Chapter Thirteen

Introducing David to everyone seems to take forever. Sure, pretty much all the juniors and seniors are at the bonfire, but it’s still not that many people. The problem is, David is attractive, and the girls of Grainer rarely get new blood to fawn over. Luckily, David doesn’t seem to mind too terribly much. I watch from Tanner’s arms as David soaks up all the attention comfortably.

“Bas said you did great on the road,” Tanner says next to my ear. He leans down and kisses my cheek.

“Really?” I ask.

Tanner nods. “Well, he said you got a little nervous, but you made it through just fine.”

Hmm. My conversation with David tries to pop into my head, but I quickly tell myself that Bas most likely just didn’t want Tanner to know what a spaz I am. “I’m just glad we’re back. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Tanner grins and pulls me down to the blanket with him. “How did things go with Bas, anyway? I know you weren’t too excited about having to put up with him for two hours all by yourself.”

Why are we still talking about Bas? “It was fine. We just talked about archery and our graphic design class mostly. I guess he knows how to behave when he really wants to, but I don’t want to talk about Bas anymore. I want you to kiss me.”

Tanner rolls up onto his elbow. His face hovers over mine. “You do, do you?”

“Yes, very much.”

His smile is playful, and just a bit seductive. “Well, I won’t keep you waiting then.”

And he doesn’t. The kiss from this morning in the parking lot is put to shame. As Tanner’s lips touch mine, I feel everything else slip away. No more dreams and Sibeal, no more Bas, no more anything but the feel of Tanner’s lips on mine. My whole crazy world condenses down to the heat of his body pressing against mine.

My body shivers as Tanner’s hand touches my hip, his fingers sliding under the hem of my t-shirt. His lips suddenly leave mine, touching down behind my ear and making their way down my neck. I can barely breathe. My whole mind is focused on Tanner’s lips trailing across my skin. I gasp when his hand slides up to my waist.

I don’t want him to stop, but when I turn my head and spot David walking toward us, I push Tanner back hurriedly. Confusion flashes in Tanner’s eyes until he also spots David. He backs off immediately and attempts to prop himself back up on his elbow casually. I seriously doubt it worked, but I roll with it and hope.

“Hey, you two,” David says. His eyes are definitely narrowed a bit, and fastened on Tanner. “Bas and a few others wanted to go walk down by the water. Why don’t you come with us?”

His tone says it’s not really a question. My own eyes narrow right back at him. I’m going to get him for this.

“Sounds great,” Tanner says. He jumps up and offers me his hand. I let him pull me up, but slip my arm through David’s once I’m standing. Tanner takes the hint and falls back with Bas and a few others who are moving away from the bonfire.

I keep my tone low, but my fingers are digging into David’s arm. “Playing Dad’s watchdog tonight?”

David pries my fingernails out of his skin. “I don’t need instructions from Dad to want to keep the boys from clobbering my little sister.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I roll my eyes, not caring whether or not he can see it in the dark.

“Look, sis, Tanner seems like a nice guy, but that doesn’t mean I want to see his hand under your shirt.”

I could die right now. “His hand was barely off my hip!” I hiss.

“It didn’t belong there,” David says.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“No,” David says, “I’m being your big brother. Just tell Tanner to back off a little, okay? I don’t want to see that.”

“You …”

“I’m not saying I don’t like him,” David defends. “Maybe you two will live happily ever after. I have no idea. I hope it works out because I know you really care about him, but if he has any hope of getting Dad off his back, he better figure out how to keep his hands to himself in public.”

I want to scream. I seriously want to throw my head back and scream. I know better than to say anything about the fact that Tanner and I thought we were pretty much alone this time. I have no intention of roping myself into another argument like that. I try to focus on the fact that David said he likes Tanner and hopes we work out.

“Fine,” I say as nicely as I can. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

David grins at me. “Good.” Then he turns and flips me over his shoulder and starts running for the water. My shrieks carry out over the water as he splashes around in the surf. When I feel myself pitching backward toward the water, I am laughing as I drop into the waves. It doesn’t take much to get my feet back under me in the shallow water, but I come up splashing. David is drenched before I’m finished.

