Book 1 - Page 39 (1/2)

“How long can I keep you safe? It’s only goan to get worse and worse. We’re heading into places where folks lived off the land and hunted, where there weren’t Wal-Marts on every corner with aisles of cans to live off of. They’re goan to be starving, Evie. Desperate.”

The new food chain . . .

“I’ll be taking you straight into danger, and it might be for nothing. You got to be wondering if your grandmother’s even alive.”

“She is.”

“Why you sound so confident about her? You’ve had more visions, haven’t you? d.a.m.n it, why haven’t you told me?” In a surly tone, he added, “Bet you told coo-yôn.”

How to reply to that one?

“It’s like you two communicate in some way I can’t understand.” He exhaled a breath. “I got to accept that, me.” Then his brows drew together. “Why’s that boy always talking about the future? You said he lectured you—why would he be lecturing a psychic like you?”

I began pulling at a new hole in my jeans.

“Is he . . . like you? Can he see the future?”

Though I might not tell Jackson my disturbing secrets, I couldn’t lie to him anymore. “I don’t have visions of the future, Jackson. I am not psychic.” But I also couldn’t tell him Matthew’s secrets.

Jackson flashed me a disappointed look. “I saw your drawings. I’ve watched you get nosebleeds.”

I bit my bottom lip, gazing out through a filmy windowpane.

When I glanced back, he had that a.n.a.lytical look on his face. Uh-oh. “The day we rescued that boy, you told me you didn’t think you’d be alive for long without his help. He ain’t simple, is he?” When I eventually shook my head, Jackson added in a mutter, “I’d kinda hoped he was.”

“He’s just . . . different.”

“When are you goan to come clean with me? What is he to you?”

“I started seeing him just before the Flash. We do communicate differently. He’s one of the voices I hear.”

“Heh. You haven’t had a single nosebleed since we picked up that boy.”

I swallowed, uneasy with where this was going.

“This is like those puzzles we used to do in school. If some things are true and some are false, you can figure out a solution. If you haven’t told me any lies tonight—”

“I haven’t!”

“—then I can back my way into the truth. One. You said you can’t see the future, but you didn’t answer when I asked if that coo-yôn could. Two. For some reason, you think his help can protect your life. Three. You once told me your visions felt like they were being shoved into your head. Maybe ’cause they were?”

Cunning, perceptive Jackson.

Realization lit his expression. “You’ve been growing plants somehow, and he’s been seeing the future? It makes sense.”

I just stared at him.

“Did he send you those visions to protect you?”

Why bother denying it? “He tried to get me ready for the Flash. I barely listened to him.”

Jackson tensed. “Then why does he keep talking about you dying, Evangeline?”

Oh boy. “When he talks about me meeting Death, he’s doesn’t mean it like you think. More like I should be prepared to face a big-bad or something. I know it sounds weird, but he considers Death to be a . . . person. Someone who can be defeated.”

A measure of tension eased from Jackson’s shoulders. The idea of a fightable adversary was something he could handle. “So both of you got gifts.” Then his face fell. “That’s why you like each other so much.”

“It’s not like that with Matthew and me. He doesn’t see me in that light.”

“He’s a sixteen-year-old boy, Evie. He sees you in only one light! Trust me on this, cher.”

“Well, I look at him like a sibling.”

“Like I did with Clotile?” he asked, and I thought he was holding his breath.

“Exactly. He’s a kid brother to me.”

Jackson briefly closed his eyes. At the memory of Clotile? Or from relief at my words? Both?

Had he truly believed I was interested in Matthew? I could only imagine what all Selena had told him when I wasn’t around. Doubt-mongering b.i.t.c.h.

Jackson met my gaze. “Got something for you.” He reached for his nearby bag, rooted around inside, then produced a bottle of Sprite.

My lips parted as he handed it to me. “Did you know that was my favorite?” He might as well have presented me with a piece of priceless jewelry. Just like with the gum, every time we drank a soda or ate a candy bar, there was one less treat in the world, never to be replenished.

“Of course. I did see you at five lunch periods. I’ve been saving it for when you could enjoy it—alone.”

I unscrewed the top, handing it back to him. “We will share it.”

“Oh, you’ll drink after me?”

My cheeks flushed. “Sometimes I can be immature, Jackson. I know it’s not always easy to be patient with me.”

As we pa.s.sed the bottle between us, he grew serious again. “I’m not goan to be able to keep charging forward blindly. And there’s so much more than you’re telling me. Why woan you trust me? Is it because of the stuff I did back in school?”

Arcana means secrets. “It’s not you, Jackson, it’s me.”

He scowled at that, about to question me more, but the sun had begun to rise.

“I got to head out to work, me,” he said. “I’d leave Selena here as a guard, but her bow shoots better from a distance, and I need her for cover. I can’t get in and out of a camp full of soldiers without her.”

“I understand.”

“You woan have to worry about Baggers today. And h.e.l.l, coo-yôn can probably see any threats coming, huh?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just please be careful.” Though I knew he was brave and resourceful, I didn’t want him to go, dreading the danger he was about to wade into. “I want you to make it back, okay?”

“I could almost think you really care about me.”

“I do really care!”

“About having a bodyguard to protect you.”

“You’re more than that to me,” I said quietly. “And you have to know that—so why are you acting like you don’t?”

“Then prove it.” He eased closer, until our faces were inches apart. “Tell me your secrets.”

G.o.d, I loved it when he looked at me like this, with his eyes so steady and . . . affectionate?

“Trust me, ma belle. Can you do that?”

Ma belle meant “my pretty,” but also “my girlfriend.” So how did Jackson mean it?

Just then, glaring beams of sunlight hit us through the window, like . . . winter suns.h.i.+ne.

The spell was broken between us. Jackson s.h.i.+fted back to his usual restless self, his mind on his upcoming task. “Just think about it, Evie. We’ll talk when I get back.”

We woke Selena and Matthew, both groggy and in p.i.s.sy moods. I was too nervous to care much.