jump you? Besides Cameron, that is.”
Cameron tossed me a scowl as he pulled onto Main. He was a master of scowls. Probably invented several of the more defiant scowls so popular with kids today.
In response, Brooklyn flashed her version. “She’s just being honest. If you’ll remember, you guys made a mess of downtown Riley’s Switch a while back. Not just anyone could have done that.”
Brooke was right. When Jared showed up a couple of months back to take me when I’d been dying, Cameron knew what he was. And since Cameron had literally been created to protect me, he didn’t take kindly to Jared showing up to take my life. Not without an appointment at least. The two of them fought like two gods hell-bent on destroying our small town.
They may have laid aside their differences to figure out this war thing, but the animosity between them hadn’t subsided completely.
With a shrug, Cameron conceded to Brooke’s logic.
But Jared was still eyeing him, a hint of provocation in his expression. “I guess there were just more of them than I’d expected. I let my guard down.”
Cameron spoke then. “What kind of archangel can’t handle a few watered-down descendants?”
Jared latched on to that like a bully trying to pick a fight. “The kind that can stop your heart before you have time to blink.”
Brooke looked over at Jared as we pulled into the parking lot. School was only three blocks away from the store, but riding in Cameron’s warm truck was way better than not riding in Cameron’s warm truck.
“Could you guys not start this crap again? It’s been weeks. Why the sudden animosity?” When Jared turned to look out the window, she said to me, “See, everybody’s acting strange.”
And she was right. When we got out, everything got even stranger. Well, not immediately. For the most part, it was a typical Tuesday. Kids standing in their respective groups. Teachers hustling to their classrooms, massive coffee mugs in hand. Principal Davis glaring. Just a regular day at Riley High.
Until we stepped inside. While kids were there as usual—raiding their lockers, walking to class—unlike usual, the halls were deathly quiet. Eyes were cast downward and movements were hurried, wary.
“Dang,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. “Is there a new no-talking rule in the halls?”
“I hope not,” Brooklyn said, reading a text on her phone as we wound through the stoic crowd. “Your grandmother says hey.”
“She’s texting you now too? That woman is a menace.”
“She’s funny,” Cameron said, sticking to us like a Post-it note. He took his job as protector very seriously.
“I’m glad you think so.”
Spotting Hector Salazar, a kid I’d known since kindergarten, leaning against his red locker, I waved a quick hello. He was a bona fide nerd and proud of it to the point of arrogance, but I never held it against him. He was smart. He knew it. Who was I to argue? Super smart or not, though, he usually waved back. Instead, he lowered his head and stared at me, his gaze expressionless.
“What the heck did I do to Hector?” I asked no one in particular.
“What?” Brooke barely looked up from her phone, but Cameron took hold of my arm and pulled me to a stop. He was really strong. Like supernaturally strong. So I stopped fairly quickly.
“What did you say?” he asked.
I looked up in surprise as Brooke turned back to us and Jared came closer to hover and stare menacingly at Cameron.
Suddenly self-conscious, I said, “Hector gave me a really odd look.”
Cameron straightened and eyed the crowd from his perch atop his shoulders. Man, that guy was tall. “What kind of look?”
Jared did the same before giving me his attention again.
“A look. I don’t know. I waved and he just stared.” I lifted a shoulder. “I haven’t done a thing to him since the first grade. And that was totally his fault. I mean, I’m all for sharing, but there’s sharing and then there’s robbing your classmates blind.”
Brooke laughed. “What did he want from you?”
“My blue construction paper. All of it. Honestly. It’s not like construction paper grows on trees.”
Cameron appraised the crowd before parking his gaze on Jared. Jared returned the sentiment and the glower-fest began anew.
I elbowed Brooke and she glanced up to take in the stare-down before questioning me with raised brows.
While Cameron’s eyes were filled with uncertainty, Jared’s were narrow, challenging. Again, it was so unlike him and, well, more like Cameron. Their roles had been switched. What on former planet Pluto was going