Unbound (Unbound, Book 1) ~Formerly Casting Power~

Chapter 38

She smiled as though we were friends. "Norma, right?"

"Noreena. Can I help you?"

"We just wanted to see how your day was going. We heard about Mr. Joseph." She looked at me, tilting her head. "Tough break. I can't believe that he asked you about your mom in front of the whole class. Is it true that she died less than a week ago?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. Cat. You know how it goes." She waved her hand in the air as though talking about the death of my mother was no big thing. "Look at how rude I'm being." The hand stopped moving to rest on her chest, her mouth forming an O. "I forgot to introduce you to everyone."

Yeah, that's what made her rude. "No need," I said, and began to stand.

"Don't be impolite, Noreena. Let me introduce you, okay?" She pulled me back down with a rough jerk on my arm and started to point out people with a dramatic flourish. "That's Meighan and her boyfriend, Josh. Beside her is my girl, Sarah. That's Breena and her boyfriend, Matt."

"Got it. Enjoy your lunch." I looked down to where her hand remained on me and then back to her, and said, "Look, Duvessa—"

"We know who your father is, Noreena," she deadpanned. "We want to know about you and your abilities. You must be powerful if you're Mr. Dwyer's daughter, right? Even though your mom wasn't anything to write home about, you must have inherited something useful from him?"

Now it made sense. Duvessa hadn't known I was Devland's daughter this morning. "My mother?"

"Yeah, so not the point," she said, turning my bubbling annoyance into a cold rage. "What can you do?"

"What do you mean?" I looked down to my lunch, feigning ignorance. Maybe if she hadn't been so eager to dismiss my mother, I might have been more open, but I doubted it. "I can eat my lunch or throw it away because you are distracting me from being able to eat it."

"You know what I mean! What are your abilities?" she whispered.

"Well, I can paint, I guess, and that always begins with a sketch. I'm not that bad, but—"

Duvessa, undeterred, kept firing questions at me. It didn't matter what she asked, or if I'd even heard her. She didn't wait for answers. I'm surprised her head hadn't swelled to bursting, overwhelmed by her motor-mouth running too fast to breathe.

I looked up as another figure joined the group, his shadow replacing the sun.

I opened my mouth to ask whoever it was to move, but no sound came out. My jaw hung with the beginning of the first word as our gazes met and his hooded silver-gray eyes caressed me below dark eyelashes. The outside world vanished from my senses. It felt like the world hit pause, as though we were too overwhelming to coexist with it, and this was the only connection that mattered.

My chest filled with lightness, like it was full of air even though I couldn't seem to take a breath.

I couldn't see anyone else; no sound could reach me, each decibel falling upon deaf ears. He was gorgeous in that I-just-rolled-out-of-bed sort of way with shaggy brown hair, the sun-kissed streaks standing every which way. It should've been grubby, but no. It was the kind of hair that makes a girl want to push her fingers through it, and not in a casual way.

His hands jammed into the front pockets of his fitted dark-washed jeans, and I could tell even from this angle that he was tall. I liked tall. The stark white of his shirt worked only to show off how well tanned he was from a summer spent outdoors. Judging by the deep ridges of muscle flexing under the material, it wasn't from days lying on the beach, either.

He cocked his head to the side and gave me a half smile, dimpling both cheeks. I turned pink with the realization that he'd been scrutinizing me with as much interest as I had him. The outside world came tumbling back, drawing us both back to reality.

Had he felt it? Had his entire world just halted on its axis?

"Noreena?"

"Hmm?" I asked, regaining my senses to find Duvessa glaring at me. I shook my head and blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We wanted to know what kind of abilities you have," she said. "You must have some."

"Look, just because I'm Devland's daughter doesn't mean I—"

In my haste to deflect her question, I turned around to tear my gaze from the boy who whipped my insides to mush and knocked over the soda placed between us. It landed in her white jean-clad lap, soaking through and staining the fabric.

"What the—? Oh my God!" she screeched. "You're such a spaz!"

"I'm so sorry."

"Get away from me." Duvessa scrambled to her feet and pushed her hair out of her face with an angry brush of her shaking hand. If her ability was to shoot fire out of her eyes, I'd be dead.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the boy was trying not to laugh, the unveiled amusement lighting up his eyes. He caught me looking and winked as though trying to tell me I did a good job. My face burned.

"Calin," Duvessa snapped, and to my surprise, the boy looked up with minimal annoyance. "Take me home. There is no way I can go to class like this."

"I have class." His voice was deep, husky, and so seductive.

"So? Skip it."

"You have your own car, and a free period," he said.

"But you will drive me home," she said, watching me with knowing eyes. "That's what boyfriends do."

"And girlfriends who are capable of driving themselves home wouldn't be selfish enough to demand their boyfriend cut class." I smiled at her and shrugged. "I mean, unless you don't know how to tie your shoes, what's the point? You've already spent half the day strutting around in that. Why don't you just change into your gym clothes?"

"Duvessa doesn't do gym," Calin said with a cough to mask his laughter.

"Right, of course. Why take a gym class when you can just use magic?" I raised my eyebrows at her, mocking. Hanging with Nancy for so many years allowed me to channel bitch without effort, though she'd never told me it was so much fun.

"I don't use magic to look—" she started, stopping to dart her eyes between her friends.

I leaned forward and sniffed at her with implied disgust, lowering my voice so only she could hear me. "Honey, I can smell it all over you."

"So, you do have abilities?" Her teeth clenched together, and her fists balled at her sides.

I imagined her with steam coming out of her ears and laughed. She'd be an ugly cartoon character.

"If you think my offer to run laps with you is a sign that I have abilities, I want some of whatever you're smoking," I said and managed to keep the laughter from escaping. "You should consider it. Spells for beauty won't last forever."

I gathered up my lunch from the ground and walked away with an extra bounce.

Her angry eyes watched my retreat, but I refused to show I cared.

I hadn't proven one way or another if I had powers. In fact, I think I had just made my very first high school enemy—on my first day. Something told me she wasn't a rival one would want, but I didn't care. My satisfaction came a half hour later when I saw Calin heading into his next class without Duvessa, who'd gone home to change alone.