Hunting Shadows (Shadow Series #3) (6 page)

“You’re both going to stare at us while we attempt to sleep?” Grant asked with a raised
eyebrow. He looked pointedly at Simon. “I’m not sure how comfortable I am with that.”

“Tough.” Simon’s one word answer was said in a tone that was meant to brook no argument.

Grant looked like he was about to protest, but then he just shrugged. “Fine. Whatever.
The world has already turned upside d
own. I guess being watched
by a vardoger while I sleep isn’t any crazier.”

I sat in
a beanbag chair that Sarah had in the cor
ner of
her room, and Simon took
her desk chair. It was pretty awkward once Sarah and Grant settled into bed and we
turned off the lights except for the small lamp on her desk.
Sarah fell asleep pretty quickly but
Grant was watching Simon as much as we were watching him, and I thought he’d never
go to sleep. Bu
t he slowly drifted off, the combination
of the day’s trauma plus the beer probably mixing into
a potent cocktail for sleep.

Simon and I were silent as the night wore on, but he ended up joining me on the beanbag
chair, his body cradling mine as we crowded into the small seat. We watched the haze
of sunlight as dawn broke, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I felt the sure and
steady beat of Simon’s heart as I leaned my cheek against his chest, trying to convince
myself that I could save everyone, including Simon.

Chapter Five

I never ended up waking Ryan to take over
watch since it was only a few hours till morning. He was
already awake when
I shuffled out of Sarah’s bedroom after Grant
had
balked at being watched while taking a shower. He was sitting on the couch, the sheets
neatly folded
with the pillow stacked on top.

He didn’t bother with pleasantries when he caught si
ght of me. “You never woke me
to take
over
watch.”

“I figured it wasn’t worth it since it was only a few hours. I’m not that tired so
it was no big deal.”

Ryan looked at me disapprovingly as he stood. “You need to keep your strength up.
That includes getting enough rest. You’re no good if you’re weak and tired.”

“I’m fine,” I replied irritably. I didn’t feel like answering to Ryan this morning,
whose father figure act was annoying me. I didn’t wan
t to admit that it might have something
to do with my exhaustion and
the fact
that he was probably right.

Ryan just raised his eyebrows but didn’t make any further comment. His gaze shifted
to behind me, and I turned to see Simon approaching. Simon didn’t acknowledge Ryan’s
presence and just addressed me.

“Grant and Sarah are still determined to go to class today.”

“Is that
necessarily
a bad idea?” I asked. “We’re all tired of being trapped in here. My father is already
winning because he’s forcing us to live in fear, afra
id to venture out of this apartment
. Now with Ryan here, we don’t have to worry about being surprised by him.” I glanced
at Ryan before turning back to Simon. “Ryan and I will go with Grant to class. You
should go with Sarah.”

“Absolutely not,” Simon said emphatically. “There’s no w
ay in hell I’m leaving you alone
with him.”

Simon’s attitude, compounded by my earlier irritation with Ryan’s demeanor, just made
me more frustrated.

“Simon, I’ll be fine!” I exclaimed irritably. “Ryan and I need to be with Grant in
case his vardoger tries to attack him. And I’ll be distracted if I’m worrying about
Sarah. For once, can you not fight me on this and just do as I ask?”

Simon seemed s
urprised by my outburst and
studied me for a moment before answering. I hadn’t meant to speak to him so harshly,
but I was feeling smothered by him. As much as I appreciated him wanting to protect
me, I wanted him to believe in my abilities as well.

“I’m just worried about you, that’s all,” he said in a measured tone.

“I know. I appreciate it, but I need you to watch over Sarah. That’ll help me more
than anything else.
Even though I know my father isn’t an imminent threat, I’d still feel more comfortable
if you were with her.
” I tried to gentle my tone, but I couldn’t entirely mask my impatience.

Ryan had been watching our exchange silently, and we all just stood there awkwardly
until Grant and Sarah joined us. Simon didn’t protest when I told them the plan was
for
Ryan and
me
to go with Grant to
his classes, and for Simon to go with Sarah.
I was also relieved when Sarah and Grant didn’t object to Simon
accompanying
Sarah
since I knew they were still wary of him.

After we all got ready for the day and had a quick breakfast, we went our separate
ways.
I could feel Simon watching me, but I didn
’t look at him as we parted ways
.

The cold brisk air was a welcome reprieve from the stuffy apartment, and I reveled
in feeling free for the first time in days.
Grant, Ryan and I didn’t speak as we walked to Grant’s first class, which
,
luckily
,
was a lecture so we blended into the crowd of students in the auditorium.
It felt gratifying to just be amongst other people, to go through the motions of
normal life, even though nothing about our lives
was
normal anymore.

“I never thought I would enjoy going to class so much,” Grant commented as we
made our way out of the lecture hall after class. “This has given me a whole new
appreciation
of listening to my professor drone on about musical theory.”

“Even I enjoyed it,” I said with a laugh. “And I didn’t even understand half the stuff
he was talking about.”

“What’s next?” Ryan asked, checking his watch.

“I have a composition class next. It’s a lecture too
,
so you won’t have any problems blending in.”

I had even less idea about what the professor was talking about in Grant’s musical
composition class
,
but it was still nice to be out and about. Afterwards, we went to the student center
where we had already planned to meet Sarah and Simon for lunch. Sarah and Grant had
texted throughout the morning, and everything seemed to be going fine on their end.

Sarah and Simon had already gotten their food and found a table, so we hurriedly went
through the line and joined
them
. I felt a t
w
inge of reg
ret for my earlier attitude when I saw Simon
at the table, his dark eyes studying me as he watched me approach. He was just concerned
about my safety and I couldn’t begrudge him that. His expression seemed tense but
he relaxed when I gave him a quick kiss after sitting down.

