Chapter 44
River
I stared at the ceiling of my dorm room, listening to the soft rolls of thunder outside.
It’d only been two days since Skye humiliated me in the woods, and…
I actually think I liked it.
I definitely deserved it. I deserved worse than that, really. My mind was such a mess, I had no idea if I wanted Skye or if Avery’s order was forcing me to want her.
Actually, that was a lie.
I wanted her. I’d wanted her before I realized who she was. And I wanted her even more when I did realize who she was.
I hadn’t heard from Avery at all. No checking up about the ice affinity. No summoning me home to beat up any old ladies.
I was a little nervous about that.
I was also nervous that Skye knew about my affinity now. I still couldn’t believe I’d told someone my biggest secret. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off of me, and I desperately wanted to share all my other secrets with her.
Like how Avery had made his most crucial mistake years ago. He’d never ordered me not to take or transfer affinities however I wanted. Ever since the day I accidentally took his telekinesis from him, I’d held onto it. I’d never used it willingly, keeping it at full power inside me.
He’d assumed I would only ever take or transfer an affinity under his direction. He’d assumed I would be too scared to try a transfer my own, since everyone had died before.
He’d been wrong.
I’d been taking bits and pieces of affinities for so long, my originals were all on the back burner.
I was good with fire and earth. I almost always forgot I could wield air.
Water was my favorite, because it was the only one I’d completely mastered.
Avery thought I had mastered everything, but he was wrong about that, too, and he only cared about one affinity in particular.
The affinity that’d drawn the Pilgrims to the massacre.
My affinity for stealing affinities.
It wasn’t so much stealing as it was borrowing, though. Because taking the entire affinity almost always killed someone, even if they had other affinities. If they only had one, well…
A lot of affinates died over the years. The only one who ever survived besides Avery was Lana, and that was because I stopped before I took her entire affinity for telepathy.
I was then presented with the first of many opportunities to kill Avery.
But I didn’t.
I got scared.
I only pushed a small amount of Lana’s telepathy into him, enough to make him sick. Enough that he was about to tell me to stop. I kept the rest for myself, but I didn’t know how to use it.
I kept it hidden for a few years. Landon tried to help me with it, but between my constant practice and agreeing to shield Alex’s mind, I’d used it up too quickly.
I wish I’d saved more of it. Strong telepathy like Lana’s was hard to come by.
Fuck. Poor Lana. She deserved so much better.
I hoped whatever Chain she ended up in was powerful and merciless.
I glanced outside, noticing the moon was now peeking from behind the clouds.
I needed some air. And I loved being out with the moon.
I jumped up, pulling on some clothes before I teleported out to the woods. I stalked down the dirt path, worn over years from different students.
There hadn’t been any parties this term, and Carla was pissed. It seemed Red used to coordinate a lot of those events, and now that he was locked down with Skye, no one had stepped up to take over.
Speak…of the devil.
Just like the other night, Skye was here again. She stared down into the iris flowers, ripping up petals and blades of grass as I drew closer.
She tensed when she felt me approach, then squeezed her eyes shut.
“Hey,” I said softly.
“Hey,” she whispered back.
I sat down in the dirt next to her, and when my arm brushed against hers, she didn’t move away.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I’m not.”
I grinned, then sighed.
“Where are your boyfriends?”
“They’re in the Gulf.” Skye rubbed her arms. “They’re…it’s a long story, but it’s better that I didn’t go with them.”
“So they left you alone?” I asked softly.
Skye didn’t speak.
“I wouldn’t have left you alone,” I almost whispered.
“Don’t do that,” she muttered. “Don’t try to turn me against them.”
“I’m not,” I said, still in a whisper.
I couldn’t help it. I reached out, hating how she flinched almost imperceptibly.
I touched her cheek, then her chin, raising her face back to mine.
I reveled in how easily she responded to my touch, initial fear aside.
I’d never had a woman looking up at me like this, and I wished I knew what else I could do to be smooth.
“You…are so confusing,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “So are you.”
“You don’t hate me, though,” she said slowly, her silver eyes flicking back and forth between mine.
“Are you going to ask me that every time you see me?”
“Probably.”
“Not all the time,” I admitted.
Skye smiled, slow and sweet, and then she looked away, and my hand dropped from her warm skin.
I didn’t know how to flirt, especially not with Skye. Mostly, we were just a little mean to each other, but I was starting to think that maybe that was our style. Maybe we were meant to infuriate each other during the day and then fuck passionately at night.
