Chapter Two #2
“Shad, you haven’t been on Terra in a long time. We know nothing about what is happening there.” His chest rose and fell. He stared at his hands, and his breathing was labored.
“I am Prince Shadrict of Embra.” The next instant, his eyes met with mine, so harsh, so cold “What has happened to my melody?”
I woke up, surprised, that next morning because Shad had not fled in the middle of the night.
I guess he didn’t flee because we were the only people he knew and the only people who could give him actual answers; it was smart to stay with us.
However, if I was in his place, I am not sure that I would have stayed put.
Mary, Shad, and I walked to the hospital.
It was a quick five-minute walk, Mary told us, but it felt like an eternity as I anxiously awaited seeing Ryker.
Not to mention, my body still ached everywhere.
My entire body was in so much pain. The adrenaline from the events of the previous day had been working overtime in order to get me to a safe place.
Because I was finally safe, the excruciating pain was let loose.
Still, the worst pain I felt was for the loss of Shad and in my aching to know that Ryker was truly okay.
Until I actually saw him, I wouldn't let my mind think that he was really okay, and that hurt.
As we reached the hospital, the sliding glass doors opened to greet us.
I remembered the last time I had been inside a hospital, after the car crash.
I tried to calm down as I walked inside, trying to focus on Ryker and nothing else.
A lady stood behind the counter and smiled as we approached.
Mary got us checked in as family guests, and they informed Ryker that we were there.
We waited in the waiting room. I bounced my foot up and down quickly as we waited.
I knew that Cade had held Ryker in that cave for a very long time.
The blood that covered him in that cave made it impossible to know where all of his injuries were on his body.
His eyes were swollen, and his lip was cut.
I kicked at the air in frustration, imagining kicking Cade.
“Nervous twitch? Get that checked out.” Shad paused and looked around the waiting room.
“There may be someone here—hmm—” He started to stand up, and I pulled him back down to his seat before he made a scene.
He was more relaxed than he had been the evening before.
It was as if he did not have a care in the world.
It seemed like the information which he had remembered about Terra and his family was no longer in the forefront of his mind.
I didn’t need his teasing. I felt hollow—empty, and it hurt. I clutched my chest where my heart was supposed to be. My melody wept in agony at the loss of Shad's soul, and that monster inside me had her claws ready to swipe at whomever annoyed me first.
“Worried?” Shad asked, leaning closer to me.
“Shad, this really isn’t a great time to talk—” I clenched my teeth, trying to reign in the monster, burning inside of me.
“Why do you care so much about Ryker? Who is he to you, anyway?” He paused as if he was thinking about the answer.
“He is my oldest friend—if you must know. We went up there to save him,” I said, tense and curt toward Shad because my mind kept focusing on Cade, and when I thought of Cade, the anger in me rose higher, and I didn’t want the monster within me to hurt anyone else I loved.
“Ah, I see, so he is weak,” he smiled, and it disturbed me how the smile didn’t reach his eyes. I assumed that he was attempting to lighten the mood or to be funny. But right then, in that moment, my brain didn’t realize or process his words as humor until it was too late.
I couldn't let go of how the smirk on his face was so clearly different from how I remembered Shad’s demeanor.
I only saw Cade there when I looked at the new Shad beside me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what Cade had done to him.
I cursed Cade for having such similar facial features as Shad.
I stood and slapped him on the cheek. I watched as he licked his lip, and I noticed that it was bleeding.
He licked the blood again and looked at me as if he wasn’t surprised.
I dropped my hand and started shaking. I just hit someone; I just hit Shad. What did I just do?
“Yep, between you and your friend, you seem to be the stronger one. Not surprised you had to save him. You are a violent little thing, aren’t you?” he said with a smirk. “I guess I will have to be careful around you.”
“I—I, oh my heck, Shad, I am so sorry. There is something wrong with me. I would never–I never would want to hurt you,” I said, walking to the nurses' station to ask for a cloth.
He chuckled as I wiped the blood from his lip. I brushed my fingers over his cheek as I dabbed at the blood. The electricity of our touch, our connection was the same as it always had been, and our eyes locked onto each others’. The ache of horror in my chest at my actions haunted me.
“Emma?” he looked at me with questioning eyes.
I took a moment to look over his face. There was a red welt where I had slapped him.
It hurt me to think that I had caused him pain, and not for the first time.
He smiled so wide; then a chuckle came, and he started laughing.
It didn't sound like his laugh, though, and I tried not to shudder at the change.
