NIKO INHALED THE PINE AIR, its freshness causing his lungs to spontaneously breakout into song. The lake stayed calm despite the breeze that ruffled his hair like a gentle hand. The energy he used to transport Arianne and himself to the lake still tingled over his skin. He tightened his hold on the earthbound angel who’d broken through his composed façade enough that he couldn’t bear witness to her upset. When she’d run out of the chem lab with glistening eyes, he thought his heart would explode.
She’d asked him something, and he returned his attention to her. “Pardon?”
“Where are we?” She met his adoring gaze with questioning wonder, presenting her lips like fruit ripe for the picking. It would be so easy to bend the last few inches and claim the lushness she offered. He mentally slapped the thought away, feeling its sting.
“I brought us to the In Between,” he said, tucking strands of her hair behind her ear then tracing his fingers down her cheek. She rewarded him with a shiver. Her bloodshot eyes still broke his heart.
“Are we still in Georgia?” She looked around. “And how did we get here?”
“As to where… that’s a little difficult to explain. As to how… I willed us here.”
“Explain willed.” She sandwiched the word in air quotes.
“I pictured this place in my mind and brought us here using my will.”
She hummed a long mmmm sound that thrummed in his gut. He hugged her tighter until she squirmed, and then he loosened his grip and let her push away. She stood and explored her surroundings, moving toward the trees then to the dock. He remained seated on the lakeshore, leaning back on his hands.
Arianne studied the water, teetering on her toes. “It’s so clear,” she said. “I can see all the way to the bottom. Are there fish?”
“Be careful,” he warned. “Don’t want you falling in.”
“Don’t worry, I swim. So, are there fish in here?”
Her smile went right through him like a lightning bolt. “Do you want there to be?”
Surprise opened her eyes wider like flowers in bloom. “You mean you can add fish to this lake?”
“Name the kind.”
“Goldfish.”
Niko shut his eyes and imagined her request. Even before he could open them again she squealed like a little girl and clapped her hands excitedly.
“How did you do that?” She bounced toward him and kneeled between his legs, hands on her lap.
“I control this place. Whatever I can think of, shall be. All I have to do is close my eyes.”
Mischief sparked in her lovely features. “A doe.”
He blinked and a dappled doe peeked out of the woods. Arianne beamed and rattled off a list: butterflies, puppies, a unicorn, a circus bear balancing on a ball, a pride of lions, geese. With each blink, Niko materialized whatever Arianne had asked for.
Soon, a veritable zoo covered every surface of the lakeside.
“Wow!” Arianne yelled over the cacophony.
“All we need is an ark.”
“What?” She pointed at her ear.
“I said…” Niko raised his voice then stopped. He blinked away the animals, bringing peace to the area once more. When he spoke again, he modulated his tone. “I said, all we needed was an ark.”
“Not funny.” His angel pouted, then shrugged. “Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I think the lions would have eaten the gazelle if you didn’t make them all vanish.”
“And then some.”
“But where did they all go?”
Niko tapped his temple. “Back here. Remember, in this place, my will is king.”
Arianne moved from between his legs to lie down on the grass beside him. She stared up at the sky before closing her eyes and sighing. “How long can we stay?”
“For as long as you want.”
“What about school?”
“For every hour we spend here, it’s a second in the real world.”
“Really?” She peeked out of one eye to watch him nod. “How cool is that! You’re definitely not human.”
“What gave it away? The fact that I brought you here or that you saw souls at my house?” Niko meant it as a joke, but the sadness that formed on Arianne’s face silenced his impending mirth.
Leaks escaped the tightly shut floodgates. “Normally, I wouldn’t be so affected.” She covered her eyes with her arm. Her voice had a watery quality. “I’d be sad, sure. Who wouldn’t when you know someone just left loved ones behind to mourn? I’d say a prayer and be on my way. But today, I couldn’t hold it in. Not for Tammy’s mom. When I saw her soul standing outside the chem lab…” Hiccups and sobs overpowered the rest of her words. She rolled to her side—hiding her distress from him—and wept in earnest.
“Ari,” Niko whispered. His heart bled for every hiccup and sniff. He kept reminding himself she needed to cry it all out. He wanted to gather her into the security of his arms again, but something told him it wouldn’t help. He fixed his eyes on the heavens, thankful that Arianne didn’t ask him for privacy. The last thing he wanted was to leave her.
