I sucked in my breath and tried to concentrate on driving. The voice didn’t send chills down my spine. In fact, I wasn’t alarmed at all. I was more intrigued and cautious. “Who are you?”
There was no answer. I waited a few more minutes, and there was still no response. When I pulled into my school’s parking lot, I turned off the engine and listened to the silence for a while. My heart pounded loudly, but my hands no longer trembled. I waited for the voice again, but there was nothing. So I asked softly, “What reminder?”
“The bracelet.”
I pushed back my black sleeves, but my wrists were bare. “I don’t have a bracelet.”
Nothing. I waited ten more minutes, but there was no answer.
“Who are you? What do you have to tell me?” My heart pounded thunderously in my ear. I focused on that voice, only that voice. Everything in me strained to feel where that voice came from because it touched something inside of me. And that same something told me it didn’t come from a foe, but from an ally, a very powerful ally. “Who are you?”
I held my breath and closed my eyes. The ticking from someone’s watch pounded loudly in my ear. When I opened my eyes, I saw an older man across the road. He walked beside his son, and they were headed back into a house. The voice didn’t come from him, but it was connected to them. I just didn’t know how.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I was startled.
I gasped, and my eyes flew open. That was when I realized that I’d never opened them in the first place. I looked around and only saw my school’s parking lot. There were no houses nearby. The older man and son had been a vision. Somehow, I’d conjured them in my mind because they were connected to the voice.
My phone vibrated again.
I cursed because something snapped in me, and I knew I’d lost whatever connection I’d had to the voice. “What?”
“Hey, bitch.” They sounded drunk on the other end.
“Who is this?” My patience was nearing an end.
“None”—hiccup—“ob your bidness.”
When I looked at the caller ID name, I sighed. “Matt. What do you want? You need to leave me alone.”
“Whatss your perblum?”
“What’s my problem?” My translation was a little rusty. “Is that what you said? You called me, Matt. You’re drunk. Say what you have to say and let it go after this. That’s my warning.”
“Your werning? What werning? You gib me a werning?” He laughed and then hiccupped.
My patience was running low, seriously low. I felt the vision of the old man slipping from my grasp, as if I could hold on to it. “Matt! I swear to your God that this is enough. One word and my brother will be at your throat. One word, Matt.”
He was quiet on the other end except for his heavy breathing. Then he choked out, “Oh yeah? Well, he can just try.”
The call ended after that, and I sighed. I didn’t sigh because I was tired of Matt. Humans rarely annoyed me. I’d always been surprised at the patience I had with them, considering my bloodline. I sighed because I knew Matt had become a problem. If I didn’t tell Kellan about him, Matt would feel that he’d overpowered a Braden. No one overpowered us. No one could, and if one thought they had, then he’d start on Kellan or one of the other two. I was fearful what they would do to him then. The chances of Matt graduating alive had just grown slim, very slim, unless I took care of him myself.
The school beckoned to me. The painting studio wanted me to come in there, and I knew I had something to paint. I almost wanted to go just to see what would be the end product, but I started my car again. Matt wasn’t going away, and he’d have to be dealt with. Quickly.
“Don’t,” the voice whispered this time.
I turned the engine off. “What do you want from me? Who are you? I know that you mean well.”
“Don’t.”
“Who are you? What do you mean I’m not like them? What is my reminder for? What is my reminder?” I didn’t search out through my powers this time. I sat there and waited, hoping it would answer.
“Don’t…”
Goose bumps rose on my arm, and my tattoo burned my skin. I hissed from the pain and clamped a hand on it, trying to stop it. Then my phone vibrated again. This time, I looked before I answered and saw it was Kellan. Instantly, I took a few deep breaths. I needed to be calm before I talked to him. He’d know right away something was wrong and would push until he knew about Matt or the voice.
“Kellan.”
“What happened to you?”
I clamped my eyes shut. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t lie to me. I know something huge just happened. What was it? Tell me, Shay.”
“Kellan, there was no—”
“Tell me!” he yelled.
My eyes popped open, shocked. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“I just know, Shay. What happened?”
“Matt called me. He threatened me.”
Kellan was quiet on the other end for a minute. “That’s it? Matt scared you?”
“How do you know I was scared?”
“I felt it.”
He felt it? I couldn’t feel him, but Kellan might never get scared though. “How did you feel it?”
“I just did. It was Matt?”
“Yes.” I whispered the word because I felt as if I signed over his death warrant. I should’ve held strong and not said a word, but Kellan had gotten a sniff. He was like a bloodhound on a trail. He wouldn’t have let up until I’d given something to him, and I wasn’t going to tell him about the voice. Something in me clamped steel walls around that secret. No one was going to be told that secret. If they tried, they’d have to kill me first. Then I wondered, as I realized how strong my conviction was, why I was willing to die for a voice inside my head? It was an ally, but why did I need an ally? Who was I at war with?