“How are you laughing right now? I just slapped you. I am a horrible person,” I breathed. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and feel his body close to mine.
“Slapping people is not okay in general. However, it seems you could be in shock. Although I do not know exactly what we just went through, it had to be rather serious if someone is in the hospital, and you won’t tell me.
” He sighed and closed his eyes, a smile on his lips twitched.
“I think this is all so ridiculous—me, here? This is insane, some dream that I will wake up from soon.”
I looked at him. Was he going insane? That could probably happen without a melody, right?
“I am sorry, I should not have provoked you,” he smirked at me. “You and Mary, after all, got me off of that mountain, and you didn’t murder me. That is something.” He stared at me, and I looked at his dark, soulless eyes.
Is he flirting with me? “What?” I wasn’t sure I was hearing him right.
“You—we are friends, right?” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I leaned into his touch. That was Shad–not Cade.
I heard his voice—his question, but that time, it seemed to be from my mind and in my memory.
“This is an odd dream, but it isn’t a nightmare because of you.” His gaze flickered to my lips. “If this is a dream, I can even kiss you with no repercussions. I dreamed of someone like you–less prone to attack me–but you,” He leaned in closer. “You are my friend, right, Emma?”
“I want to be the best friend that you—that you fall hopelessly, desperately, and madly in love with, as much as I am hopelessly, desperately, and madly in love with you.” The words that boy had whispered to me only a day earlier floated into my consciousness; they consumed me.
“Best friend,” I whispered.
He nodded, “Okay then, best friend.” He smiled at me, and it was easy to return it. An emergency siren rang out, breaking our connection, and I moved away from him.
I cleared my throat. “You shouldn’t let people just hit you. That wasn’t okay. I am sorry; I was upset, and I don’t know why I did that. It looks like you will be okay.” That last part, I spoke to reassure myself.
“No kiss to make it better?” he asked with a teasing smirk. It was not the Shad that I had fallen in love with—not the same boy who had poured out his entire heart to me in that cave.
I shook my head. Kisses were very special to Shad. I couldn’t just kiss him, especially when he wasn’t himself.
He held the cloth to his lip as I let go of it. “I guess, with a bloody lip, I am not too appealing,” he smirked again at me, and I really wanted to kiss him, but I told myself, that among many other reasons, that yes, it was a terrible idea at that moment because, as he said, his lip was bleeding.
“Flirting with me?” I asked because it was obvious that he was. That was a good thing, though, right? I mean, maybe he still felt our connection. I could still feel the electricity of our connection when we touched. Maybe he could, too.
“What? Is that so wrong? You are a beautiful girl, especially now that you are not covered in blood like a crazy murderer.” He winked, and my heart fluttered.
He wanted to kiss, right? I could do that. It isn’t like we can no longer kiss, just because he is soulless, right?
Get a grip, Emma. What is wrong with you? He isn’t the same Shad.
I decided not to say anything back to him.
Ryker was just feet away from us in some hospital bed, possibly struggling for his life.
I focused on him. We sat there, silent, and I kept moving my leg up and down, up and down, trying to bring all my nerves to my leg and pump them out of me with the movement.
Keil appeared in the doorway and smiled at us.
I didn’t miss it, the look in his tired eyes that his smile hadn’t yet matched.
He looked exhausted, and I could only imagine what he had been through during the past forty-eight hours, what we all had been through and then some.
I stopped shaking my leg as I felt Shad’s electric touch halt the movement.
I looked at him.
“Go, you should go see him first,” he whispered, and I could almost imagine the real Shad there beside me, touching my leg and talking to me.
“Thanks,” I returned, and as I stood. He grabbed my hand, and I felt the electric shocks there, too, just as in the past.
“I am being motioned over to talk to that man who must be the infamous Keil. Don’t get too friendly with Ryker. I still want that kiss. You will just have to owe me—at a later time,” he smirked.
My mouth dropped open. “I am not—and I—” I couldn’t even complete the sentence.
“Is flirting not a thing that you and I did?” he asked, tilting his head to the side, reminding me of a predator studying his prey—or maybe—a mate? “I feel like this behavior surprises you.”
I shook my head, “Well—that wasn’t—it—” I couldn’t speak clearly.
“Go,” he said, letting go of my hand with a chuckle.
Keil walked over to him. It relieved me that, finally, Keil would explain everything to him. I left the confusing, incredibly hot, irritatingly alluring, and frustrating Shad to go see Ryker.