Part 11 (1/2)

I was startled by his actions and flinched backwards. ”What are you doing?”

”Take a deep breath, think about your house, and step into that black shadow beside your feet.”

”Dude, I think you're off your meds.”

He glared at me. ”You want to know how I've been able to show up where you are, and then disappear just as quick?” He motioned toward the black shape on the ground. ”That's how. Through the shadows. That's how incubi travel. How they can show up in your room at night and suck out your soul.”

My breath caught in my throat as I thought about that night I evidently sleepwalked across town. The old b.u.m had said I'd come out of the shadows. Maybe I had, really, truly done that, without even realizing I could.

”Does it hurt?” I really was through with feeling a lot of pain. I wasn't a wimp, but how much could an average person really take before their brain exploded into a thousand mushy pieces?

Trevor must've sensed the unease in my voice, because he squeezed my hand, not a tight I'm going to break if off squeeze, but a comforting I understand type of press. Maybe he wasn't as hard-a.s.sed as I original pegged him to be. ”There's no real pain. It just feels like you're being sucked down a tube, really fast.”

”Great, sounds like fun.”

His lips twitched a little, but he shook it away and looked sober again. ”Take a deep breath, picture your house in your mind and step into the shadows.”

I nodded and then taking a deep breath, I stepped into the black spot of shadow, squeezing Trevor's hand so hard my fingers hurt.

At first nothing happened, and I opened my mouth to call him a big fat liar. But then I sensed it, pulling at me, tugging at my insides. And it didn't feel very good at all.

It was like I was being sucked through a thin plastic bendy straw one molecule at a time. First my feet, then my ankles. I looked down to make sure I was still whole, but that was a big mistake. I couldn't see anything below my knees. It was as if I didn't exist past them. Just thick black s.p.a.ce, like a black hole, occupied the area where my flesh should've been.

I glanced up at Trevor and was about to call him a nasty name, when he disappeared. Well, not so much as disappear as disintegrate into an inky jelly-like ma.s.s that quivered on the ground. But before I could scream, I too melted into nothingness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in my bedroom near the window. Trevor sat on my bed, staring at me. ”Not so bad, right?”

I crossed the room intent on strangling him, when the toe of my boot connected with the game guitar lying on the floor. It went sailing across the carpet and into the open closet door. It shouldn't have been much of a sound, but it seemed deafening in the dark of my room at midnight.

”Salem?” Came my mother's voice from the living room.

”s.h.i.+t,” I hissed under my breath, and looked at Trevor. ”Get out of here.”

”I can't get out that fast.” He stood, obviously playing off my rising panic.

”Salem?” Her voice was getting closer. It would only be seconds before she peeked into the room to see if I was home.

I pushed on Trevor's shoulders. ”Get on the floor. Get under the bed.”

He ducked to the ground, just as my mom pushed open my bedroom door and looked in, catching me standing by my bed, a smile on my face, in the dark.

”I didn't see you come home.”

I shrugged, but realized she probably couldn't see it. ”You must've been in the bathroom or something.”

She flicked on the light and came in a few steps. ”Everything go all right?”

”It was fine.” But I didn't meet her gaze, because everything was not fine. Not in the least.

She pressed her lips together and I could tell she really wanted to ask me all sorts of questions, but she kept her cool. My mom was awesome that way. G.o.d, I was going to miss her.

”He wasn't all you thought he'd be?”

I just shook my head, not trusting my voice.

”I'm sorry, sweetie. I guess we're always trying to find that white knight, when really they don't exist.”

Yeah, there were no white knights. Dark ones maybe. And I took that moment to glance down at my feet. Half of Trevor was under the bed, the other half peering up at me. His gaze was so intense it gave me s.h.i.+vers.

I looked at my mom again. ”I'm tired. I'm just going to go to bed.”

She nodded. ”Okay, babe.” She turned to leave, but glanced over her shoulder at me. ”If you want to talk about it, or anything, I'm here for you.”

”I know, Mom.” Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn't do this. I couldn't leave her, and everything I've known. I didn't want to be a fugitive. On the run, from the law, and from myself. Running with a boy I didn't know, and wasn't sure if I truly wanted to know. This couldn't possibly be my life now. It just couldn't Before she could make it through the door, I came around the bed and to her. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her hard, breathing in her flower scent one last time. ”I love you, Mom.”

She hugged me back, just as fierce, sensing that I needed it. That's what I loved about her, she usually knew what I needed. Even when I said one thing, she instinctively sensed I meant the other.

”I love you too, baby. You're my special girl.”

I couldn't stop the tears then. I let them roll down my cheeks, hoping that Mom thought they were the result of a bad date with a stupid boy and not anything else. And not because I was leaving her and my home-my life.

She patted my back, and kissed my cheek. ”Get a good night's sleep. Everything will look differently in the morning.” Giving me her I-completely-understand smile, she rubbed tears from my face with her thumbs, then tapping me on the nose with a finger, she turned and left my room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Trevor crawled up from under the bed to sit on the edge. I whipped around and glared at him. Grief mixed with anger and fear at having to leave swirling around in my gut and I wanted to lash out at something, anything.

His face was still hard, but something in his eyes softened his look a little. ”I'm sorry.”

”I can't do it. I can't leave.”

”You have to, Salem. You don't have a choice.” Standing, he grabbed my pink camo backpack from the floor and set it on the bed. ”Just grab the essentials. We can buy the rest on the road.”

”I'm not doing it.”

He didn't respond. Instead, he searched the room, then picked up the backpack, walked to my dresser, opened the top drawer, grabbed a handful of my underwear and shoved it in. He opened the next drawer and the next, systemically shoving my clothes into the bag.

I rushed across the room and grabbed the bag from his hand. ”Stop it. I'm staying.”

”Don't you get it, you can't stay. You'll go to jail for sure. You a.s.saulted Josh and nearly killed him.”

”I don't care.”

”You should. Do you have any idea what juvie will be like for you? You'll go nuts. At first you'll be picked on and beat up because you're so small, but then when your other half awakens you'll start killing. You won't be able to stop yourself.”

”I'll control it. I'll keep it at bay.”

He arched brow. ”Oh, like you controlled it with that guy you were with? If I hadn't showed up when I did, he'd be dead, sucked dry.”