“With a boy?” I spat, anger flaring.
“Yes, with a normal boy!” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I did plan on coming to you tonight, but Blake asked me to grab something to eat with him, and I just wanted one freaking afternoon with someone like me.”
Blake? That was his name? Forget that. I frowned. “You have friends who are normal, Kat.”
“It’s not the same thing!”
Understanding hit me. She didn’t want normal friends. She wanted a normal guy. Yeah, that stung like a bitch. “Tell me what’s been happening.”
Her eyes met mine, and then her gaze dipped to her hands. “I think I did get alien cooties, because I’ve been moving things…without touching them. Today, I opened the door to Mr. Garrison’s classroom without touching it. He seemed to think it was a drafty hallway.”
Tension brewed inside me. “How often has this been happening?”
“On and off for around a week. The first time it was my locker door, but I thought it was a fluke, so I didn’t say anything. Then I thought about wanting a glass of tea, and the glass flew out of the cabinet and the tea started pouring itself in the fridge. The shower turned itself on, doors opened, and a couple of times, clothes flew from my closet.” She sighed. “My room was a mess.”
A snicker escaped. “Nice.”
Her hands balled into fists. “How can you think this is funny? Look at what happened today! I didn’t mean to stop the branch! I mean, I didn’t want it to hit him, but I didn’t consciously stop the damn thing. The whole healing-me thing—it changed me, Daemon. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I couldn’t move things before. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I get a splitting headache and feel exhausted afterward. What if I’m dying or something?”
Dying?
I moved toward her, sitting down on the arm of the chair. Kat shrank back, plastering herself against the chair. “Why do you have to move so fast?” she demanded. “It’s…wrong.”
“Sorry, Kitten. For us, moving fast is natural. It’s actually more effort to slow down and appear ‘normal,’ as you put it.” I paused and then spoke the truth. “I guess I just forget I have to pretend around you.”
She winced and looked away. Her mouth moved, but there were no words spoken out loud. I sighed as I resisted the urge to touch her. “You’re not dying.”
“How do you know?” Kat lifted her gaze to mine.
“Because I’d never let that happen,” I promised.
Her breath caught. “What if I’m turning into an alien?”
Turning into an alien? I wanted to laugh, but managed to stop myself. “I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“Moving stuff with my mind shouldn’t be possible.”
Good point. “Why didn’t you tell me when this first happened?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted quietly. “I should’ve. I don’t want to put you guys at risk. I swear I’m not doing it on purpose.”
Her silence on what was happening was a product of her trying to protect us—Dee. Me. And she feared that I’d think she was doing this on purpose? Damn. That got me in the feels. Straight sucker punch. My vision changed, washing the room in a whitish light. “I know you aren’t doing anything on purpose. I wouldn’t have thought that.”
Her chest rose sharply as I held her gaze. A moment passed and I said, “I don’t know if it was a product of my healing you those times or when you connected with us during Baruck’s attack. Either way, it’s obvious that you’re using some of my abilities. I’ve never heard of this happening before.”
“Never?” she whispered.
“We don’t heal humans.” I pursed my lips, thinking back to the time when Dawson had come home, blood on his torn clothing. It hadn’t been his. Bethany. Had something happened to Bethany and he’d healed her? This wasn’t the first time I’d wondered about this, but what if he had? Did it matter in the end? I shook my head. “I’ve always thought it had something to do with exposing our abilities, but now I’m wondering if it’s more than that. If the real reason is because we…change humans.”
She swallowed. “So I am turning into an alien?”
My lips twitched. “Kitten…”
“How do we stop this?”
I had no idea, and it wasn’t like I could ask someone, but an idea occurred to me. Our hearts were beating at the same rate. That was established. She was somehow using some of my abilities. Just how connected were we? I stood. “I want to try something, okay?”
Her brows rose. “Okay.”
Closing my eyes, I let myself shed my human form. A few seconds later, I was in full Luxen mode, casting the room in a white-red light. I reached out to her mentally. Say something to me.
She glanced around the room. “Uh, hi?”