Page 263 of Midnights
Cam frowns, looking at my hand on his arm, clearly confused by my reaction. Meanwhile, I can barely breathe.
The memory slams into me so fast.“I can smell you.”My heart stumbles, and my pulse spikes while I replay the night of the attack on the street. The lights shattering. His scream. All of it coming back in vivid detail.
Cam's eyes widen. “He said he couldsmellyou?” His tone turns razor-sharp, and all his casual amusement is gone. “Why thefuckdidn’t that come up before?”
The sharpness in his tone makes me flinch, and I can feel the heat crawling up my neck. Okaaay. Cam's never been mad at me before, and wow—turns out I'm not a fan. “Wait, I thought you said you couldn’t read minds?”
I'm on my feet before I realize it, and that buzz spreads in my fingertips again. Great. Exactly what I need—more paranoia about someone digging around in my head. And for the first time since being here, I wonder if he's lying to me.
His frown twists into a grin and he looks smug as hell. “I can smell you right now.”
I recoil. “That’s… ew. Wait, what the fuck do you mean?”
“It means,” Cam leans back, enjoying my confusion. “ … you did it!”
“I did what?”
He laughs, looking shocked, and it's starting to piss me off. “I think you justshowedme.” He gestures between us. “I have no clue how you managed to do that, I’m not even sure you meant to…”
He trails off, and I can hear his voice fill with excitement. I don't know why, I didn’tdoanything. And what the hell does he meanshowed him. How?
Fuck. My head hurts.
“That’s extremely rare, by the way. Not many people can do that.Interesting.”
I barely hear him over how fast my mind is spinning. And then, I feel it. There's a strange, intense pull that flares in my chest, spreading like wildfire. It spreads through my arms, and I can feel it in my whole body.
Cam notices instantly. His grin fades leaving that all-business look I've been seeing a lot lately.
“Talk to me, what’s happening?”
“My whole body feels…” I hesitate, searching for the right words and also not knowing how much to share. “Tingly. And my hands are sweaty. Umm…I feel this pressure in my chest.” I glance down at my hands, half-expecting them to be glowing.
He freezes and his entire demeanor shifts. His voice dips darker and just like that, I feel like I'm the one about to get grounded. “Let’s back up for just a second. What exactly did he say?Start to finish.”
I blink, thrown off by the question. I'm assuming he means the man who told me I smelled bad.
“Uh, he said…” The memory jams up in my throat, sharp and sour. “He could smell me. Called me reckless. He sounded… disgusted, which was rude.” My pulse thrums in my ears while I try to think. “And that I was exactly who he was looking for.”
Cam doesn’t move. He just stares at me and the silence feels like needles under my skin. Then he's on his feet and his chair screeches back, slamming into the desk hard enough to shake it.
I can already tell that whatever comes out of his mouth next won't be good. And when he finally does speak, it’s calm, and his mask is locked right back in place.
“And you didn’t think to mention thissooner?” His tone isn’t outright accusing, but the edge in it slices right through me.
I wince, crossing my arms over my chest. “I didn’t know it was important,” I snap, defensively. “I just thought he was a creep who had me confused with someone else.”
Cam exhales slowly, pinching his nose. “That explains a lot, actually.” His voice drops lower, talking more to himself now. “Explains why he said he could smell you. If your magic’s spilling, that’s what he was picking up on.”
His jaw tightens. “And if you’re radiating like that…” He trails off, muttering a quiet, “Shit.”
A pit forms in my stomach. “What does that mean?”
Cam's shoulders tense, and when he looks at me again, there’s a crack in his expression. And it looks a lot like worry.“It means,” he sighs, “you’ve been using magic for longer than just today. And you’ve been lighting yourself up like a Christmas tree to anyone who knows what to look for.”
I open my mouth, then shut it again. Because what the hell am I even supposed to say to that?
The heat flares in my hands, so suddenly, that I suck in a breath. A tingling sensation rolls under my skin, snaking through my fingertips like electricity searching for an exit.
