ever feel it?”
“I’m not sure…” He stared off at the quiet street in front of us, the sun shining brightly in his eyes. “I don’t really think that we felt what we do now, but there was always a connection there.”
I remembered the first time I ever laid eyes on him, and how my gaze had found him all on its own. There was definitely a connection—one deeper than even the electricity went.
Alex looked at me and he had such intensity in his bright green eyes that it made me squirm around uncomfortably. A strange feeling passed through me then, and I waited for the prickle to show up and tell me what I was feeling, because whatever was going on right now had to be something new. But the prickle never came and as I continued to grow more uncomfortable, I changed the subject.
“So, do you think we’ll be able to fix everything?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice even. “Do you think we’ll be able to stop the world from ending—stop what I saw in my vision from actually happening? My mom said there are always loop holes? But what loop holes would there be? I mean it doesn’t make any… ” I trailed off because of the astonished look Alex was giving me.
“I think you might want to at least take a breath between your questions,” he said.
I gave him an oh-shut-up look. “But there are too many unanswered ones. I mean, how can you be so…calm about everything you just heard?”
He shook his head. “I’m not calm.” He looked at me and I could see it in his eyes—the sadness, the pain, the hurt of being betrayed and lied to. I knew how it felt, but it was strange to see it in Alex’s eyes because he rarely showed much of anything, which now I knew why.
“Are you sure you’re going to be o—” I started to say, but I was stopped by a set of lips pressing against mine. A set of warm and sparkling lips.
Way, way in the back of my mind, right where the rational side of my brain was I had a thought that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for the two of us to be kissing. It had never been made one hundred percent clear if it was a good thing or a bad thing for Alex and me to be this close to one another.
But the irrational and emotional side of my brain took over, and I kissed him back, feeling effervescent and sparkly. The kiss was so much different from the other kisses we shared. There was so much more trust and foreverness to it. And as his hands wrapped around my back and pulled me closer to him, I temporarily forgot about all the problems we had and would be facing very soon. The key word here is temporarily. Because moments after the kiss began it was over as Aislin came running out the front door, the screen banging closed behind her.
I quickly pulled away from Alex, but he didn’t seem to care as much as I did that we had been caught making out on the front porch. In fact, one of his hands was still residing on the base of my back. And I think Alex was planning on chewing Aislin out for interrupting us. I could see the annoyance in his expression. But then Aislin spoke, and all irritation disappeared from the both of us.
“Laylen’s gone,” she said, her words rushed, her eyes wide.
“Gone?” Alex’s hand fell from my back.
“What do you mean gone?” I asked, jumping to my feet. “I thought he was in his room?”
She shook her head. “No, he’s not. And I searched the house, and I can’t find him anywhere.”
This was bad. Very, very bad. Laylen had been in such a fragile state already, with the whole first-time biting thing, and now he has just found out that he was created on purpose, to help end the world.
“What do we do?” Aislin cried to Alex.
Alex ran his fingers through his hair, thinking. “No one saw where he went?” he asked, looking at Aislin and then me.
I shook my head. “Like I said, I thought he was in his room.”
“And I haven’t seen him since we were on the deck.” Aislin’s voice trembled. “And Jocelyn said she hasn’t seen him anywhere, but she’s out back checking if he’s out there.” Right as she said it, the screen door swung