Brooke put some distance between us, and Glitch sat there, eyeing me like I"d lost my marbles.
Maybe I had. After taking several deep breaths, I looked back at them. "What?" I said, suddenly defensive, placing a hand over my palpitating heart. "He scared me."
"Sorry," Glitch said. "My car won"t start. Cameron said I had to sit back here."
"Cameron." Brooke admonished him with her surly tone. "He would have fit up here."
A sly grin slid over his face.
"I"m fine," Glitch said, opening his jaw and rubbing his ears. "My eardrums burst all the time."
"Sorry." I crossed my arms and pretended to be repentant, perhaps lay off the caffeine. But I"d gotten very little sleep. How would I make it through the day without caffeine?
I thought about it. Contemplated the pros and cons.
Nope. Not possible.
I leaned over to Cameron. "I might need to stop at the Java Loft on the way."
Brooke brightened and nodded in agreement.
"Because that"s what you need," Glitch said. "Something to put the edge on."
I completely ignored him, and three mocha lattes and a whipped almond toffee cappuccino with nonfat milk later, we headed to school.
The minute we entered the building, a supercharged drink with chocolate warming our hands, Brooke nudged me with her elbow. "Check it out." She pointed across the hall into Mr. Davis"s office. "Sheriff Villanueva is talking to Mr. D."
Cameron was right behind me as usual, making me wonder why I didn"t have bruises on my heels. "He did say he was going to make sure I could stay with you all day."
As if on cue, they both turned and spotted us. Mr. Davis summoned Cameron into his office with an index finger, his movements sharp.
"c.r.a.p," Brooke said. "That was weird. It"s like they knew we were talking about them."
"I"m out of here," Glitch said. He ducked down the hall while we shuffled forward and into the main office.
"Hi, Mrs. Gutierrez," I said to the school secretary.
"What can I do you girls for?" she asked. She was so nice. She was older but looked young because of her dark bob and huge brown eyes.
I was about to tell her when Mr. Davis barked, "In here, Lusk," in that gruff voice of his.
Everyone jumped. Including Mrs. Gutierrez. She turned a sympathetic expression on Cameron as he walked into the princ.i.p.al"s office. We sat in the outer office as Mr. Davis and Sheriff Villanueva talked to him. Moments later, he came out with a grin and a note.
"I have to admit," I said as we walked to first hour. "I love having the sheriff on our side."
"Me too," Brooke said.
We walked into Ms. Mullins"s cla.s.sroom armed and ready. Cameron handed her the note. She took about two seconds to look it over, then scanned the cla.s.sroom, completely unsurprised. Which left me completely surprised. I mean why would another student be joining her cla.s.s for the day? It made no sense. I had serious doubts the rest of my teachers would be so obliging, but at least for the next fifty minutes, things would go smoothly.
"I don"t have an empty chair this hour, so we"ll have to wait and see who"s absent."
"I"d like near the back, if that"s okay, close to Lorelei."
She nodded, as though strategizing a stakeout were an everyday thing for her. "Okay, you know what? Just take Nathan"s desk right there." She pointed. "I"ll put him somewhere else."
"Thank you. And I"m supposed to let you know-" He stuffed his hands into his pockets as though he felt bad about what he was going to say. "-you"ve been summoned."
Her lips thinned and she bit down, reprimanding herself. Without taking her eyes off me, she asked Cameron, "I"ve been found out, haven"t I?"
He grinned and leaned down to her. "Like a thief in a cop bar."
With a sigh, she bowed her head in resignation. Cameron tipped an invisible hat, then strolled to a middle desk closest to the door. Like a guard, or a barrier.
"I just wanted to apologize," she said to me, her voice soft so no one would overhear. "For all the secrecy. I couldn"t tell you who I was."
"Ms. Mullins, how long have you been the observer?"
She smiled. "For as long as you"ve been alive, sweetheart. I was friends with your mother and couldn"t even tell her. And we certainly can"t talk about it here, but I just wanted to apologize. I wanted you to know, I wasn"t purposely trying to keep a secret from you."
That meant a lot. "Thank you."
Brooke leaned in. "Since we"ve been under all this stress with visions and prophecies and all, can we get extra credit on the upcoming test?"
"No." Her eyes sparkled with humor. "And you always pa.s.s my tests with flying colors. Why do you want extra credit?"
Brooke shrugged. "There is one thing better than an A."
"And what"s that?" she asked.
"An A-plus."
"Ah, got it."
"Nathan," Ms. Mullins said when he walked into the room and noticed Cameron in his chair. "Take Mich.e.l.le"s desk for today. She"s out sick." She glanced down at the messages on her desk. "Lots of kids are out sick today, actually."
For a moment, Nathan looked like he was going to argue, but when Cameron glowered at him, he quickly conceded. Cameron had such a way with people.
The minute we stepped out of first hour, Ashlee Southern rushed up to us, her eyes like saucers. Glitch met up with us too. Her gaze darted to him, then back to me. "Isaac tried to commit suicide last night."
"What?" Brooke and I said in unison.
