The Talents (23 page)

She snorted. “Friend? Hmph.” We zigzagged around a fallen log and a muddy spot in the trail. Anna neatly avoided both. A branch poked my ankle, and I splashed mud on my shirt.

“What's that supposed to mean?” I forced out between pants.

Anna slowed her insane pace a hair, even though she hadn't yet broken a sweat. “I don't know how to tell you this, but I would stay away from him if you don't want to get your heart broken.”

I couldn't believe it—first Jack, now Anna lecturing me about Cam? I sucked in a desperate lungful of air, trying to concentrate on what Anna was saying while keeping from tripping over my own sneakers.

“He's a little out of my league,” I said. “I never thought we were more than friends.”

Anna nodded. We ran in silence for minute, and then she said, “So, what's the deal with you and Jack?”

I stopped dead still in the trail for a moment. “Jack?” I sputtered.

In a matter of seconds, all I could see was Anna's back disappearing into the dense foliage. I ran hard to catch her; I think she might have slowed down a fraction to let me do so, but it was hard to tell.

“He's a friend, that's all,” I called, still a few feet behind. “Why?” She didn't answer, so I ran faster until we were side by side again. My lungs burned, and a cramp had started under my ribs. “Why does everyone want to talk about Jack?” I cried in frustration.

“I was just wondering. He is awfully cute.” She wove delicately around a stump and a narrow section of trail. “I guess if he was my friend, I'd be keeping my eye out for him.”

“What? What do you mean?” Something in her tone sent a chill down my back.

“I just mean not everyone around here likes him as much as you do. You might want to tell him that.”

The trail turned and crossed out of the woods to flank the playing fields. A small group of guys chased a soccer ball, while a group of girls and guys tossed a Frisbee.

Anna stopped, and I almost plowed into her back. She rested her arms on top of her head and stared at the soccer players. I realized one of them must be Cam. A second later he broke away from the pack long enough to wave at us.

I didn't wave back. I hung down over my knees and tried desperately to catch my breath. He rejoined the game.

“Jerk,” Anna muttered.

We started running again, this time in silence.

As I settled into my stride, I tried to interpret Anna's strange warning. Cam's animosity toward Jack was hardly a secret, but was she suggesting Cam might be capable of hurting him? That was hard to believe. More likely, Anna was so bitter about being dumped that she was now spinning stories about Cam. Or maybe she was hoping I'd rush to Jack's defense, and that would turn Cam against me.

It was all pretty far-fetched, but the worst part was, whatever code she was speaking, I didn't get the feeling she was lying.

“Why are you telling me this?” I summoned the nerve to ask. “You don't even like me.”

Anna checked her watch. “Not everything's about you, Dancia.”

With that she shook her ponytail and effortlessly lengthened her stride. I stopped on the trail and watched as she sped away from me, her brown hair swinging behind her like a flag.

I SUFFERED
through my usual evening of studying, ignoring Catherine, and pretending I fit in with twenty-five other clueless freshmen who had no absolutely idea what was going on behind the walls of their fancy private school. Just before lights-out, a fight broke out in the bathroom when Cara accused Hannah of stealing her razor. Hannah, in turn, accused Cara of using her hair spray. Sides were taken and tears ensued. Parties sent emissaries back and forth between rooms. Hennie got involved to negotiate a truce and soothe hurt feelings.

Catherine gave them all dirty looks and went back to our room and slammed the door. For once I was relieved to be able to follow her and go straight to bed. I had enough real drama in my life. I didn't need the manufactured kind.

Cam wasn't at lunch the next day, so I sat with Esther and Hennie. I purposely put my back to the doors of the cafeteria so I couldn't watch to see if he'd come in. My friends seemed to know something was up, and didn't mention Cam once. Esther had a short story due in her creative writing class, and Hennie had a vocabulary quiz in Hindi, so they didn't have time to pay much attention to me anyway. I bit my fingernails, poked at my taco salad, and refused to even look at Jack. As far as I could tell, he was ignoring me too.

I barely heard a word Mr. Phillips said during English; I just stared at the clock and counted the minutes until I could run to study hall. Cam had said he would come get me then. Even with Anna's odd warning ringing in my ears, I still wanted desperately to see him, all the while dreading the moment I would look into his eyes and know how he really felt.

