I tilted my head. “Yes. They look like shadow outlines of people. Sort of in the name.”
He bit down on the rope of cherry and sugar and stared back at me.
“And they’re at my school?” Stacey said.
“That’s what Sam says, and that’s not all.”
“It’s not? Trapped ghosts and Shadow People aren’t enough to get between me and my diploma? There has to be more?”
My lips twitched. “He says there’s someone there who’s able to communicate with the ghosts and the Shadow People.” I looked at Zayne again. “Someone like me.”
“And what are you exactly?” She stared at me and then shifted her gaze to Zayne. Her puffy eyes sort of ruined the hard-core look she was trying to deliver. “Anyone care to fill me in? Because she’s not just some chick that grew up with Wardens.”
I frowned. “I am the chick that grew up with Wardens.”
“Who can also commune with the dead?” she challenged. “Like other normal humans?”
“I never said I was a normal human.” I smiled. “Like you.”
Now her eyes narrowed.
“Was he able to tell you what this person looked like?” Zayne changed the subject. “Any information on who it is?”
“All he told me was that it was a guy before he ran out of time,” I answered.
“So, we don’t know if it’s a student or a teacher or just some random person roaming the school.” Zayne finished off the candy with one last frustrated snap of his jaw. “All we know is someone is rounding up ghosts and trapping them in the school, and Shadow People are involved.”
Not knowing how much Stacey was aware of, I chose my next words carefully. “That’s not all we know. I’m pretty sure it’s related to what everyone is looking for.”
Zayne’s hand halted halfway to the bag. “You think so?”
I nodded.
He cursed under his breath as he grabbed another strip of candy. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad news at this point.”
“Good,” I decided. “It’s a lead.”
“I have no idea what you two are talking about.” Stacey took a drink. “I don’t like to be left out.”
Zayne spared her a brief grin. “I’ll fill you in later.”
He would? When his gaze shifted to me, I arched a brow. “We need to go to that school.”
“Agreed.”
“Well, you’re going to have a problem doing it during the day, because there are always people there, and right now they’re doing renovations in the evening and overnight.” Stacey placed her empty glass down. “Except on the weekends.”
What was today? Monday. So, that wasn’t too long of a wait, but I wanted to go now, see if I was right—that this was connected to the Harbinger.
Could it be that Sam had given us our first real lead? Damn, it was almost too convenient, so much so that it was also disturbing to think that, if Sam had not had followed Stacey when she’d come to Zayne’s place, we wouldn’t know about what was going on at the school.
Made one wonder about cosmic interference.
Looking across the table, I saw that Zayne was finished with the second Twizzler. I couldn’t believe he actually ate them with ice cream. The same guy who removed buns from grilled chicken sandwiches.
There was something wrong with him.
And there was something wrong with me because not having known Zayne ate ice cream with Twizzlers made my chest ache.
How stupid was that?
My gaze flicked over Stacey and Zayne, taking them in sitting side by side, him so much larger and broader than her tiny frame. They looked good together, even if they were just friends who had been more at some point, and things would be easier for them if they wanted to be more again. Yeah, Wardens weren’t supposed to date humans, but Zayne did a lot of things Wardens weren’t supposed to do. It wasn’t the same with us.
It was time for me to hit the road.
“I hope it...helps to know Sam obviously cares about you and wants to make sure you’re safe,” I announced awkwardly as I focused on Stacey. “I know it probably feels good and horrible all at once, knowing that he’s been around, but when you’ve had time to sit with it, I think—or at least I hope—it’s a good thing. He wants you to be happy, and if you can do that, you’ll be doing the best thing for you and for him.”
“You...” Stacey lowered her gaze as she toyed with the spoon jutting out of her soupy ice cream. “You really think he’ll be back?”
“I do.” I wasn’t sure if that was going to be a good thing in the long-term. I bit back a sigh. “Anyway, sorry I busted up your ice cream social. I honestly didn’t mean to.” I glanced at Zayne as I slid out of the booth. “I’ll see you later.”
