She twisted around, facing me. We didn’t kiss. We didn’t talk. As the minutes ticked by, we just held each other. At some point, we dozed off in each other’s arms. It was the scent of coffee that woke me around five.
Her mom was standing in the doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in hand and a soft smile on her face. She didn’t appear angry that I’d obviously skipped classes and had fallen asleep on her couch with her daughter.
Kat sat up, smoothing a hand through her disheveled hair as she stared at her mom’s Lucky Charms pajamas. “Where did you get them?”
“What?” She took a sip.
“Those…hideous pajamas.”
She shrugged. “I like them.”
“They’re cute,” I said as I took off my hat, earning me an elbow in the side from Kat. “I’m sorry, Ms. Swartz, I didn’t mean to fall asleep with—”
“It’s okay.” She waved me off. “Katy hasn’t been feeling well, and I’m glad you wanted to be here for her, but I hope you don’t get what she has.”
I cast Kat a sideways look. “I hope you didn’t give me cooties.”
She huffed.
Her mother’s cell went off, and she dug it out of her pajama pockets, sloshing coffee onto the floor. She smiled, her face lighting up. Kat stiffened as her mom turned and headed into the kitchen.
“Will,” Kat whispered, standing.
I stood. “You don’t know that for sure.”
“I do. It’s in her eyes—he makes her glow.” She looked like she wanted to barf. Couldn’t blame her. “I need to tell her why Will got close to her.”
“And tell her what?” I blocked her from running into the kitchen. “That he was here to get close to you—to use you? I don’t think that’s going to lessen any blows.” I placed my hands on her shoulders. “We don’t know if it was him calling or what’s happened to him. Look at Carissa.” I kept my voice low. “Her mutation was unstable. It didn’t take long for it…to do what it did.”
“Then that means it held,” she countered in a whisper.
“Or it means it faded off.” I tried again. “We can’t do anything until we know what we’re dealing with. One at a time. We’re going to deal with things one at a time. That’s all we can do.”
Kat took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m going to go and see if it was him.”
I let her go, but called out, “I like your pajamas better.”
She turned around and glanced down at her pink and purple polka-dot pajamas. Slowly, she raised her gaze to mine.
I grinned.
Her lips twitched. “Shut up.”
I returned to the couch. “I’ll be waiting.”
The moment she disappeared into the kitchen, I let my head fall back on the couch. Sighing, I closed my eyes. Maybe on the outside it didn’t appear that I was too concerned about Will. I didn’t want Kat to stress over the situation involving him more than she already was. Will still in contact with her mom left a sour taste in my mouth. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of him.
I just didn’t know when we’d see him again and what that meant.
Issues with Will had to be shoved aside, because after Kat’s mom left for work, we found ourselves standing at the lake, staring down on a glittering pile of onyx I’d buried.
All of us were there, and everyone knew what had happened the night before with Carissa. I knew that was why Dawson was keeping close to Kat.
Using a pair of thick leather gloves, I picked up a broken piece of onyx and turned to Blake. “This is your show.”
Blake took a deep breath and nodded. “I think the first thing to test out is if I do have a tolerance to onyx. If I do, then that gives us a starting point, right? At least then we know that we can build up a tolerance.”
I glanced down at the onyx and then shrugged. Shooting forward, I pressed the piece of onyx against Blake’s cheek.
Kat’s mouth dropped open while Matthew stepped back, uttering, “God.”
Dawson laughed under his breath.
Nothing happened, though.
Blake knocked the piece of onyx aside, his nostrils flared. “What the hell?”
Huh, that was disappointing. I was hoping to send him to the ground, withering in pain. I tossed the stone in the pile. “Well, apparently you have a tolerance to onyx, and here I was hoping you didn’t.”
Kat covered her mouth, stifling a giggle that still managed to escape.
“What if I didn’t have a tolerance to it?” Blake demanded, and I’m pretty sure my expression said I didn’t care. “Good God, I kind of wanted to prepare myself for that.”
“I know.” I smirked.
Matthew shook his head. “Okay, back on track, boys. How do you suggest doing this?”
Shooting me a dark look, Blake stalked over to the pile of onyx. “I suggest Daemon go first. We hold it to the skin until you drop. No longer.”
“Oh, dear Lord,” Kat muttered.
Whatever. I stripped off my gloves and held my arms out. “Bring it.”