CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
With Harrison all caught-up and Katherine awaiting instruction from the council, there's nothing to do on Monday morning – apart from the one thing I should be doing religiously: school.
"It's important for your future," my mother tells me, urging me to get out of bed and get dressed. She drags the blanket off the bed.
"Hey!" I protest.
She holds it up in the air like a trophy as she walks out of the room. "One day you'll thank me."
I don't bother mentioning that if the prophecy Keon plans to fulfil is fulfilled, I'll have no future. Because I'll be dead.
No. I don't mention it. Too heavy for a Monday morning.
But as I discover upon arriving at school, heavy is all this particular Monday seems to be. Between the clouds leftover from yesterday – which seem to have grown and expanded, pressing down on the city as though they want to squash it – and my Caden-less entrance through the front gates, there's not much opportunity for keeping it light. And as I walk, my heart drags lethargically along.
At lunch, Roma asks me where Caden is. "He went away for a while," I lie. "A family trip. You know the sort."
She nods unenthusiastically. "I wish I didn't. When family trips happen, poor defenceless babies get named things like Romania." She grimaces.
I can't help the laugh that bubbles up and out of my throat. Then I remember why Caden isn't here and my throat runs dry.
Where are you? I call out to the world, as if he stands a chance of hearing it. As if the world stands a chance of hearing it. Wherever he is, I can only hope he's okay. I never thought having seen a vision of his death would be a comfort. But now it's something I cling to, something I keep in a constant loop at the back of my mind. I've seen how he dies, and it's not without me. It's not today.
What a thing to find solace in.
What a cruel, morbid way to live.
Kalea brushes past me then, headed somewhere with her head down, eyes on her feet as if she doesn't want to be seen – or followed. My curiosity piqued, I run after her. We're outside by the time I catch up. It's raining lightly and the grounds are deserted.
"Kalea," I say. I jog a little closer. "Kalea, wait up!"
I grab her by the arm. Her response is immediate.
"Don't touch me!" she says ferociously, ripping her arm out of my grip. While she's certainly not one for kindness and she most definitely could hurt a fly, I find her anger out of place; I thought we were past this. Her eyes flash at me when I meet them, like a warning. "Just leave me alone."
I don't leave. When she starts walking again, I match my pace with hers. Angered, she speeds up. I speed up with her.
We're walking past the side of a building when she suddenly stops, punching a hand into the brick wall. Dust launches up into the air. A couple bricks topple into whatever's beyond it. I take a peep. An empty classroom, by the looks of it.
"Why can't you just leave me be!" Kalea all-but-screams. And that's when I see it. She's not angry. She's shaken. She's terrified.
"Something's happened," I say, and the moment I do, I know I'm right. She looks away, cheek muscles twitching. "Hasn't it?"
Slowly, slowly, she turns back to me. "Those people?" she says, voice low. "With the card? They came for me – last night. I had to draw on the otherworld. I've never taken so much in my life. I nearly lost myself to it."
YOU ARE READING
Cold Tomorrow
Paranormal[The sequel to Cold Fire] All her life, Melissa has been defined by something she's had no control over: a rare, undiagnosed disease. But even with all the scientific explanations offered to her by the undeniably clueless doctors, she's been living...
