Chapter 18
Kayla
I think about Jessie’s words the entire way home.
Even though I know there’s no merit to her words, I still can’t stop thinking about them.
I’m exhausted, but Noah seems to be energized.
I ask him questions about his homework and the book he’s currently reading.
When I finally park, I feel too tired to go inside.
I know part of it is from not eating at all today.
I seriously hope we have something in the cupboards to eat.
“All right. Let’s get inside,” I tell Noah as we climb out of the car and grab our belongings.
We make our way inside, dodging two boys that come barreling through the front door, nearly knocking us over in the process.
We start up the stairs. When we get to the top, Noah puts a hand on my arm, stopping me.
“Kayla,” he says in a shaky whisper. I look in the direction he’s looking and see a man seated on the floor, leaning against the wall.
His head lolls forward, and I wonder for a moment if he’s dead.
I find myself walking that way, even though something in the back of my mind tells me I probably shouldn’t.
I unlock our door, so Noah can go inside.
“Stay inside and lock the door. I’ll knock in a minute.
” I don’t wait to see if he does what I say.
I hurry over to the man and kneel in front of him.
That’s when I see the dark stain on his shirt.
“Oh, no.” Without thinking, I pull his shirt up, sucking in a breath at the deep wound on his stomach.
It's a stab wound, and I know without being any kind of doctor that he’s losing too much blood too fast. Without even thinking, I reach forward and use his already wet shirt to soak up some of the blood.
My hands tingle, and I can’t stop what happens next.
I put my hands on his wound. I push away the queasy thoughts flooding my mind at the feel of his blood, and I think positive thoughts...
thoughts of healing, of closing this wound.
It takes a little bit of time, but finally, the bleeding starts to slow.
Yes. I keep my chant going in my mind and keep my hands on his body, willing it to heal, or at least stop bleeding enough that he won’t bleed out.
I don’t move or even change position. I don’t really know what triggers this healing power, and I don’t know how to stop it or keep it going. I just stay perfectly still.
When I’m convinced he’s no longer going to bleed out, I pull my hands back.
I can’t heal him too much, or somebody will figure it out.
I glance around the hall quickly, but nobody seems to care about what happens to this guy.
I stand up and sway a moment. I swallow and sort of regret not eating today.
I eye my door; it suddenly seems so far away.
I remind myself that all I have to do is get to my apartment, call the police with my phone that I gave to Noah, and then I can rest. But the floor seems to be moving beneath me, and my legs feel strange.
I’m distantly aware of the sound of someone calling my name.
Noah maybe? The carpet seems to jump out at me, and I lose my balance.
The floor rushes up to me, but strong arms catch me instead.
I hear somebody call my name again, but it sounds so far away.
I feel my head loll, and everything fades blissfully away.
I wake to the sound of bickering, but I don’t recognize the voices.
“Would it hurt you to be grateful for one second that we got here when we did?” a female voice says.
“I’m grateful,” a gruff voice says, a voice that sounds vaguely familiar.
I hear a snort. “Sure doesn’t sound like it. Did anybody take care of that poor guy in the hallway?”
“I did,” a different gruff voice says.
“Thanks, Big Guy. Does anybody else think this building is creepy, or is it just me?” There’s a pause. “It can’t be just me. Come on, Ava. Raise your hand.”
“You know, some of us are working, Rae.”
“Eh.”
“She’s coming around,” a different voice sounds altogether. Male, I clock. I don’t open my eyes because panic is starting to build.
Where am I? Where’s Noah? What happened to Jackson?
“Do you think we should do something, so she doesn’t panic when she wakes up?” a female voice asks.
“Too late,” a male voice answers. “She’s awake and already panicking.”
Knowing the gig is up, my eyes shoot open.
A girl lets out a shriek, and it startles me so much I jump to my feet, which ends up being a terrible idea.
The room pitches around me, and I stumble forward.
I cry out, about to hit the floor. Everything goes a little haywire after that.
Somebody catches me. There’s a huge crash that startles everyone, and then there’s a growl?
Several more...somethings...fill the air.
Then there’s the sound of scuffling and fighting maybe.
I frantically try to get the black spots in front of my eyes to clear, so I can see what’s going on.
When I finally get them clear, I blink at the scene in front of me.
I search desperately for Noah and find him on his air mattress, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.
I notice a tall girl with long, dark hair turn to me. “Oh good you’re semi-coherent. Mind calling off your guard dog?”
I take in the three men standing in some sort of stand-off. Jackson looks mad, like spitting mad. Then there’s a tall guy with blond hair and another bigger, broader guy with dark hair. “What’s going on?” I finally ask.
More than one set of eyes turns my way, but it’s Jackson’s eyes that I meet. I take in the color of his eyes and suck in a breath. He strides over to me a moment later, stopping just centimeters from me. “Are you okay?” His voice is gruffer than usual, and that’s saying something.
I frown. “What happened? Who are all these people?”
“We’re your new BFFs,” the tall girl with dark hair pronounces.
“She may not be ready for that yet,” the other girl, who’s shorter and has a belly on her, says.
“Is anybody?” the dark-haired girl asks.
