” It’s probably a long shot, but it’s something to hope
for, anyway.

“’
Fraid so,” Evan confirms.
“He’s going to remember everything that happened, including
watching you almost destroy yourself, which is why we need to come
up with an explanation.”

Shaking my head, I slowly sink into another
chair. “What about the truth?”

Lev brushes his hand across his cheek. “I
know how much you want things to be better, but I honestly don’t
think either he or Griffin are ready for the truth just yet. Most
people are never ready for that kind of truth.”

Jimmie’s eyelids flutter slightly, a sign
that sleep is just about to wear off. “But that’s the thing. After
everything he’s seen, how can we not tell him the truth? How else
am I going to explain why I stabbed myself like that?”

“
Lizzie?” Jimmie’s voice is
weak, and his eyelids barely part, but I see the blue of his irises
hiding beneath.

“
I’m here,” I say, turning
my focus to him. He reaches for my hand, and I grasp his. As I lean
close, I feel his gaze lingering on my face. “How are you
feeling?”

“
Head hurts.” It’s then he
finally realizes we aren’t alone in the room as he gazes at both
Evan and Lev. “Where am I?”

“
You’re at home,” I
whisper. “You’ve been out of it for a few days.”

He squeezes my hand. “Yeah. Been having some
really nasty dreams.”

Something catches in my throat, and I want to
tell him everything is okay, but how can I? I’m not sure I believe
that.

“
You’re awake now,” I
finally manage and reach to touch his forehead, pushing away hair
which has fallen into his eyes.

“
I didn’t want to be,” he
whispers hoarsely. “I thought I’d lost you.” His voice is rough,
and his eyes seem too shiny, like he’s about to start
crying.

“
I’m here, Jimmie. Stop
saying things like that.” My throat is tight, like any minute I’m
going to start crying, and I don’t want that.

“
I can’t help it. The
things I saw….” His voice trails off, and he suddenly shifts his
gaze from me to Evan and Lev. “What really happened?”

I can feel Lev stiffen next to me and Evan on
the other side. “You want the truth?”

“
Yes.” His eyes seem
desperate, like he has to know, and I figure even if Lev and Evan
don’t think he’s ready, Jimmie deserves the truth. So I sit back
down in the chair and start at the beginning, the words flowing
like water down a stream. During the whole conversation, Jimmie is
strangely silent, letting me do all the talking. Somewhere in the
middle, Griffin wanders in and sits. He, too, is quiet. Strange
what it takes to get people to listen. Then again, after all this,
I don’t think either of them can deny what I’m saying, even as
crazy as it sounds, and by the time I’ve finished, they both stare
vacantly ahead, seemingly far beyond me. Still, I wait for some
kind of response. Griffin leans forward and cradles his head in his
hands as though the weight of the world rests in his thoughts.
Jimmie just shakes his head in stunned amazement. Then he looks at
Lev, as if trying to accept what I’m telling him but can’t because
all he can see is Scott. Of course, the next thing I know, I see
the seventeen-year-old boy from Hauser’s Landing right.

“
I’ll be damned,” Jimmie
mutters.

“
Not if I can help it,”
Evan says.

“
I should have listened to
you, Lizzie. I know that.”

His gaze locks with mine. “I’m sorry.”

“
It’s okay.” I stand and
stretch, suddenly feeling claustrophobic and restless. “I’m going
to go get some air, Jimmie. I’ll be back soon.

“
You be careful,” Jimmie
orders. Then again, if he hadn’t said that, I’d have thought he was
still out of his head from whatever Theresa did.

“
Of course.” I lean over
and peck his cheek, something I thought I’d outgrown, but seeing
Jimmie like this really puts things into perspective. “You get some
more rest,” I whisper in his ear.

Although I’m expecting Evan and Lev are still
hanging around, I suddenly realize both have left the room,
probably to give me some space in case I need to talk to Jimmie,
and maybe I would if he weren’t already closing his eyes and
drifting back. This whole ordeal has really taken it out of him.
Then I turn toward the door as Griffin stands and catches my
arm.

