Charcoal Tears Read online

  Cabe followed him, his eyes taking in the space. “He said you’d be here.”

  I snapped my mouth shut and moved to cover my painting, but Noah caught my hand just in time. I tried to yank it back and he looped an arm around me, pulling me clear out of the way. This caught Cabe’s interest, and he stepped up to look too.

  “What…” he breathed, stepping in closer.

  Noah tensed behind me, his short gasp stirring against my hair.

  4

  The Oddities of the Ordinary

  Noah’s arms slackened around me and he stepped up closer to the painting, forcing me to go with him, as I was still standing in front of him.

  “This is…” He trailed off, reaching out to touch the canvas. I snagged his hand, pulling it away from the painting.

  “It’s not dry,” I said.

  He tucked his arm around me again, and I tried to push down the alien feeling that accompanied it, but I was still on edge from the run-in with my father, and nervous sparks lit up in the pit of my stomach. Cabe stared at the painting for a long time, his brown hair falling over his eyes. He combed it back with his hand and slowly turned to face me. I melted in the golden-brown light of his eyes, relaxing back against the body behind me. Noah pulled me closer, his breathing changing against my hair, and Cabe’s eyes ran over my features, flicking back to the painting.

  “I see what you did,” he finally said.

  I’d never been so ashamed, or terrified, before in my life. These two strangers could see right through me, to the broken, weeping girl that curled inside. Had I let them do that? I didn’t even know.

  I started to tremble and Noah must have felt it.

  “It’s exceptional, don’t be embarrassed.” His voice rumbled through his chest, vibrating against my back.

  “You weren’t meant to see it.”

  “It’s what you looked like when you were playing games with us at Tabby’s house.” He laughed. “We’ve already seen it.”

  An answering sound of amusement fell out of me, causing the worried look to ease from the lines set into Cabe’s forehead. He stepped forward, blocking the painting out, and I relaxed further.

  “Sorry,” he offered. “Didn’t mean to pry.”

  “Yes you did.”

  His smile was brilliant, and for a moment I allowed myself to bask in it. Noah was a gravitational force, but Cabe was something pure and overwhelming, radiating happiness. They shouldn’t be in my garage, and I shouldn’t have let Noah put his arms around me. Did I have no regard for my own safety?

  Is it really so outlandish that they might simply like you? That they might want to be friends with you?

  Perhaps my own supernatural power had jaded me, and now it was all that I could see in these two boys. It was all I could feel when their arms brushed mine, when Noah pulled words from my tongue without me meaning to speak them, or even when Cabe cast his sunny smile upon a room and commanded attention with the easy snap of his fingers.

  “Let Tariq drive himself tomorrow,” Cabe said, inching closer. “We’ll pick you up.”

  I hesitated, the bunching of muscle along my back and the pull of Cabe’s smile enough to cause an electric haze to descend in my head, itching uncomfortably along my consciousness and making me restless and drowsy all at once. I wondered why my electricity was trying to make an appearance, since nobody was directly threatening me.

  “I’ve got work tomorrow.”

  “Where do you work?”

  I didn’t want to answer, because I simply didn’t want them to know. The silence hung heavy in my small sanctuary, making the darkness outside even more ominous than it usually was. Cabe didn’t seem to mind, he was acting distracted. He gazed at my face, his eyes dipping gradually lower until he seemed to be staring at my lips, and then Noah grunted and swung me around.

  I found myself facing the outside of the garage.

  “It’s late,” Noah’s voice cracked, as though from sleep, and I wondered how long we had all been standing there quietly. “Time for you to go to bed.”

  I watched as they covered my painting, turned off the light and locked up the garage. Noah handed me the key and I hid it in the usual place. They walked me back to the house and I whispered goodnight before I slipped inside. When I looked out of my bedroom window, they had barely moved. They talked softly to each other, staring at my front door.

  I took a quick shower and fell into bed, locking my window and drawing the curtains for good measure.

