Theo studies me for a second longer. Then he lifts his hands and signs, “You didn’t call the police.”
I drop my mouth open, not sure how to answer. My first thought is not understanding how he could know that, followed by another thought reminding me that if he is like Callie, then he’s not human. Maybe he can sense things.
I shake my head no.
“Why not?”
I take a deep breath. This deep into the forest, there’s no wind, even though I can hear it, blowing across the tops of the trees. Theo stares at me, waiting. He’s changed his clothes, I notice stupidly. A fresh grey T-shirt that stretches across this thick chest. Dark jeans. Heavy black boots.
“You were on the phone last night,” he says. “Who?”
The damp, stifling heat makes me feel swoony. “A friend,” I sign. “I think she’s like you.” I can’t remember the sign he made, although I try my best, clapping my wrists together and swiping my fingers through the air.
It’s good enough, though. I see it in Theo’s face, the way his expression hardens. “She calls herself a Hunter,” I say out loud.
Theo takes a step toward me, his steps heavy but quiet, even in the underbrush. I press against the tree, the bark rough through my shirt.
“You’re not a Hunter.” He uses his sign for it. “You’re human.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
He stops a few inches from me, and I think of last night, how his mouth felt on my mine.
“How do you know her?” he asks.
“I’m friends with her sister.” This time, when I talk to him, my hands don’t shake so much. “She’s human.”
Theo tilts his head a little, as if to say,Interesting.I breathe out.
“Why did you come here?” he asks.
Sweat beads on my forehead. Drips down my neck.
“I wanted to know about you.” But that’s not the truth, not really. When I pushed his boat into the water, part of me had hoped he would come after me. Drag me into the grass and kiss me again. Touch me in that rough way I’ve always dreamed about.
Shame floods into my cheeks, but Theo only stares at me. I wonder just how much he can sense what I’m feeling. It’s an unsettling thought.
So just to be safe, I tell the truth.
“I wanted to see you,” I sign, my breath too shuddery in my throat to speak anyway.
Up until this moment, his face had been unreadable, even in the soft, dappled sunlight. But now, it changes. Surprise brightens in his eyes. His lips part. His hands lift and hover there, like he doesn’t know what to say.
“And now I’ve found you,” I sign. “So maybe we can talk?”
14
THEO
Chloe looks like some creature of the forest with all those leaves and twigs caught in her hair. Like the fairies my mother believed in enough that she would leave out saucers of cream and tell me not to step into mushroom circles.
But unlike those fairies, Chloe is real.
And she’s staring at me like she’s notthatafraid of me. Even though I was right, and she did see what I am the second she met me.
Not that it’s gone how I expected. She knows the wordHunter. A human shouldn’t know that word, not as it applies to me.
“What do you want to talk about?”