Though I was convinced he would deny everything, I had decided to confront Cam about the “Watcher report.” I just couldn't give up on him completely. Part of me still believed there was a way out of this, an explanation for the whole awful mess. The paper lay tucked into my back pocket, wrinkled from where I'd wadded it up the day before.

I started to panic the moment he entered the room. That wavy hair tickling the edges of his ears, those broad shoulders, and the smile that seemed to work even on teachers. It all had a magical effect, and I suddenly couldn't imagine even suggesting that he was involved in anything so ugly as what the paper might suggest.

He handed my teacher, Mrs. Westerly, an official-looking yellow sheet, and she beckoned for me to approach her desk.

“Dancia, Cameron has requested that you assist in his seminar project. I don't normally allow freshmen to opt out of study hall so early in the year, but he has personally vouched for you.” She glared at me over the top of her glasses.

Mrs. Westerly liked to think of herself as being tough.

“Now, you may go to the library,” she continued in a stern voice, “but nowhere else. Understood?”

“Okay.” I gulped.

Cam gave me an encouraging
Don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything
look. “Thank you, Mrs. Westerly,” he said.

“I'm holding you responsible, Cameron,” she warned.

“I understand.”

I went back to my desk to grab my books, and a few of the girls in the class gave me jealous looks. It was a good thing I had given up on my fade-into-the-background plan. All the time I'd been spending with Cam had made me a bit of a celebrity among the freshman girls. Even Allie had asked me a week or two ago whether we were going out.

Cam's arm brushed against mine as I walked out the door, and he gave me a little wink. My confusion deepened. Could he really be this good an actor? How could he be so sweet, and so devious?

“How was your run with Anna?” he asked. “I saw you guys yesterday, by the practice field. You looked like you were working hard. I hope everything went okay?” He took his time with the words, as if making sure he said precisely the right thing.

I considered my response just as carefully. Anna was one of Cam's best friends, and his ex-girlfriend. I wouldn't do myself any favors being catty about her. “It was…challenging. She's very fast. And serious about what she does.”

We walked passed the trophies and plaques on the wall by the front door. I stopped in front of a picture of a team of runners. Each person held out a silver medal. Anna was standing in front of the group. She had a grim smile on her face, as if she were trying hard to look happy.

“You know, that's at last year's state championships. She was pissed they only got second,” Cam looked at the picture with a mix of admiration and something else—regret? Was he sorry that he had broken up with Anna?

“I get the feeling she can be a bit competitive.” I lingered, shifting between watching Cam and studying the picture. I wished for something in his body language that would tell me how he felt about her.

“Now that's an understatement.” Cam pointed to the stairs. “We should go. I'll get in all kinds of trouble if we get caught in the hall.”

I took one last look at Anna's face and followed Cam up the stairs. We passed the front desk and wound around the stacks. The library extended through several connected rooms, and Cam seemed to know where he was going. I kept my mouth shut and followed, trying to ignore the curious gazes I felt directed our way.

We maneuvered around study cubes hidden at the ends of shelves, and around dark corners of the library I didn't even know existed. Finally, Cam led us through a set of double doors to a dim, windowless room, where one fluorescent light flickered overhead.

We sat down at the only desk in the room, and Cam pulled his chair beside me. He cleared his throat. “I have something I want to talk to you about—” he started to say, but I interrupted him.

“I have something I need to say first.” Somewhere in my tortured mind, it occurred to me that if I didn't say something quick, he would turn up the charm and I would end up drooling and mindless, unable to do anything but sit at his feet like an obedient lap dog.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for confrontation. I pulled the crinkled paper out of my back pocket and spread it out on the table in front of us. “What's this, Cam? What's a Watcher?”

He leaned forward to examine the paper, and his eyes widened. His cheeks went white, then red. “Where did you…How did you get that?”

Jack hadn't made it up. My last bit of hope dissolved. “I don't think that matters. I just want to know what it means.”

“Jesus, Dancia. You shouldn't have this.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Pain, sharp and sudden, laced through my heart. “It's about me, isn't it? Don't I have a right to know if I'm being watched?”

“Did Landry give you that?” He slammed his hand down on the paper. “I knew I felt a disturbance in my room yesterday. He must have broken in while I was grabbing breakfast.”

“It doesn't matter where I got it, Cam,” I said flatly. “I want to know what it means.”

