“I’m just being me.”
“No, you’re not.”
She felt the familiar prickle of frustrated fury. “What the hell do you want from me, Stellan?”
A wincing pain flared up her arm and she found herself being burled to a stop by him. They both ignored the ticket seller, who watched them curiously, clearly desperate to hear their obviously brewing disagreement. “I want my little sister back,” he hissed under his breath, his pale eyes wide. “The Awakening Ceremony will take away all the pain and the guilt you feel, Paradise, but don’t let it take away you.” He slumped, his grip easing.
Eden scoffed, but not meanly. It was more a desperate sound. “That pain and guilt, that’s what makes me me. I thought you wanted me to do this?”
Stellan gulped and looked away, jamming his hands into his jeans. “I do. I want you to be like me but… I kind of don’t too.”
She smirked affectionately at him and batted his arm playfully. “You like me all gooey and human-like? Who’s the freak now, Stel?” she cracked, trying to ease the tension.
He gave a half-hearted laugh and took her arm, leading her towards the box office. “Just promise me… when you’re like me… you’ll fight your nature.”
“I will.” Eden frowned. “You’re being weird.”
Quietly they bought their tickets and headed towards the screen room. Her brother stopped her before they went inside. “You saw me that night… when Teagan left the basement door open and we heard...”
Yeah, she’d seen him alright. That look of envy on his face over Teagan’s free depravity had made her skin crawl.
“I don’t want to be that person… I don’t want to be that person because of you.” His eyes were shining now as he looked anywhere but at her. “And if you change… I won’t have anything stopping me. I need you not to change.”
At his anguished plea, Eden felt her chest squeeze with unbearable pain, like grief. She reached out and pulled him into a hug, holding him as tight as she could. All of a sudden he was just like a normal college guy, struggling with who he was. “I promise, Stel. I promise.”
It was the least she could do.
After a while, he laughed a little awkwardly and pulled back, not really meeting her eyes. They walked quietly into the cinema, a new weight on her shoulders threatening to buckle her knees.
Since her talk with Stellan had cut into Noah’s schedule she excused herself ten minutes after they sat down. Stellan tried to anxiously follow, but she promised him she just needed to use the bathroom.
Stealthily, Eden crept out of the cinema, looking towards the exit for signs of the goons. She caught a flash of one, pacing in front of the doors and shot across the corridor to hide behind a billboard for the final Harry Potter movie. She could feel a cold sweat begin to build on her skin already, as she glanced behind her. The hallway was empty.
Eden took off down it, turning right at the end and then another left, like Noah had text her. She pushed on the bar of the emergency exit and breathed in the night air. Ugh. Night air mixed with garbage, she wrinkled her nose. The door swung shut and she jumped at the sight of Noah behind it, leaning against the brick wall of the alley.
He nodded at her. His expression so serious. “Come on.” He held out his hand.
Still suspicious, but trusting him, Eden gripped a hold of his large, warm hand, her skin tingling at the comparison of his rough, hard palms against her soft ones. Her hand seemed so tiny in his.
Guilt crashed over her, remembering Stellan back in the cinema. God he would be so worried when he realized she’d disappeared. And she would be in so much trouble.
Noah tugged on her, his eyebrow raised.
This better be worth it.
Sighing, and casting one last look over her shoulder, Eden let Noah hurry down into the dark of the alley, taking corners and side streets without thought. He seemed to know this place like the back of his hand. Worry started creeping in pretty quickly, this indecipherable feeling… like maybe she didn’t know Noah nearly as well as she should.
She stopped, clutching her chest in panic at the thought.
“Where are we going?” she demanded.
Noah looked at her impatiently. “I’m just trying to make sure we’ve lost the goons.” Suddenly he stilled, his whole body growing tense. “Eden…” he breathed quietly and she watched with utter confusion as a blade slipped down from his sleeve into his hand. “Eden, get behind me.”
“What?” she squeaked, her eyes trained on the knife in his hand. Her heart was pounding so hard it was nearly all she could hear.
“Now!” he hissed and grabbed a hold of her, tugging her behind him.
Noise erupted around them as six men slithered out of the darkness to surround them.