Oblivion

“You know, she wasn’t acting right at lunch.” Dee was staring out into the darkness beyond the window when I glanced at her. “She didn’t eat anything. Not until you brought the smoothie and cookie in.”

My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I flicked my attention back to the road. “She’s been tired the last two days, too.”

There was a pause. “Poor Katy.”

I didn’t respond, because I was busy mentally punching myself in the face. She’d been exhausted yesterday, not eating, and had said she didn’t feel well earlier, and I’d pushed her to work off the trace. Freaking pushed her when she had some kind of virus. I might’ve made her sicker.

“You okay over there?”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I…”

A moment passed. “What?”

“I was worried that I…that I’d done something to her,” I said after a moment.

Dee twisted in her seat toward me. “What could you have done to her to make her sick?”

Healed her on what had felt like a complete cellular level, bringing her back from the brink of death. That sounded about right, especially since there had to be a reason that was forbidden other than the possible exposure risk, but Dee didn’t know that and it needed to stay that way. It had to. “I was just pushing her to work off the trace.” Which was true. “So I worried that I did something, you know?”

Silence.

So much so, that I glanced over at her briefly, finding her watching me.

“Did you…did you do something else?” she asked quietly, her voice small.

“No,” I said, and I lied. “I didn’t do anything else.”

Kat didn’t wake up.

Not on Saturday.

She didn’t open her eyes on Sunday.

On Monday, her mom said that her fever hadn’t gone down far enough, but her vitals were better. Dee and I visited her, and she had…she wasn’t really there. She murmured words a couple of times. Once I thought she said my name. It was hard to see her like that.

There was no change on Tuesday.

I ended up staying home that day, too keyed up to go to school. Dee was worried, probably because she thought I was going to do something stupid, and I was. In the middle of the night, way past visitation time, I’d made it to the hospital parking lot before common sense took over.

What was I doing?

I could move fast, but even if I timed it right and got through the secured doors, I didn’t know where Kat was. I could find out, but it would be risky. If someone found me in her room, that was going to be hard to explain.

Halfway across the parking lot, I spied a black Ford Expedition rolling into the visitors parking lot. My gut tightened. The vehicle was unmarked. Definitely DOD. Its presence could be a coincidence, but it was a wake-up call. I went home and I stayed there, feeling caged in.

I ghosted through classes Wednesday morning, wondering what the hell I was doing in school. I could give two shits about whatever was being taught. By the time I made it to lunch, I was ready to start tossing people headfirst through windows just for breathing around me.

Bypassing the line, I stalked over to where the Thompsons were sitting. Dee was with the girls, and I couldn’t go over there. Not just because Kat wasn’t there, but because I knew they’d be talking about Kat.

And I…I just couldn’t sit and listen to that. Weak. Yeah, weak as hell.

I dropped down next to Andrew and leaned back, stretching out my legs as I fixed my gaze on the Viking mascot painted on the wall.

“You look like a grizzly bear,” Ash said.

Raising a brow, I folded my arms. “Do I?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I know it’s November and some guys do that whole no-shave thing, but you should really shave your face.”

I smirked.

Andrew stopped whatever he was saying to the guy next to him and looked over at me, brows raised. He opened his mouth and then wisely closed it.

“Okay,” Ash muttered. “Nice to have you here, you know, warming up the table with your sparkling personality.”

Matthew was standing near the painted mascot with another teacher, a human, listening to whatever was being said as he kept an eye on our table. Matt had called last night, but I hadn’t been in the mood to deal with him.

Looking away, I watched Adam get up from where Dee was sitting with Carissa and Lesa. He skirted the tables, walking over to ours, a bottle of water in his hand. He sat down next to his sister, and she said something to him too low for me to hear.

Simon the Jackass snagged my attention. He was sitting two tables behind us, laughing loudly. My hand ached, wanting to co

Simon blanched.

I smiled at him and it wasn’t a nice smile.

He quickly looked away, his throat working on a visible swallow. God, I hated that guy. What he tried to do to Kat wasn’t something I’d ever forget.

Adam tapped his fingers on the table. “Katy’s mom texted Dee a few moments ago. She’s waiting for her to text back.”

I stilled, a shiver of dread curling down my spine. I told myself that it had to be good news or no news, because I doubted Kat’s mom would text Dee if something bad had happened.

“What’s going on with her anyway?” Ash’s lips curled as if she had something sour in her mouth.

Adam sighed as he glanced at his sister. “I told you. She has some kind of virus or something. She’s been in the hospital.”

My jaw clenched.

“Whatever,” Ash muttered, turning her attention to her plate of what I thought might be a burrito.

“She’s been out of it for days,” Adam added.

Ash poked the burrito with her fork. “Like in a coma?”

“She’s asleep,” I corrected, ignoring the tightening in my chest.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Andrew replied, low enough for only us to hear. “And she won’t wake up.”

I reacted without even thinking.

Springing out of my seat, I grabbed a fistful of Andrew’s shirt and hauled him out of his seat. He didn’t get a chance to blink before I introduced his face to the shiny surface of the table. The thump was nice and fleshy and wholly satisfying. Andrew popped up and whirled around, facing me.

Ash gasped as she pushed back from the table. “Daemon!”

In a damn heartbeat, Matthew was by my side, grabbing my arm. He tried to shove me back, but I wasn’t going anywhere. “Go,” he said.

I ignored him as I got all up in Andrew’s face and warned, “You better hope she does.”

Matthew grabbed my arm, this time using the strength he had, and hauled me back a good inch. He shoved again. “Go.”

Eyeing Andrew for a few more moments, I pivoted around. A lot of eyeballs were on me. I didn’t care. As I walked out of the cafeteria, Matthew was right behind me, waiting until I got out in the hallway before he jumped my ass.

“What in the hell was that?” he demanded.

I didn’t say anything as I paced in front of the lockers. Blood pumped through me. I was itching for a fight, for something to work out all the frustration pounding through me.

“You went after one of your own.” Matthew spoke low as he planted a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “After Andrew of all people. What has gotten into you?”

Kat had gotten into me.

And I had been scared when I couldn’t get Kat to open her eyes and I was scared right now, because she hadn’t woken up. Those words didn’t come out as I stared at Matt. Not exactly. “He said he hoped we got lucky and Kat never woke up.”

Matthew blinked slowly, his hand spasming on my shoulder. “This is over her?”

Looking away, I shook my head as my jaw worked. He didn’t get it. None of them did. Things had changed.

“I thought we agreed that you would take care of this with Kat.”

I met his stare. “I don’t know what you think we agreed on.”