Stone Cold Touch

“Got it?” Stacey murmured.

I started to smile.

“Eyelash,” he explained, his gaze fixed on her. “Did you know lashes keep dust out of your eyes?”

“Uh-huh.” Stacey nodded.

He chuckled. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

Catching Sam’s look, I laughed. I loved that Sam was finally starting to show some confidence when it came to her. It was obvious that he’d been crushing on her hard for the past two years.

Which gave me another idea. Wonky demon abilities aside, it would be good to get out and do something...normal. “What are you guys doing this weekend?”

Stacey blinked as she pushed her thick bangs off her forehead. “Baby-brother duty both Saturday and Sunday. Why?”

“I thought we could catch a movie or something.”

“I’m free most of Thanksgiving break.” She slid Sam a surprisingly shy smile. “What about you?”

Sam toyed with the cap to his water. “I’m free whenever.” His dark eyes flicked to me. “Why don’t you invite Roth?”

My heart dropped into my belly and my mouth opened, but there were no words. Well, that offer of fun times had bitch smacked me right back in the face.

He glanced at Stacey. “Um, I’m thinking I said something wrong. You guys aren’t hanging out anymore? I just assumed he was going to a new school or something.”

God, how I wished that was it. “I haven’t...talked to him in a while.”

Sam cringed. “Oh. Sorry.” He fixed his gaze on his empty plate.

Stacey quickly reverted conversation back to movie plans and after we left for our next class, she leaned against the locker beside mine, sympathy pinching her lips. “Sam really isn’t that great at social skills, you know?”

I snorted as I pulled out my history text. “He seems like he’s improving.”

“Baby steps.” She giggled, but it quickly faded. “I’ve been hoping you’d tell me what’s up, but I’ve waited as long as I can. What happened with you and Roth by the way? You guys were all hot and heavy. You were supposed to spend the night with him, got busted and—”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” I said, closing my locker door. All around us, students milled about. It was odd seeing them without their shimmery souls. I smoothed my hands down my black tights. “I don’t mean to be whatever about it, it’s just...”

“Hard? Too soon? Got it.” She cocked her head to the side and took a deep breath. “So Sam...?”

On safer ground, I smiled. “Yes?”

“Okay.” She leaned toward me. A wave of hope crashed into me, coming out of nowhere. It was so strong that I stepped back. The anticipation faded as Stacey’s dark eyes lit up. “Okay. Is it just me or was Sam trying to hit on me?”

I shook my head, dispelling the weird feeling. “I think so.”

“Smooth call with the movie idea.” She fell in step beside me. “Proud of you on that one.”

“I don’t know why you don’t just ask him out.” I slowed down as I neared history. “You’ve never had a problem doing that before.”

“I know.” She kicked her head back and scowled. “But he’s different. He’s Sam. He’s interested in things like computers and books and nerdy stuff.”

I laughed. Sam was pretty nerdy—cute nerdy. “And you?”

She sighed and then smiled broadly. “I’m interested in him.”

“Then that’s all that matters, right?”

“I think so.” Glancing at herself, she tugged down the red tank top she wore under her long cardigan, exposing the swells of her breasts. “And in art class, he will discover that he’s interested in boobs. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” I eyed her cleavage. “Not that you need it.”

She winked. “I know.”

As Stacey bounced away, I turned on my heel to head into the class and stopped. My brows climbed up my forehead. By the bathrooms, a boy and girl were going at it. As in I couldn’t tell who they were or where one began and the other stopped. They were pressed against the wall. The girl had her leg curled around the boy’s waist and his hips were...whoa.

I think they were about to make a baby.

They were so going to get in trouble. PDA was totally off-limits. Even holding hands earned an evil eye from the staff.

But...but Coach Dinkerton, esteemed leader of our winless football team, strolled right past them. Didn’t bat an eye. Not even when the couple slipped into the girls’ bathroom.

What in the world was going on?

* * *

After class, I hunched deeper into my thin turtleneck as I hoofed it down the crowded sidewalks near Dupont Circle. A jacket would’ve been a smart idea. The denim skirt and tights really didn’t block the chill and damp wind, but I hadn’t planned on being out.

All around me, people meandered to and fro. None of them had visible souls. Two hours into my impromptu experiment and I’d declared it a giant fail. I thought I’d spotted a few Fiends hanging around a telephone pole—Fiends loved to mess with things; electronics, construction sites, fire—but it was tough to tell for sure. They hadn’t caused any active trouble and there was nothing setting them apart from the crowd. They could’ve just been humans waiting to cross the street.

Night was already creeping into the city, causing the streetlamps to flicker on, casting unfriendly shadows across the mixture of new and old buildings lining the roads.

Clutching my bag close to my hip, I hurried toward the park, keeping close to the storefronts. I hated to admit it, but paranoia was a friend walking beside me. Before, I could always rely on my soul-spotting ability to root out demons and I’d never honed the natural instinct other Wardens had when it came to sniffing them out. Every so often a weird shiver would dance across the nape of my neck, but I didn’t know if that signified the presence of a demon or not. It was more the sensation one got when being watched.

Everyone I passed could have been a potential Poser or Upper Level for all I knew. Maybe I simply couldn’t sense demons like other Wardens. God, it would suck if that was the case. I needed to figure out if that was an issue, stat, but where could I find a bunch of demons that hopefully wouldn’t try to kill me?

I tripped as another winner of an idea occurred to me.

Roth’s apartment building along the Palisades. The whole place was bursting at the seams with demonkind, but could I go back there? Could I face all the emotions being so close to where he’d lived would bring forth? I wasn’t sure, but I’d have to try. Maybe tomorrow after school I could get Zayne to go with me. He wouldn’t be thrilled, but he’d do it...for me.

Or maybe tomorrow I’d wake up seeing souls again.

God, how many times had I wished I were normal by Warden standards? And now that I was closer to being so, I was giving myself an ulcer and—

The form came out of nowhere, nothing more than a thick shadow snaking out from the alley, moving too fast for me even to get a scream out. One second I was walking down the street and the next, I was hauled sideways into a dark, narrow alley. A burst of aggression lit me up from the inside and then faded into stark, icy terror as the strong grip let go. I flew backward several feet. My backpack smacked into a garbage bin as I hit the cold ground on my butt.

Stunned, I looked up through a sheet of pale blond hair to see two vibrant blue eyes with vertical pupils staring down at me.