Page 39 of Firestorm
Her ice-gray eyes were downturned, covered by long, dark lashes,attention on her doodle while one of her cute feet bounced anxiously under the desk.
This girl was far too intriguing for my liking. For starters, I’d never described a foot ascutein my life, but hers definitely were. I’d also never followed someone this long. I’d been following her for a few weeks now and yet, I wasn’t bored. She’d surprised me the other night, running out into the dark like a banished booty call, only to end up in Craig’s secret garden of all places. I sat with her for over an hour while she wept and mutilated some irises. When I came back in the morning to find her shivering and exhausted, looking like complete hell…
Well, somehow that had only endeared me to her.
I’d stepped up my game, following her more frequently and only returning home when officially summoned, which wasn’t often. I spent most of my time stalking around the campus anyway, waiting on Craig to have free time for us to hang out. I’d been bored as fuck ever since he got his grownup job as a counselor. He wouldn’t even tell me stories from what the students told him during their sessions.
My best friend was a complete killjoy.
But, whatever. Craig being a stuffy academic gave me plenty of free time, which I gratefully used to follow my new infatuation. There were still plenty of things for me to learn about her.
Her grades were immaculate, even though I noticed rather quickly that she hardly seemed to pay attention. She was intelligent, that was obvious. She’d have to be to still hear the professor’s words while seemingly ignoring them. Her homework was always turned in first, though she chose to sit at the back of the room, which meant she wasn’t a teacher’s pet. No, this girl wasn’t anyone’s pet at all.
She somehow hadn’t been bullied or hazed. She had an air of confidence surrounding her that betrayed her low standing as an air and water affinate. She avoided confrontation while simultaneously ready to end a problem.
She ignored all the guys who’d attempted to speak to her, not even bothering with a placating smile. I liked that one a lot.
She thought no one had seen her trip Landon fucking Iykos, but I had.
She also thought no one had noticed how her fingers twitched right before Landon passed out during Health class, but I’d seen that, too.
I saw everything she did.Everything.
I saw how angry she was at Brandt for letting Carla fucking Martin insult her. I saw how hurt she’d been, too. I saw all her midnight panic attacks after what I assumed had to have been nightmares. I saw how she pulled the blackout curtains over the dorm window anytime she was alone, whether or not it was light out. She did a lot of peculiar things, but that one was almost the strangest.
I sayalmostbecause out of everything I saw her do…the one thing shedidn’tdo, was react when I prodded at her mind.
She was locked down so tight, I’d never break through her barriers without starting a fight. Even in her sleep, she was completely locked down. Something told me she’d zap my mind and give me nightmares for a year when she realized it was me who’d been prodding at her. Because shewouldeventually find out it was me. She and her two friends had just been talking about me a few days ago. They didn’t really say much, she only admitted she’d never seen a picture of me, but still. They talked about me.
She’d intrigued me long before that, though. And as irritated as I was over my intrigue toward her…I was also already making plans for our paths to cross. I really did want to meet her.
Aiden Brandt was sitting next to her, as usual. He alternated between chewing the pen Skye had given him last class and twirling it in his fingers as if it were a baton. Anytime he tried to whisper to her, Skye sent a burst of air into his face. Yesterday, she’d soaked the front of his jeans to look like he’d pissed himself. The idiot had merely laughed before throwing his arm around her, then stumbled as more air knocked him off balance and away from her.
She’d been mad at him for all of two days over Carla, and now she was tentatively letting him back into the fold. Frustratingly, I’d missed whatever conversation they’d had, where assumingly, he’d apologized for being a passive idiot. It wasn’t in Brandt’s nature to be apologetic, even if he was one hundred times the person his mother was…
I shivered at the thought of Lucille Brandt’s sneer before I carefully reached out to Skye, brushing against her mind with another gentlecaress. She didn’t react to me, as usual. I practically pouted in annoyance. She was quite the puzzle.
I’d narrowed this situation down to two possibilities.
Option one, she knew I was prodding at her and she was so confident in her ability to keep me out, that she flat-out ignored me. In this scenario, she’d have to be wildly powerful, more powerful than myself, my grandfather, and any other telepath I’d ever encountered.
Option two…she was so weak and unaware that she really didn’t know I was there.
I was beginning to think it was the latter.
I’d considered the possibility that someone had shielded her mind for her, but I didn’t sense anything of that sort while I was nudging her. In fact, she was starting to become annoyed with my constant prodding, so I knew she knew I was there.
She’d also spoken to me, which was…shocking.
Her speaking to me added to option one: she was wildly powerful. Usually, when someone sensed me stalking them from the shadows, they were terrified.
Not Skye. Skye squinted her eyes and traced the outline of my face and shoulders like she wasseeingme. I shivered as I remembered the night in the garden, just as she raised her head and looked up and down the aisle she sat in.
My many weeks of following her were starting to pay off. Anyone else would assume she was taking a casual glance around the room. But me? I knew she was looking for me. She wouldn’t find me, but lately she was getting close.
Unease swirled through my gut at the thought. The only people who should have been able to sense my presence were my Key or Link-mates.
Searching Skye’s file on Craig’s office computer had told me that there was an issue with her Link-testing, which was suspicious. No one had ordered her to retake it, and that was also suspicious. Craig wasn’t the type to have errors in his files. He should have fixed the issue immediately. The fact that he hadn’t…was suspicious.
