“Look at you. He’s got his claws in you tight, doesn’t he?” Vespar drawled, leaning against his doorframe. He smirked. “You don’t even know what kind of spell he’s working, do you?”
“That’s enough.” Kellan appeared from the stairway, dressed in jeans and a simple white T-shirt.
The corner of Vespar’s mouth curled upward in an ugly smile. His eyes flashed an emotion I didn’t want to name before he turned and shut the door behind him. If he might’ve slammed it, it wouldn’t have shocked me, but when it closed quietly, softly, a shiver passed through me.
“He’s trying to get in your head. Don’t let him,” Kellan murmured, now beside me. His voice was soft as he watched me, studying me.
I straightened in my doorway and moved back a step. “Why would he want to get in my head?”
“To stop us from getting close.” Kellan tilted his head to the side. His eyes seemed to be piercing through me. “If the two of us formed as close a bond as those two, can you imagine how powerful we’d be?”
My head jerked back. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about war, between you and me and them.”
“Why would you say something like that?” My voice was husky.
“Because that’s what he’s thinking. He knows we’re close, but not as much as those two. He’s fearful of what might happen if we do become that close. It’s what he would do. That’s what he’s thinking in his head.”
Kellan smiled sadly and straightened away from me. He held on to the doorframe above my head and tapped it absentmindedly with his finger. “That’s how Vespar thinks, Shay. That’s not what I intend. It’s not what you intend, but it’s what he’s filling her head with. He thinks there might be a time when the lines are drawn, and he’s scared what side I might choose.”
“So, he already knows I’ll be on the opposite side?” Why didn’t this surprise me?
“No.” Kellan touched my shoulder lightly. “He’s scared of you, but he’s more scared of me. He’s afraid I’ll go against him…and if you take my side, we’re unstoppable. The only saving grace he has is that he hasn’t gone against me, and you haven’t come into your powers yet.”
The whole idea of siblings against siblings didn’t sit right with me. I curled a hand over my stomach, as if warding it off, but it didn’t matter. My stomach still rolled over on itself, sick once again.
“I can drive you to school…” Kellan murmured.
“No,” I barked out, hoarse. “I’ll drive myself.”
“Okay.” He didn’t ask why, but I felt like I’d hurt him somehow. As he turned and went downstairs, I watched him go. His shoulders were strong, tense. His waist was trim. Gus was right. We didn’t have to work for our bodies, but I felt that if Kellan had been fully human, he’d still have the same body. Then, with my hand still curled around my waist, I turned into my own room. After dressing in a light fabric black sweater that hung down to my knees and black tights that stopped just above my calves, I darted downstairs and to my car. I wasn’t hungry. I was never hungry, so it didn’t matter if I ate or not. My body didn’t need a lot of food. It didn’t need caffeine either, but I still enjoyed the taste of coffee and lattes in the morning. Once I stopped to get one, I was ready for the day. And as soon as I got to school, I felt it in the air.
Something had changed. Something was different with our school. When I went inside, everyone parted for me as they always did, but there was a different feel surrounding everyone.
“It’s because of Matt,” Gus answered my question when I got to my locker. I looked up, my bag halfway in, and she shrugged. “He was the reigning human here. You changed him—you and Kellan—now everyone feels it. They don’t know what they’re feeling, but they are. You see his little football buddies?” She nodded in their direction.
I turned to look. There they were—four of his best friends who always surrounded him, doing whatever Matt told them to do. Today, they stood apart from him. They talked to each other, laughed with each other, as Matt stood just to the side with a confused look on his face.
Gus grinned. “He doesn’t even know what happened.”
Vespar strolled toward us in that moment, and I turned with my back to my locker. My eyes caught his, and a challenge hung from him. My throat was tight, but Gus laughed as he passed by. “He thinks you did this on purpose, like you want to shove it down his throat what you can do. Not me. I think you did what you always do. You got angry and did something on accident, then Kellan stepped in and fixed it. Am I right?”
Was she ever?
“I think it’s funny,” Gus went on to say, still leaning against my neighbor’s locker. Her bare shoulder touched the metal, but she didn’t seem to mind. She wore a halter-top and tight blue jeans. “They’re all clueless to what’s happened. Their esteemed leader can’t be their leader anymore. Now, we get to watch them squirm and figure out who’s the next leader. Mark my words. Two guys will throw down by the end of the day. It’s just like Kellan and Vespar. One day, they’re going to throw down. Vespar would love to now, but he knows Kellan can kick his ass.”
My eyes went to hers. That meant that… Kellan’s words suddenly haunted me. Did he know? How long had he known?