“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, sounding more saddened than ever. Some friend I was. “This is a disaster. I know Chase. He will stop at nothing to protect you.”
I swallowed, getting an idea of where his mind was leading to. Travis was worried, and probably rightly so, that Chase would harm the girl he was still in love with to protect me. The girl he was secretly hoping he could save. I didn’t know if I should pity him or condone him for his perseverance, because there was a very good possibility that Chase would do just that.
And I wasn’t positive I would try to stop him.
He must have seen the doubt in my eyes. Pivoting on the couch faster than my eyes could follow, he grabbed my hand. “Angel, I can save her. I know I can.” There was hysteria bubbling in his voice. He desperately wanted me to believe. “I just need the chance, and I know that I can get through to her. Somewhere inside there is a girl who loved me once. I know that she is still in there. I can feel it.”
Squeezing his hand, I held his gaze and looked deep into his wide-eyes. I had to do something. Say something. Quickly. During his saving Emma speech, Travis’s eyes had started to glow brighter than the sun.
“Travis, hey. Listen to me.” My eyes never wavered, and his were intently captured with mine. I watched a little staggered as his irises slowly calmed. Slap me silly and call me crazy, but that was weird. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise. I won’t let Chase hurt Emma.” I don’t know why I made such a declaration, because honestly it was far from the truth. No way did I know that everything was going to be fine, or if I could actually prevent Chase from slicing and dicing Emma. She made it pretty clear she was trying to kill us. But I had to say something before he went into demon-freak-out-mode.
His eyes were still locked on mine, unblinking. It was like I had him captivated under my spell, but I was mostly certainly not a witch. Well, I was 99% sure I wasn’t. At this point, even the impossible was probably possible.
Then in a snap I saw clarity come back into his expression, like a cloudy haze had been lifted from him. “D-did you just compel me?” Travis accused.
“What?” I shot, taken aback.
“This is bad, I got that blank spot in my head, though this is the first time I’ve ever experienced it. I had no idea what it felt like. You just got inside my head,” he told me.
“Na-unh. I did not.” I sounded like a five-year old.
He just stared at me oddly. Shifting uncomfortably under his astonished gaze, I couldn’t take the suspense any longer. “Okay, say that I did,” I conceded. “Is it a big deal?” I’d never done anything like this. Heck, I didn’t even know that I had done it or what exactly I had done.
He shrugged, finally waking from his daze of wonder. “Depends, I guess. We’re not supposed to be susceptible to compulsion, so I can only guess that some Divisa’s won’t take well to knowing you can manipulate their minds.”
I cringed. Sierra’s name popped into my head. “Great,” I muttered dryly.
“Chase has no idea how incredibly fortunate he is to have you. I’m gonna kick his ass later for putting that shadow of pain in your eyes.”
I rolled my eyes.
“By the way…did you know your eyes change colors?” he asked offhandedly.
Damnation. What next? Was I going to sprout horns and blow fire? Fortunately this wasn’t a surprise. Chase had already confirmed that my eyes did that freaky-color-fluctuating-thingy.
I hugged one of the couch throw pillows, averting my gaze to the mocha carpet. “Just one more of the many perks of being brought back from the dead,” I mumbled.
A corner of his mouth lifted. “Well, it’s kind of hot.”
I grinned despite myself, and then promptly hit him with the pillow.
He dodged it of course, chuckling. “And if that leaves this room, I will deny, deny, deny until I’m six feet under. I really don’t want to mess up this face.” He rubbed a hand under his two-day growth chin. “It would be such a damn shame if that happened.”
And I saw a hint of sparkle in his teal eyes, just like the old charming Travis.
There it was. What I was looking for.
A ray of hope.
Chapter 16
“Angel!” Mom bellowed from downstairs.
I just barely heard her through my headset. Flipping the off switch on my Xbox, I put aside the controller, and opened my bedroom door. “One sec!” I yelled back as I started to descend the stairs.
It was the start of Thanksgiving break and that meant quality time with my mom. Seeing her in the kitchen mixing a bowl of what I hoped would be pumpkin pie, I realized how much I missed her. Between my school, her job and now Devin, we hardly saw each other. Sometimes it felt like we were more roommates than mother and daughter.