Eyes sore, as though someone had shoved hot pokers in her sockets, Arianne watched fluffy sheep and plump bunnies glide across the never ending blue—an elephant and a whale would join in the parade every so often. The cotton-soft grass beneath her brought warmth and comfort like a shawl on a chilly day. Never before had she cried so much. It left her exhausted. But a part of her floated, weightless and worry-free.
The whole time, Niko remained seated by her side, rubbing the space between her shoulder blades. Her joy knew no bounds, erasing anything obsessive she might have felt for him at the beginning. The collection of emotions inside her went beyond a childish crush. The boy who wasn’t human had stolen her heart utterly, and she was frightened her to think about what would become of her if he played recklessly with it. Enjoy the moment. That’s what I’ll do. He’s here, I’m here. What more can I ask for?
Niko had his arms balanced on his knees, brooding—a dark beatific quality about him. She expected wings to unfurl behind him at any moment, so inhuman was his beauty. She should be freaked out by it; she understood that much. But she couldn’t find it in herself to panic. Not since she’d learned about the existence of dead people walking around like regular people. And certainly not when he sat beside her, so close that her every breath brought with it his minty scent mixed with pine—a new kind of freshness.
“How long have you been able to see the souls of the dead?” Niko asked.
Arianne didn’t startle at the sound of his voice, too relaxed underneath the blanket of sunlight. “A few years, give or take. All I know is, one day I couldn’t see them, and the next, I could. No big d—” She winced, remembering why her crying had nearly filled a bucket with saltwater minutes ago.
“Would you permit me to try something?”
The tentativeness of his request caused Arianne to match his stare with one of her own. “Something like what exactly?”
“I want to check how you’re able to see souls. All I have to do is go into your mind, establish a link, and have a look around.”
“You say it like I’m a circuit box you can open to find the burnt fuse.”
Jutting out his tempting lower lip, he said, “I’ve never heard anyone put it that way, but it works.”
“Will it hurt?”
He touched the middle of her forehead with his index and middle finger. “If you’ll let me, all you’ll feel is my touch on your skin. And I promise not to look into your memories. All I want is to reach the source of your Sight. Humans call it the Third Eye.”
“Just a quick look? Nothing else?” Her stomach tumbled.
“You have my word.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Closing your eyes would help. Focus on the darkness your eyelids bring.”
Arianne followed Niko’s instructions to the letter, prepared to wait. But only a second had passed when he asked that she open her eyes again.
“That’s it?”
He dipped his chin in an affirmative.
“Wow, when you said quick…” She rolled to her side to face him, elbow akimbo. “What did you see?” she asked, inspecting each green blade. Niko’s fingers lifted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“Did you go through anything traumatic right before you started seeing souls?” He pulled his hand away. “A near death experience like a car crash or a drowning?”
Arianne sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. The water’s supple undulation soothed pulsing nerves. “Does a major operation count?”
“Only if you died and were brought back.”
He said it so softly that Arianne had to tilt her head to the side in order to hear him. She kept her eyes on the lake.
“My sister, Carrie.” She paused. “She has a smile like the sun. No matter how sad you are, all you have to do is see her smile and everything will be all right. She doesn’t even need to say anything. Just flashing those pearly whites is enough.”
“What does this have to do with a major operation?”
“Carrie and I are really close. Besides Ben, she’s my best friend. We’re a year apart. There was this one time…Carrie wanted to climb up a tree. I told her not to. I said she’d fall. But you know what she said to me?” A corner of her lips quirked upward, and she wiped a stray tear on her shirtsleeve. “She said, ‘don’t worry, I know you’ll catch me.’ All of this with a silly grin on her face. I did catch her, you know. Had my arm in a cast for six months while she walked away without a scratch.”
“I don’t know—”
“Then one day,” Arianne interrupted, “she got sick. Kidney failure. She needed a transplant to stay alive.” She lifted a shirt corner, exposing part of her midriff.
“Ari,” Niko gasped out.
She let him trace the scar before she tugged her shirt down. “I was the only match. I would have given her both my kidneys if Mom and Dad would’ve let me.” Arianne twisted around. “I’m not sure if I’d died on the operating table. Only that a couple of months later, I could see dead people.”
Niko gathered her into a tight embrace so fast that she forgot to breathe. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear.
