Page 36 of Stone Cold Touch

“Making what hard? And don’t call me shortie.”

He shook his head. “Come on, we need to talk for real. Where we won’t be interrupted.” He started toward the faded double doors and I knew where he was heading—ourstairwell. The place where we students weren’t supposed to be, where no one ever went. It led to the old gymnasium and smelled like mold, but it had been our place before.

And that’s why it was the last place I wanted to be, but Roth was already stalking down the stairs. I squared my shoulders and followed him. Nothing had changed about the ten-by-ten landing. Gray paint was still peeling off the cement blocks. Rust covered the handrails. Dust floated in the light from the tiny window at the top of the steps. Time had forgotten this place.

Roth turned to me and leaned back against the wall. He raised his arms above his head and stretched. His long-sleeve shirt rose up, exposing a tantalizing glimpse of his lower stomach and the dragon tattoo—Thumper. Its blue-and-green scales were as vibrant as before. Roth had said once before that the dragon only came off if things went bad fast. I couldn’t imagine what Roth’s idea of bad was when he hadn’t used the dragon the night with Paimon. The dragon was resting now, wings tugged close to its belly and its tail disappearing under the band on Roth’s dark jeans. Considering how low his jeans hung, the length of Thumper’s tail I could see caused heat to flood across my cheeks.

“Layla...”

I dragged my gaze up and sucked in a tiny breath when I saw how bright his ocher eyes were.

“Like what you see?”

My hands curled into fists. “No. Not at all.”

“You lie.” A smirk appeared on his lips. “And you’re still a terrible liar.”

Striving for patience, I dropped my bag on the floor. “Why are you here, Roth?”

He didn’t answer immediately. “You want the truth?”

I rolled my eyes. “No. I want the lie. What do you think?”

A soft laugh followed. “I kind of like school. We don’t have places like this down below.” He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s normal.”

Something squeezed in my chest. It was the same reason I liked school—it was normal and I could be normal here, but I refused to relate to him on any level. “You shouldn’t be here.”

One brow arched. “Because of you?”

I wanted to scream yes—dear God, yes! “Because you being here is pointless.”

“Not really.” He finally lowered his arms, and I silently thanked God, because his stomach was no longer a major distraction. “You can’t tell me that the death match in the hallway this morning wasn’t weird.”

I didn’t say anything.

“And I doubt this is the first strange incident recently, right?” His eyes were hooded as he watched me.

Part of me wanted to tell him no, because I didn’t want to see that smug look of his grow, but that would be stupid. I couldn’t forget the very real, very huge problem we were facing. “There have been a few things. Dean—a kid who’s never done anything—hit another boy so hard it actually killed him for a few seconds. And then I’ve seen couples really making out—”

“Nothing wrong with that,” he replied, grinning.

I narrowed my eyes. “Except we have a strict no PDA policy and a teacher walked right past them, even as they went into the girls’ bathroom.” I tucked my hair back and then dropped my hand to where the ring dangled off the necklace. “So you think the Lilin has been here?”

He nodded. “It makes sense—after all, it was created here. Which is why we need to talk. You should be able to pick out the Lilin, or at least any strange demons around here.”

“Uh...” I looked away, twisting the chain around my neck. I didn’t want to tell him, but he was a demon and maybe he knew what was up with it. “Well, you see, not really.”

Pushing off the wall, he stood straight, all attention focused now. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t see auras anymore. Nothing. Happened a few days ago.”

His head tilted to the side. “Details.”

I sighed. “The auras were kind of wonky at first, blinking in and out at lunch, and then I got this sharp pain behind my eyes, and I can’t see them anymore. So I’m virtually in the dark. I don’t sense other demons Wardens do—you know, not as strongly. I’ve never had to work that muscle.”

“This is too much of a coincidence.”

“That’s what I feared,” I said, dropping the ring. “I was hoping it didn’t have anything to do with the Lilin.”

---