Untouched The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,67
was still wrong and ultimately it was on me. I...I’m sorry.”
He seemed to awaken, his glazed-over eyes darting back to life. His leg slid the chair out across from him and a nod of the head was all it took to convince me to sit down. “You know where Kat is?” He looked at me with a little hope.
I froze, mouth full of Swedish meatballs (they were awesome, way better than anything Mom made). “Yes,” I said at last. “She’s in the basement at Headquarters.”
He leaned across the table and whispered to me. “Why is she there?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
His eyes narrowed. “Maybe you’d prefer to talk about something else? Like, say, damned near killing me?”
I swallowed hard. “You didn’t accept my apology, did you?”
“Not yet. Why is she down there?”
I looked around on all sides of us. Nobody seemed to be very interested, and no one was in earshot. “She didn’t tell you?” I waited until he nodded before I looked around one final time. “The exploding guy, the one that trashed the Science Building—he’s after her. Wants her released from here.”
His face flushed. “She’s not a prisoner. She’s here because she wants to be.”
“That’s not how he sees it.”
His hand slammed the metal table and left an indentation. “It doesn’t matter how he sees it; she’s not going anywhere with him!”
“Take it easy. I’m not arguing with you, just telling you the why.”
He stared off into space and then his eyes came back to me. “You’re a succubus?”
I chewed on the next Swedish meatball, almost afraid to answer. “Yeah.”
“They don’t have the greatest rep among metas.”
I laughed. “Hard to see why that could be; we touch people and they die.”
“‘I’m death’.” He shook his head. “That’s what you meant when you said you were Kat’s opposite.”
“She can give life,” I speared another meatball with particular violence, “all I can do is take it away.”
“Hm.” His eyes were sad. “You haven’t asked me about my power yet.”
“Huh?” I looked back at him. “Oh, yeah. Well, can you blame me? Until now, I was afraid a mutual discussion of powers might out me for the weirdo I am.” I turned my gaze back to my plate. “Besides, I didn’t really want to...um...”
“Be civil?”
I didn’t glare, but it was close. “Connect...with others until now. I didn’t want to be disappointed or burned or let down.” I gritted my teeth. “In case I had to leave abruptly.”
“Leave, huh?” He picked at his food. “I could see that, if I was in your shoes. So why weren’t you more pissed when you found out I wrote that note?”
I flicked my eyes away from him but allowed a slight smile. “With as many real, legit, scary enemies as I’ve got, it seemed like a waste of time to worry about one more person trying to take a shot at me for something I already blamed myself for.”
“Yeah, well, that’s kinda dumb as far as reasons go, but I’ll take it, I guess. I took a cheap shot at you, you took one at me, we’re square.”
I frowned. “Yours helped drive me into a confrontation with a maniac that nearly killed me.”
“Yeah, well yours almost ended up taking my soul.”
“Touche.”
“It’s all a wash—” He stopped, looking past me then nodded slightly. “Here come Zack and Kurt.”
They stopped at our table, Zack looking a little haggard and Kurt looking like a blowfish ready to explode (I saw a nature documentary once). “Hey, guys.” Zack started talking, a little wan and more pale than usual.
“What’s the matter?” I leaned back in my chair, arm draped over the back as I looked up at them. “You look like you’ve had a rough day,” I nodded to Zack, “and you look like you were forced to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner.” I smiled at Kurt.
“Byerly,” Zack said as Kurt glared at me, “Old Man Winter and Ariadne want to see you.”
“Oh?” Scott pushed his tray away. “Might as well go see what that’s about.”
He stood and left, with a nod to Kurt. Zack watched his receding back for a minute then turned to Kurt. “Can you give us a few minutes?”
Kurt didn’t look amused. “Keep your hands to yourself,” he said to me.
“You sure?” I shot him a dazzling smile. “I could goose him a little bit, then maybe you’d look smart and commanding by comparison.” Kurt emitted a grunt and stomped off toward the serving line. “Don’t eat too much! You don’t want to mess up