Shadow's Dangers (6 page)

All of a sudden, I felt dizzy. The pain in my head, which had come to pass in the morning, manifested again. What was happening? I had no idea, but it couldn’t be straying from my imagination. Not again. There was a problem with Garreth. I clung to the table, feeling faint. I longed to break eye contact, but I couldn’t do it. Images kept flashing before my eyes. Like yesterday. But worse because it was not snippets I saw, it was something fuzzy, like a memory almost completely forgotten. This scene took place in a car. Excruciating and agonizing cries. Blood. So much blood... And
his
eyes. This was too much for me.

“Deliah? Deliah? Deliah, you hear me?”

Garreth’s voice. I had only it heard a few times and yet, even in a daze, I recognized it. His words echoed in my mind. I was sure I had already heard it before. The images became less clear and went by more quickly, while the screams became deafening.

“Deliah,” Leighton called me calmly.

“It’s spinning...” I said.

It felt like being on a roller coaster and seeing the world at high speed while feeling the characteristic stomach drop associated with this out-of-control ride.
The blood flowed like a river of purple.
The images of the canteen mingled with those of my mind.
Faces bloodied. Nothing but many black beasts.
Everything swirled around me. I felt so bad. My pulse pounded in my temples uncontrollably. I was going to throw up if it continued like this.

“Deliah, look at me. Look at my eyes.” I obeyed and stared at the almost clear blue pupils. Then, in the next second, the monstrous visions vanished, disappearing from my mind and I returned to the real world. I blinked several times. My eyes wandered to the worried faces around me. Brown eyes...Eyes of a clear blue...Striking amber eyes as I had never seen before...And those eyes like two emeralds.

I knew these people. But the effort to try to put names to these faces was too much and I was too exhausted to do it. I didn’t know how I found myself standing in the middle of the cafeteria. My legs were weak, suddenly. Unable to stay conscious any longer, I collapsed to the floor.

4

The Fleeing

When I opened my eyes, I thought I was raving crazy. And for good reason. The vision I had in front of me was absolutely delirious. I was in my room, at home. Up until then, everything was normal. What was less than normal, however, was that I wasn’t there alone. Garreth was there, sitting lazily on my desk chair, arms crossed, not far from my bed. Another factor, albeit secondary but still having its importance, was that he was staring at me intently. Luckily, this time I didn’t faint when our eyes met. I sat up, not letting go of his gaze. For heaven’s sake, what was he doing here, in my room, while I was unconscious when two days ago we didn’t even know each other?

“It must be the after-effect of the unconsciousness,” I explained aloud to myself, without considering my imaginary visitor.

He wasn’t there. It was inconceivable that Garreth was in my room, so I could talk freely without worrying about him. It was then that my visual hallucination smiled, a bright yet confusing smile, like the real Garreth had given me this morning when I talked about his car. Of course, I had to recreate the perfect copy of the original. Absurd.

“Apparently, you’re trying to persuade yourself that I am the fruit of your imagination. Why?”

I sighed. How had I stored all those details about Garreth in so little time? Was I that focused on him? I refused to believe that I had let myself be charmed by his impeccable physique. I knew nothing about him, dammit! Besides I barely knew him and he wasn’t even friendly. But the real issue was that he caused strange and inexplicable reactions in me every time my gaze met his. It was clear there was something that really didn’t work properly with me.

“A side effect,” I repeated. He was here...at least I was imagining him here...simply because he was one of the last people I’d glimpsed before fainting. Nothing more, nothing less.

“I’m really here.”

My subconscious took me for a fool again.

“And I just became a nun and entered the convent,” I added stupidly, without thinking. “No, seriously, I have to stop this madness.”

“She doesn’t believe me.”

And now, my illusion was talking to itself. It just kept getting better and better.

“I have to admit this is all rather flattering,” I said. “I didn’t know I had such a good photographic memory and was able to reproduce an exact copy of the handsome original.”

