Geez, it was just a stupid kiss. Get over it already.
“You girls having fun?” Derek asked, and I nodded. The crowd here was a little older than the high school set, but they seemed nice enough and not too wild.
“Your place is great,” I told him. “Did you really do all this yourself?”
Derek’s face lit up when I mentioned his beautifully restored turn-of-the-century farmhouse. He had inherited the place on the outskirts of town from his grandmother three years ago, and he had turned the old house into a modern home that still retained its country charm.
“Yep, with help from a few of my buddies. I’m not done yet. I’m working on the barn now, gonna make it into garage and a workshop. You want a tour?”
“Sure.” I looked at Jordan, who nodded. We went to grab our coats and followed Derek through the back door. As soon as the door closed behind us, the noise level dropped considerably, and I let out a sigh. I was never going to be a partier. God knows Roland had tried to make me into one. I preferred fresh air to the cloying heat of a crowded room.
The barn was a good fifty yards from the house, but the full moon made the night so bright it was easy to make it out. As Derek pointed out his planned renovations, he told us he had studied art in college and, luckily, his grandmother had left him enough money to pursue art instead of having to get a nine-to-five job to support himself. His other passion was classic cars, and he was currently restoring a nineteen sixty-nine GTO in his friend’s garage until he got his own garage finished. I thought about Roland, who would die for a GTO and didn’t even have his old Chevy truck anymore because of me.
“I already have a room at the house for my art, but I can’t wait to finish the studio,” Derek was saying, and my ears perked up at the mention of an art studio.
“Sara draws, but she keeps her sketches hidden in her room,” Jordan said, and Derek looked at me with new interest.
“What do you like to draw? Do you paint, too?”
“Mostly people and animals. I tried painting a few years ago, but I like drawing more, and it’s a lot less mess.”
Derek laughed. “My parents said the same thing when I lived with them. If you want I’ll show you some of my work when we go back to the house. But right now I want to show you the loft. That’s where my new studio is going.”
Derek grabbed a battery operated lantern from a hook by the door and led us to a ladder at the back of the barn. “My buddy, Seth, is going to help me build the studio; he said it only seems right since it was our fort when we were kids. He and his girlfriend, Dana, are in Vegas now, but when he gets back we might do some work on it before it gets too cold.”
“Lead the way,” I told him and started following him up the ladder with Jordan behind me. At the top, I stepped into the loft that was wide enough that the beam from Derek’s lantern barely reached the dark corners. The loft smelled faintly of old hay, and it was empty except for a few crates and a small square table with some rolled-up papers on top.
Derek hung the lantern on a post in the middle of the room and went to push open the wide shutters at the front of the barn. Moonlight and crisp night air flowed in along with the distant sounds of the party. He went to the table and unrolled one of the papers to reveal a detailed blueprint of the barn.
“It pays to have a best friend who’s studying to become an architect,” he confided with a wink. “Seth drew these up for me at school.” He pointed to some long rectangular markings on the walls and explained that they were going to put in windows on all sides for maximum natural light. “Plus the view up here in the daytime is amazing.”
“This is pretty cool,” Jordan said, walking around the loft. “You’ll have to show us when it’s finished.”
“Absolutely,” Derek declared, and I raised an eyebrow at Jordan, who gave me a small shrug when Derek wasn’t looking. Was she more interested in him than she let on? “You girls are welcome whenever you want to come over. Maybe Sara and I can draw together sometime?”
“Maybe.” I’d never had someone to draw with before, and it might be fun, especially in a real studio.
“I guess we should be getting back to the party before Terrence and Josh come looking for us.” Derek held up the lantern and waved at the hatch. “After you. I’ll hold the light while you climb down.”
I barely took a step before coldness punched through my chest, making me double over. Not now! If my elemental powers started acting up here, there was no way I’d be able to explain it away. Derek, I might be able to fool, but Jordan was way too sharp to fall for a simple explanation, especially after what I’d done to the lamprey demon.