“Just drink.”
Mmm. Caramel Macchiato.
The bitter liquid burned the raw lining of my throat on its way down but that didn’t stop me from taking huge gulps. I couldn’t resist its warmth. I was chilled to the bone and my nerves were ripped to shreds.
The inside of the Jeep was toasty, as though it had sat idling with the heater blowing while Garreth combed the woods in search of me. My muscles began to unclench as my body slowly reheated itself. Garreth smiled at me as I sipped my coffee with trembling hands, and listened to the precious silence.
Then it dawned on me how quickly we had made it to his car. My trek with the others had taken much, much longer. I was sure of it.
“How did we get here so fast?”
“You fell asleep.”
“You carried me the whole way back?”
I was horrified at the thought of my dead weight in his arms. There wasn’t much Garreth couldn’t do. His angelic abilities never ceased to amaze me, despite how he claimed he would soon be losing them. I didn’t want to think about that right now so I thought of how it had taken a lot for me to navigate my way to the rave, fully alert. I felt guilty about using up the precious warm light he had given me, though a lot of good it had done me tonight. The mental picture of me tripping like an idiot mortified me so I shoved the thought out of my head.
“How on earth did you manage, walking through pitch black woods carrying me? I’m not exactly light.”
“Who said we walked?”
Disbelief must have sparkled across my face and he laughed in response to my ability to once again be dumbfounded.
Hesitantly, I found my voice. “Would you…would you show me sometime?”
Garreth cocked his head to the side, as if reading me.
“I meant, would you show me how we got here so quickly?”
“I would show you anything.”
My heart pounded in my chest at the sound of his voice. We passed Claire’s little white car parked on the side of the turnoff. It made my chest squeeze tighter and I felt the dry lump forming in my throat.
“She’ll be all right, won’t she?”
“That depends.” Garreth’s voice was soft but I could tell he was holding back.
“I don’t understand.”
“Remember when I said things were already set in motion? When a person starts behaving in an unexplainable or uncharacteristic manner than their normal personality, it usually signifies that their Guardian has been…corrupted.”
I thought back to how staggeringly different Claire had been this evening — the hair, the clothes, the music.
Even the extreme alterations to the stereo and the disregard for her brother were most definitely not typical of the Claire I knew.
“She wasn’t herself at all. It was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but…real.” I sighed heavily.
The way Claire was adopting Ryan’s interests wasn’t right; in fact, it was border-line unhealthy. I thought of the icy temperature change I had just experienced.
That, paired with the whole no-breathing thing, was way over the top. I just didn’t want to go there.
“It’s as if she’s lost her identity.” I stared out the window, letting the motion of the car numb me. “All along, I thought Ryan was a nice guy. I never even knew he hung around Brynn.”
“Exactly. Like I said before, uncharacteristic behavior.”
Garreth sighed, as we drove into more civilized territory. I could see the lights of an Exxon station a few miles down the road and I instantly felt more at ease, although the headache I had been brewing at the rave was in full swing now. And something occurred to me.
“Garreth, what is Hadrian like?”
He slowed the car to a stop and looked at me intently.
“Well, he’s very…dignified, if you can believe that.
There’s a certain aura about Hadrian when someone is in his presence. That person is awed by him…almost mesmerized.”
I had a disturbing feeling that I just couldn’t make clear.
My thoughts kept switching from the vexing evening I was now trying to forget, to the dark wings that fluttered in my room on occasion. Something was there…here.
Something to be pieced together, only all the pieces weren’t available…or perhaps they were, but they just weren’t cooperating yet.
I struggled with asking the bizarre. There was something about Ryan, some link to Hadrian I wasn’t getting. All I could think of was how I felt when Ryan was sizing me up. It was definitely some psychological game he had played with me but I felt more demoralized, more threatened than humbled by him.
No. The puzzle I was toying with in my head wasn’t fitting together. Ryan and Hadrian couldn’t possibly be one and the same. But, if…
Take the key. Fit into lock. Turn. Bingo.
“Garreth, do you think Hadrian is manipulating Ryan?”
My heart was pounding and I couldn’t take my eyes off his face. I was afraid to miss even the slightest reaction to my suggestion.
“Yes, I do. I believe Hadrian is actively targeting the Guardians of those closest to you, to get to you.”
I suddenly felt very sick.
“How? How would he do that?”
Garreth turned to face me in the tiny quarters of the Jeep, giving me his full attention.
“This is a game for Hadrian, one he will do anything to win. The Guardians are not human. We have deep emotions, but our basic structure is thin. How do I explain this? Like a living soul that bounces between forms. Hadrian can take Guardians when they are in their weakest state, when they are occupied with their human charge. Whether it’s protecting or swaying a decision…changing fate.”
“I would assume that’s when a Guardian would be at its strongest,” I interjected.
“Quite the opposite. It’s the most vulnerable state.”
I chewed on this for a moment. Garreth was vulnerable right now just by being with me. It was I who was putting him in danger.