Intangible (42 page)

“You’ve healed me,” he said.

“Not really.” Sera shook her head. “Fey did. She brought this necklace for you.” Sera lifted the pendant for Marc to see. He looked at it confused, and his eyes went to Fey.

“It’s specially made by my people for Gifteds who need protection. Luke and Sera each wear one, too, and theirs have served them well. Especially today.” She looked at him. “Yours will protect you from the Dark Elves for as long as you wear it.”

“Dark Elves?” Marc said.

“They are the deepest, darkest beings you’ve ever seen,” Fey said. “They’ve been torturing your mind. That is one of their many powers.”

“You mean the Shadows?”

“If that’s what you called them, yes.”

“They’ve been doing this to me all along?” Marc sat up, looked a little woozy, but stayed upright. “I’m not sick? Nothing’s wrong with me?”

Fey shook her head, then patted his chest where his necklace lay. “But you are protected from them now. You are safe again.” She paused. “If I had known what was going on, I would have been able to protect you sooner.”

Marc put his head in his hands and sat there shaking his head. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that this was all because of you two.” He looked at Sera and then Luke. “I can’t believe that my life has been ripped to shreds because of you.
And
almost ended by vampires. All because of
you
.”

“We didn’t do this to you,” Luke said.

“You
left me there.
” Marc threw his arms wide. “How could you leave me there?”

“We came back,” Luke said softly.

Marc had this look of astonishment on his face, and Sera felt her heart drop. “Do you know what she did to me? Do you have any idea what that PSYCHOPATH DID TO ME?”

“I’m sorry,” Luke said. “There was noth—”

“Let me tell you something,” Marc said. “I’m done with you. I’ve lost everything because of you.” He got to his feet and waved his arms around in the air. “I have no family, no friends—”

“You have us,” Sera said in a quiet voice.

“—no life.” Marc looked at Sera and shook his head. “I don’t want you. I want my old life back.” Then he closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m out of here. Now. I’m going back to try to pick up the pieces of the life I used to have.” He paused, then said, “I don’t want to know about the Realm or vampires or elves or anything else. I don’t want to be a part of this.”

Fey said quietly, “If you always wear that necklace, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Sera wanted so much to touch him, to ease his pain. To change his mind. “I’m sorry about what happened. I wish it hadn’t happened to you.”

“That makes two of us,” Marc said.

“Three, actually.” Luke stood up.

“Four,” said Jonas.

“Might as well make it five,” said Fey.

Marc looked at them all in silence, his mouth open, eyes wide. For a moment Sera was sure he was about to change his mind. But then his face closed, he shook his head, pulled his keys out of his pocket, and simply walked away from them.

“Marc,” Fey said. “What were the Dark Elves making you do?”

Marc stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“They wanted me to find Luke and Sera for them,” he said.

“What?” Sera said. “Like a bounty hunter?”

His shoulders sagged. “Yes.”

Sera stared at Marc’s back. No one else spoke or moved. Marc had hunted them down?

“What were you supposed to do when you found us?” Sera said.

“Turn you in,” Marc said. He turned his head to the side, but still didn’t face them. “But I couldn’t.” He sounded beaten. “I just couldn’t.”

Marc shook his head and plodded toward his car. Sera sat where she was on the ground in stunned silence. She couldn’t believe he’d done that. Had he even liked her at all or had it all been a ploy to lure her to the Shadows?

Marc stopped then and turned. Sera looked up at him and he was looking right at her, agony on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know what they wanted when they offered me the trade—finding you in return for the cure to the headaches and noise. I didn’t know I would find friends.” He paused, his eyes still on Sera. “I didn’t know I would find
you
. But I can’t do this. I don’t want this to be my life.”

Sera scrambled to her feet, and raced after him. To hell with right and wrong. She didn’t want him to leave and maybe she could influence him with a touch of her hand. He turned his head as she drew near, her hand reaching out to him. He flinched out of her reach, and fell over a gravestone. She stopped and dropped her hand.