When we finally stop throwing water at each other, I notice quite a few people have joined us in the surf. Everyone sticks to the shallows, but the sun set a while ago and I have a hard time picking out who is who. It doesn’t help that most of the guys are either running around shirtless or in plain white tank tops.

It’s hard to tell the difference between one person and another in the moonlight, but I spot Evan and Jackson a few yards away. Tanner is standing with them, his back to me, and I creep up behind him. He jumps when I slip my wet arms around his waist. He spins around and my eyes go wide.

“Arra?” Bas says questioningly.

“Bas?” I jump away from him and laugh, a deep blush creeping onto my face unexpectedly. “Sorry, I thought you were Tanner. I was trying to scare him.”

Bas laughs, but it isn’t his usual laugh. “Well, you startled me pretty good if that’s what you were going for.”

“Sorry,” I say again. I take a step back as David’s words echo in my ears.

I start to turn away, but Bas grabs my arm. “Arra, wait.”

“Arra!” Tanner calls out from across the beach. He waves at me, and I wave back, but I turn back to Bas before leaving.

“Sorry, what were you going to say?” The sudden burst of desperation I experience to know his thoughts feels strange.

Bas shakes his head and lets go of my arm. “It was nothing. I was just going to say that your brother is a really nice guy.”

I don’t know why, but I touch Bas’s arm gently. His muscles tighten at the point of contact. “Thanks, Bas. He said the same thing about you, actually.” I smile an honest to goodness smile at Bas before turning away to meet up with Tanner.

I don’t have to go far. Tanner catches up to me quickly and slings an arm over my shoulder.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, sure. Why do you ask?”

“First David pulls you away for a talk, now you’re over with Bas. You don’t usually seek Bas out if you can help it,” Tanner says.

I snuggle against him a little more. “David just wanted to talk for a minute. He said he likes you, but he’s still my big brother and I think it grosses him out a little to see me with a guy. And Bas, that was nothing. I thought he was you.”

“Are we that interchangeable?” Tanner laughs.

“Well, if I’m just going off tank top-clad boys on the beach in the moonlight, pretty much,” I tease. “I can’t help if you two look the same from the back, with only moonlight to tell the difference no less.”

Tanner drops a kiss on my forehead. “I just wanted to make sure something wasn’t wrong.”

“Not at all,” I reassure him.

I miss Tanner’s warmth when his arm slips off my shoulder and takes my hand instead. “I’ve been waiting to talk to you alone since you got back but it hasn’t been easy to get you away from everyone. I wanted to tell you what I saw today.”

“What you saw? You mean, like with Sibeal?”

He nods, and I can see the corners of his mouth turn down.

“When? What happened?”

Even with my pushiness, it takes him a moment to start talking. “It’s not that I didn’t believe you before, but it’s different when you see it yourself.” He pauses and shakes his head. “I saw her reflection move. I was on my way out of the school and I saw her standing next to the big windows in the hallway staring at nothing, so I stopped and watched her. It was just like you said. When she moved, the reflection didn’t move with her right away. It was just a second, and if I hadn’t known what to look for, I probably would have missed it. But I did see it, and it really creeped me out.”

No kidding! Even expecting it, something like that still throws you for a loop. “Did you hear her saying anything?” I ask. “Did she do anything strange?”

Tanner shakes his head and I sigh in frustration.

“I need to catch her using her power. The dreams don’t show me enough about the power to identify it, but I don’t know how else to expose her.”

“I don’t know,” Tanner says, “but she gives most of the class a weird vibe. If anyone sees anything strange, I’m sure we’ll hear about it.”

I pull against Tanner and he answers by wrapping his arm back around my shoulders. “I’ll try to get to Kivera again tonight.” Thoughts of Kivera only bring me more frustration. I have tried every night this week to talk to her again, but so far nothing has worked. As we walk along the moonlit beach, I run my first visit through my head over and over again, trying to figure out what I’m missing.

The answer hits me as we’re walking back to the parking lot hours later and I spot Bas waiting by my dad’s car.