“Yes. No. I don’t know.” For the past couple of weeks, I’d been experiencing increasingly overwhelming panic attacks, or so the doctors said. Heart palpitations, nausea, clammy hands, blurry vision, shortness of breath. It all fit. The problem—to me, at least—was that I never feltpanickedwhen I had one of these so-called panicattacks.
They happened for no discernible reason, at least that I couldtell.
One minute, I was fine. The next? I could barely seestraight.
“Do you have your pills on you?” she asked as she pushed open the grimy black door that led into the women’s restroom. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, my eyes darting from the yellow sinks to the mound of wet, crumpled paper towels that were spilling from an overflowing trashcan.
“Yeah, I brought them just in case, but I can’t manage to swallow them without some water.” I pointed to the yellow sink. “And I’m not drinking fromthat.”
She gave a nod without a moment’s hesitation. “Okay, stay here and take some deep breaths. I’ll get a glass of water from thebar.”
She disappeared from the bathroom a moment later. Sighing, I leaned against the sink and stared at my reflection in the cloudy mirror. I looked about as good as I felt. There were dark circles under my eyes, and my complexion was so pale that my skin now matched my light blonde hair. Frankly, I looked like I’d seen a ghost that had been tormenting me foryears.
These panic attacks were starting to seriously suck ass, and the doctor had said I wouldn’t improve until I figured out the trigger. She thought it might have something to do with my home life, but I wasn’t home now. I hadn’t even been thinking of my step-dad, much less feeling panicked about him. The only thing that could have set it off was the strange guy who had been watchingme…
The door pushed open, and my shoulders relaxed. Whether or not these were actual panic attacks, the medicinedidmake me feel better. I could take the pill, splash some cold water on my face, and go back to swirling around the dance floor until the sun broke through the morningsky.
But a figure much taller and much more muscular than Bree stepped through the door. His dark hood no longer obscured his pale, gleaming face, though his black eyes were just as piercing, if not moreso.
I sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back. My heart began to tremble in my chest. What the hell was he doing in the women’s restroom? Had he followed me inhere?
“Tonight’s your eighteenth birthday,” he said in a low rumble of a voice, one that was almost lyrical, like he had an Irish or Welsh accent. It sent shivers down myspine.
Swallowing hard, I stared at him. What was this? Some sort of strange pick-up line? I hadn’t been out at clubs and bars enough to know the difference, but this seemed like a bizarre way to approach a girl who had caught youreye.
He let out an irritated sigh. “That is why you’re here, yes? To celebrate your eighteenthbirthday.”
“Yes.” A pause. “Why are youasking?”
He nodded. “Good. Can I see yourears?”
My mouth almost dropped open. “Can you see myears?”
He took a step closer, a move I matched with a step away, forcing me closer to the wall behind me. I didn’t dare move too far back. If I did, I would quite literally be backed up against a wall, and I was feeling more than a little freaked out—and, strangely, a little excited—by this strange guy who had cornered me in a women’s restroom at aclub.
Where the hell wasBree?
“Yes.” Another impatient sigh. “I need to see yourears.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so, buddy.” I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes, hoping the stance made me look a lot more confident and in control than the trembling heart in my chest suggested. “I’m flattered, but I’m not interested. Now, if you don’t mind, could you leave the women’s restroom? I have some business I need to tend to in thetoilet.”
Inwardly, I groaned.I have some business I need to tend to in the toilet?Why the hell did you have to saythat?!
His lips quirked, but the intensity of his gaze didn’t falter. “Just let me see your ears, and I’ll leave you to tend to your business. In thetoilet.”
For a moment, my resolve weakened, despite every logical bone in my body telling me otherwise. He was strange and unsettling. He’d followed me into the restroom, demanding to see my ears for reasons I didn’t understand. And he wasn’t being at all friendly. Instead, he seemed almost irritated, as if this entire exchange was some kind of chore, one that was very much beneathhim.
But I still had this strange, inexplicable urge to give him whatever he asked. I felt almost drawn to him, as if my body recognized him even if my mind and my eyes did not. Had we met before? He wasn’t someone from school, not unless he’d graduated several yearsbefore.
He stepped closer. This time, I did not take a step back. His cool hand brushed my cheek as he slid my long, blonde hair behind my ear. My heart hammered, so fast that I could barely breathe. Everything within me felt tight and tense, and a strange scent whispered into my nose. A combination of mint and frost andnight.
“Ah, just as we thought,” he murmured almost too low for me to make out thewords.
“Just aswhothought?” My eyes were locked on his face, at the way his skin glistened underneath the yellow glow of the fluorescentlights.
He stepped back, and the strange magic of the moment vanished as he pulled the hood back over his head and the door swung open to reveal Bree. Her eyes bugged out of her head, and her grip on the water glass tightened, but the strange guy—whose name I still didn’t know—completely ignored herpresence.
“Don’t take that pill.” And with that, he strode away, leaving me gaping after him. I slid my hand over my ear and gasped. It had a small bump near the top in the shape of a tiny pointed tooth. A bump that hadn’t been there this morning. A bump that hadn’t been there in all my eighteen years on thisearth.
