Page 19 of Sound
“Étienne?” Melody rasps next to my ear.
15
Melody
Silence.
I am drowning, my lungs shriveling in my chest where no air is filling them up, and then silence surrounds me. There is nothing there. It is so absolute that not even the panic I know I should be feeling can penetrate it. Alone, I can’t even see anything in the all-consuming darkness.
One second, I am nothing, and the next a jolt of energy sends me into a flailing mess, coughing and spitting while sucking in lungful of air. Someone is crushing me to them, their arms of steel wrapping around me like shackles. Thinking it’s Seraphina, I kick and claw at her to release me until a familiar voice laughs and a warm face presses to my neck. Blinking fast, my vision clears enough to see a blond head nuzzling where my shoulder meets my neck.
“Étienne?” I wince, my throat feeling raw like I’ve been chewing on broken glass.
“Melody.” The way he says my name, placing the accent at the end, sends a pleasant shiver through me. The relief in his deep voice soothes my still freaked-out mind. “You are alive, little one.”
Lifting his head up, our faces are so close I can feel his breath on my lips. A jolt of something I don’t understand slices through me. He looks different. His hair is mussed and wild around his head, the top falling over his forehead. His cheekbones are sharp enough to cut, making him look like he is chiseled out of marble, not skin and bones. His lips are redder than I remember, standing out starkly and forcing me to blink repeatedly, like that will change what I’m seeing. My gaze flicks up, locking on his eyes.
The blue color of the summer skies and calm ocean is gone. Thick, dark lashes lower and lift over pools of molten silver that shimmer and swirl, making me think it’s alive. It’s Étienne’s face in front of me, but something else is watching me through his gaze. Something that is trying to reach in and see to my soul. I should be afraid. Knowing that magic is real, cats can turn into human beings, and being locked here with no way out is enough to drive anyone insane. Thanks to that nightmare, seeing that he is not exactly what I think he is does not come as a shock.
Maybe it should.
Some part of me I don’t know is there comes to life. I can feel the thrill and excitement streaming through every nerve ending, purring and stretching with the knowledge that it’s being seen. It reacts to whatever lurks behind Étienne’s eyes, answering the call while coming to the surface. Like a whole new person, it fills my body and settles under my skin as if it owns it. Everywhere his skin touches mine and every contact between our bodies through the fabric becomes more sensitive. With his body curling around me like a blanket, mine becomes fully aware of his. It’s a feeling I can’t shake, even if I wanted to.
"Qu'es-tu?" Warm air puffs over my lips when he speaks.
“English,” I mumble, unable to look away from him.
“What are you, Melody?” His deep voice vibrates from his chest to mine, his cheek twitching into a flick of a smile. “You are not human.”
I startle at his words, a shot of fear piercing me through the chest. I want to rage and scream at him that it’s crazy, but after everything that I’ve been through his words are the only explanation. No matter how ridiculous they may sound. I sure am something, unfortunately human is not the option for me anymore.
Searching the silver moving through his gaze, I swallow thickly. “Neither are you.” A line forms between his eyebrows, the thick lashes lowering slightly over his eyes. “Have you seen yourself in the mirror?”
I know I should push him away and get as far away as possible. Melody from a few hours ago would’ve done that and screamed bloody murder. That part of me seems like it’s someone else, someone who was a dream and who finally woke up. I wish I can turn back time and go back to sleep, to have things like they used to be. Étienne’s gaze drops to my lips and my mouth goes dry, my stomach flipflopping wildly. Or maybe not. No dream I’ve ever had can conjure a perfection like the one staring at me as if he is debating if he should kiss me or not.
“You are not human.” The tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth but I manage to speak.
“I know I’m not,” he tells me dryly, and I can’t help but snort at the twist of his mouth. “You are not afraid.”
“Should I be?” I challenge him, still not understanding myself why I don’t fear him.
“From me?” His eyebrows crawl all the way up to his hairline. “Never.”
“I can’t leave this place,” I blurt out so I don’t kiss him.
The longer he holds me in his arms like he will never let me go, the harder it is to resist the urge to seal my lips to his, so I push on his shoulders telling him to let me go without words. He frowns at my weak attempt, but after a few shoves he clenches his jaw and releases me. I can tell it takes great effort on his part and warmth spreads through me. Seeing all his delicious muscles straining the shirt and pants within an inch of their lives brings all my girly bits to life.
“Is that why you were in the tunnel?” Expanding his chest with a deep breath, his jaw works as he struggles to speak. “You were trying to escape?”
“Yes.” A lump forms in my throat. “I only managed a couple of steps before pain made me black out.”
“You wouldn’t leave while I was here but tried to run on your own.” The accusation is loud and clear in his deep voice. “Your friends being here had nothing to do with it. You are scared of me.”
Curling my legs up and hugging them to my chest, I blow out a breath. Snatching a t-shirt from the bed next to him, he balls it up and wipes the disgusting mud from my face. I let him. As soon as I open my mouth, he will realize I’m crazy and run from here as fast as his legs will carry him. I should lie, tell him I just want to get out of this place, but the hurt I see on his face when he says I’m scared of him makes me sing like a bird.
“I was going to run outside, hide and wait for you until you came back.” He narrows those silver eyes, obviously not believing my words. “Seraphina found Salmon …” my voice trails off at the name.
“Seraphina?” Done with cleaning my face, he flicks the shirt aside.