He laughed. My heart missed a beat. Lord, it was disconcerting. Now I let myself be seduced by a boy fashioned by my own imagination.
Wake up, this is not Garreth. The real Garreth is an unpleasant whim. What you see here has nothing to do with him,
I reasoned with myself.

“I think it’s I who should feel flattered.”

And it was with these words that I considered the possibility that this nonsensical conversation might not be an aberration of my mind. I realized suddenly that it was indeed reality.
Oh, God!
I was horrified.
How to look like an idiot, Scene 2, Act III...
I hid my face in my hands. I should consider writing a book on stupidity. There was decidedly no one more talented than me on the subject.

“Don’t be embarrassed.” He was laughing at me. His face expressed it clearly. And his mocking tone, too.

“This is terribly, horribly mortifying,” I said in a small voice.

“You’re done?” He seemed to be having fun at my expense. I began to regret his customary silence.

“That’s it, keep making fun of me,” I muttered under my breath.

“You were saying?”

He had risen from the chair and approached my bed while talking, so I knew that he had heard my words.

With rage, I extricated myself from my sheets before getting up. I realized too late that the person who had slipped me into bed hadn’t seen the need to put me into pants. I was in a T-shirt, one that didn’t even happen to skim my butt, of course, and I wore the dastardly flowered panties that I was forced to wear because I forgot to do the laundry last weekend. And all this in front of an almost stranger.
What else? Could this day be any worse?
I mused, annoyed.

He smirked while eyeing me up and down without a shred of decency. I hastened to find pants in my closet and pulled on the first pair of sweats that fell into my hands. No doubt, however, that he had time to get an eyeful at the goods. I turned to him, furious.

“Who put me in my bed? Who put me in this T-shirt that I used to wear when I was ten years old? What are you doing in my room? Why aren’t the others here? Did I really faint? What the heck has happened? And finally, stop smiling like that, it gets on my nerves!”

He didn’t stop smiling. If he continued to act like this, I would find a way to make him swallow his smug attitude. He might be sublimely beautiful with his dimples when his lips stretched into a smile, but I was determined to get him to stop giggling at my expense. Especially since I wanted to call myself every name in the book for letting myself think he had charm when he smiled.

“My sister. I told you. I’m just watching you until she gets here. She and Travis had to take Hayden home because of her mother, and also take care of the school nurse who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when she saw you on the ground. This means that, yes, you fainted. What happened, well, I just told you. And finally, sorry but you’re just too hilarious.”

All of this said with his damn sardonic smile on his lips. This Garreth exasperated me to the highest point. I noticed that he still hadn’t actually answered one of my questions. When I said that I wanted to know what happened, I meant: “How could I feel bad
again
after another of our visual exchanges?” It was better to keep my mouth shut about it. Maybe I had just imagined it all. I’d prefer to avoid looking like a crazy person and see the information spread throughout the school. Or worse, that it get to Annabelle and she gets me committed. She was quite capable of it, just to get rid of the burden that I was for her.

I pulled myself together and finally said, “Thank you, but you can leave now.”

“No.”

No? Who did he think he was? In what world did he live in? When a person asked you to leave their house, you did it. Apparently no one had ever taught him manners.

“Are you kidding me?” I retorted, beginning to get irritated by the arrogant character in front of me.

“No offense but you’re in no condition to be left alone. For instance, there were a few seconds, when you still thought you were dreaming when you were awake. Also, my sister would inflict on me the worst tortures if I left you. She ordered me to stay by your side until she comes, so I won’t move until her arrival.”

I let out a frustrated groan. He looked kind of stubborn, just like me, so it was certain that no matter what I tried, he wouldn’t leave. I decided to go back to my bed and forget his presence and who knows, maybe with a little luck I would be able to sleep and when I woke up, Leighton would be there and he would have disappeared. I smiled before I realized that with the bad luck I had, Leighton wouldn’t come any time soon. And sleeping in the presence of Garreth struck me as highly unlikely, as he put my nerves on edge. My smile disappeared and I sighed deeply.

“You’re upset.”

