Banishing the Dark
Page 34
* * *
Lon didn’t say anything until we were back inside the SUV. While he started the engine, I pulled down the visor mirror to confirm what I already knew: reptilian pupils ringed with silver and a halo so bright it cast metallic light across the dash. I slammed the visor back into place as he pulled out of the garden parking lot, heading back toward the residential neighborhood we’d passed through to get there.
“Call Jupe,” he finally said in a flat voice. “Get him to summon Priya and find out if he noticed that in the Æthyr.”
“I didn’t—My tail.” I didn’t feel it slithering down the leg of my pants in the garden, so that was something. “My horns didn’t . . . did they?”
Lon shook his head and flicked a glance at my halo. “Just that. And your eyes. Cady—”
“I know, I know,” I mumbled. “I lost control. I don’t know what got into me.”
But that wasn’t really true, was it? I did know. I was jealous as hell over a man who wasn’t mine. And that was nearly as terrifying as the Moonchild power, which had flared up as fast as my anger and temporarily overridden my good sense.
I dug out my cell phone and stared at the time on the screen. “It’s past one in the morning,” I told Lon. “Jupe’s asleep.”
Lon opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind.
“We can check in the morning,” I said. “What’s done is done. If my mother detected what just happened, there’s nothing I can do to undo it.”
Traffic picked up as Lon headed into Old Town, where a handful of late-night pedestrians strolled down sidewalks lined with bars and restaurants. Lon was asking me something, what I’d learned from Rooke. But I couldn’t concentrate for all the worries clamoring inside my throbbing head. Rooke’s insights about my mother. My dead brother. The serpent temple. My screwed-up memories. The jealousy I felt over Lon. The barely restrained power coursing through my veins.
A keening panic gathered in the pit of my stomach.
“Pull over,” I pleaded, desperately punching the button to lower my window. Why wasn’t it working? Stupid safety lock. “I need air.”
The SUV turned sharply off the main road onto a small side street and swung into an empty parking space. I lurched out of my seat and onto the curb, slamming the door behind me. For a second, I thought I might throw up. But after I took a few steps and focused on my breathing, the nausea faded.
I slowed down and rested my hands on my hips, glancing around for any nearby Earthbounds who might spot my insanely bright silver halo. Not a one, but then, I’d only seen one since we left Big Sur. So strange. I’d become used to Earthbounds outnumbering humans in La Sirena; it was easy to forget the rest of the country wasn’t like that.
Palm-tree shadows striped the sidewalk below my feet. Lingering scents of expensive tapas and wine hung in the air as I passed the last sidewalk café on the block, which looked to be closing up for the night. Live music pulsed from a neon-lit club across the street. Beyond here, the noise petered out.
Unhurried, steady steps approached me from behind. A few seconds later, Lon’s deep voice floated over my shoulder. “You okay?”
“I think so,” I said.
“You ready to talk about what happened back there?”
I swung around to face him. “I lost control.”
“Did Rooke say something to make you angry?”
“Nope.”
“Because you looked pissed as hell.”
“Well, you looked like your tongue was going to fall out of your mouth.”
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw Evie flirting it up with you.”
Lon squinted down at me with a puzzled look on his face. “She was trying to get information out of me.”
“O-o-oh, she was trying for more than that. And clearly, you weren’t discouraging her, because I saw her giving you her phone number. Were you going to drop me off at the hotel while you called her up for a nightcap?”
Lon’s head slowly tilted to the side, as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying but was trying to make sense of it. I knew at that point that I sounded like a crazed, clingy harpy, but I just couldn’t stop myself.
“Her hands were all over you,” I said. “You practically had your nose wedged between her breasts. Which weren’t real, by the way.”
“Whoa,” Lon warned as his brows snapped together.
“Don’t ‘whoa’ me. I’m not stupid. I know—” What? What exactly did I know?
My head pulsed as it tried to make sense of the hurt clawing at my chest. I was insanely, painfully jealous, and it didn’t match what was in my head. He was not my boyfriend. He was just an overly generous man who’d opened his home to me and taken me in, as if I were some ragamuffin orphan who needed shelter.
I knew this.
But I didn’t care. I was still hurt.
“Is that what you like? Women who look like that?” I asked as angry tears stung my eyes. “Can’t you manage to spend a couple of days alone with me without sniffing after the first oversexed bitch who shoves her tits in your face?”
“Cady—”
I grunted and shoved at his chest. “I got naked in front of you—I let you take pictures of me, for the love of God! Maybe you think of me as just some oddity that Father Carrow foisted off on you, but I have feelings. I have pride.”
