“No boyfriend?” Blake sounded surprised.

“Nope.” Lesa’s eyes sparkled. “You have a girlfriend you left back in California?”

Dee cleared her throat as she found the food on her plate to be of extreme interest.

Mortified, I wanted to hide under the table.

Blake chuckled. “No. No girlfriend.” He turned his attention back to me. “But I’m surprised you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Why?” I asked, wondering if I should be flattered. Like my awesomeness was just so extreme that I couldn’t be single?

“Well,” Blake said, leaning in toward me. When he spoke, it was right in my ear. “That guy over there. He’s been staring at you since I sat down. And he doesn’t look happy.”

Dee was the first to look. Her lips formed a tight smile. “That’s my brother.”

Blake nodded as he leaned back. “Did you guys date or something?”

“No,” I said. Every muscle in my body demanded that I take a look-see. “He’s just…Daemon.”

“Huh,” Blake said, stretching. He nudged my arm. “So no competition there?”

My eyes widened. Boy, he was bold. His hotness level went up ten points. “Not likely.”

A slow smile crept over Blake’s lips. He had a fuller bottom one. Looked totally kissable. “Good to know, because I was wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat after school?”

Whoa. I glanced at Dee, who looked just as surprised as I did. I had every intention of finding out why she was acting so weird over Adam and then talking to Daemon about the weird stuff that had been happening.

Dee misinterpreted my hesitation. “We can get together tomorrow after school.”

“But—”

“It’s okay.” Her look seemed to say, Go out, have fun. Be normal. Or maybe that was my wishful thinking, because she didn’t seem very pleased with Blake’s interest in me. “It’s fine,” Dee adds.

I could wait one more day to talk to Daemon. I glanced over at Blake and our eyes locked. I found myself nodding.

Blake’s smile remained on his face the rest of the lunch. Toward the end, I caved and had to look because I could still feel him. Blake had been right. Daemon was staring. Not at me, but at the boy next to me. There wasn’t anything friendly in the hard line of his jaw or his sharp jewel-toned eyes.

Daemon’s gaze slid to mine. There was a flutter deep in my chest. I tried to draw in a breath, but I felt pierced. My lips tingled.

There was definitely no competition there.

…

Blake and I decided to go to the Smoke Hole after school. We took separate cars, and the wind was howling when we got there, tearing at the bare branches of the trees surrounding the parking lot as we rushed inside.

His cheeks were flushed under his tan as we grabbed a seat near the crackling fireplace. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to the wind here. It’s brutal.”

“Me, too,” I said, rubbing my chilled hands over my arms. “And I’ve been told to expect a lot of snow come winter.”

Interest lit up his eyes, making the specks of green stand out. Nowhere near as bright as Daemon’s, though. “Perfect snowboarding weather, then. Do you snowboard?”

I laughed. “I’d kill myself in two seconds. I went skiing once with my mom and it wasn’t pretty.”

Blake grinned and then shifted his attention to the waitress taking our orders. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous. There wasn’t a tipsy feeling in my stomach when our gazes met. My skin didn’t feel stretched too thin. And I wasn’t sure what that meant. It seemed so…normal.

He told me about surfing while we waited for my slice of cheese pizza and his cup of chili. I told him the closest I’d come to surfing was watching the guys down in Florida. I didn’t have that kind of coordination, and he tried to convince me it wasn’t that hard.

I laughed. A lot. We took our time eating. With him, I wasn’t thinking about aliens from outer space or the looming threat of the DOD or Arum. It was the most relaxing hour I’d spent in a long time.

Toward the end, he was ripping a napkin into tiny pieces while he grinned at me. “So, you have a blog?”

Surprised, I nodded and figured I’d get my geekdom out of the way. “Yeah, I love books. I review them on the blog.” I paused. “How did you know?”

Blake leaned forward and whispered, “I looked you up. I know, kind of a nerdy thing to do, but I found your blog. I like how you write your reviews. Very witty. And you’re passionate about it.”

Flattered and completely won over by the fact he actually read my reviews, I smiled. “Thank you. The blog is really important to me. Most people don’t get it.”

“Oh, I totally do. I used to blog about surfing.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yep, I miss the surfing and blogging—the whole connecting with people all around the world that shared the same passion. It’s a pretty awesome community.”

This guy was perfect. He didn’t make fun of me like Daemon had over the whole blog thing. Cool points for Blake. I took a sip of my drink as I glanced out the window. Dark, thick clouds blanketed the sky. “When I first saw you, I had you pegged for a surfer. You have that look.”

“What kind of look is that?”

“You just have the surfer-boy look going on. The hair, the tan—it’s very cute.”

“Cute?” He arched a brow.

“Okay, it’s pretty hot.”

He grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

He had one of those personalities, much like Dee, where I couldn’t help but feel comfortable around him. A welcome change from the pins-and-needles feeling I got around Daemon.

When we left the diner close to five, I couldn’t believe how much time had passed. The wind whipped at my hair, but I was still buzzing too much from my afternoon with Blake to care about the fact I hadn’t bought a jacket yet.

Blake nudged me with his elbow. “I’m glad you came with me.”

“So am I.” I twirled my keys as we stopped by his truck.

“I don’t normally put myself out there.” He leaned against the hood of his truck, crossing his ankles. “You know, just asking like that in front of an entire table of strangers.”

Brisk wind cooled my warm cheeks. “You seemed pretty confident.”

“I am when I want something.”

Pushing off the hood, he moved to stand in front of me. Oh God. Was he going to kiss me? I totally loved the easy afternoon we’d just spent, but, well…I just didn’t feel right leading him on. I didn’t know what was going on with Daemon, if anything really was going on, but I knew it wasn’t fair to pretend I was completely free. I had feelings for Daemon; I just wasn’t sure what they meant.

Blake leaned toward me, and I froze.

Above him, the branches shook and groaned under the force of the wind.

There was a loud crack, and my head jerked up. One of the thick branches broke under the weight of the wind. Panic leaped into my throat as it spiraled down to where Blake stood. There was no way he could move fast enough, and the size of the branch promised major damage.

Static rushed over my skin, crackling between the layers of my clothing. I felt the tiny hairs on the back of my neck raise. Heart racing, I shot forward and I thought I screamed Stop, but it was only in my head.

And the branch stopped…in midair, suspended by nothing.

Chapter 6

The branch hung there, hovering as if it were tethered by an invisible string. My breath pawed at my chest, not quite making it out. I stopped the branch—I did that. Panic and power rushed through me, leaving me dizzy.

Blake was staring at me, his eyes wide with what? Fear? Excitement? He stepped to the side and lifted his gaze. The rush of power left me at once. The heavy branch crashed, cracking the pavement like it would’ve done to Blake’s skull. My shoulders slumped as I dragged in air. Sharp, slicing pain erupted behind my eyes and I winced.

“Wow…” Blake ran a hand through his spiky hair. “That would’ve killed me.”

I swallowed, unable to speak. Shock rippled through me, lapping at my sides. I felt and recognized the warmth tingling across the nape of my neck, but I couldn’t move. This little “event” had sapped me of energy, and my head…it throbbed something fierce—a kind of scary pain that signaled something was very wrong.

Oh, God, was this it? Was I having an aneurysm?

“Katy…it’s okay,” Blake said, stepping forward as his eyes darted behind me.

A warm, strong hand curled around my arm. “Kat.”

I sagged at the sound of Daemon’s voice. Turning to him, I lowered my head, shielding my face with my hair. “Sorry,” I whispered.

“Is she okay?” Blake asked, sounding worried. “The branch—”

“Yes. She’s fine. The falling branch scared her.” Each word sounded like he spoke it through gritted teeth. “That’s all.”

“But—”

“See you later.” Daemon started walking, taking me along with him. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, staring straight ahead. Everything seemed too bright for a cloudy day. Too real. The whole afternoon had been perfect. Normal. And I’d ruined it. When I didn’t answer, Daemon took my keys from my numb fingers and opened the passenger door.

Blake called out my name, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I had no idea what he must be thinking, but I knew it couldn’t be good.

“Get in,” Daemon said almost gently.

For once, I obeyed without question. When he climbed in on the driver’s side and moved the seat back, I snapped out of it. “How…how are you here?”

He didn’t look at me as he turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking space. “I was driving around. I’ll have Dee and Adam get my car.”

Turning in my seat, I saw Blake by his car. He was still standing there like we’d left him. Knots twisted my insides. I felt sick. Trapped by what I’d done.

“Daemon…”

His jaw worked. “You’ll pretend like nothing happened. If he brings it up, you’ll tell him that he moved out of the way. If he even suggests that you…that you stopped that branch, you laugh it off.”

Understanding seeped in. “I need to act like you did in the beginning?”

He nodded curtly. “What just happened back there never happened. Do you understand me?”

Close to tears, I nodded.

Silence ticked away the minutes. Halfway home, the headache eased up and I felt almost normal, except it was like I had pulled an all-nighter. Neither of us spoke until he pulled into the driveway of my house.

Daemon yanked the keys from the ignition and sat back. He faced me, eyes sheltered by a long wave of hair. “We need to talk. And you need to be honest with me. You don’t seem surprised you just did that.”

I nodded again. He was furious, and I couldn’t blame him. I’d possibly exposed them all to a human—a human who could go to the press, who could talk at school, and who could catch the attention of the DOD. They’d find out that the Luxen had special abilities. They’d learn about me.