Cursed

Chapter 10

Some nasty-looking, dark circles had formed under my eyes—being held prisoner like this chased away any chance of sleep and left my thoughts in tangles. My eyes still felt swollen, and I was sure I had a zit the size of Canada on my forehead.

And I had to go to school—a new school.

Listing the ways my life currently sucked butt made me late. By the time I got downstairs, Ms. Liz had already taken Olivia to her new school.

Taking Olivia to school was my job—my responsibility. How dare she think she could take Olivia to school? To top off what was sure to be a wonderful day, Cromwell informed me I’d only have the keys to my car once I’d earned his trust back. His trust? Like I was the creeptastic person who whipped kids off the street and collected them like figurines?

What about my trust in him?

Give me the keys to one of the Porsches in the garage and I’d trust the hell out of him. Until then, he was more likely to have me call him “Dad” than trust him.

So there I stood on the porch—with my new backpack, wearing my new jeans and gloves and an old button-down sweater—waiting for my babysitter.

Hayden. Of course.

“You ready?”

I jumped at the sound of his voice. Turning around, I saw that he stood right behind me. I hadn’t heard him come out of the house; he was that quiet.

He chuckled as he moved past me. “Come on. Even though we won’t get any tardy slips, I guess you shouldn’t be late on your first day.”

There went my pretty pink collage for Olivia.

Groaning, I followed Hayden back to the garage. He opened the door of the Infiniti SUV and motioned me in.

I mumbled something halfway coherent and climbed into the car. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe and Phoebe jump into one of the Porsches. Gabe yelled something that earned a laugh from Hayden.

Phoebe’s eyes lingered a few seconds too long on Hayden as he made his way around the front of the car.

“Where’s Parker?” I asked, curious.

“He’s homeschooled.” He backed out of the garage.

The way he said it left no room for questions, but I went there. “Why not?”

“It’s too hard on him.” He went on before I could push for more information. “You look tired.”

My pale reflection stared back at me in the side mirror. The pale blue of my eyes looked even more watered-down than normal. I sank down in the seat and faced forward.

“Have you’ve been sleeping okay?”

I nodded. The ride into town was one giant fail boat. Hayden tried to make small talk, but I ignored him and focused on my surroundings. Petersburg was the kind of town people missed if they sneezed. I spotted a McDonald’s, a couple of pizza shops, several strip malls, and little else on the way to school.

After I got over my self-imposed bitterness, I could admit the town had a cute look about it.

I broke the silence. “How did you guys end up here?”

“My father is originally from here, but I’m from Montana. He wanted to come back home and he gave me an option to come with him. I’m glad I did.” He stopped as if he’d said too much. “I’m into hiking. The Seneca Rocks are a big thing around here. They’re the mountains you can see from the house.”

I shuddered. “I hate heights.”

“I guess rock climbing is out of the question, then.” He slid me a sly glance.

I ignored that. “What about the other kids?”

“Over the years Cromwell kinda found them.”

“What? He found them? Like he found Olivia and me?”

Hayden frowned. “Yeah, just like he found you and Olivia.”

“What about their parents?”

“They didn’t want them, Ember. If they had, Cromwell wouldn’t have taken them.”

“So none of your parents wanted to keep any of you? All of you are adopted by him?” I paused and pictured parents throwing their kids out by the handful. To me, something wasn’t right about that. “That sucks.”

Hayden gave a low laugh. “When you say it like that, then I guess it does suck, but yeah, we’ve all been adopted by Cromwell.”

“What can they do? I know what Gabe can do, but what about Phoebe and Parker?”

He nodded, his fingers tapped along the steering wheel. “Phoebe is an empath—she can sense emotions and sometimes control them. Parker is a telepath.”

I scrunched up my nose. “He can… read people’s thoughts?”

“When Cromwell first brought them home, Parker was a mess. Didn’t talk to anyone and screamed when anyone came near him. He couldn’t control it. Can you imagine always hearing people’s thoughts?

Never being able to shut it out?”

“No,” I turned back to the window. “So that’s why he doesn’t go to school?”

There was a pause. “There are just too many people—classrooms so small and people crowding him.

Liz is doing the whole homeschooling thing.”

“And Cromwell is helping him control it? Like he doesn’t do it all the time?”

“Yup. Parker still doesn’t talk much, but he can block most of the chatter out as long as he’s not around a lot of crowds.”

I let out a heavy sigh. Cromwell was just super. “What is he anyway? What can Cromwell do? Walk through walls? Fly? Leap tall buildings?”

“We aren’t superheroes, Ember.”

“Then what is the point of gathering all of us together? What does Cromwell want?”

“He just wants to help us.” A thoughtful look crossed his face as he concentrated on the road. “You’re having a hard time believing that, aren’t you?”

