Page 2 of The Discovered
“Stop calling me that,” I hissed at a clearly tipsy Nick before pulling him in for a hug. Leave it to him to pregame the pregame. “How are you?”
“Fantastic, darling,” he glanced behind him at Steph’s work pals. “Oh my god. Who are they?” He fanned his face.
On cue, Steph introduced them as David and Reagan, who, to be fair, did look like fitness models. Cole was not amused by Nick’s antics as he drooled at the two men, and his unwavering, judgmental gaze was really starting to get on my nerves. We all gathered in the kitchen talking and waiting to head out to the club a block over.
“Is no one going to say anything about how nice this place is? How in the world are you guys affording this?” Cole gawked, looping his arm around Rena’s waist. “I know that a fashion magazine intern, a social media manager and whatever the hell it is that you do,” he continued, lazily pointing to me, “do not make enough forthis.” He laughed, looking for support from Steph’s friends who politely smiled and averted their gaze.
Steph and Rena fell silent and looked over at me. I cleared my throat and opened my mouth before being cut off by Cole.
“Oh,” he said, “trust fund baby then?” He stared me down with a crooked grin.
Rena crossed her arms and shot him a look. My cheeks felt hot. A vision of my mothers’ faces overwhelmed my vision, smiling down and warning me:
Never take off your special bracelet, Áine. It will protect you and keep you hidden…
I twirled the silver band around my wrist. “My parents passed away and left me some money,” I said simply, meeting Cole’s gaze and holding it firmly until he looked away, the color draining from his face.
“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my bad,” he said, scratching his head and looking down at the kitchen tile.
“Alrighty then,” Nick said, laughing nervously and giving my hand a squeeze. Under the façade of chaos and messiness, his energy was warm and light, like the feeling of sunlight trickling through blinds on a morning with nowhere to be. “Shot and then go?”
Everyone quickly nodded their heads with more than enough enthusiasm.
“To the birthday girl!” The room cheered.
By the time we made it to the club, the line to get in was all the way around the corner from the entrance. Cole groaned and rolled his eyes, which the rest of us tried to ignore as we made the best of it. His energy was becoming more and more draining and hard to ignore. Blocking out his negative vibes was even more important to someone like me—a clairsentient—who could feel the emotions and psychic baggage of others. Clubbing could be an intense and overwhelming experience for anyone, but for me it could either turn into my own personal hell or an orgasmic high. It all depended on the kind of energy I intercepted from the hundreds of people around me.
“Hey.” Nick nudged me. He brushed his light brown curly hair out of his face. “You feeling up for this?” He swayed a little, resting a hand on my shoulder.
“I would tell you if I wasn’t,” I said.
“You didn’t last time…” he trailed off, referring to the night I’d just been dumped and had a full-blown mental breakdown as I felt the pain of three hundred people. He saw the look on my face and quickly spoke again.
“You looksohot though, seriously.” He grabbed my hand, lifted it above my head, and twirled me around. “Like yes, honey!”
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. Rena and Steph joined in to hype me up as I blushed and grinned. I felt the red flashes of anger coming off of Cole like sparks, for reasons I couldn’t begin to imagine.
When we finally made it inside, Steph led us to the coatroom and then to the dance floor. Somewhere along the way we’d lost Rena and Cole, and I felt a bit guilty at my relief. The energy around me was overwhelming. It was bright, multicolored, and pulsating, overpowering my senses. I allowed myself to get drunk off of the collective effervescence as I danced in our little circle.
After a while, one of Steph’s friends, Reagan, approached me and started dancing in front of me, eyeing me up and down. He had dark brown skin, well-defined muscles that peeked through his thin white shirt, and a mischievous smile. We started to dance, Steph squealing, “Get it, girl!” in my ear. I reached out for his energy, trying to separate it from the crowd. Deep in its core it was breezy but reserved, complex like a fine wine, but at the surface lay palpable lust. I had to taste it.
I moved my face closer to his, and he met my lips. But as soon as his tongue grazed mine someone pulled me away.
“Áine!” Steph yelled over the loud music. She pulled on my arm, her eyes urgent. Dread swam to my gut. “We need to go find Rena!”
The four of us linked hands and started moving through the crowd back toward the entrance. In the wake of my fear, my high dissipated and dropped into the cavernous abyss. Suddenly the people around me reeked of pain, anger, and destruction. I could see the darkest parts of them billowing around like smoke and shadows.
When we hurried into the street, I gulped in fresh air, trying to breathe and center myself. Reagan shot me a look of concern, reaching out to steady me.
“What’s going on? Is Rena okay?” Nick asked.
Steph was staring at her phone, leading us further down the street in the opposite direction of our apartment. “I don’t know. I think she drank too much and now she’s arguing with Cole. Her texts don’t make much sense.”
I took a glance at her phone’s screen, where Steph was tracking Rena’s location. We seemed to be approaching.
“You can sleep it off at my place.” Cole’s terse voice rang out as we rounded a corner. He had a firm grip on Rena’s arm. When he saw us approach, his demeanor shifted into the defensive, and he let go of her. “She’s fine. Sorry about thedrama.” He raised his eyebrows and glared at Rena like he was scolding an errant child. “She just got too drunk—shocker—so I was taking care of her.” His eyes darted around, the streetlamps illuminating a throbbing vein in his forehead. He wiped at his nose and then at his bloodshot eyes.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, my whole body suddenly vibrating like the booming bass of a rock concert. I was barely aware of Steph and Nick starting to argue with Cole as I watched a very drunk, wobbly Rena dart into the road just as a taxi turned the corner and sped down the street. As if in slow motion, Rena tripped. Her body sprawled right out in front of the vehicle. The sound of screeching tires rang through the night. Reagan clutched my arm painfully as David yelled.
