Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(35)
Author: Cambria Hebert

She smiled and gestured to the front lab table. Why anyone would be so excited about science is beyond me.

“I have laid out a variation of substances all containing different elements that will react with one another in different ways,” she began and a little piece of my brain died. Of boredom.

“Let’s start with this one.” She thrust a beaker filled with what looked like water into my hand. “Pour that into this one here.” She pushed another glass bottle toward me, this one with a whitish substance in it. I did what she asked and poured the liquids together.

They mixed and turned orange.

The teacher seemed pleased and wrote something on a pad of paper on her desk.

“Now these,” she said, pushing two more beakers at me.

I did and this time the liquids fizzed and turned green.

The teacher wrote something else in her notes.

“Next,” she said and gave me yet more things to combine. I was beginning to wonder if the paper would have been a better option.

I poured them together, waiting for the colors to change, but this time something else happened. When the liquids combined, they seemed to mix, expand, and turn to a cloudy fog. It began to move upward, filling up the entire beaker until it began spilling over the rim. Instead of sliding down and dripping on the table, the fog spread out into the air.

And then it began to glow.

The thick fog turned a neon green, forming a cloud that hung low over the entire table. I stepped back and looked at the teacher. She was watching the creation with a weird smile on her face.

“Was that supposed to happen?” I asked.

She looked at me and something dark slithered behind her eyes. “Of course.”

The green cloud began to move, creeping farther into the classroom and skulking toward me. Call me crazy, but I didn’t really think letting some glowing crap that erupted from a jar touch me was a good idea.

I stumbled backward, tripping over my bag and reaching out to catch myself on the corner of Mrs. Engles’s desk. Only I didn’t catch myself. I fell backward onto the floor with her notepad landing in my lap. I looked down and her notes jumped right off the page at me.

I’m out. I’m watching. Who will be next?

I gasped and leapt to my feet. But the green fog was above me, so I ended up crouching, trying to stay out of its path. I tossed the notepad aside and gripped my bag.

“Who are you?” I said to my teacher, thinking I already knew.

“Whatever do you mean, Heven? Is everything all right?” Her voice sounded completely normal, but the fog wrapped around her head until she was a faceless person standing there before me.

An electric green tendril of fog seemed to break away from the massive cloud and slither toward me. I scrambled for the door, crab-walking backward until I fell out into the hallway.

The tendril stopped in the doorway, almost like it was staring at me, waiting for the order to attack.

“Heven?” Mrs. Engles called from inside the classroom. “Come back, dear. We have experiments to finish.

What. Ever.

I jumped to my feet and ran down the hall, ignoring the calls of my teacher the entire way.

Heven

Sleep was elusive. The more tightly I closed my eyes and wished for it, the harder it was to attain. Finally my eyes flew open and I rolled onto my back to stare up at the ceiling. How was I supposed to sleep knowing Beelzebub was out there? And I just couldn’t shake the feeling he was closer than we knew. It was almost like I could feel him lurking.

He’s in hell, I told myself. There was no reason to worry tonight. I didn’t even have to worry anymore about him prying his way into my dreams. He couldn’t. Right after Logan’s funeral when Sam came to stay here, he didn’t feel right about sneaking into my room every night, but before he could start sleeping on the couch he had to break those threads so I’d be able to sleep without him next to me, keeping the Dream Walker at bay. So he’d gone into my mind using our Mindbond and broke every last thread Beelzebub left behind.

It was a relief knowing I could sleep without fear, but it turned out actually falling asleep was a lot harder than it should be. I missed Sam. I missed the heat of his body, the feel of his skin. I even missed him hogging the covers.

And now it was even worse because I wondered if he was going to stay in the house all night or if he was going to shift and run off into the night with no memory of what he was doing.

The door to my room opened a bit and a figure slipped into the room. I watched as Sam crept closer to the bed, not making a sound as he moved.

Sam?

He paused in his path and looked at me. You can’t sleep, either?

No.

I tried sleeping in Lo—my room tonight. He said.

Didn’t go so well?

How am I supposed to sleep when you’re only one wall away?

I smiled and lifted up the covers, inviting him in.

He glanced at the door. I really shouldn’t.

Just for a few minutes? I asked.

He debated for another few seconds and then slid into the bed beside me. He was like the missing piece to my puzzle and I fit against him perfectly and sighed, laying my head against his shoulder. I missed this.

Me too. So tell me what you’re still doing awake.

Just knowing he’s out, wondering what he’ll do next.

Sam tightened his arm around me. Soon as those souls are free, he won’t be able to hurt us anymore.

Do you really think it will weaken him that much?

Maybe. Maybe not. But even if it doesn’t, I think he’ll be too busy trying to rebuild the graveyard to care about us.

I hoped he was right. Was it hard being in Logan’s old room?

It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

Then why can’t you sleep?

Can’t help but wonder where I’ll be when I wake up.

I’ve been thinking about that. I think I might know how we can find out what you’ve been doing when you shift.

How?

I’ll mind-rob you. He stilled and I knew he was considering it.

I don’t think it will work, he said after a few moments.

Why not?

Because you can’t see something I don’t remember.

But the hound will remember. I’ll see what he sees.

“No,” he spoke out loud, his voice flat.

“Why not?” I whispered.

“Because if I really am killing people that isn’t an image of me I want burned in your brain.”

“You weren’t killing people, Sam.”

“We don’t know that.”

“We will if you let me do this.”