“Obviously,” I said.

“Cromwell has psionic ability,” Hayden said as the SUV slowed.

“What’s that?” My eyes grew wide as the school came into view. The one-story, brick building was surprisingly large for such a small town and looked newly built.

He was quiet for a moment. “It’s the ability to make someone… believe what you want them to, among other things.”

I twisted in my seat, facing him. “Are you kidding me?”

Hayden parked and cut the engine. “He doesn’t use it, Ember. Not on us. If you doubt that, then ask yourself why you are having such a hard time accepting him. He could have easily changed that.”

I admitted he had a point, but my stomach tipped over when Hayden opened the door. Cromwell was no longer my concern. School was.

Hayden dropped a crumpled paper in my hand. “I forgot. It’s your class schedule.”

I took it from him and looked over the schedule. It mirrored the one I’d had in Allentown. I clutched it to my chest and followed Hayden across the campus. Out of habit, I kept my eyes glued to the ground.

“You don’t have to do that here,” he said softly.

Flushing to what I was sure was an attractive shade of purple, I peeked at him through my lashes.

His eyes met mine. “You’re going to do fine, Ember. I don’t think you’re going to run around and start throwing people into chokeholds.”

Unable to help myself, I laughed at the mental image. “No. I guess not.”

A wide, stunning smile appeared on his face. And there were two dimples. Impossible as it was, my cheeks grew warmer. “You should do that more often,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Laugh.”

I pressed my lips together and managed a weak nod. As soon as we crossed the entrance, the familiar smell of aftershave and too much perfume choked me. All around, people talked, laughed, greeted one another. Girls giggled with boys, and a few threw insults around. No one really paid any attention to me.

“I’ve got math in the other wing.” He leaned over my shoulder, studying my schedule. “Your English class is down the hall and then to your right. It’s room 104. Come on.”

The old habit of staring at the floor was hard to overcome, but I managed to keep my head held high as I carefully navigated the crowded hallways.

“Here you go.” Hayden propped himself against a locker. “I have lunch with you and bio in the afternoon.”

“Okay.” I swallowed, suddenly wondering how Olivia was doing. Then I thought of Adam. My throat closed up.

He leaned forward. “I’ll see you at lunch, okay? You’ll do fine.”

Then he was gone.

Somehow, I found my way into the classroom. Taking a seat in the back, I discreetly studied everyone while I scribbled in my notebook and pretended I wasn’t the new girl.

A clapping sound drew my attention. “All right kiddos, turn around. Time to get back to good old Holden Caulfield,” announced a youngish teacher from the front of the classroom. “I know you guys have missed him over the weekend.”

One of the guys up front snorted. “I wouldn’t say we actually missed him.”

A couple of kids laughed.

The teacher’s smile was easy and friendly. “Now, come on. Everyone wants to catch kids as they fall off a cliff.” His dark eyes drifted over the classroom, stopping on me, and his easy smile faltered. “Oh, we have a new student today.”

With all those eyes on me, I slid down in my seat.

“Oh, yes. Ember McWilliams. My name is Theodore Greensburg. Please don’t call me Theodore. I hate that. Also, the principal frowns on the first-name thing. So you can call me Mr. Theo.” He winked.

“Come on, class; let’s give her a big old welcome.”

Oh, no.

“Hello, Ember,” said the class. Most of them said “Amber” instead.

Mortified, I mumbled thanks and shifted further in my seat while Mr. Theo rolled up his sleeves.

Popping up on the edge of the desk, his gaze held mine a second longer before he cracked open a book and started reading from it. I found myself oddly enthralled with how passionate he sounded while reading—probably explained the infatuated looks many of the female students wore.

About forty minutes later, the bell rang and Mr. Theo slid off the desk, talking over the books slamming shut and feet hitting the floor. “All right, don’t forget to read chapter four tonight.” His gaze fell across the room, settling on me. “Miss McWilliams, can you hang out for a moment?”

As the other kids hurried from class, I was left standing in front of this Mr. Theo with no clue why he wanted to talk to me.

He dropped the book on the desk and folded his arms. “I always like to check in with my new students. I know changing schools—even at the beginning of the school year—can be hard. This is a new school for me, too.” He smiled. “I just wanted to let you know that, if you need anything, you can always come to me or any member of the faculty.”

A dozen or so snarky comments formed and they all disappeared the moment I met his eyes. My brain seemed to empty. I stared at the man like an idiot.

Mr. Theo smiled as if he was accustomed to such things. “I see on your transcripts that you transferred from William Allen High School. Your grades were outstanding.”

I blinked a bit, relaxing in the familiar territory. My grades had been awesome—since I kind of had nothing else to do but study when I only had one friend. “Thank you.”

