The Dangerfields

Chapter Twenty

All I can do is stare at the place where the boy - the Temerary - disappeared. We're not alone. That one sentence is spinning around and around in my head, and I'm having trouble processing this crazy idea.

There are other Temerarys. I thought that the Dangerfields were the only family with magic running through our veins. Apparently, I was wrong.

Or is he a Dangerfield? Distantly related, maybe? I have no idea. All I want in this moment is answers to all the questions chasing each other around. How is this possible? How many other Temerarys are there? Where did we come from? How long have we been as we are? Could other people be like us, if they knew how to be?

I never thought much about being a Temerary. I accepted that my family were the only ones and that is was some sort of hereditary mutation or something. But now I'm not so sure.

Finally, I gasp, for that is all I can manage in my shocked state.

"Willow? What is it? You were going to say something, then just stopped and zoned out. Are you alright?" Hudson's voice breaks me out of my stupor.

"Hudson, did you see that?!"

"See what?"

"I guess not, then. A boy just disappeared! He was sitting on the swings watching us, then he waved at me, then vanished into thin air!"

"Like you do?"

"Yes! I thought that we were the only Temerarys! But maybe we're not!" I can hardly contain myself as I try to hurry and let Hudson understand what I'm thinking.

He seems bewildered, but his expression doesn't even come close to representing the amount of shock that I feel.

"Didn't you say that Felix Harrison said something about a Louise Gates? She's not a Dangerfield."

"Hudson, I was guessing she was a Dangerfield that married a Gates and changed her last name. I didn't expect there to be other magical bloodlines." I shake my head, trying to force my brain into accepting the fact.

Hudson chuckles at me. "You're still very cute, you know."

"What?" I look up at him in surprise, confused by the sudden change of topic.

Hudson leans closer, so our noses are almost touching. "I said, you're cute. You always were." And with that, Hudson leans in and presses his lips softly against mine.

The kiss is soft and sweet, and lasts about five seconds before Hudson pulls away and sits back again. It feels slightly weird, and I can't figure out why at first. I decide that it's because I haven't kissed anyone before, other than two years ago when Hudson left. I'm not used to the feeling. Nobody wants to kiss some weird Temerary freak, no matter how pretty Livia and my family told me I was.

I sit silently for a moment, a smile spreading across my face as I start to grin at Hudson. He grins back, and pecks me on the cheek before jumping out of the tree. I watch him fall towards the ground for half a second before I jump after him. I catch him first, then me as I near the ground as well. After floating for a few seconds, I release the magic, and we drop unceremoniously onto the ground, side by side, laughing.

I've missed this.

I've missed him. My best friend.

"Be careful," warns a voice from somewhere around us, "Someone's watching." I look around, and realize that it was the Temerary talking. I also notice that there is a man in a black suit standing at the edge of the park. He wears dark sunglasses, and leans against a black SUV.

"This isn't the small town I hear you're used to," says the Temerary boy, "Here, someone is always watching. Be careful."

"Wait!" I say, before he can get too far, "Who are you? Are you the one that's been watching me?"