“Okay,” she puffed out. “I got my apology a while ago, but what’s with yours?”
He held her at arm’s length. “Seeing you sad…it hurts here.” He touched his chest. “Like I can’t breathe. Like my heart would leap out of my ribcage. I don’t know—”
Arianne interrupted him again—this time, with her lips. A shock, like sticking her fingers in a socket, rushed through her with such speed that she had to struggle not to wobble. Niko gathered her closer until only their clothes provided a barrier between them. It hurt, but Arianne didn’t seem to care. She clung to his neck and tilted her head just as he deepened the kiss. Like the first notes of a love song, a sigh swelled out of her.
Kissing Arianne made Niko’s mind go blank. A clean slate. His heart danced in the heavens among the clouds. He hadn’t expected her to act so impulsively. But her impulse was one he welcomed like sweet mint tea on a balmy day. The pillow of her lips cradled his like no other. He could stay there in her arms until forever came knocking at the door.
Her stomach growled. Arianne covered her gasp with her hand, but the blush on her face went from cotton candy to beet. She dropped her gaze. Niko had to stifle his chuckle with a fist.
“Sorry,” she said.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” Niko pointed toward the end of the dock.
Arianne twisted to follow his arm. “Niko!”
A table dressed in cream appeared. Slender tapers reached for the sky, their flames swaying like belly dancers. Folding chairs sat lazily across from each other. White plates with blue enamel beckoned for food to appear on them. Crystal flutes sparkled, capturing the rays of the setting sun. The heavens turned from early afternoon yellow to sunset orange, bathing the lake in golden confetti.
Arianne ran for the dock. Niko picked himself up and dusted off his jeans and ambled after her. Small tremors still rolled through him—aftershocks from her kiss—and a half-moon grin appeared on his face.
“It’s so beautiful.” She picked up a fork with ivy carvings on its handle, counting its tines. “It’s almost like I don’t want to eat from it.”
Niko pulled out a chair for her. “But you want to.”
She returned the fork beside its brothers, sat down, and granted him salvation in her smile. “How long have we been here?”
“A few hours.” He practically levitated onto the folding chair opposite her’s.
“Well, that explains why I’m hungry.” She scanned the area. “Don’t tell me waiters are about to come from somewhere to serve us.”
“Is that what you want?” Niko asked in earnest. “Because I can just will the food here.”
“Right now, I’m too hungry to be waited on.”
“What will the lady be having this evening?”
“Well, kind sir, I believe I would like a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.”
“And for your drinks? We have a wide selection of sodas and sweet teas.” He quirked up an eyebrow. “Unless you prefer something stronger?”
“And get drunk?” She shook her head. “Grape soda is fine. With lots of ice.”
Within milliseconds of her request, a mound of spaghetti with three fist-sized meatballs appeared on her plate and purple fizz with ice clinking in celebration filled her champagne flute. Arianne’s saucer eyes grew wider. She took a whiff of her food and hummed.
“A toast.” Niko raised his glass.
“What’s in there?” Arianne raised her own.
“Root beer.” He winked.
“What shall we toast to?”
“To more than friendship.”
With fire-engine red cheeks, she asked, “What?”
Bumping his glass with hers, Niko took a sip of the sweet, bubbly liquid. He added extra warmth to his smile. Arianne continued to stare.
“You have to drink or it’s bad luck,” he encouraged.
She brought the rim of her glass to her lips and took a tentative swallow of grape soda. She put down the flute as if it would break. “About the kiss…” She picked up her dinner fork and moved a meat ball around the plate. “I’m sorry.”
Niko leaned in. “Why?”
“I didn’t mean to…I mean…actually, I don’t know what I mean. The part of my brain that makes rational decisions switched off, and the next thing I know, I’m kissing you.”
“Are you saying you didn’t want to kiss me?”
“No!” She sat up straighter, almost dropping the fork. “I mean…”
“Ari—” he reached out and closed his hand over hers “—I liked it.”
“You liked it?”
The shock on her face almost made him laugh. He had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from embarrassing her. He squeezed her hand instead.
“Oh.” She studied her plate as if attempting to count every strand of pasta.
The waning sunshine couldn’t mask her happiness. If only Niko could reach out further without disturbing the table setting, he would, just to caress the line of her cheek.