"When? What happened?" Brooke asked.
"He called Syd and-" She glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "-and said he couldn"t do it. He couldn"t kill the prophet. Syd tried to find out more, who he was talking about, but he hung up. Next thing we know, his parents are calling from the hospital. He"d taken his dad"s gun." Her voice broke, so we gave her a minute. She swallowed hard and continued. "His dad walked in on him just as he was about to pull the trigger. They fought for the gun, it went off, and that"s all we know."
I looked around. "Where"s Syd now?"
"At the hospital. They have Isaac sedated, but she"s sitting with him."
Our hospital was more like an urgent care center with a couple of beds for overnight observation. "We have to go," I said to Brooke, who agreed with a hearty nod.
But Cameron was less enthusiastic. He seemed a tad perturbed, actually. "What do you mean, he couldn"t kill the prophet?"
"Oops," I said, realizing I"d never told him or anyone about what Isaac did the day before. "I meant to tell you, but everything that happened with Jared, I just-"
When he leveled an astonished gaze on me, I got defensive again. "You have to admit, we had a busy afternoon yesterday."
"Fine. What happened, exactly?"
"Isaac carved my name into a desk really creepy-like and told me they wanted me dead."
Ash gaped at me. "He did what?"
"I know, right?" Brooke said.
"You knew about this?" Cameron asked her.
"Hey, Mr. Sensitive, we forgot. We were busy." She got in his face. Or tried to, since he was over a foot taller. It was kind of funny.
"I need to touch him," I said. "I might be able to see exactly what"s out there."
"I"ll drive," Cameron said, fishing his keys out of his pocket.
"Maybe we should call your grandparents," Brooke said. "Let them know what"s going on."
"Are you kidding? We have Static Cling here if anything goes wrong." I grinned when Cameron scowled at me.
"Can I get a ride with you?" Ashlee asked. "Syd has our car."
"Sure," Brooke said, "if you don"t mind riding in the back with Glitch."
Ash lifted one shoulder, her gaze landing on an oblivious Glitch. "I don"t mind if you don"t."
"Suit yourself, but it"s not very comfortable."
"That"s okay," she said with a shy smile.
"I get the left wheel well," he said, walking off. Still oblivious.
I so wanted to head-b.u.t.t him.
VINCENT.
When we got to the hospital, we went straight to Isaac"s room. He was surrounded by his family, Sydnee, and a nurse who was checking his vitals. I started to back out again when I heard him talk.
"I"m so sorry, Dad. I just don"t remember what happened."
I took a cautious step inside and Isaac looked over at me. "Lorelei?"
Everyone turned. "Sorry," I said, backing out again. But Brooke was right on my heels, trying to peek over my shoulder. "I"ll leave you alone."
"No." Isaac looked at his family apologetically. "Can I have a minute with Lorelei?"
"Sure, son." His mother leaned over for a kiss. The image was adorable. A huge, scruffy football player being kissed by his mom.
His dad patted his shoulder. "We"ll be right outside."
After his family stepped outside, the whole gang stepped in, including me, Brooke, Cameron, Glitch, and Ash. Sydnee had stayed, and we waited until the nurse left before starting our conversation.
"Thank you for coming," Syd said.
Isaac looked at me with those big brown eyes of his, and all I could see was the teddy bear I"d grown up with. The one who picked me up and dusted me off when Joss Duffy knocked me off the monkey bars. The one who, soon afterwards, had a talk with said Joss Duffy, and oddly enough, said Joss Duffy never bothered me again. "Lorelei, I"m so sorry. Whatever I did-"
"What exactly did you do?" Cameron asked, his voice razor sharp.
I cringed. "It"s okay, Cameron. Nothing happened."
"I"d like to hear Isaac"s side of it."
I realized Isaac had become anxious. His expression was wary when he looked at Cameron. I"d heard that pretty much everyone in school was afraid of him, but it was just so hard to believe this huge guy would be afraid of anyone. "From what I"ve been told," he said to Cameron, "I threatened her with a knife."
Cameron bit down and he turned a heated gaze my way. "Did we forget to mention that?" He stepped closer to the bed, making his own threat with the set of his shoulders.
"And here we go," Glitch said. He sat on a heating unit by the window to watch the show.
Sydnee stood protectively at the other side of the bed, and I stepped to intervene. "I can toss you out of here, Cameron, if you don"t behave."
He placed the most cavalier expression on me I"d ever seen. "You can try."
"Cameron," Brooke said, tugging his arm. She laughed softly, as though trying to excuse Cameron for his bad manners. "Lor has this. Really."
I decided to ignore him. "I"m sorry, Isaac. Just pretend he"s not here. Do you remember what happened at all?"
He shook his head as Sydnee took his hand, her face lined with worry. "I can"t seem to recall the last few days, in fact. But some of the guys told me I"d threatened you. That I carved your name into a desk and said I was going to kill you or something."
The heat from Cameron"s gaze intensified. He so wasn"t helping.
"You didn"t threaten to kill me, Isaac. You said they want me dead."