He pulled himself back up and wheeled on her, breathing hard. “Don’t mess with me anymore. Don’t try to change how I feel by touching me. I said I don’t want this.” He stepped backwards to put more distance between them. “I’m not stupid, Sera. I know what you can do. You’re a freak.”

A pain started deep inside Sera’s chest. She could feel it starburst into thousands of shards cutting all the way down to her toes, out to her fingers, up to the top of her head. They lodged in her heart, her lungs, making every breath an agony of its own. Maybe if she didn’t breathe, it wouldn’t hurt, she thought.

Tears spiked behind her eyes, hot and sharp. She wanted to stop him. Wanted him to turn and smile and say that he’d stay, that they’d all be friends. That maybe he loved her. That she was worth it.

But she wasn’t worth it.

She knew that.

She wasn’t worth all the people it took to save her and Luke from Lilith. She wasn’t worth hardly anything at all.

She was a freak. Just like he said.

The tears had unleashed, running freely down her face. For a moment, she found her voice. “Marc?”

He’d reached his car, turned to look at her. “Don’t look at me like that, Sera. It’s not fair.” He looked away and took a breath, shaking his head slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…It’s just too much for me. You’re too much.”

She gasped at the jolt of pain his words caused. Her face wet with tears, she sank to the ground and silently watched him start his car and drive away.

Sera lifted her face to the sky, noticed the clouds coming in, then closed her eyes. And tried not to breathe.

“He’s wrong, you know.” Luke’s warm arm wove around her shoulders, pulled her tight into him.

“You’re not,” Jonas said, “a freak.”

“Says the psychic and the vampire,” Sera said. “Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it. You two are not exactly the experts on normal.”

“I am, however,” Luke said, “the expert on you. And he’s wrong.”

Sera sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “This sucks.”

“Yup.”

“You tried to warn me.”

“You never listen.”

Sera breathed. It wasn’t so bad. “Maybe next time I will.”

Luke shook his head. “No, you won’t.”

“No,” Sera said, and laughed in the midst of her tears. “I won’t.”

She took a deep breath. The air smelled frosty. Cold little drops fell on her face, and she opened her eyes. She peered up at the sky, and held out her hands to catch some of the flakes. They were big, fat, and fluffy—perfect snow. Promising snow. Magical snow.

Luke stood up, then offered her a hand. She grabbed it and let him pull her to her feet. She could feel his natural healing power seep into her hands, the pain in her heart ease. His healing wasn’t as strong as it had been in the Realm, but already she was feeling a little better. He picked up their coats off the ground, handed Sera hers and swung his over his shoulders. Shivering, Sera hadn’t realized just how cold she’d gotten until she was putting her coat back on. She’d kill for a hat, too.

Well, maybe she wouldn’t really
kill
for one. There’d been enough killing for one day.

Jonas was at her side. She didn’t know why he’d risked his life for her so many times, but she was forever indebted to him. She looked up at him and he met her eyes, peered within them to really see her. She realized suddenly that Jonas had acted no differently toward her after she’d healed him. And that he didn’t seem to want or expect anything from her.

He was different from anyone she’d ever known. And after what had almost happened when they’d crossed into the Realm—well, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.

Jonas offered his hand, which she took while Fey and Luke locked hands. If they didn’t want to walk home, they were going to have to teleport one last time. She wondered briefly if perhaps she could leave her broken heart here in the cemetery and just take the rest of her home.

And then they were gone.

THIRTY-SEVEN

“W
hy does Naomi keep leaving messages for you?”

Sera turned to Luke and tried to come up with some way to answer his question without really telling him what she’d done. She’d totally forgotten about Naomi.

“Are you two friends all of a sudden?” Luke said.

“No,” Sera said. “No, no, no, no.” Sera tossed her book bag into the car and looked around the parking lot as she’d been doing for the past two weeks, hoping a certain crappy blue car would be back.

