As we got closer to our house, I saw a silver Cadillac parked in front, but it looked too good to be true. I blinked hard, thinking it must be a mirage, but it was still there. When we approached, I could see Finn, sitting on the swing on the front porch. I bit my lip to keep from showing any level of happiness.
“Who is that?” Matt demanded when we turned into the driveway.
“Finn,” I replied absently, still staring out the window at him.
“Is he the boy that upset you at the dance?” Matt asked protectively.
“No, no,” I lied. Then I smiled to reassure him. “Just let me talk to him, okay?” Matt gave me a hard look and for an awful second I thought he would insist on kicking Finn of the porch or something.
“I’m going to meet him first,” Matt said.
“Sure, fine.” That actually made me really nervous, but I had no real choice.
I hopped out of the car and had to force my feet to walk slowly around the house to the front porch. Finn had seen us pull up, and he stood up. His face betrayed none of his reasons for his visit, and he had a five o’clock shadow growing, making him look older. It was actually pretty sexy too, but it would only succeed in making Matt feel even more protective. I climbed up the steps to the porch, feeling Finn’s dark eyes on me, and I did my best not to smile or give him any clue that I was happy to see him.
“Hi,” I said quietly, and Finn just looked at me. Matt stood right behind me, and Finn gave him a small nod. “This is my brother, Matt.” Finn tried to keep his eyes on Matt, but they flitted uncertainly to me when I said
“brother” before going back to Matt. “Matt, this is Finn.”
Finn leaned forward and shook Matt’s hand respectfully, but neither of them said anything. Finn was sizing Matt up, and that made me nervous. Sure, Matt worked out, but Finn was taller, and even if he wasn’t, I didn’t want them fighting. A thick tension settled over us as they just stared down each other, neither of them willing to give.
“Matt, isn’t there something you need to do inside?” I suggested hopefully and glanced over at him. He made no motion for the door, and I wondered fearfully if he planned on chaperoning my talk with Finn.
“I’ll be right inside,” Matt finally relented. It was more of a warning to Finn, who nodded his compliance to Matt.
Even after he had turned to walk in the house, Finn stared after him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the window next to where we were standing. We stood in silence for a moment, both of us waiting until we were sure Matt had gone, but I refused to say anything until Finn did.
“He’s watching us,” Finn glanced at the window again.
“Yeah, I know.” I couldn’t see anything, but Finn was right. Matt was probably waiting just inside the door in case I decided to scream for help.
“He thinks you need protection.” Finn looked confused by the idea.
“Yeah, I know,” I repeated and shifted uncomfortably.
“You don’t need him to protect you,” Finn sounded bemused. “He wants to kick my ass.”
“I thought you couldn’t read minds,” I eyed him suspiciously.
“I can’t. It was written all over his face.” Finn had been staring at the door since Matt went inside, but he finally looked down at me. “But I didn’t come here to talk about him.” He took a step back and gestured to the porch swing. “Let’s sit and talk.”
I purposely gave him a wide berth when I walked over to the swing. He hadn’t made up for his bout of insanity the other day, and I wanted to make sure he knew that. Finn sat down next to me, with his back to the window. I saw the curtains shift inside the house as Maggie peeked out for a second, but then she saw me looking and scurried away.
“Okay. Talk.” I kept my voice low and hoped he would do the same.
“Have you thought about what I said Friday?” Finn asked quietly, and my stomach twisted.
I must’ve been hoping that he would forget about all of that, that it was just some kind of bad dream. It wasn’t, of course. I considered that it might be true some of the time, and the rest of the time I tried not to think about it at all.
“I have,” I admitted cautiously and looked down at my knees. “But… I don’t believe you.”
“I think you do,” Finn said confidently. “I think you don’t want to, but you know it’s true. This life has never felt right to you, and you’ve started to have hints about your abilities. You just hadn’t put it together yet.”
I twisted my thumb ring and tried to shy away from his unflinching gaze. It was upsetting how easily I was willing to believe something so absurd.
Maybe it was the way he said things, or maybe I was just so desperate to believe that there was a place where I made sense.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Just because I have a temper and I’m weird doesn’t mean I’m a whole other species.”
“We’re not another species,” Finn corrected me. “We’re more like another race.”
“Oh, yeah, now it makes sense,” I replied dryly.
“This is a lot, but…” Finn gently took my hand, pressing it warmly between his strong hands. It was surprising and wonderful, and I swallowed hard to try and calm my stomach. “I want you to come with me, Wendy. You need to find out who you are.”
“I-I…” I stumbled. His proximity and his touch were making it harder for me to come up with a convincing argument, but I knew I had one. “I can’t.
My brother would never let me.”
“He’s not your brother,” Finn replied quickly, and that stung a little bit.
I had always questioned my mother and myself, and even recently I had been questioning whether or not Matt was really my brother. But I had never said it aloud, and I had never really believed that he couldn’t be, even when I believed that I wasn’t exactly human.
“That doesn’t matter,” I brushed him off. “Matt still wouldn’t let me go.”
“I can take care of him,” Finn offered helpfully, and I looked aghast at the idea. “Or you could. You could use persuasion on him.”
“No!” I shook my head, appalled. “I can’t just leave him. Even if I believed you, which I’m not saying that I do, I can’t.” I chewed my lip and looked apologetically at Finn.
“I’d like to say that I understood, but I don’t.” Finn sighed resignedly.
Letting go of my hand, he leaned back a bit and watched me. “I can say that I am disappointed.” He looked away from me, thinking of something.
“I’m sorry,” I said meekly.
“You shouldn’t be sorry.” He ran a hand through his black hair and looked at me again. “I won’t be going to school anymore. It seems unnecessary, and I don’t want to disturb your studies. You should at least get an education.”
“What? Don’t you need one?” I was too shocked to mask how upset that prospect made me. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I realized that this might be the last time I saw Finn.
“Wendy,” Finn gave a small humorless laugh. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew. I’m twenty-years-old. I’m done with my education.”
“Why were you…” I trailed off, already figuring out the answer to my question.
“I was just there to keep track of you, and I’ve found you.” Finn dropped his eyes and sighed. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a folded of piece of paper and handed it to me. “Here. It’s my address and phone number. So you can get a hold of me, if you change your mind.”