The best I could do was to verify Elder Joshua’s identity without raising too many unwanted questions. I needed to calm down and call Sam. If I called sounding freaked out, he would probably send Joshua right back over.
Pushing away from the door, I turned to go into my room, and screamed a full-throated someone’s-sawing-off-my-arm scream. Clay stood right in front of me dressed in jeans, t-shirt and running shoes. And by his shocked expression, I’d probably just scared him as bad as he’d scared me.
Heart stuttering, I clapped a hand over my mouth embarrassed I’d screamed like that. No way would I call Sam now. I wasn’t even sure I could speak. The hand over my mouth shook from the adrenaline rush.
He tilted his head studying me and then reached into my pocket to pull out the card, looking at it briefly. How did he even know it was in there? Had he been watching me? Glancing at me, he shrugged and shook his head clearly puzzled.
He wanted an explanation for my crazy reaction. When had he become such a chatterbox?
Dropping my hand, I did another round of deep breaths trying to calm down.
“Did you see who was here?” I asked. My voice wavered so I cleared it.
He shook his head.
“How did you know that was in my pocket?”
He lifted the card to his nose briefly. So, he could smell the other werewolf? That was good.
“Have you ever met Elder Joshua before?” He shook his head. “Have you ever smelled him before?” Again, he shook his head.
I closed my eyes briefly and let out a relieved sigh that sounded a bit like a sob. Joshua wasn’t the werewolf Clay had fought. Even though I remembered blue eyes, I’d still worried.
The new color variation bothered me though, and wished I had someone to talk too. Sam knew nothing about the lights I saw and now that Clay confirmed Joshua wasn’t the same werewolf from the challenge, I didn’t see much point in calling Sam… other than to yell at him for sending Joshua over.
Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped when Clay lightly tapped my forehead with his index finger.
I smiled slightly, looking at him again. “You want to know what’s going on in my head?” He nodded and I finally recognized that my someone-to-talk-too stood right in front of me. “I’d like to know what’s going on in my head sometimes too.” If only I could figure out those lights. “Let’s make dinner while I talk. Let me know if you hear Rachel or anyone else.”
He nodded, kicking off his shoes and putting them in my room before joining me in the kitchen. He took the lead on dinner prep, giving me busy work so I could talk. I started to peel a potato while he clanked pans on the stove.
“That was Elder Joshua at the door. He stopped by because I haven’t talked to Sam lately and Sam asked him to check up on me. I guess he was worried after that challenge.”
I picked up a second potato without thought. “Something was odd about him Clay.” I hesitated and Clay nudged my chair as he walked to the sink with the potatoes I’d peeled. His way of saying I should keep talking, but I struggled with how to tell him everything.
“I’m different,” I said abruptly.
He turned from the sink looking at me and shrugged as if to say it didn’t matter.
“No. Really different. It’s kind of hard to explain. Sam told me I was different when he met me, but he doesn’t know all of it. He said that I was rare because I was one of only a few humans compatible with werewolves, just me and Charlene.”
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. Based on my mom’s reaction when I told her the truth, the idea of telling someone everything scared me.
He picked up two more potatoes and handed them to me.
I started peeling again as he went to the stove. “Since as long as I can remember, I could see lights. Not with my eyes, but in my mind. When I was younger, I had to close my eyes and concentrate to see a relatively small area around me. As I got older, I didn’t need to concentrate as hard and could see a much larger area. Now, I can see these lights at will, briefly, with little effort, over a longer distance. And I don’t need to close my eyes.
“These lights are people, Clay. I can see the neighbors moving around in their houses right now. It’s not an aura I’m seeing.
“To put it in perspective, I can see a square mile around us, but in my mind, the area looks like an inch. The lights within that area are small pinpricks, but I can see them so clearly, they could be the size of quarters three inches from my face. And all those dots are the same color. Every human around us has the same yellow light with a green halo.”