Page 57 of Stone Cold Touch

I caught Zayne’s frown as I twisted toward Roth. “What do you mean?”

“When you told his mom we could help him,” he said, an oddly serious glint to his amber eyes. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

My stomach took a little tumble. “Why?”

“I don’t think we can help him. At all.”

15

“I have an idea.”

When Roth spoke those words at the beginning of Tuesday’s bio class, I was immediately prepared for any amount of cray-cray, especially after our visit with Dean.

“Okay?”

“Since we didn’t get anywhere with Dean yesterday, I’ve been thinking.” He lowered his head and spoke quietly. “No one’s really checked out the old gymnasium, have they?”

“Not since that night as far as I know. So?”

His eyes shone brightly. “Who knows what kind of evidence we’d find down there since it was where the Lilin was kind of born. Doesn’t hurt to check it out. Thought you’d be interested in scoping it out at lunch.”

I opened my mouth, but snapped it shut. This was exactly what Zayne had asked me not to do. Granted, checking out the gymnasium in the bowels of school wasn’t exactly running off with Roth.

“I know you don’t want to sit around and let us take care of it,” he cajoled, tilting his head to the side. “At least, the Layla I remember was more of a get-involved kind of gal, not someone who’d rather sit by the sidelines.”

My eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re doing. You’re goading me into going with you.”

“Is it working?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Perfect,” he replied, twisting toward the bio door. He held it open for me. “It’s adate.”

When he laughed, I knew there was a good chance I was going to kill him and stash his body behind the bleachers.

Instead of going to lunch like a normal person, I left my bag in my locker and headed in the opposite direction. I’d spent the vast majority of the morning telling myself I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and as soon as I saw Zayne after school I’d tell him that we’d checked out the gymnasium.

The hall was empty and the conversations behind closed doors muted. Overhead, the red-and-gold banner rippled softly as the heat kicked on. As I passed the computer lab, the door opened and Gareth stumbled out.

His legs and brain seemed to not be connected. He staggered to the side, leaning into a locker. Bending at the waist, his chin dipped to his chest.

I stopped, biting my lower lip. By no means were Gareth and I friends, and I’d been shocked that he’d even known my name when he’d invited me to watch football practice not long ago. According to Stacey, Gareth probably knew my bra size, which creeped me out a bit.

His body shuddered as he dragged in a deep breath.

But he was in trouble—perhaps the Lilin kind of trouble.

Taking a quick breath, I walked over to him. “Gareth? Are you okay?”

Gareth folded an arm across his waist and when he didn’t answer, I touched his shoulder lightly. He jerked up, knocking my hand off his shoulder. Bloodshot eyes met mine.

I took a step back, shaken. Like with Dean, behind the red veins and hazel irises, there was something empty in there. Something gone.

“What are you staring at, freak?” he asked, and then laughed. “Freak-a-deek-a-deek...” he mumbled, giggling as he shuffled slowly off toward the cafeteria.

Good God...

Hurrying to the stairwell, I leaned against the wall down there and lifted my head as I heard the door above me open. A second later, the space that was empty in front of me was filled with six-and-then-some feet of Roth. Gasping, I jerked back.

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