His normally bright blue eyes seem a little
darker, probably because of them being bloodshot, and his shoulders
seemed to sag slightly. Both of these confirmed he wasn’t
completely restored, either. His grip is weak, just another thing
to worry about.

“
Lizzie?” He speaks just
barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“
What for?” I frown, trying
to understand why he thinks he needs to apologize.

“
I know you think I wanted
to leave you out of my life.”

I shake my head. “That wasn’t you. It was
Jayzee controlling you.”

His face is ashen, and I can tell by the way
he hangs his head it bothers him, no matter what I say. So I wrap
my arms around him and give him a hug.

“
It’s really okay, Griffin.
None of us were acting right. I was a total idiot, too, because of
Kane.”

He squeezes me back, and I can feel the
desperation in his embrace. “I just don’t want to lose your
friendship. You’re like a sister to me.”

“
You won’t.” We linger like
that for a few moments as I realize how grateful I am he’s okay and
we’re okay together as well. Then, after we pull apart, I look at
the doorway. “I’m gonna take a walk with Lev, okay?”

He nods. “Yeah.”

I head outside where Lev stands on the porch,
his golden hair shining in the moonlight as he leans with both
hands on the railing. As he hears me shut the door behind me, he
straightens up and glances at me.

“
Everything all right?” he
asks, his hand reaching for mine.

“
Yeah. I’m just glad
they’re both okay.” I let him lead me from the porch to the front
yard before he drapes an arm around my waist and turns me to face
him.

“
I’m glad you’re all
right.” He slips the other arm around me, and we’re airborne as his
large wings suddenly shift into focus and propel us skyward. A
startled gasp slips from my lips, and he chuckles.

“
I’ll never get used to
that.”

“
I know. Why do you think I
didn’t warn you? I like the surprised look on your
face.”

“
Of course you
do.”

Although Lev could block the rushing air
flowing past us, he lets me feel the breeze tousling my hair and
streaking across my face, and I close my eyes to revel in it until
at last the momentum ends. When I re-open them, I find myself amid
the clouds, Lev’s arms securely anchoring me to him. Even in the
darkness where the only light to guide us is a quarter moon and a
few stars, I see his blue eyes as clearly as if it were
daylight.

“
Can I ask you something?”
I manage, awed by the beauty around us.

“
Only if you want the
answer.” Although his response makes me laugh, I know there is a
serious side to it—the side that tells me he can’t control
everything and I’m not always going to like what he has to
say.

“
Why did you go after
Bob?”

“
He was a corrupted angel,
just like the others, Lizzie. There was no choice.”

I shake my head, trying to reconcile the old
man with the angels I’ve seen. “He seemed so kind, Lev.”

“
I know. That’s why I hated
you witnessing it. I knew what you thought.” His gaze flickers from
the heavens to me.

“
But you also said Sarah
was in danger from Colin. What did you mean? It seems like she was
in league with him.”

His hold tightens. “I was Sarah’s mentor and
failed her miserably, which left her wide open for Colin to twist.
He did abuse her, and she was in danger.” He seems to be far away
as he speaks.

“
Shouldn’t I be in worse
shape than Jimmie or Griffin?”

He frowns, furrowing lines in his forehead.
“Yes, and no. The attacks on Jimmie and Griffin were, for the most
part, psychological, which leads to a different kind of weakness.
We can help them healing process, but not nearly as effectively as
with a physical wound.”

“
But why am I okay?
Shouldn’t I be weak or something?”

Lev shrugs, and I can tell that there is
something he’s not telling me. “Not sure about that.”

“
Okay, I know you’re hiding
something. Just spit it out.”

He swallows hard. “By all rights, you should
be dead, and would have been if I hadn’t intervened. But that’s not
exactly what’s troubling me.”

I lean against his chest, not sure I want to
hear this.

“
You asked,” he reminds
me.

“
So tell me then,” I
say.

“
Whatever powers the dagger
possessed no longer reside within the blade. They’re within
you.”

I jerk back. “What does that mean?”

“
I don’t know. But I’m
thinking it’s probably not going to be good.” His arms tighten
around me protectively.

“
How can you not
know?”

He laughs. “I’m an angel, Elizabeth. That
means I know far more than humans, but I don’t know
everything.”