The blond with the belly cocks her head to the side. “True.” Then she meets my gaze and gives me what I would consider a hesitant smile. “Hi, I’m Ava.”
Before I can put my hand out, the tall guy with blond hair appears next to her and wraps an arm around her side. “If you breathe wrong in her direction, I will end you.”
I suck in a breath at the vehemence in this guy’s gaze and tone. I put my hands up. “I-I won’t. I promise.”
“Not you,” the dark-haired girl says. “The dangerous one behind you.”
I turn and take in Jackson. He looks...terrifying. There’s a menace coming off him that’s never been present before. “Same.” That’s all he says, and yet, it seems to indicate an entire threat incapsulated in one word.
“Well, since we’re all posturing and threatening, you go, Baby,” the girl with dark hair says to the broad guy at her side. He crosses his arms over his chest and levels a look at Jackson. She turns back to the men and grins. “That was it. Now, who’s hungry?”
I finally find my voice. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”
The girl beams at me. “I’m Raechel with an e; Rae for short.”
“Aren’t all Rachels spelled with an e?”
“Yes, they are. They are not, however, spelled with two e’s—one at the beginning and one at the end.”
“So, you spell it, E-R-A-C-H-E-L? Erachel?”
She scowls. “What kind of name is that? It’s Raechel. R-A-E-C-H-E”—she stops. “You’re yanking my chain.”
I shake my head, trying to figure this all out. “Come on, Erachel,” the blond says, wrapping her arm around her. “Let’s go find a snack.”
The Raechel girl frowns. “You always want a snack.”
“That’s because the first trimester I didn’t eat the entire time; I was too busy throwing up literally everything.” Raechel and I frown, but it doesn’t seem to stop the blond. “I think I set a record for how many times I threw up. Guess how many times I threw up in Bryce’s car?”
“I really don’t want to—” Raechel starts.
“Seventeen,” the girl says.
Raechel scrunches up her nose and looks at the guy beside the blond. “Remind me to never ride in your car.”
“See?” the blond bemoans. “That’s why I’m so hungry all the time.”
“Uh, not to break up this happy story,” I start. “But who in the world are you people, and why are you in my home?”
“Hate to break it to you, Girlie,” Raechel says. “But this is not a home.” I cross my arms over my chest and lift an eyebrow. “Oh, wow,” she whispers to the blond. “She does that almost as good as Emma.” Then she smiles at me. “I’m Raechel.”
“With two e’s,” I say flatly. “I remember.”
She smirks. “And this one with the big ol’ belly is Ava.”
“Thanks, Rae,” Ava says flatly.
“The tall guy who’s glued to her side is her,” Raechel pauses. “Husband. That’s Bryce.” Bryce nods at me. “And this hunk of a man is all mine. I call him Max.”
Ava snorts out a laugh. “That’s seriously never what you call him.”
Raechel grins. “Yeah, I have all sorts of great names for this one.” She winks up at the stoic man, and Ava gags.
I look over to Noah, and his big eyes meet my own. I don’t think he knows what to make of any of this either. I finally turn to Jackson, who’s only a foot or so from me. “Jackson, do you know these people?”
“Unfortunately,” he says, his eyes meeting mine.
“Seriously?” I think that’s from Raechel.
“How do you feel?” he asks, turning my attention back to him.
“I’m fine.”
“You passed out.” He doesn’t sound particularly happy about that.
My eyes meet Noah’s for just a moment, and I see the uncertainty there.
He’s the only other person in this world that knows what I can do, and I’ve made him swear not to tell another soul.
My mind races to come up with something.
“I’m not good with blood,” I blurt out. “It makes me woozy, and there was so much blood.” I shake my head, trying to sell this thing. “I guess I just—”
“I’m just going to cut you off right there,” Raechel says, interrupting us.
I turn to her in shock. “Excuse me?”
“The whole being woozy thing; yeah, none of us were going to buy it. So, I just decided to stop it.” Jackson makes a sound deep in his chest, and I look at him in surprise.
But he’s not looking at me; he’s looking at Raechel.
Actually, he’s more glaring at her than anything.
Raechel crosses her arms and waves a hand at Ava. “The floor is yours.”
Ava rolls her eyes. “You’re making a mess of this.”
“Yeah, well, we leave in literally like a day or two. It’s time to hit this thing head on,” Raechel responds, waving a hand.
I look between the two of them and decide I’ve had enough. “Okay, I get that Jackson knows you all, but I don’t. I have no idea why any of you are here, but I’m tired. I have an early shift tomorrow, and Noah has school. So, it was nice to meet you all; but it’s time for you to go.”
There’s complete silence for all of about three seconds before Ava and Raechel exchange glances and then smile. “Look at you. All right.” Raechel nods, still smiling. “That was good.”
I throw up my hands in exasperation and turn to Jackson. “Can you get rid of them?” I ask the question softly.
“We’ll get out of your hair,” the blond guy says. Bryce, I think. “But we do need to talk. Is there somewhere we could meet tomorrow? Somewhere private? Somewhere that would accommodate all of us?”
I know what he’s politely not saying is that my apartment is way too small; which it is. It was already small with just Jackson. But now it's absolutely miniscule.