“Got to give credit when it’s earned. Especially if you see the grades I typically do.”

Leaning against a desk behind me, I smiled.

“I hope you don’t let those grades slip with the move and everything,” he said. “It was an easy move, I assume?”

“It was…” Not an easy move, of course. And there was just something about his smile and the genuine warmth in his brownish-green eyes that I didn’t have to second-guess. I wanted to tell him the truth.

“Was…?” he asked.

But I couldn’t. What would Mr. Theo do if I told him the truth? He’d call the authorities like any good teacher would. I suddenly felt dizzy. “It… was very easy.”

“Great. Well, I don’t want to keep you from your next class.” He turned back to his desk and sat. “See you tomorrow, Miss McWilliams.”

I stood there for a moment, unwilling to leave. “All right, thanks… for the grade compliment thing.”

Mr. Theo smiled. “Have a nice day, Ember.”

Practically pulling myself out of his classroom, I hurried to find my next class.

In trig, I would have fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the boy in front of me. Whenever the teacher turned to the chalkboard, he’d flip around and ask me a question. I was half-sure his name was Cory. He reminded me of Dustin—big and brawny, a square jaw and a charming smile, although without the doucheness. He didn’t call me a freak, either. Bonus points there.

Toward the end, he grabbed my crumpled schedule. “Cool. We have bio together. Last period.”

“Cool,” I mumbled, knowing I sounded lame. Cory didn’t seem to mind though. I noticed he had a slight accent. Almost like a southern drawl.

“So what’s up with the gloves?” Cory asked after the bell rang and we were gathering up our stuff.

I felt my cheeks redden. “I was in an accident.”

“Oh.” Cory shouldered his backpack. “Are they messed up or something?”

The question wasn’t asked in a rude way, but I still wanted to run. “Yeah.”

Cory smiled easily. “Well, no big deal. See you later.”

I watched him lope out of the classroom. The gloves were no big deal? Since when?

By the end of fourth period, the muscles in my shoulders ached, but some of the tension edged away when I spotted Hayden. He stood outside my history class, a half-smile appearing when he saw me. “You hanging in there?”

“Yeah.” I fell into step next to him.

We headed into the cafeteria, and I grabbed what I thought was a slice of pizza and a soda. Then I turned toward the crowded room. Several students looked up, mostly girls—all staring at Hayden. He seemed to be oblivious as he pushed the tousled hair off his forehead.

I started forward, but he caught the edge of my backpack. “What?” I asked him.

“We don’t eat lunch in the cafeteria.”

“We don’t?”

Hayden tipped his head to the side and laughed. “Follow me.”

Following him didn’t sound like a bad idea, but I had no idea where we were going. We ended up outside, cutting across the campus, heading toward the rear of the school. “Are we allowed to be out here?”

“No.”

My pace slowed. “Are we gonna get in trouble?”

“Are you worried?”

I thought about that. “No, I guess not.”

That seemed to amuse Hayden. “Don’t worry. Teachers won’t say crap to us.”

“Why?”

He stopped beside the fence guarding the football field and faced me. “It’s not like it was at your old school, Ember. Things are different here.”

Several questions popped up, but I found myself smiling up at him instead. “That… sounds nice.”

Surprise flickered across his face. Glancing away, he stepped back. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile.” He started walking away.

For a heartbeat, I stared after him. “You really haven’t been paying attention then.” I had to walk fast to keep up with his long-legged pace.

“I guess not.” He reached down, looping his arm through mine.

I stumbled.

Hayden grinned. “You’re too slow, Ember. You could use some help.”

He was a good foot taller than me, so I had to crane my neck. Right then, I forgot the last two years.

Old Ember slipped through. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted to hold my hand.”

Hayden opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then he laughed, and the sun broke free from the clouds, highlighting his hair with a dozen shades of red and gold mixed with the brown.

Laughter bubbled up and would have broken free if we hadn’t rounded the corner. Sitting on an outcropping of several large, sandy-colored rocks were the gruesome twosome. Taking a deep breath, I slipped away from Hayden and ignored the urge to run in the opposite direction.

Gabriel spared Hayden a wave, but when he turned to me, his smile faded. I was sure he was picturing me flying back through the goal post.

Phoebe sat on a rock beside him, her hands balled into tight fists. “Hi,” she managed.

Considering that was the first time she’d said a word to me, I thought she could do better.

Hayden elbowed me.

I exhaled slowly and glanced around. Tall grass covered whatever lay beyond the rocks. I sat down on a relatively flat surface. “Hey.”

“Sometimes we eat out here,” Hayden explained, “when the weather is nice.”

“Or at the diner across the street,” Gabe interjected. “Or wherever. Sometimes we go home for lunch.