Lon didn’t say anything until we were back inside the SUV. While he started the engine, I pulled down the visor mirror to confirm what I already knew: reptilian pupils ringed with silver and a halo so bright it cast metallic light across the dash. I slammed the visor back into place as he pulled out of the garden parking lot, heading back toward the residential neighborhood we’d passed through to get there.
“Call Jupe,” he finally said in a flat voice. “Get him to summon Priya and find out if he noticed that in the Æthyr.”
“I didn’t—My tail.” I didn’t feel it slithering down the leg of my pants in the garden, so that was something. “My horns didn’t . . . did they?”
Lon shook his head and flicked a glance at my halo. “Just that. And your eyes. Cady—”
“I know, I know,” I mumbled. “I lost control. I don’t know what got into me.”
But that wasn’t really true, was it? I did know. I was jealous as hell over a man who wasn’t mine. And that was nearly as terrifying as the Moonchild power, which had flared up as fast as my anger and temporarily overridden my good sense.
I dug out my cell phone and stared at the time on the screen. “It’s past one in the morning,” I told Lon. “Jupe’s asleep.”
Lon opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind.
“We can check in the morning,” I said. “What’s done is done. If my mother detected what just happened, there’s nothing I can do to undo it.”
Traffic picked up as Lon headed into Old Town, where a handful of late-night pedestrians strolled down sidewalks lined with bars and restaurants. Lon was asking me something, what I’d learned from Rooke. But I couldn’t concentrate for all the worries clamoring inside my throbbing head. Rooke’s insights about my mother. My dead brother. The serpent temple. My screwed-up memories. The jealousy I felt over Lon. The barely restrained power coursing through my veins.
A keening panic gathered in the pit of my stomach.
“Pull over,” I pleaded, desperately punching the button to lower my window. Why wasn’t it working? Stupid safety lock. “I need air.”
The SUV turned sharply off the main road onto a small side street and swung into an empty parking space. I lurched out of my seat and onto the curb, slamming the door behind me. For a second, I thought I might throw up. But after I took a few steps and focused on my breathing, the nausea faded.
I slowed down and rested my hands on my hips, glancing around for any nearby Earthbounds who might spot my insanely bright silver halo. Not a one, but then, I’d only seen one since we left Big Sur. So strange. I’d become used to Earthbounds outnumbering humans in La Sirena; it was easy to forget the rest of the country wasn’t like that.
Palm-tree shadows striped the sidewalk below my feet. Lingering scents of expensive tapas and wine hung in the air as I passed the last sidewalk café on the block, which looked to be closing up for the night. Live music pulsed from a neon-lit club across the street. Beyond here, the noise petered out.
Unhurried, steady steps approached me from behind. A few seconds later, Lon’s deep voice floated over my shoulder. “You okay?”
“I think so,” I said.
“You ready to talk about what happened back there?”
I swung around to face him. “I lost control.”
“Did Rooke say something to make you angry?”
“Nope.”
“Because you looked pissed as hell.”
“Well, you looked like your tongue was going to fall out of your mouth.”
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw Evie flirting it up with you.”
Lon squinted down at me with a puzzled look on his face. “She was trying to get information out of me.”
“O-o-oh, she was trying for more than that. And clearly, you weren’t discouraging her, because I saw her giving you her phone number. Were you going to drop me off at the hotel while you called her up for a nightcap?”
Lon’s head slowly tilted to the side, as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying but was trying to make sense of it. I knew at that point that I sounded like a crazed, clingy harpy, but I just couldn’t stop myself.
“Her hands were all over you,” I said. “You practically had your nose wedged between her breasts. Which weren’t real, by the way.”
“Whoa,” Lon warned as his brows snapped together.
“Don’t ‘whoa’ me. I’m not stupid. I know—” What? What exactly did I know?
My head pulsed as it tried to make sense of the hurt clawing at my chest. I was insanely, painfully jealous, and it didn’t match what was in my head. He was not my boyfriend. He was just an overly generous man who’d opened his home to me and taken me in, as if I were some ragamuffin orphan who needed shelter.
I knew this.
But I didn’t care. I was still hurt.
“Is that what you like? Women who look like that?” I asked as angry tears stung my eyes. “Can’t you manage to spend a couple of days alone with me without sniffing after the first oversexed bitch who shoves her tits in your face?”
“Cady—”
I grunted and shoved at his chest. “I got naked in front of you—I let you take pictures of me, for the love of God! Maybe you think of me as just some oddity that Father Carrow foisted off on you, but I have feelings. I have pride.”