Zayne’s jaw was working overtime as I gave them a quick wave. For the briefest moment, I felt what was coming through the bond, and it had me backing up and turning around as fast as I could. Soon I stepped out into the hot air and started walking, the scents of melted fudge and vanilla following me.
Anger.
Simmering anger was what I’d felt, and it had left a peppery taste in my throat.
Zayne was angry, but at what? His ruined ice cream social? Me showing up? Sam’s unexpected appearance and how it had affected Stacey? Ghosts and Shadow People hanging out at the school? The whole situation, including what had happened between us? The options were limitless.
Whatever. At the end of the day, at least we had a lead.
I didn’t know where I was going. Back to the apartment, I guessed, but I had no idea if I could get back there. I really didn’t care right then. I’d just keep walking and walking, trying to put as much space between me and that damn little ball of warmth in my chest. My path was blissfully clear as I hit the intersection. I was never—
A horn blew, the sound deafening as my head whipped to the left. The car was right there, in my blind spot. Tires squealed as brakes pumped. It was too late. The car wouldn’t be able to stop in time.
Someone screamed, but it wasn’t me, because I was incapable of making sound. In those seconds that stretched into eternity, I knew this car was going to ram into me. It wouldn’t kill me, but it was most definitely going to hurt. Bones might even be broken, and God, wouldn’t time in a body cast just top today—
A band of steel circled my waist and pulled me back. I slammed into a hard, warm surface that smelled of winter. My feet left the ground as I was turned. Within a heartbeat I was staring at...
Staring at Zayne’s pale blue shirt, as the man in the car shouted and then peeled away, laying on his horn. I lifted my gaze, and furious pale eyes met mine.
“Are you out of your mind?”
I felt the words rumble out of him, because he had me all but plastered to his chest. I tried to lift my hands to push away, but my arms were clamped to my sides. I was stuck against him, and his body was throwing off heat like a furnace.
Crap.
“Trin—”
“Let me go.” I knew we had to be gaining an audience, considering we were in the middle of a sidewalk.
He glared down at me. “What were you doing?”
“I said let me go.” The next breath I took was like swallowing fire. “Now.”
Zayne drew in a deep breath, but he let go, sliding his arm away from me in a slow drag that infuriated and frustrated me for half a dozen different reasons.
I stepped back.
But I didn’t make it very far.
His hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, his grip firm but far from painful. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Anywhere but where I am right now.”
Zayne’s laugh was harsh. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
Without another word, Zayne wheeled me back toward the ice cream shop as an older couple wearing matching windbreakers eyed us. Their heads were bent together as they sent nervous glances in our direction. They didn’t intervene. No one did. I guessed it was because it was rush hour in the nation’s capital and people just wanted to get home before dark.
Real concerned, helpful citizens right there.
I tugged on my hand. “Zayne—”
“Not yet,” he said, threading his fingers through mine. “Not here.”
The hand around mine was firm, and his long-legged pace was annoying to keep up with. I peeked over at him. “I do not understand why you’re the one with the attitude right now.”
“You don’t?” he demanded. “You know better than to walk across a street without checking. You could’ve been injured, Trin. And then what?”
I tried to pull my hand free again. No such luck. “But I wasn’t hurt, and look, I busted into your ice cream date. I didn’t—”
“Not yet,” he clipped out.
I started to frown. “But I—”
“Trinity, I’m serious. I don’t want to hear a single word from you right now.” He cut in front of me, nearly causing me to trip. I didn’t, because he righted me before I could topple over.
“But you asked me a question!” I pointed out. “Did you not want me to answer it?”
“Not really.”
Now I was really frowning as he pulled me into an alley I’d passed on the way to the ice cream shop. Zayne stopped by a fire escape, far from the packed sidewalk, and faced me. The light above us flickered, casting strange shadows over his face.