It wasn’t.

She sighed. What a mess she’d made of things.

“Oh my god. Naomi is
calling
you?” Quinn said.

Sera whipped her head around with a gasp. He was about fifteen feet away and walking toward them, his music ever-present in his hand. He pulled the earbuds out of his ears.

“Really, I thought you had much better taste than that,” he said.

“What? How did you—” Luke said, but couldn’t seem to finish his sentence. Sera couldn’t either.

“I heard you.”

Sera looked all around. “But you weren’t here. How could you have possibly heard our conversation?”

Quinn shrugged. “I hear everything. That’s my gift.”

Sera and Luke stared at him in silence. It took a moment for it to sink in.

“That is
so
cool,” Luke said. “And slightly unnerving. All at the same time.”

Sera was still staring at Quinn. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I only found out about you two recently. And that was mind-blowing, I gotta tell you.” Quinn shrugged. “But, you know, it’s not the kind of thing you can say to just anybody, but I figured you two, with your special oddities, wouldn’t freak.”

“Sera? Hi. How are you?” Naomi had slithered up to Sera unnoticed. “Can we talk?”

Sera looked at Naomi then Quinn. There was no question who she’d rather talk with right now. Or any time, for that matter. But she had to get rid of Naomi first.

“I want to hear more about your gift,” she said to Quinn, “but I’ve got to handle something here. Can we talk later?”

“We definitely need to talk,” Luke said. He clapped Quinn on the back.

“Yeah, later,” Quinn said, and shook his head at them, a smile on his face.

“Oh, and Quinn?” Sera said. “Don’t listen, okay?” He held up his earbuds, popped them into his ears, and pushed play. She shot him a thankful look and watched him walk away.

Then she turned to Naomi. The sneer she normally reserved for Sera and other people she didn’t like, was replaced by a smile on her smug narrow face.

“Um, Sera?” Naomi said, snapping her fingers in front of Sera’s face. “You must not have gotten any of my messages. I’ve been calling and calling you. I was wondering if you’d want to go get coffee with me and my friends?”

Luke stared at Naomi for a moment in shock, then he turned slowly to Sera.

“Did you—” he started.

“Luke,” Sera said, lifting her hand to stop him. Then she reached out and grasped Naomi’s arms. “Thanks for the invite, but no.” She pushed a thought into Naomi.
Leave me alone.

Naomi looked confused, scowled at Sera and Luke for a moment, then turned and walked away.

Sera turned to meet Luke’s eyes. He had this disapproving grin on his face that made her narrow her eyes.

“What?”

“That explains a lot,” he said. “And that’s
so
not okay.” Then he laughed.

“Hey, you’re the one who told me to use my influence to make friends.”

“That’s patently not what I meant,” he said. “And you know that.”

Sera pressed her lips together, fighting the smile, but lost. She couldn’t contain it with Luke laughing at her. She laughed, too, her cheeks growing warm. She actually felt bad for having manipulated Naomi like that. Or maybe she felt bad because she
didn’t
feel bad about it. She wasn’t entirely sure.

When Luke stopped laughing, he looked at her for a moment, a big grin on his face, and said, “It’s good to hear you laugh. You’ve barely cracked a smile for weeks,” he said. “It’s almost like you’re back.”

“I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Yes, you did.
You
.” He tapped her temple. “In here. You were gone.”

Sera shook her head, brushing him off. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I talked to Jonas this morning.”

“And?”

“Everything’s still okay.”

Luke exhaled long. She knew how he felt. Since returning from the Realm she’d been on edge, felt chills shiver over her skin every time she’d seen that tell-tale flicker. She couldn’t help but fear they were coming for her again.

Thankfully, it was always Jonas, and he’d been keeping his distance. He’d nod and then disappear. But this morning when she’d seen him before classes, she’d wanted to talk to him, so she’d held her hand up and mouthed the word
wait.
He’d nodded again, leaned against the corner of the school.