Not that I knew what it was like to fuck someone…passionately or otherwise.
Ugh.
Thunder rumbled overhead, drawing Skye’s attention and sending the hair on the back of my neck into the air. I hadn’t realized I was reacting until Skye touched the arm of my sweatshirt, making me jump.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Thunder scares me, too.”
I shook my head. “I’m not scared of the thunder.” Just what causes it.
Skye chewed her lip, hurt flashing across her face for just a moment. I cursed my upbringing again, hating how it made me act like such a dick.
“I guess it does scare me,” I muttered.
Skye seemed to hesitate for a moment, then she leaned into me, wrapping her arm in mine.
“Tell me something,” she said softly. “About you. About your family.”
“I don’t have a family,” I said.
Skye sighed, shifting like she was about to stand.
“Wait,” I tightened my arm in hers. “My…my dad is with a crazy woman. I don’t even know if he likes her anymore or if he’s just using her.”
Skye frowned, squeezing my arm gently.
“My mom was with a different Chain,” she said softly. “She rejected her own Link to keep the other men happy.”
I shifted to move away from her, and she tightened her hold on me.
“But I’m not my mom, River, and you’re not your dad,” she whispered. “Do you understand?”
I shook my head, pulling harder so I could move away. She let me go with a groan.
“You don’t even know me,” I said, my blood boiling from Avery’s order.
“And who’s fault is that?” Skye snapped. “I just told you about my life. Tell me about yours. I want to know.”
I shook my head, standing abruptly, feeling like I might need to get away. Skye was on her feet a moment later, having jumped off the log right after me.
“They give me what I need. They’ll let you in! How many times do I need to tell you?!”
I scoffed, shaking my head again.
“If they give you what you need, then why would you need me?” I challenged.
“I want you, River.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re…a brat who’s collecting men. If they were enough for you, you wouldn’t be looking elsewhere, and you hate that you feel this way.”
Skye let out a sardonic laugh. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to push me away, but look where that’s gotten us. We always come back here!”
She had a point.
And at that moment, it began to rain. Not just a sprinkle or drizzle, either. A dramatic downpour started with a clap of thunder. My water affinity didn’t do anything to keep me dry, content to make me suffer for this bullshit argument.
Skye turned on her heel and stomped away.
I blinked. Weren’t we just arguing?
I stormed after her.
“What’s this? You’ve had too much? No more fight left in you? I thought you wanted me,” I called after her.
“Why are you following me?” Skye sneered, turning back to give me a glare. “You’re a lost little puppy, aren’t you?”
I gaped at her. “A puppy?”
“A puppy,” Skye repeated, walking backwards as we approached the quad. “Nowhere to go. No one wants me. Boohoo, I’m River and I’m so sad. No one understands me because I don’t want them to.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled, then taunted, “Look, I’m Skye. My parents were assholes and now I’m an asshole.”
“Wah, I’m River, and I’m so alone. I pretend to be lonely and hot and mysterious, but I’m actually just an asshole.” Skye whined.
I almost laughed at her tone. “Yeah? Well, I’m Skye, and…my parents are dead. So sad.”
Skye stopped abruptly, turning to face me with wide eyes. “What the fuck?”
I cringed. That one was stupid.
The rain poured down around us, the overhang from her dorm protecting us from the onslaught. Somehow, we’d made it back here without strangling each other.
We stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, both of us breathing heavily, when something dawned on me.
“Why didn’t you teleport away?” I asked.
Skye’s silver eyes darted back and forth between mine. “You’ve never been inside my dorm.”
My chest swelled with some emotion I couldn’t name. My stomach churned but…no, it wasn’t churning. This was different. A weird, fluttery sensation that also radiated down…further.
She wanted me to follow her. She meant for me to come up into the dorm so I could teleport inside, if I wanted. So I could come back and see her here again, if I wanted. If she wanted.
I glanced out at the rain before looking through the glass doors to the staircase.
“No one’s there?”
“No,” she replied quietly. “It’s empty.”
I chewed my thumb, looking through the glass doors again. It would’ve been easy to leave. The mood had just turned, I’d let my anxiety get in the way of what’d started as a fun night. I could’ve teleported away. I didn’t have to go with her.
But I didn’t teleport.
One painful step at a time, Avery’s order simmering in my blood, I followed Skye inside.
She was in the bathroom.