Page 50 of Ghost
Julian paled as he read the label, and he and Damen exchanged a tense look. He returned his stare to the bottle for another moment, almost as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. But then the moment was broken, and with shaking hands he passed the bottle to Damen.
He still hadn’t said a word.
I witnessed this happening, but nothing registered.
My desperate mind tried to reason with how this was even possible. Up until a few days ago, I believed my talents were strange and abnormal. Never had it occurred to me that a medication existed to suppress abilities. After all, the things I saw and felt weren’t even based on real science.
Titus’ hand rubbed circles on my back. Meanwhile the other three had gathered in a circle near the monitors. They conversed rapidly in low, furious voices.
Conversations from the past few days echoed through my mind.
“He doesn’t know for certain that I’ve stopped my medication.” My words sounded so far away, and the realization cut through me like a knife. I felt like such an idiot. Even aftereverything, I still had held onto the hope there was a reason.
Some explanation as to why Finn lied to me all these years.
But he had to know. And this was far worse than anything else. Much more than refusing to validate my feelings.
Had I really thought I loved him not so long ago? Nothing could be further from the truth now. My grief and sadness twisted into a knot in my stomach, turning into a loathing I had never felt before. “I hate him.”
“He?” Titus’ hand paused. The wary expression on his face indicated he already suspected the answer.
“Finn,” I spat out his name like a curse. I felt so stupid. “My parents asked him to monitor my medication. I thought it was because he cared. He was always very insistent about it. But when the semester started, he was distracted. And I wanted to see what life was like without them.”
A shaking that was not mine, and a terrible growl, snapped me out of my rage. My eyes went from my white-knuckled fist to Titus.
His face was a nightmarish mask of fury. His eyes no longer their striking green. Instead, the whites and iris shone a bright burgundy. And his pupils so dark that the night sky seemed like day.
But what was most alarming was his breath. Scorching air, almost too hot to stand, caressed my face with every one of his heaving exhales.
My downward spiral of rage untracked, and a new sort of terror consumed me. Titus had transformed from a being of security—the state which we had so recently created between the two of us—to something that could destroy me in an instant. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to flee, to leave before something terrible happened.
He wasn’t even looking at me, but glared over my shoulder. It didn’t matter. What would happen once he turned the full weight of his attention onto me?
Damen was behind him before I could even move, and smacked the back of Titus’ head. “Snap out of it.”
Titus hardly flinched from the heavy-handed hit. Yet it did cause him to blink and shake his head—as if he was pulling himself out of a state of mind. Instantly, his eyes returned to their normal deep green. But the snarl was still present in his tone. “I’m going to kill him.”
The current in the air seemed to dissipate despite the harshness of his words. I could breathe again.
“No,” Damen replied dryly. “You’re not.”
His words were unemotional, but when Damen shifted his focus to me, there was an intensity in his gaze that hadn’t been present before.
“Damen!” Titus seemed to be hanging onto control by a thread. “How can you—”
“First we need to find outwhy. We need to know what he knows. If there is a reason that he is doing this, then Bianca could be in danger.” Damen’s blank expression morphed into a ferocity. It was almost as terrifying as Titus’ transformation only seconds ago. “Then we kill him.”
Their words caused me to shiver. It was disconcerting how easily they discussed, even if it were only a figure of speech.
“But we need to pull ourselves together.” Damen’s violent look faded into the background. A sense of serenity seemed to wash over him, which was almost as frightening as his anger. “We’ve approached this incorrectly. We need a new plan.”
He glanced at Julian, who still appeared to be highly distraught. “We need to reign ourselves in. No more transfers. Since we don’t know what the full extent of Bianca’s abilities are, we need to assume that her power is limitless. Until we know otherwise, assume her abilities are on par with the xing.”
It was the way he said the word that stood out the most. Almost as if it were something terrible. And the heavy silence that followed was tangible.
“You can’t be serious?” Titus finally stuttered out. He stared at Damen as if the other man had lost his mind.
“It does make sense,” Miles responded, his finger to his chin. “It would explain a lot.”