“It's for your own good,” he said, through pinched lips. “For everyone's good.”

“Delcroix isn't just a private school, is it? What else is going on here? Is this some government thing?”

He shook his head. “No, of course not. Look, it's not what it seems. It's nothing bad. Honestly.”

I waited for him to explain, but he just kept staring at the page, his shoulders tight, his foot tapping the ground rapidly as if he were waging some internal battle. I waged my own battle, fighting the desire to collapse with the pain—the sheer heartache of having all my insecurities proven horribly, completely true—and the desire to punch Cam right across his perfectly square jaw. Finally I grabbed my backpack and stood up.

“Listen, if you're not going to tell me what's going on, I'll find out myself. At least I know why you've been so nice to me. From now on I won't let myself fall for it.” I started to walk away, but he caught my arm.

“Dancia, it's not that I don't want to tell you. But I can't.” His eyes pleaded with me. “And I do like you. I like you a lot. That's why this is all such a mess. You've got to believe me.”

I tried to shake off his arm, but he held on tighter. “Cam.” My voice broke. “Don't make a fool out of me. Please.”

He pulled me gently back down into my chair, taking my hand in his. Reluctantly, I set my backpack on the floor and let our eyes meet.

He will not turn my brain to pea soup, I chanted to myself.

“I do have to watch you,” he said, his gaze even softer than usual—almost tender. “But I would have done it anyway. What I said to you that day I got the message from my dad was true—you're a real friend, Dancia. Someone special.”

“You've got friends, Cam,” I said. “You don't need me.”

“But you're different from other girls I know. You're more”—he fumbled for the word—“more real. Like you don't pretend to be something you're not.”

I laughed sourly. “You have no idea how wrong you are. I've been pretending all my life. I guess of all people, my Watcher should know that.”

“You may have hidden your gift,” he said, “and you had every reason to do that. But you've never hidden yourself. You've always been Dancia—tough and funny, absolutely determined, and a fierce protector for those who need you. I admire that a lot. I admire
you
. You've got to believe me.”

How did he manage to keep getting my hopes up when I knew at the end of the day he was just going to crush them?

“Look, things are all messed up right now because of this.” He let go of my hand and gestured toward the Watcher report. “But I seriously like you, Dancia.” For the first time since I'd met him, he seemed hesitant. “In fact, the main reason I haven't tried to be anything more than just friends was because of the whole Watcher thing. I didn't want to get those things mixed up. You're too important to me.” He pushed his chair back from the desk. “I'm sure you're pissed at me. I understand that. But there's more to us than this paper. I just hope you can believe me.”

My heart turned to a puddle of mush, along with what was left of my anger, but somehow I managed to find my voice. “I don't understand what's going on here. How can I believe a word you say when you won't tell me the truth?”

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, scattering the ends around his face. “If I tell you, I'll have to tell Mr. Judan,” he said under his breath, looking around as if expecting Judan to materialize right there in front of us. “He's supposed to be the one to make the decision on whether to tell candidates about the program.” Cam picked up the Watcher report and glared at the paper as if it were responsible for all his troubles.

Just when the silence had become too much, he continued, “This is really big, Dancia. Really important. If I tell you, you can't tell anyone else. I'm serious. No one. Are you sure you want to know the truth?” The intensity radiated from him in waves. He was almost trembling in his concern.

I paused. “I can't tell anyone? Even my grandma?” It occurred to me that if my powers were real, and there was a whole school dedicated to kids like me, maybe I could finally tell Grandma the truth.

“No.” His eyes were suddenly hard and sharp. “It's for her own good. Once you know about Delcroix, you could be in danger yourself. It's not something to take lightly. And Jack can never know. It would be incredibly dangerous. You have to promise me that.”

I thought about Anna's crazy warning—about someone being out to get Jack—but things were moving so quickly, I was too dazed and overwhelmed to ask more questions. All I knew was that I was finally going to learn the truth.

“I promise.”

He stood up abruptly. “There's no going back now, you understand?”

If he was trying to scare me, he was doing a good job. “Sure,” I said, trying not to let him see how terrified I was.

Slowly, he walked over to the doors that led back into the main library, closed them with a soft click, and turned a lock under the handle. The fluorescent light gave everything in the room a greenish-gray glow.

Cam's face became ghostly. “Follow me.”