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The morning went by without another incident, but when I walked into the cafeteria all noise stopped and gazes swung in my direction. The silence unnerved me and I shifted under the sudden urge to disappear. Julia linked her hand in mine, reminding me that I wasn’t completely alone in this. I offered her a smile and squeezed her hand in a silent thank you.
A shuffle to my right pulled my attention and Noah scrambled over to where we stood.
“Hey, Nick, you can sit with us if you want,” he said pointing toward the table where his tray sat.
My gaze was drawn to the two other kids sitting with Noah and I blinked. For a moment, I thought I saw shadows of reapers and then they snapped back to normal teenagers. I rubbed my eyes and cast a glance at Julia before nodding at Noah.
“We’ll be over as soon as we grab some food.” I led Julia toward the food line.
“Are you okay?” she whispered in my ear.
“Yes, I think I’m just tired,” I mumbled as we stepped to the counter, scanning the choices. I pointed to the cheeseburger and fries option and the lunch lady filled a plate. I nodded thanks and waited for Julia.
I paid for our lunches and we headed toward Noah. I had just sat, when a hulk of a shadow crossed over my shoulder. I looked up and tensed at the sight of Joe and his friends surrounding the table. I pushed my tray toward Julia and got to my feet, turning so my back was toward the table. The last thing I wanted was to be caught off guard by one of these idiots.
I leveled a glare and crossed my arms.
“I see you brought back-up,” I said, amazed that my voice didn’t shake.
“Nick, sit down,” Julia whispered.
I didn’t chance it, not with these thugs surrounding us. I could just envision it, the minute I turned my back, I’d find my face slammed into the food on my tray and the entire cafeteria laughing at me.
“I’ll be fine,” I muttered, although as they got closer, I began to doubt that more and more. All-in-all, right now I’d rather take on a room full of reapers. I dropped my hands to my sides, freeing myself to react if I needed to.
Joe pointed a finger at me. “You think you can drop me and live to tell about it?”
I sent a smirk in his direction along with a shrug. Non-committal, the best response I could dredge up for now. Oh, I had a boat load of snide comments right on the tip of my tongue, but it wasn’t a case of one-on-one, and my odds were diminishing quickly with each step they took in my direction.
The silence in the cafeteria settled as all eyes stared and I wished there was an invisible barrier to stop Joe’s menacing progress.
Joe let out a rumbling growl and stepped toward me, but he didn’t get farther than a half a step before his nose crushed against an unseen force, dazing him into stepping back. His eyes watered and his demeanor jumped into the land of confusion. A thin train of blood flowed from his nose and his gaze locked on the threads of blood rolling down a wall neither of us could see.
My heart thundered in my ears as I stared at the same spot, comprehension was slow to form in my own mind, and so I could only imagine what was going through Joe’s. His hand reached out and I prayed it wouldn’t connect with an invisible wall.
The drops fell like they reached the edge of a cup, succumbing to the full force of gravity and Joe’s hand passed through the space where the blood had been seconds before.
I kept my face as neutral as I possibly could, and when his eyes met mine, I couldn’t help but swallow at the layer of caution displayed in his irises. The bell rang and I exhaled when he looked around at his buddies, wiped his nose and headed out of the cafeteria.
When I turned, Julia met my gaze and I shrugged, not wanting to voice my own awe at what just happened. Instead, I reached over and grabbed my cheeseburger, eating it in three bites before giving a slight nod to the three others at the table.
“Sorry about that,” I said and picked up my tray.
“Noah said you were fearless,” the kid across from me said. He stood and extended his hand. “I’m Ben.”
“Hi, my name’s Nick and this is Julia,” I said and balanced my tray on my left hand. The moment my right hand gripped his, my smile faded. A cool sensation flowed up my arm and I narrowed my gaze. The glint of a warning flashed in Benjamin’s eyes along with an echo of his voice in my mind.
Not now...
“This is my brother, Danny,” he said and pulled his hand free, clapping the boy next to him on the shoulder.
“Hey,” Danny nodded and picked up his tray. He didn’t offer me his hand like Ben had, but the context of his relationship with Ben made me draw the same conclusion.
I hadn’t been seeing things earlier. These two were reapers.
Julia stood and extended her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said and before I could stop him, Ben’s hand clasped hers. I expected her breath to seize in her chest and her to drop to the ground dead, but she just shook his hand and released it without so much as a flinch.
Confusion clouded my senses and my gaze slid to Noah but he seemed oblivious to the danger standing next to him. When he smacked Danny on the arm and nodded toward the door, I began to wonder if I had imagined the voice in my head and the cool sensation in my arm.
Maybe I was just too hyped up from the weird experience with Joe.
Ben leveled his gaze at me and offered a slight smile. “Maybe later you can tell me what happened in Maine,” he said.
Noah’s head snapped toward Ben, his eyebrows forming curious arches that confirmed my initial assumption.
“What happened in Maine?” Noah asked and both Ben and I ignored him, staring each other down.
Ben was a reaper, and a special one at that. Not only could he hold a glamour in the midst of confrontation, but his touch did not kill.
I just had to find out whether he was friend or foe.