So all his caring was about his sister? How silly of me.
Our eyes locked. There was such intensity in his, as if he were willing me to understand.
Dee yawned loudly.
I jerked away, breaking contact first. Of course, score one for Daemon.
"Good morning!" Dee chirped as one or both of her legs dropped to the ground, sounding surprisingly heavy for someone as slender as she was. "Have you guys been awake long?" Another sigh, much louder and more annoyed than the first pushed through Daemon's hard lips. "No, Dee, we just woke up and were talking. You were snoring so loudly we couldn't stay asleep any longer." Dee snorted. "I doubt that. Katy, are you feeling...okay this morning?"
"Yeah, I'm a little sore and stiff, but overall okay."
She smiled but her eyes were still hooded with guilt. Which made no sense. She tried to smooth down her curls, but they sprung back into disarray as soon as she removed her hands.
"I think I'm going to make you breakfast." Before I could respond, she dashed off to the kitchen and I heard numerous doors open and close, pots and pans clanging against each other.
"Okay."
Daemon stood and stretched. The muscles of his back were taut under his shirt. I looked away.
"I care more about my sister than I do anything in this universe," he said quietly. Each word punctuated by truth. "I'd do anything for her, to make sure she's happy and she's safe.
Please don't worry her with crazy stories." I felt infinitely small. "You're a dick, but I won't say anything to her." When I looked up, I found it hard to concentrate when his eyes were as bright as they were. "Okay? Happy?"
Something flickered over his face. Anger?
Regret? "Not really. Not at all." Neither of us looked away again. There was a heavy quality to the air, tangible.
"Daemon!" Dee called from the kitchen. "I need your help!"
"We should go see what she's doing before she destroys your kitchen." He rubbed his hands down his face. "It's possible."
Keeping quiet, I followed him out into the hallway, where the light spilled in from the open door. I winced at the abrupt brightness and suddenly remembered I hadn't brushed my hair or my teeth yet. I cringed away from Daemon. "I think I need to...go." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Go...where?"
I felt my cheeks turn hot. "Upstairs. I need a shower."
Surprisingly, he didn't fire back with the door I'd left open. He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. At the top of the stairs, my fingers mindlessly went to my lips and then another shiver rolled through me. How close to dying did I come last night?
"Is she really going to be okay?" I heard Dee ask.
"Yeah, she'll be fine," Daemon responded patiently. "You have nothing to worry about.
Nothing is happening. Everything was taken care of when I came back here." I crept closer to the landing.
"Don't look like that. Nothing will happen to you." Daemon sighed with real frustration this time. "Or her, okay?" Another gap of silence followed. "We should've expected something like this."
"Did you?" Dee asked, her voice rising sharply. "Because I was trying not to, I was trying to hope that we could have a friend - a real one - without them getting..." Their voices lowered, becoming unintelligible. Were they talking about me?
They had to be, but that didn't make sense. I stood in absolute confusion, trying to figure out what they could be talking about.
Daemon's voice rose, "Who knows, Dee?
We will see how it plays out." He paused and then laughed. "I think you are beating those eggs to death. Here, let me have them." I listened a few more moments as they bantered back and forth like normal before I peeled myself away from my spot. Without warning, another stolen conversation quickly resurfaced. The night before, as I coasted in and out of consciousness in the car, I'd overheard both of them whispering worries that I couldn't comprehend.
I wanted to shrug off the nagging feeling that they were hiding something. I hadn't forgotten Dee's weird aversion to me going to the library. Or the strange light I'd seen outside the library that reminded me so much of the light in the woods, when I'd seen the bear and passed out, something that I'd never done before in my life. And then there was the day at the lake, when Daemon had turned into Aquaman.
I walked numbly to my bathroom and flipped on the light, expecting to see