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Balthazar frowned. “Since when do you speak Latin?”
“I did go to Evernight for a while, remember?” Now Lucas sounded more amused than anything else. “It’s just interesting how much you’re beating yourself up about this.”
“I told you. It’s my fault.” He looked at Skye as he spoke, thin and pale on his bed, the firelight burnishing her dark brown hair.
“You seem worried about her. Real worried. Deeply concerned. Are things getting interesting for you two?” Lucas was downright smug by now. “If you keep it up, my girlfriend’s gonna get jealous.”
“I don’t get involved with humans,” Balthazar said.
“You sound pretty involved to me,” Lucas replied. “And why no humans? What’s wrong with us? On behalf of my species, I object.”
“It doesn’t end well.” He remembered Jane lying on the floor of his parents’ barn, a broken shell of the girl he had too briefly loved. “For a mortal, being with someone supernatural is dangerous. You ought to know.”
“Don’t remind me.” Lucas had already died and been resurrected once; he spoke from weary experience. “But speaking as a mere mortal—sometimes it’s worth it. Danger and all.”
Balthazar didn’t want to hear this. Shortly, he said, “The only thing that matters is keeping Skye safe. We need to figure out how to stop the visions.”
“Let her catch her breath first,” Lucas said. “Listen, I need to call Clementine back. She was half frantic when she called me to say Skye hadn’t checked in; by now she’s probably pulling her hair out. Keep us posted, okay?”
“Will do.”
“And Bianca says hi.”
“Oh, right. Hi.” Balthazar snapped off the call. Weird to think he’d forgotten to send a message to Bianca.
As he did, Skye stirred on the bed. He hurried to her side. “Hey. Don’t sit up too fast.”
“What the—where am I—oh.” Skye’s eyes widened as she took in her surroundings, and saw him. “What happened?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. I found you out by the gorge, unconscious.”
“Oh, my God.” Memory had obviously just come flooding back. Skye grimaced as she put her fingers to her temple, then slowly pushed herself upright. “It was awful. Turns out they call it Battlefield Gorge for a reason.”
“You didn’t have to run out there like that,” Balthazar said. “Study hall—we would’ve been okay.”
It was as much of an opening to talk about their argument this morning as he could offer, but he thought it would be enough. To his surprise, though, Skye didn’t go there. “Hundreds of men died out there. It was like I was feeling them all at once—and sharper than before. I think my power must be getting stronger. Just walking by Ms. Loos’s room today was worse than being in it was before.”
“Maybe it’s getting stronger. It might just be the aftermath of … of the bite.” My bite. When I bit into you in your bed and drank the blood you gave me to save my life, and then yelled at you to leave me alone. Shamefaced, Balthazar continued, “After you’re bitten by a vampire, your senses are enhanced for a while. The powers become longer lasting, maybe permanent, with subsequent bites. It’s a small taste of what being a vampire is like all the time.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.” She didn’t even look directly at him; instead she gazed into the firelight. “That was too close, this afternoon.”
When he’d told her that his decision not to be with her was final, she’d accepted it. Balthazar hadn’t realized until now that he was counting on her to push back—to tempt him, to keep inviting him places. To offer all the pleasures of her company and her adoration, without being able to expect anything from him in return. Was he really that selfish? That stupid about his own desires?
He said the first thing that came to mind: “How does Clementine have Lucas’s number, anyway?”
“They used to sit next to each other in English,” Skye said absently. Then she sat up straighter, as if newly resolved. “We have to go back.”
“Back—where? You can’t mean the gorge.”
She shuddered. “No. I can’t face that again. Not ever, I don’t think. It’s too much. I—I’m glad you found me.” For one moment, her eyes met his, and against his will, Balthazar found himself remembering the moment he’d awakened with her in his arms, and how warm she’d felt, how her legs had brushed against his.
“Don’t run off like that again.” His voice sounded rough and unsteady, even to him. “No matter—no matter how badly I screw up.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Skye looked away from him again. “So come with me now.”
“Of course. You must want to get home.”
“No. I’m going back to school.”
