Page 39 of Hunted
Hiseyes lowered, now. “You… admireme.”
My cheeks flushed even deeper red. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
His lips curled into a grin. “No, go on, tell me more about how you admire me.”
I shook my head. “Stop it.”
“We come from different worlds,” he said, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t coexist. Maybe we can even learn to be friends.”
“Friends?”
“Why not?”
My stomach dropped. For a moment, I was happy that he hadn’t brought up our kiss. It felt like he had done it on purpose, in order to avoid putting me in an awkward position where I had to explain myself, or even go over what had happened.
The moment he dropped that word, though, I realized. He hadn’t avoided it because he hadn’t wanted to put me in a weird place. He had avoided it because he didn’t ever want to speak of it again, because he wanted us to be friends…justfriends.
I couldn’t understand why that had hit me in the gut the way that it had. I also didn’t know why watching him extend his hand toward me like that made me feel sick to my stomach. There was so much going on inside of me, so many weird emotions bubbling up, rising to the surface.
My head was spinning, my heart started to pound, and my knees were going weak. All this time I had been determined to avoid discussing our kiss, but now that I had discovered his intention to also skip right past it, Ifeltsomething.
Something I couldn’t explain.
“Is that what we are?” I asked.
Valerian frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Are we… friends?”
“I would like for us to be.”
I swallowed hard. “And… what about what happened the other day? Do we… forget about it?”
The question clearly made him uncomfortable because he withdrew his hand. “Right… I hadn’t wanted to mention it.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure. I suppose I didn’t want to because—” the small, buzzing lightbulb above us suddenly flickered. I felt a trickle of something wash through me, something dark, and cold.
I turned my eyes up just as the light went out.
In the darkness, I gave Valerian my eyes. There was no light in the room, but I could still see him, and he could still see me. “Did you feel that?” I asked.
“I did…” Valerian turned his head. “Do you think—” another surge of cold washed through me.
Valerian had clearly felt that, too, because he cut himself off without finishing what he was about to say. He quickly headed for the bedroom door. I raced after him. The corridor lights were out too, and for a moment, I found myself back in the department store, plunged into darkness, and about to have to navigate an ever twisting and changing maze.
When I spotted Helen walking into view at the end of the corridor that led into the dining room and the kitchen, relief fought away any coldness I had been feeling until now. That was, of course, before she spoke. As soon as she opened her mouth, the feeling returned.
“I need you to not panic,” she said, her voice stern, and grave, “And follow me into the living room.”
“Why?” I asked, “What’s happened?”
“Our outermost protective sigils have just been breached.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
My grandmother had told me not to panic, which obviously meant I was panicked. Whatever I had been feeling a moment ago got squashed, shoved way down deep inside me, replaced by a sudden sense of urgency. Our outermost sigils had been breached, but my grandmother hadn’t said by who, or by what.