We don’t always come back. Did you used to eat the cafeteria in your school? Like the rest of the Norms?”

“Norms?”

“Normals,” Hayden sighed.

“Yeah, we weren’t allowed outside.” I placed my plate in my lap, ignoring the fact Hayden chose to sit on my rock.

“Neither are we,” Phoebe said, her voice cold. “But it doesn’t stop us.”

They were talking to me only because they had to, I realized. Hayden had probably made them, but there wasn’t an ounce of civility in their tone.

Hayden took a bite of his pizza. “Things were different at her old school, Phoebe.”

Staring down at her nails, she shrugged. “Whatever.” She nudged Gabe’s arm and whispered something.

I nibbled on my pizza, keeping my eyes on the patchy field grass, trying not to show how uncomfortable I was with them.

“So what’s it like to have the touch-of-death gift?” Gabe rolled up a wrapper and shoved it in a fast food bag.

“She’s not gifted,” Phoebe snapped before I could respond. “Not like us.”

“Phoebe,” Hayden warned.

“What? I’m just stating the truth. She died. We all know that. She wasn’t born with a gift.”

Between Gabe’s question and Phoebe’s obvious bitchiness, I lost the ability to speak.

“She’s just like us, Phoebe. It doesn’t matter how she got her gift,” Hayden said. “Give it a rest.”

Phoebe flicked her hair over her shoulder. “The only reason she’s here is because of his failure. He’s obsessed, like you. Do you think that’s fair to any of us?”

Finally, I found my voice. “Whose failure? And how is it unfair to you?”

Phoebe wouldn’t look at me. “None of us want her here, Hayden. Do you understand that? She’s going to screw everything up—ruin everything.”

Hayden’s eyes snapped fire. “Phoebe, just shut up.”

“Ruin what?” I asked, but no one was listening to me.

“Don’t. Tell. Me. To. Shut up! You’re the only one who wants her here!” She paused, finally looking at me. “Kurt should’ve wiped her.”

Wiped me like he’d wiped Adam. Pure rage blasted through me. I shot to my feet. The moment her cockiness dried up and fear took over, a wild, vindictive smile spread across my face.

Moving lightning-fast, Hayden was in front of me. The heat from his body blocked the chill in the breeze. “Don’t.”

One word spoken so low, so powerful—everyone froze.

Then Hayden turned to Phoebe. “Get out of here.”

Blazing green eyes locked onto Hayden’s. “You’re going to be sorry, Hayden. All of us are going to be.” Then she grabbed her bag and stalked across the field.

Gabe stood, his eyes were wide and lips thin. “Well, this went just as planned, huh?”

Hayden whirled on the younger boy so quickly my head spun.

Gabe threw up his hands. “Don’t blow anything up, Hayden. I’m just sayin’.” He turned to me, actually looking sheepish. “Sorry. I think your little sis is pretty cool, but we all got a lot to lose.”

I barely heard him. I was still fighting the urge to take off after Phoebe and sink my hands deep into her glossy black hair.

Lunch quickly fell apart after that. Gabe followed Phoebe; only Hayden and I remained on the rocks.

Fury still radiated from him like gusts of hot air. I stared down at my half-eaten pizza.

“I’m sorry about Phoebe—about all of them.”

Shaking my head, I picked up my bag. “What am I ruining being here? Like, is the world going to implode or something because I’m here?”

“No,” Hayden said as he ran his hands through his hair.

“Why is she freaking out so bad?”

He pushed off the rock and folded his arms. “They’re worried you’re going to do something that will draw attention to us.”

I stared at him. “Like what?”

“All of us have been trained to control our gifts, Ember, and Olivia’s gift isn’t dangerous, but…”

“But mine is?”

“They’re afraid the Facility will come, and we’ll all have to go to South Dakota—to the Facility. We like it here, and trust me, you wouldn’t like it there.”

A cold shiver lifted the fine hair on my neck. “What happened there?”

His face turned distant, cold even. “Nothing—it’s nothing to worry about now. Look, all of our lives are affected. I mean, we all have to be careful.”

“I don’t get it. How am I supposed to care about the Facility if I don’t know what or who they are?”

“Okay. The Facility is like… like the police of the gifted. I know that sounds stupid, but they kind of create the rules and make sure we follow them.”

“What kind of rules?”

“There are a lot, Ember, but the most important is that we don’t lose control of our gifts and expose ourselves to the outsiders.”

I pressed my lips together. Looking at Hayden now, I wasn’t too sure he had a firm grasp on his gift either. Even now he looked like he wanted to destroy an entire town.

“A lot is riding on you, Ember. It might not be fair, but if you can’t control your gift, something is bound to happen,” Hayden said. “And it’s just not Olivia who’ll be affected. All of us will be.”