I stared down at the sheet of instructions, the letters blurring together into a meaningless jumble. Somehow I had to find a way to talk Tristan out of our going to the cafeteria today. Maybe I could convince him to delay tackling that challenge till later in the week when we both knew he could handle being around so many humans and descendants. Facing it all on his first day back, however, was practically suicidal.
The problem was finding a way to bring up this suggestion in a way that wouldn’t further bruise his ego and make him think I had no faith in him.
I rubbed my pounding temples and tried to figure out the best arguments to use on him. Deep down inside, I had a hunch nothing I said was going to come out right. Especially since he could read every thought in my head whether I verbalized it or not.
Why wasn’t there some kind of training manual for sires of teenaged vamps, like How to Train Your Teen Fledgling?
I glanced at the clock on the wall, which suddenly seemed to have sped up. All morning long, the seconds had eked by while I worried about Tristan losing control in class.
Now I wanted nothing more than for time to slow down again.
CHAPTER 5
TRISTAN
I was waiting for her at the door of her chemistry class before the bell rang. She didn’t see me at first, her head bent as she slowly gathered her things, those too-kissable lips of hers turned down into a frown as she trudged across the room toward me.
Then she looked up. Our eyes met, and she smiled.
And just like that, getting through the long, boring, tense morning was worth it.
Ron Abernathy shot me a sympathetic grin as he exited the room. “Good luck at lunch,” he muttered, not sticking around long enough for me to figure out what that was supposed to mean.
It didn’t matter. All that mattered was Savannah and finally getting to be a real couple with her. No more secrets. No more lies or sneaking around.
God, he’s gorgeous, she thought, forgetting yet again that I could hear her.
I swallowed down a laugh. She knew just what to think to make a guy feel like he could take on the whole world if needed.
“Hi,” she murmured as she drew close to me. “How was your morning?”
“Fine. Ready for lunch?” It was an effort not to rub my hands together in pure anticipation. And it definitely wasn’t the food I was looking forward to.
“Mmm.” She stepped out of the room and off to the side a little, making way for others in the hall to pass us by. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. We don’t have to go to the cafeteria. We could go to the library and hang out instead. Ron’s mom is the librarian. She wouldn’t mind—”
“And miss out on all the fun? No way!” I held out a bent elbow. It took her a few seconds to realize I wanted her to hold my arm.
She slipped a free hand between my elbow and my body, her fingers coming to rest in the bend of my arm as if made to nestle there. I squeezed my arm tight against my body so her hand wouldn’t slip away, and we headed into the packed main hall.
I stumbled to a halt as a flood of strange sensations poured over me. Savannah grabbed my arm with both her hands.
What is it? she thought, her eyes darting side to side as she searched my face. What’s wrong? Talk to me. Is it the bloodlust? We should get out of here.
No, it’s not that, I thought, struggling to breathe as the sensations kept changing, throwing me continually off balance. I tried to find a way to describe what I was feeling. It’s...something else. Like falling into one of those bouncy castles for kids, but this one’s filled with giant cotton balls and knives and fire ants and stuff that’s hitting me from all sides.
Try to breathe through it, she thought, rubbing my upper arm. You’re just picking up their emotions. It’ll take you a little while to learn how to match up their emotions with their thoughts so you can label them and recognize what you’re sensing. If it starts to get too overwhelming, remember the key is to stay calm. The stronger your own emotions, the less you’ll be able to control your abilities. And if all else fails, try to focus on a nearby descendant instead.
A descendant? I couldn’t help but scowl at her for a second. Then I went back to searching the hallway, my instincts screaming at me to stay alert though I didn’t understand why. Why would I want to sense anything from them?
Because it’s like tuning in to a different radio station. It makes the humans go quiet. Clann thoughts might be nastier, but at least they’re quieter since there are fewer descendants than humans.
Huh. Okay, if it shut off the thousand and one voices inside my head...
I nodded and tried to follow her instructions, focusing on the few descendants who passed by till the hall began to clear as the students rushed off to the cafeteria or their next class.
She was right. Listening to the descendants’ thoughts was like tuning in to a much quieter radio station. Too bad it was one playing the “I hate Tristan and Savannah” soundtrack 24/7.
When the hall was half-empty, I found it easier to start moving again.
“We can wait here till they’re all gone,” she murmured, ignoring the curious glances shot our way. “I’m here. Just breathe.”
“I’m okay. It was just...a surprise, is all.” I took a deep breath, squeezed her hand at my elbow and started walking again. I could breathe easier again, too. “So this is what you had to deal with every day?”
She nodded. “I promise it gets easier.”
We headed down the now mostly empty hall toward the main building’s rear exit, her thoughts filling with a glow from the simple pleasure of our getting to walk together like this on campus around others for the first time ever. But it was hard for me to join in with a steady dose of guilt growing inside my chest.
I really owed her an apology.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “You know, for using this ESP thing against you all those times.” It had been bad enough for me to have to deal with hearing and feeling all those thoughts and feelings from everyone else with Savannah there to guide me through it for the first time. I couldn’t even imagine how frightening it must have been for her to go through it alone with no one there to hold her hand, reassure her that she wasn’t going insane, tell her how to turn down the volume on it by listening to the descendants instead.
And I’d made it worse by teasing and tormenting her with my thoughts every chance I’d gotten, in a dumb campaign to make her jealous.
“You’re forgiven.” She said it so simply, as if it were no big deal.
Did she have any idea how much I loved her?
Sometimes I do, she thought, ducking her head to hide a knowing smile.
We walked in silence out of the building, along the cement catwalk with its metal awning roof, then down the cement steps to the sidewalk that wrapped around the cylinder-shaped brick cafeteria. At the doors, she tugged me to a stop.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
I didn’t even have to consider my answer. I nodded. “I want to rub their faces in it so hard they can’t see straight for a week.”
“But why? We don’t have to prove anything to them or anyone else in there.”
“Yes, we do.”
She frowned. “Why? Why does it matter what they think?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then why push it? And why do we have to do this today? We could always come back later in the week.”
“I