  The next morning the boys weren’t there to pick me up, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t want them finding out about the club, but I supposed that on some level, I knew it would change things for me. I remembered Noah standing next to me at Tariq’s lunch table, radiating enough possessiveness to frighten Tariq’s friends, and the way Cabe shielded me from the other students staring at us. Maybe they just wanted to be friends with me, maybe there was nothing supernatural going on, and the odd feelings whenever they drew near were more a result of being alone for so long… maybe. But even if that were true, they were rapidly trying to take over my life, and I couldn’t seem to tell them to go away. I didn’t seem to want them to go away. As soon as they found out about my job, I’d probably end up jobless.

  I dressed in denim shorts and a plain blue tank. I drew a short-sleeved blouse over the tank, securing what buttons remained along the front, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. My chameleon shoes were on and laced up. I met Tariq by the door. There was no food again, which meant that Gerald had indeed used the money that I had left him on other things. I sighed and dropped another twenty onto the table. He’d be furious if I didn’t leave him anything.

  We stopped on the way and bought cheap coffee from a service station. I was still wincing at mine by the time we pulled up to school. Cabe and Noah were leaning up against a black jeep, parked a few spaces away. They seemed to be waiting. Tariq sped off as usual, and I started toward them. They hadn’t spotted me yet, so I just folded myself quietly beside Cabe, who had his back turned enough to shield me.

  “Hello,” I said.

  Cabe almost jumped out of his skin, which drew a smirk from me. Noah started to laugh, but Cabe punched him hard in the shoulder. Noah shoved him back and ruffled my hair up. “Morning, little ghost.”

  “Morning, Noah.”

  Cabe was clutching his chest. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  I pushed my bottom lip out slightly, feeling guilty. “Sorry.”

  He rolled his eyes and slapped his hand over the lower half of my face. “Don’t make that face at me.”

  I laughed, and they both blinked. I pushed past them, heading for the front of the building.

  “Did she just giggle?” I heard Cabe ask.

  “Pretty sure,” answered Noah.

  “I’m right here,” I announced. “And I can hear you.”

  “The mouth on her!” Noah exclaimed, his arm landing over my shoulders.

  I almost laughed again but caught it in time. They grinned at each other over my head. Noah dropped us off at homeroom and the blond girl was back on Cabe’s desk. For some reason, it annoyed me this time, but I wasn’t sure why. The feeling was foreign, as though it didn’t actually belong to me, but was somehow inside me anyway. I folded my arms tightly over my chest and averted my eyes. Cabe dropped into his seat.

  “Hey, Cabe.” Her voice was light and flirty, as though the previous day’s rejection hadn’t happened.

  “Kat,” he sighed, apparently not having any of it. “Off my desk.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw him jerk his hand to the side. The motion was harsh, and again, I was struck that a person so warm could ever act so cold.

  “I was just wondering about the party this weekend.” Kat pressed on, uncertainly now. “The other girls wanted to know.”

  “What about it?”

  “Is it still happening?”

  “Yes. Now will you get off my desk?”

  “Why, y
ou got a girlfriend?”

  Cabe growled. I didn’t like hearing him so agitated, and before I knew what I was doing, I had shifted and laid a hand against his arm. He turned to me immediately, like I was on one end of a string in motion, and him, the other. He angled toward me, and then grabbed my hips. I squeaked, and found myself plopped into his seat. Kat sat on what was now my desk, and Cabe reclined in my old seat, his arms folded, his mouth smirking.

  Kat’s eyes narrowed and she hopped off… my desk, tossing her hair so that it smacked me in the face. Someone in the classroom snickered and I blushed, fixing my eyes to the desk.

  “Freak,” Kat muttered.

  It was too quiet for Cabe to hear, and I was glad. Mr. Thomas walked in, and Kat found her own seat. A few minutes later, a note landed across my desk. I blinked, looking around. Nobody watched me. I opened the note.

  You’re a fucking freak. Everyone hates you. You think you’re so special because you’re giving it up to the new boys? Think again, half the girls in this city have spread their legs for an Adair. You’re nothing special.

