Starcrossed

Chapter 18c: shilcloas (part 3)

Chapter 18 (part 3)

shilcloas (shil-CLO-ahs): hearing another's thoughts; telepathy

All I could do was shake my head. "Are you really that delusional?" I whispered.

"Not delusional. But you'll find I can be persistent." He gave me a wink and took a big sip of his soda.

I looked past him to Molly and it was clear she'd heard the exchange—and equally clear she was uncomfortable. I wondered what her real thoughts were on the matter, but couldn't very well ask at the moment.

Like that first night the O'Garas had come to our house, I felt a weird disconnect between what I knew was true and how things appeared on the surface, with conversations on everyday topics like weather and the upcoming basketball season. No one, especially my aunt and uncle, would ever believe most of our group was composed of extraterrestrials.

Sometimes I wasn't sure I completely believed it myself.

Walking home an hour later, I caught Molly's eye and the two of us dropped a little behind so we could talk. Unfortunately, Sean slowed down, too.

"Do you mind?" I asked pointedly. "We need a little girl talk."

His eyes twinkled down at me as he arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Let me guess. About me?"

"Sean, not everything is about you," Molly informed him.

He just laughed. "Probably about Stuart, then. Either way, I'd as soon hear it. Need to know what I'm up against."

My mood was already in the pits and at that, I snapped. "Fine. It's on you if you hear something you don't want to. Molly, how long do you think it will take Sean to accept the fact that Rigel and I really are graell bonded?" I intentionally spoke as though Sean wasn't there, but he replied anyway.

"I'm guessing a few hundred years. Because it's not possible."

I still refused to look at him. "You know," I said to Molly, "Shim Stuart is probably the top geneticist on Earth, maybe even Mars, and he seems to think it's possible. And he doesn't strike me as the delusional sort."

Without warning, Sean reached over and grabbed my hand. I snatched it away, but not before I felt that jolt again.

"Sean!" Molly gasped, clearly shocked that he'd touched me without permission.

But Sean didn't apologize. "Try to deny that. I felt our connection the first time you shook my hand—and I know you felt it, too, even if you were afraid to say anything because of Stuart. Are you going to pretend you feel anything like that when he touches you?"

I could feel my cheeks burning, but I lifted my chin and looked him right in the eye. "No. What I get from him is at least ten times stronger." Maybe I was exaggerating a little, but not much.

Sean clearly didn't believe me. "How long did it take him to convince you of that?"

"I didn't need any convincing. Like I told Molly, we both felt it the very first time we touched and it totally freaked Rigel out. He didn't tell me what it meant for a couple of weeks—not until after we accidentally shot a lightning bolt at Bryce Farmer."

Sean frowned but didn't argue any more and the three of us walked in silence for a few minutes. Then, as we reached my street, Sean murmured, "Molly did tell us how you get treated at home, M. I hope—we all hope—you can ignore the awkward political stuff enough to still escape to our place sometimes."

Molly nodded eagerly. "We can pretend we still need lots of tutoring. Your aunt already seems to like our mum, so—"

Sean had dodged the graell subject again, but I couldn't help being a little touched by their concern. "Thanks, Molly. Really. But it may be a while before I'm comfortable coming over after . . . everything. Sorry."

Her face fell, making me feel guilty for a second—but only a second. Because she'd been in on the deception, too.

"I guess I understand," she admitted. "But I hope you'll eventually forgive us . . . all of us—" she glanced at Sean— "and we can be friends again. Real friends."

Even if I shared that hope, at least as far as Molly was concerned, at the moment I was way more looking forward to meeting with Rigel tonight—alone.

***

HUGE apologies for taking so incredibly long to update!! I couldn't get into Wattpad for a couple of months and then I was in the throes of writing the next book in this series and that sucked up all my time and attention. But that book, THE HANDMAID'S SECRET, releases this coming Tuesday, 10/23/18, so now I can catch up on some of the stuff I've let slide.
One thing I'm doing to celebrate my new release is having a short-term sale on the full 4-book set of the original Starstruck series! THIS WEEK ONLY, that set is just $2.99 at all the ebook vendors (and will probably NEVER be this cheap again)! On 10/28 the price will go back up to $14.99, so this is THE time to snag it! :)
You can find all the links at brendahiatt.com