Little Spark

16 - Universally Misunderstood

Over the next few days, I have frequent flashbacks of Ruby's petrified face as the cloud monster hovered over her. She's been sleeping in my room, so I frequently wake up with my arms wrapped tightly around her and instinctively look at my closet door. I was glowing when I entered her room, so whatever they are, at least one of them knows what I am—I fear next time they'll be after me as well.

And then there's Reign. I find that I'm an odd combination of livid and bummed: of course the first cute guy to show any interest in me—albeit a bit sketchy—would fall in the "mortal enemy" category. It still doesn't make a whole lot of sense though; I've looked into his eyes quite a few times, and he's never made me feel the way Mauro does.

Despite the snickers that follow me around school—the guy did shut me down in front of Lylah of all people—the classes and bells and buzz of activity are a welcome distraction from the mess inside my head, and on Thursday morning, I arrive early to search the library for the next book on Mr. Casey's list since I left my copy in Virginia.

I drift through the aisles and smile as amazing characters and faraway places are brought to mind by the familiar titles—

"Pssst..."

The sound smacks me out of my happy place, and my fingers spark. I don't have to look up to know who's standing at the end of the aisle. In addition to the swell of fury, an unexpected wave of fear crashes over me—he is a Shadow after all... a Shadow who most definitely knows I'm a Spark. I doubt he would try to hurt me here at school, so I take a deep breath and hope that if I ignore him, he'll evaporate behind a bookcase or something.

"Hey, over here," he whispers.

I don't respond.

"You know you can't ignore me." He's managed to creep his way over and is now standing right beside me. He smells amazing.

And now I remember the sting of his rejection, and anger over the blow to my self-esteem overrides both my innate hatred of what he is and my fear of what he could do to me. Funny how that works. "Go away."

"Aww, come on, I-uhh. Don't be like that."

"Don't be like what?" I snap, turning to face him. "Like you?"

His smile fades. He looks away, some inner struggle visible in his stupid golden eyebrows. "It wasn't like that, Bliss. I couldn't—" He shakes his head. "You don't understand."

"Well, I do understand that you were following me around, then you lied about it and made me look like an idiot. I shouldn't even be talking to you."

"Let me guess." He crosses his arms. "Cornwell told you it's a bad idea."

I look him over, growing more and more furious the longer I'm near him. "Candis may have had some choice words, but you proved how much of a jerk you are all by yourself, Reign."

I turn to walk away, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Wait, don't go yet."

I snatch away from him. "Look, I don't know what kind of game you think this is, but I'm really not into it. You made it perfectly clear that I'm 'not your type', and I can assure you, you definitely aren't mine."

He pulls back and his eyebrows shoot up. "Man, New Girl, you are a firecracker." For about half a second, I think he's calling me out, but then his eyes embark on their usual journey over the more hilly areas of my terrain.

"Seriously?" I cross my arms. "Why are you even talking to me?"

"Well..." He pulls To Kill a Mockingbird—the book I'm looking for—from the back pocket of his very nicely-fitting jeans; poison dart frog indeed. "I was bringing you this—my personal copy—because I know all the library copies are checked out."