  I scrunched the note into a ball, my other hand forming a fist on the desk. Cabe glanced at me, arching a brow in question. I immediately relaxed one of the fists and hooked a smile at him, surprised at how easily it came. His eyes wandered over my smile, one lighting his own face. I turned back to the front of the classroom and tried to focus for the rest of the lesson, but it was a lost cause. I was almost relieved that my confusion over the note had quickly overshadowed any alien feelings of jealousy. How did the boys have such a bad reputation? Weren’t they new? I rolled the note around between my fingers, thinking about the blond girl who must have written it. Was she the one taking pictures and threatening me to stay away? Somehow, I doubted it.

  Noah was already in his seat by the time I got to History, and one of the vaguely familiar cheerleaders was leaning over him, her hand planted on the desk. Her other hand dropped onto his shoulder as she whispered to him. His eyes caught mine and stayed. I was sure that he could see every feeling that I tried to fight down, but I fought them down all the same and curbed the desire to throw my book bag at the girl.

  Get yourself together, I tried to scold myself, this isn’t you!

  When the girl realised that Noah wasn’t paying attention to her, she looked up and saw me. Her glare was all the anger that I felt, plus more. She despised me. What the hell? She flicked a look at my empty chair but I was already sitting down. Her gaze narrowed.

  “I’ll see you next Saturday, babe.” She flounced off Noah’s desk. He was still watching me, as if he hadn’t even noticed her leave.

  I gritted my teeth. Noah leaned over, his arm creeping across the back of my chair. “We’re having a party next Saturday.”

  I turned, but he was leaning closer than I had realised. I jolted in my chair, inching back to put a comfortable amount of space between us, and he settled a hand on my knee to calm me, but the scratchy feeling was back, and it was stronger than ever. It emanated from his touch and curled into my centre, making me want to jump from my chair and dive into the nearest body of water to ease the burn. I started trembling again, shifting my leg out from beneath his touch. He leaned back, his eyes wandering over my face before he sucked in a breath and turned away from me.

  “You should come.” He was still talking to me, but his attention was fixed firmly on the teacher now.

  “Okay,” I said without thinking.

  His eyes flicked back to me, amused that I had answered reflexively. He hooked his mouth into a half-smile and I found myself strangely happy that he was pleased. Some part of me whispered that this wasn’t normal, but this time I pushed it down, preferring to believe that my budding relationship with the two brothers was completely normal. This was what it felt like to have friends.

  Mr. Walters thumped a heavy book down on his desk some time later, and I realised that I had been staring at my hands, completely lost in my thoughts. I hadn’t heard a word of what he had been saying. I deliberately tuned in to what he was droning on about and fetched my paper closer to scribble notes. Once the bell signalled the end of class, I shouldered my bag to walk with Noah to the cafeteria, braking away from him as we passed through the doorway and making a beeline for my usual table. He reached me a moment later, chuckling.

  “Nice try, little ghost.” He caught my arm and steered me back to his table with the popular kids. I swallowed past a lump in my throat, but shuffled alongside him.

  We sat down and he dropped a sandwich into my lap. I muttered my thanks, and he smiled as though it was no big deal, but they had packed it especially for me, knowing that I wouldn’t have any food. I looked over at Tariq, remembering his blush from the day before when I had given him the other half of my lunch. It had embarrassed him. Without eating any of the sandwich, I walked over to him and dropped it onto the table in front of him.

  “You left your lunch in my bag again,” I tried to sound annoyed, and even feigned an eye roll.

  He didn’t blush as he had the day before, and I knew that I had done well. He smiled wide, and his friend with the red hair winked at me. I returned to Noah, and a minute later a body slid in on my other side. I looked over, expecting to see Cabe, but it was an unfamiliar boy. He raised his brows at me.

  “You have different coloured eyes. I never noticed before.”

  The whole table seemed to descend into silence, and I shrank back from him, quickly averting my eyes to my lap. My brows drew together in confusion as I realised one thing: I didn’t avert my eyes from Cabe or Noah, like I did with the rest of the world. How strange. Noah dropped his chin onto the top of my head but didn’t voice the back-the-hell-off variation that I had come to half expect from him, and I realised why a second later, when a hand landed on the shoulder of the boy sitting next to me.

