Excerpt: The Ever After

Chapter Six: Discoveries

“Lena!”
Even though I didn’t want to, I turned around to face him. It was completely as I had expected; the very moment that I saw his face, I melted all over again. I’d convinced myself that after his episode I wouldn’t ever speak to him again and promised myself I’d be done and over with him, whether he knew why or not. But seeing his beautiful face look so tired and agonized made me realize that Hellion or not, I could not abandon him now. “Lena . . .” Briley said in a voice that radiated caution, “Don’t . . .”
I slowly shook my head, “I can’t.” And with that, I turned and walked over to Landon with Briley close on my heels.
It was not until I reached him that I realized just how out it he looked. His normally bright face was gaunt and he was extremely pale, which was always unusual for him. He looked worn and drained, but most of all, he looked scared. Granted, I would have been scared too if I was blacking out for unknown reasons and then the people I cared about refused to talk to me.
“We have got to talk . . .”
“About what?”
“Lena, I don’t know what is going on. I am blacking out, I don’t remember anything and then because of whatever it was that I did or said when I was blacked out, you are now ignoring my existence. You wouldn’t come to the door when I came over, you wouldn’t answer my calls. Please, you have to tell me what it is that I did. I need to know, because I don’t remember a thing . . .”
Briley actually gave him a sympathetic look. This was the first time she had seen him as himself and in person and I suppose that made her realize that he wasn’t evil; he was good, but unless we did something, he and his pure soul would be lost forever.
“Who’s your friend?” he asked casually.
“What friend?” I looked around trying to figure out who he could possibly be talking about. He knew no one in this town other than he and his sister were my friends.
And that was the moment where everything changed.
He pointed to Briley.
“You can see me?” Her eyes widened as she spoke.
“Yeah. Am I not supposed to or something?”
Briley and I exchanged glances that were remincent of the ones my mother and Anya had shared almost twelve years before, only with even more shock and surprise. He could see Briley and he could hear Briley, so much so that he had thought she was a real person. That could mean only one thing . . .
He had the gift.
He was like me.