“How was your morning?” he asked.

“Good,” I replied. “I
can now discuss
,
at length
,
how harmony, melody and chords come together to make music.
How was your morning?
”

Simon gave me a small smile. “I’m happy to hear that. My morning was non-eventful
,
although I never thought I’d learn so much about Renaissance art.”

“Oh, you loved it!” Sarah exclaimed. She leaned towards me conspiratorially. “I think
Simon is tempted to switch over to a fine arts major. I’ve never seen anyone listen
to the professor with such rapt attention.”

Simon shrugged. “It was interesting, that’s all.”

Sarah’s joke lightened the mood, and the conversation remained light instead of being
consumed by the darkness that had been surrounding us lately.

“
Marcus called me earlier today
,
” Grant said during a lull in the conversation. “Joel has been after him about when
the Henchmen are going to perform at the East End.
I can’t use the excuse of being sick anymore
since
I told Marcus
I was completely over the virus
. I wasn’t sure what to tell him
about playing at the East End
so I told him
I would talk to you first.
”

His comment was directed at Simon, and he looked surprised
at himself
. It was as if he had forgotten that Simon really wasn’t his cousin, and he had slipped
ba
ck into their past dynamics without thinking.
Joel was the owner of the East End, the bar where the Henchmen usually played, and
he was probably sick about the money he was losing by the band not playing there since
the
y
drew huge crowds.

“It’s probably not the best idea,” Simon answered, seemingly not finding it odd that
Grant had reverted back to speaking to him normally. “Let’s see how the next few days
go. I know everyone wants things to go back to normal, but we can’t just ignore everything
that’s happened.”

Grant seemed to accept Simon’s answer and didn’t push the matter any further.

“That reminds me,” Sarah interrupted. “Jenny texted me. She wants to know when we
can get together now that we’re virus-free.”

“Tell her and Marcus to come over tomorrow
night
. I can make dinner.” I glanced at Simon, expecting him to protest, but he just kept
silent. I wondered if he was remembering my frustration with him this morning. Now
that we knew my father wasn’t close by, I didn’t see any need to keep our distance
from Marcus and Jenny. They w
ere our best friends, after all, and Ryan would be able to sense if they were overtaken
by their vardogers.

We went our separate ways again after lunch with the agreement to meet at the apartment
in the late afternoon.

“What’s next?” I asked Grant.

“I have a group meeting for one of my class projects at the library.” I opened my
mouth to speak, but before I could say anything Grant held
up one hand
. “You can’t join the group. There’s no way I can explain why I have two
bodyguards trailing
me
around
everywhere.
Especially when one bodyguard is a small female.
”

I rolled my eyes. “I was just going to say that we’
ll
sit at a table near you.
Don’t worry, we’re not going to horn in on your group.”

When we got to the library, Ryan and I sat at a table positioned so that Grant was
directly in our sights. The first floor of the library was abuzz with conversation
from
the tables
that were filled with
students. It was the one area of the library where you didn’t have to be quiet, and
as a result it was a common place for students to gather to study together.

Despite all the noise, I was acutely aware that this was the first time I had been
alone with Ryan.
We didn’t speak for a while as we just sat there, listening to the conversations
around us. Ryan was the one to break the silence.

“How are you coping with all of this?” His voice was quiet, sounding even more hushed
in comparison to the loud voices around him.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I’m
too busy worrying to think much
about anything else.”

I glanced at him and saw that he was watching me. “What about you?”

“I’ve had a lot more preparation for this than you have. I’ve spent my entire life
knowing what my destiny was. And I still struggle with it sometimes. So I can’t imagine
what it’s like for you.”

Ryan’s honesty made it easy
for me
to open up to him. “It’s hard and I’m still coming to terms with everything, but so
much has happened that I’ve barely had time to contemplate it all.” I paused before
continuing, my voice dr
opping. “Are you happy with your
life? With being a seer?”

“Yes. The majority
of the time I know that I couldn’t lead any other life. I wouldn’t know how
. This is my calling.” His lips thinned. “But there’s a tiny part of me that wonders
what it would be like to lead a normal life. To spend my days going to work, worrying
about paying my bills on time and
spending time with friends.” He glanced at me before continuing. “I wonder what it
would be like to have a real relationship where I can be honest with the other person.
To tell them the truth about myself. Dating isn’t easy when you’re a seer.”

I flushed for s
ome reason.
Ryan’s words felt
more personal
than they should. My
next words tumbled out without any
thought. “What about other seers? You can be honest with them.
Why don’t you date them?”

Ryan’s mouth quirked. “Believe me, I’ve tried. I thou
ght it would be easier if I
partnered with
a seer. I had this idealistic notion that we’d spend our days fighting vardogers together,
and our nights…
well, we’d spend it otherwise occupied.
But I’ve never b
een able to find a seer strong
enough to keep up with me. So I always just end up leaving them behind.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say or how our conversation had gotten so personal so
quickly. I stared at Grant, not wanting to look in Ryan’s direction. I told myself
that
nothing he said had anything to do with me, but I couldn’t help remembering his comment
yesterday
about ho
w strong I was
. I quickly banished the thought. I was confusing
empathy towards
a fellow seer with attraction.

“What about you?”

“W
hat about me?” I asked
, still not turning to look at him.

“What about you and Simon? Do you really think that’s going to turn out well?”

I finally tur
ned to look at him, my
indignation
at his words
blotting out any foolish thoughts of attraction I had been entertaining.
“Simon and I are none of your business.”