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“No problem. Thanks for coming by. And thanks for the flower.”
He stuck his hands into his pockets and grinned back at me. “No problem, Parker. Glad you’ve rejoined the land of the living.”
I grinned back at him, at least until Scout’s throat clearing pulled my attention away.
“I should also head back,” she said, pulling a massive, baffled down jacket off the back of her chair. She squeezed into it, then fastened the clips that held it together. The white jacket went past her knees, which made it look like she had on nothing but tights and thick-soled Dr. Martens Mary Janes beneath it.
“You look like the Pillsbury Snow Boy.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s breezy out there today. Not all of us have these warm, lush accommodations to look forward to.”
I snuggled into the bed, thinking I’d better gather what warmth I could, given the possibility that I’d be returning to my meat locker of a room tomorrow.
“Take care,” Michael said, rapping his knuckles on the tray at the end of the bed. I assumed that was the macho-guy equivalent of giving me a hug. Either way, I appreciated the gesture.
I smiled back at him. “I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
“And hopefully under better circumstances.” He cast Scout a sideways glance. “Green.”
She rolled her eyes. “Garcia.” When she looked at me again, she was smiling. “I’ll give you a call later.”
I nodded.
The trio gathered up their things, and I clenched my fingers, itching to ask one final question. Well, scared to ask it, anyway. My palms were actually sweating, but I made myself get it out.
“Jason.”
They all turned back at the sound of his name.
He arched his eyebrows. “Yeah?”
“Could I talk to you for a sec?”
“Um, sure.” He shouldered his backpack, then exchanged a glance with Scout and Michael. She winged up her brows, but let Garcia push her toward and out the door.
When the door shut behind them, Jason glanced back at me. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah.” I frowned down at the blanket for a minute before finally raising my gaze to his crystal blue eyes. “Listen, I just wanted to say thanks. For getting me out of the basement, I mean. If it hadn’t been for you and Scout—”
“You wouldn’t have gotten hit in the first place,” he finished.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, not really able to argue that point.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he softly said. “And for what it’s worth, you’re welcome, Lily.”
I liked the way he said my name, as if it weren’t just a series of letters, but a word thick with meaning. Lily.
“I mean, I’m not glad you got wrapped up in this—especially since you don’t have magic to defend yourself with.” He tipped his head to the side. “Although, I think I heard something about a flip-flop?”
“I guess Scout’s been giving up all my offensive moves?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “And impressive moves they are. I mean, who’d have thought that a few square inches of foam were really a technologically advanced—”
“All right, Shepherd. You’ve made your point.”
“Have I?” he asked, with a half smile.
Turned out, Jason’s half smile was even more deadly than the full, dimpled grin. The half smile was drowsier—almost ridiculously handsome.
“You did,” I finally said.
We stared silently at each other for a moment before he bobbed his head toward the door. “I guess I should join Scout and Michael?”
He made it a question, as if he didn’t want to leave, but could sense my nerves. Heart pounding fiercely in my chest, I stopped him. “Actually, one more thing.”
He raised questioning brows.
“When we were down there in the basement. When I got hit. I thought—I thought I heard a growl. Like an animal.”
His eyes widened, lips parting in surprise. He hadn’t expected me to bring it up, but I couldn’t get the sound out of my mind.
Jason hadn’t yet given me an answer, so I pressed on. I knew the growling hadn’t come from Scout—she’d admitted to being a spellbinder. And I didn’t think it had come from earthquake girl or firespell boy. Jason was the only other person there.
“That sound,” I said. “Was it you?”
He gazed at me, a chill in his blue eyes, shards of icy sapphire.
“Scout gave you the simple answer about Adepts,” he finally said. “She told you that we each have magic, a gift of our own. That’s a short answer, but it’s not entirely accurate.” He paused, then wet his lips. “I’m not like the others.”
My heart thudded so fiercely, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could hear it. It took me a moment to ask him. “How much not like them?”
When Jason looked up at me again, the color of his eyes had shifted to green and then to a silvered yellow, like those of a cat caught in the light. And there was something wolfish in his expression.
“Enough,” he said, and I’d swear his voice was thicker, deeper. “Different enough.”
He turned to go.
My heart didn’t stop pounding until the door closed behind him.
10
The room was quiet after the triplets left, at least for a few minutes. The doctor finally visited and looked me over, and reached the same conclusion that had been passed along earlier—I was fine. Notably, he didn’t ask me what threat sent me from an all-girls’ private school to a hospital.
Whatever he knew, I had hours yet to kill in the hospital. For the first ten minutes, I flipped my cell phone over and over in my hand, trying to gather up the nerve to call Ashley. But she was probably still in class and, besides, what was I going to tell her? That I’d met some magical weirdos who’d managed to rope me into their shenanigans? I wasn’t crazy about the idea of that conversation, or how I was going to explain it without sounding completely loopy—so I put the phone down again and glanced around the room. Since no one had brought me homework—and I wasn’t about to ask for any—I turned on the television bolted to the wall, settled back into the bed, and had just started watching a reality show about bored, rich housewives when there was a knock at the door.
I had no idea who else would visit—other than brat packers hoping to gloat about their victory—but I pointed the remote at the television and turned it off.