  “You’re in my seat, Garret.” Cabe clipped the words out in a warning.

  “Sorry dude, was a little shocking to see, that’s all. She’s still super hot.”

  Cabe’s hand tightened on Garret’s shoulder, his fingers digging in until the other boy winced. Garret held his hands up, and Cabe released him, allowed him to stand up and back away a little.

  “O-kay then.” Garret’s words were drawn out with exaggerated slowness. “I’m just going to sit down here.” As he drew further away, he whispered to one of the other guys, who spluttered out a laugh.

  I knew my face was flaming, and the emptiness in my belly was starting to pain me enough that I almost wished I’d eaten half of the sandwich.

  That wasn’t normal, I told myself, did you see how the other student’s reacted? This isn’t normal.

  “You coming to the party next Saturday?” Cabe asked, his voice cheerful and light once again.

  It took me a moment to realise that he was talking to me. “Ah, yeah. I think.”

  “You think?” He handed a banana to me and I started to eat.

  I shrugged. “Yes?”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t look like that. You might get a chance to meet Silas, we’re trying to convince him to come.”

  “I think he met me already,” I offered.

  “Oh?” Cabe’s smiled hovered. He knew what I was talking about.

  I made a binocular with my hands and peered through at him, imitating spying on him. He chuckled and tugged on my ponytail playfully before starting on his lunch. I pondered the rest of my banana, wondering if I wanted to meet the guy who had my house under surveillance.

  Lunch passed too quickly, but my discomfort at the sound of the bell was soothed over by the promise of art class. Quillan must have decided on a lecture for this lesson, as the easels had been put away and desks were roughly lined up. We found three desks in the back and by the middle of the lesson, Cabe and Noah had pushed their desks up against mine. Noah was drawing absently on my hand as he listened to Quillan, and Cabe was mostly staring out of the window. Quillan watched us, but didn’t do anything about our seating arrangement. I had never c
onsidered Quillan a strict teacher, but I still might have expected him to discourage this. When the bell rang, the desks shifted subtly away and the rest of the class barely seemed to have noticed.

  Quillan’s voice caught me as I was passing by the front of the classroom, en route to the door. I paused, causing Noah and Cabe to pull up too, but he waved them on. They hovered, and I touched Cabe’s arm. He drew his brother out.

  “You three are close all of a sudden.” Quillan didn’t seem to be asking anything, but his tone was a little off.

  “I guess.”

  “Take a seat, Seph.”

  I sat on of one of the closest desks and he moved to the front of his desk, leaning back and folding his arms. “You’re smiling more.” He watched my face, apparently not expecting a response, and then kicked off his desk. “Anything you want to talk about?”

  I shook my head.

  “Good,” he said, “Off you go.”

  A little shocked by the uncharacteristically short meeting, I collected my stuff and moved to pass him. His familiar scent caught me before I could move away, powerful and calming at once; it was citrus and wood, a light breeze carried on the spray of a playful wave, like I was at the beach. Strangely, it was much more powerful now, than it had been at any of our previous meetings. I swayed, the classroom wavering before me, and he caught my elbow as I leaned slightly into him. He turned, nudging me against the desk so that I could lean against it. He stepped hastily away as soon as I was supported, his eyes troubled.

  “Are you okay?”

  I frowned, confused at the scratchy feeling that had taken me by surprise. It was more uncomfortable this time, boiling up in my blood like poison. “Y-yeah.” I shook my head rapidly, trying to clear the haze that had descended. “I’m fine. Sorry, I was a little dizzy.”

  I walked away before he could answer, my arm burning. The end of the day came too quickly. I almost couldn’t bear to part with Noah and Cabe, which didn’t make sense at all. I had known them a matter of days, and they were quickly beginning to turn the normal world into something dark and empty. As soon as they were out of sight, I transformed. My smile faded away, my heart grew cold. I was afraid.