Sensing she didn’t want to say anything more about the subject, he said, “Why don’t we start eating? Wouldn’t want the food to get cold.” He started on his braised pork chops and mashed potatoes.
Niko dissected the merits of his toast. Was I too forward? Don’t girls like that? He sifted through every conversation he’d had with Desmond about what girls wanted. Mostly, the snippets involved Desmond’s latest conquest or how Niko ignored girls. Finding no helpful pieces of advice, and resolving to punch his friend after returning from the In Between, Niko continued to eat in silence.
“I don’t want you to tell me what you are,” Arianne said.
“I beg your pardon?” Niko looked up from his food so fast, his vision doubled for a second.
“You heard me.”
The smirk on her face had him scratching his head mentally. He grabbed his drink before he settled deeper into his chair. “This morning, you wanted to know what I was. What changed your mind?”
“I like research. I like finding things out for myself.” She rolled pasta with deft twists of her fingers.
For a moment, Niko could focus only on that, somewhat turned on.
“Research was how I found out I am a Medium of sorts. Although, I can’t and don’t want to talk to the dead. I want to find out what you are on my own terms. It’s too easy if you tell me.”
Pleasure unfurled inside him like a seed breaking the soil’s surface. “I like where this is going.”
She brought the tightly wound pasta to her mouth and chewed.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone blush so much in all my lives. He twirled the water in his glass. He’d switched drinks after his second root beer.
“You have to give me a few more clues so I know where to start.” She finished her grape soda.
“Want another?”
“Water. Please.” She ignored the sparkling liquid that rose to about an inch below the brim of a crystal goblet. “I already know you can will a different dimension, plane, whatever you want to call the In Between, into existence. And…”
“And what? You can’t leave me hanging, Arianne.”
“And your health has to do with those souls you kept in your basement.”
Niko grimaced. “Not my finest hour, I must admit.”
“All I know is, you were disappearing before my eyes when I dropped you in the basement—sorry about that, by the way.”
“No apologies necessary. You helped me when others would have run away.”
“You coming to school all rosy-cheeked and oozing with health can only mean you did something with those souls. Did you…” She swallowed. “Eat them?”
Peals of laughter burst out of Niko. If he’d been drinking, he’d have spewed water all over Arianne. It took him a couple of minutes to compose himself again. “I didn’t know laughter felt so good. Oh, sorry.” He raised a placating hand, having noticed Arianne’s wonderful scowl. The girl couldn’t be ugly even if she tried. “I didn’t mean to laugh at you.”
Her expression softened. “So, did you eat those souls?”
“Gods, no!”
Bringing a hand to her chest, Arianne sank backward until her chair creaked. Niko thought she’d tip over and fall into the lake.
“I just siphoned some residual energy from them,” he continued.
She motioned for him to keep going.
“We have energy inside, humans and—” he thumbed his jaw “—non-humans. Anyway, when a soul leaves the body, it brings the energy that kept a person alive with it. I can take some of that energy and recharge my own, if you will. When you found me, I was fading. I needed a certain number of souls to get me back in shape.”
“The basement.”
“Yes.”
“What else can you tell me about what you are?”
Niko considered her question. “I can’t get hurt.” He took a knife and sliced his hand open.
Arianne yelped, but seeing no wound and no blood, she breathed out. “Don’t scare me like that. A little warning when you’re about to cut yourself is usually appreciated.”
“I also don’t get sick.”
“Except yesterday.” Her brows furrowed.
“That won’t happen again. I was careless. I should have known better.”
“Okay, you’re impervious to physical injury—”
“Only by the hands of my kind can I get hurt,” he amended.
“…and sickness,” she continued as if he hadn’t interrupted her. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Oh, come on!” She sat up. “You can’t tell me you’re just seventeen when you can’t get sick or hurt.”
“Just because I’m impervious doesn’t mean I don’t age.”
“You die?” Awe formed on her face like the rising sun.
“In a manner of speaking.” Niko tented his fingers over his chest. “We get old. But at the end of our life, we are reborn. Our master believes it’s a way for us to blend into society better.”
“You’re saying there’s more of you?”
“Did I?”
“You switched from ‘I’ to ‘we’ a couple of sentences ago. And you mentioned a master.”
“I did?” He tsked. “That particular piece of information wasn’t supposed to slip out. Oops.”
She threw her napkin at him.