“Congratulations, Mr. Psychologist! Seriously, what an extraordinary gift of analysis you have. I think you found your calling.”

He laughed. I closed my eyes, exasperated. Could he not stop taking everything I said or did as a joke? Certainly, he did nothing wrong, but I felt uncomfortable in his company, and I wanted to see him leave this house soon so I could stop feeling this way.

After many long minutes of silence, he spoke again.

“Who’s
Grumpy
?”

I opened my eyes in surprise before straighten up in a sitting position on my elbows.

“
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
doesn’t sound familiar to you?” I asked him, slightly amused.

Surprisingly, he didn’t smile this time.

“You know I’m not talking about that. You muttered something like, ‘Grumpy don’t touch me; I don’t like it,’” he said frowning. “Who is it?”

His manner betrayed nothing, but his eyes showed a certain tension. What did he not tell me? Had I said something bad about him in my sleep? I bit my lip. It was out of the question that I tell him that Travis, his brother, was the one I talked about for some unknown reason. Why did he have to be here when I started to talk in my sleep?

“You don’t want to tell me.”

“Your sense of deduction amazes me,” I pronounced, tired that he was constantly interpreting my attitude, and with so much accuracy.

He became more and more obnoxious to me. Yet, he did nothing wrong. What was my problem with him? Why did something in me say the faster I got away from him, the better it would be?

Despite myself, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander in his direction. For the first time, I really saw him. Besides his emerald eyes that I had already noticed, he had black, ebony hair that accentuated his pale skin. His jaw was protruding, his traits typically masculine and I found the few times I met his gaze, his thick black eyebrows brought out the particular color of his iris. He was  probably the most remarkable of the trio he formed with his brother and sister because there was definitely something special about him. His sumptuous full lips opened again, interrupting the silence that had settled between us.
Sumptuous full lips? Seriously? Please, someone make me stop!

“Leighton told me what happened to you, a few weeks ago. All my condolences for the death of your grandmother. I know it doesn’t alter the pain you feel, but I wanted to tell you. We too have experienced tragedies in our family. I understand what you are experiencing.”

Surprisingly, the sincerity and sadness that I perceived in his eyes shook me. He knew what I felt, like his sister. They had experienced it. His speech revived the wound created by the death of Tess but knowing that a few people in this world understood the magnitude of the loss I had suffered made me feel less alone and helped me believe that maybe things would get better one day. After all, they seemed fine. Would I make it out of this? I hoped so!

I accidentally let a tear escape me. Then another. And others soon followed.

“I did not mean to make you cry,” he said, coming to sit beside me on the bed.

I wiped my wet face and sniffed before attempting to reassure him, shaking my head negatively.

“It’s... nothing.”

He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and I followed his gesture with my eyes, holding my breath while a part of me was screaming at me to not let him get close to me. When his hand moved away from me, I shivered, in fear or horror, I didn’t know. I wasn’t used to being touched, let alone from someone of the opposite sex. However, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant, despite my instinct that made me act strangely around him. Garreth was both annoying and fun. He was elusive. His personality escaped me. This boy was a living enigma, a mystery that attracted me and made me want to run away at the very same time. As if something in him, along with his sister and brother for that matter, was wrong. As if they were all hiding something. Something bad.

I castigated myself. Now I was delirious. Again. The only person who had something wrong, was me. Not them.

“You know, I think my sister likes you a lot.” I frowned at his admission. This boy went from one topic to another without transition.

“The feeling is mutual,” I replied.

He smiled sincerely. I wondered whether to display a cheerful air was not something usual in the family. Leighton always appeared thrilled; Garreth never smiled until a while ago; and, Travis was confined to his superior air in order to hide his true feelings. Maybe I wasn’t totally wrong in my theories. Maybe they really hid something? A dark family history or a terrible event that happened before they arrived here? After all, they came here without any relatives or legal guardian. Something serious must have happened in their past. However, I wouldn’t find out what they were hiding because, then, I would have to accept that them digging into my past. Everyone had their secrets; mine was my strange nightmares.