Tainted, Book One: Possessed

14. More Fuel

Gemma

I raced to school the next morning, eager to get to class before Kerry and apologize. Waiting outside Angelic languages, I stood on my tiptoes, craned my head to see around milling students, and ignored the curious looks I was getting. Gigi joined me, but I knew she was casting more worried glances at me than helping to watch for him.

"Let's go in," she said at last. "He's not coming."

Bitterly disappointed, I went with her and tried to make it through the morning without crying.

I'll never forgive myself for hurting him so badly, I chided myself later as I trudged to gym. I can only imagine how betrayed he must be feeling.

I dragged myself through classes and lunch, where I picked at my food and struggled to smile at Jax's jokes and listen to Gigi's conversation. I knew I wasn't fooling them.

After school, I went to work, then back to my room, did my homework, and tried to work on a crochet project, but ended up crying myself to sleep.

The next morning, I waited for him outside the classroom again, anxiety at war with hope. When he didn't show up, my shoulders sank and I let Gigi steer me through the door and into my seat.

The rest of the day was pretty much a sad repeat of the one before.

#

Kerry

I slept straight through the rest of the day into the next afternoon. Me and Hank ate an early supper and I told him my idea to make up with Gemma. It took some planning and Hank called in a favor or two, but we flew into White Plains and rented a car.

It didn't take long to find Paul Shepherd's martial arts dojo, and Hank distracted Gemma's uncle while I broke into the apartment above it.

Sneaking into her old bedroom, I felt like she was hugging me. Her scent was everywhere. I scanned the room and figured her uncle hadn't touched it yet. Stuffed animals on a purple bedspread. A pair of headphones with cat ears lay on the nightstand. Clothes and shoes and books and bins of yarn scattered everywhere.

And lights. I counted at least three nightlights around the room as well as a bedside lamp, a desk lamp, and rope lights outlining the ceiling.

Okay. The girl likes light.

After another minute of looking, I found what I wanted and thought about taking more, knowing she probably missed a lot of her stuff, but Hank had warned me Uncle Paul would notice if too many things went missing. So I slipped out of the window and down the fire escape and met up with Hank.

"Find something?" he asked.

"This'll work, right?" I showed him the prize and he nodded. I blew out a heavy breath, ashamed of what I'd screamed at her. "I just hope she'll see me long enough for me to apologize."

"She will." He smiled. "I'm sure of it."

Since we had plenty of time before the return flight, Hank said I could grab one of my caches, which was a relief. I picked up the small one in Midtown, pocketed the valuables outta it, and tossed the smokes without him even having to ask.

Our flight ended up being delayed and I killed time by asking him some questions I shoulda asked right away. Like, where my demon was.

"Well, you can't do anything to the demon itself," he began. "It can only send part of its essence to our plane. Most nephs call it a shadow, but the official term is an—"

"Avatar. I know about demons, Hank." Cussing under my breath, I dropped my head back and stared at the ceiling. "What did you do with it?"

"A warden, Nathaniel Snyder, captured it and has been studying it. When he's finished, he'll deposit it in the Council's storage vault."