Melissa Darnell - Consume

“Mmm.” She stepped out of the room and off to the side a little, making way for others in the hall to pass us by. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. We don’t have to go to the cafeteria. We could go to the library and hang out instead. Ron’s mom is the librarian. She wouldn’t mind—”

“And miss out on all the fun? No way!” I held out a bent elbow. It took her a few seconds to realize I wanted her to hold my arm.

She slipped a free hand between my elbow and my body, her fingers coming to rest in the bend of my arm as if made to nestle there. I squeezed my arm tight against my body so her hand wouldn’t slip away, and we headed into the packed main hall.

I stumbled to a halt as a flood of strange sensations poured over me. Savannah grabbed my arm with both her hands.

What is it? she thought, her eyes darting side to side as she searched my face. What’s wrong? Talk to me. Is it the bloodlust? We should get out of here.

No, it’s not that, I thought, struggling to breathe as the sensations kept changing, throwing me continually off balance. I tried to find a way to describe what I was feeling. It’s...something else. Like falling into one of those bouncy castles for kids, but this one’s filled with giant cotton balls and knives and fire ants and stuff that’s hitting me from all sides.

Try to breathe through it, she thought, rubbing my upper arm. You’re just picking up their emotions. It’ll take you a little while to learn how to match up their emotions with their thoughts so you can label them and recognize what you’re sensing. If it starts to get too overwhelming, remember the key is to stay calm. The stronger your own emotions, the less you’ll be able to control your abilities. And if all else fails, try to focus on a nearby descendant instead.

A descendant? I couldn’t help but scowl at her for a second. Then I went back to searching the hallway, my instincts screaming at me to stay alert though I didn’t understand why. Why would I want to sense anything from them?

Because it’s like tuning in to a different radio station. It makes the humans go quiet. Clann thoughts might be nastier, but at least they’re quieter since there are fewer descendants than humans.

Huh. Okay, if it shut off the thousand and one voices inside my head...

I nodded and tried to follow her instructions, focusing on the few descendants who passed by till the hall began to clear as the students rushed off to the cafeteria or their next class.

She was right. Listening to the descendants’ thoughts was like tuning in to a much quieter radio station. Too bad it was one playing the “I hate Tristan and Savannah” soundtrack 24/7.

When the hall was half-empty, I found it easier to start moving again.

“We can wait here till they’re all gone,” she murmured, ignoring the curious glances shot our way. “I’m here. Just breathe.”

“I’m okay. It was just...a surprise, is all.” I took a deep breath, squeezed her hand at my elbow and started walking again. I could breathe easier again, too. “So this is what you had to deal with every day?”

She nodded. “I promise it gets easier.”

We headed down the now mostly empty hall toward the main building’s rear exit, her thoughts filling with a glow from the simple pleasure of our getting to walk together like this on campus around others for the first time ever. But it was hard for me to join in with a steady dose of guilt growing inside my chest.

I really owed her an apology.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “You know, for using this ESP thing against you all those times.” It had been bad enough for me to have to deal with hearing and feeling all those thoughts and feelings from everyone else with Savannah there to guide me through it for the first time. I couldn’t even imagine how frightening it must have been for her to go through it alone with no one there to hold her hand, reassure her that she wasn’t going insane, tell her how to turn down the volume on it by listening to the descendants instead.

And I’d made it worse by teasing and tormenting her with my thoughts every chance I’d gotten, in a dumb campaign to make her jealous.

“You’re forgiven.” She said it so simply, as if it were no big deal.

Did she have any idea how much I loved her?

Sometimes I do, she thought, ducking her head to hide a knowing smile.

We walked in silence out of the building, along the cement catwalk with its metal awning roof, then down the cement steps to the sidewalk that wrapped around the cylinder-shaped brick cafeteria. At the doors, she tugged me to a stop.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.

I didn’t even have to consider my answer. I nodded. “I want to rub their faces in it so hard they can’t see straight for a week.”

“But why? We don’t have to prove anything to them or anyone else in there.”

“Yes, we do.”

She frowned. “Why? Why does it matter what they think?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Then why push it? And why do we have to do this today? We could always come back later in the week.”

“I told you, I’ve dreamed about this moment for a really long time. And I’m not going to let them or what they think keep us from finally having this.”

She sighed. “It’s our first day back. It feels like we’re pushing it too hard. Like if we get greedy, something’s going to break. Isn’t it hard enough to be in your classes without facing this many of them all at once?” She hesitated. “And then there’s the small matter of my friends.”

I searched her face. “Worried I won’t pass judgment as your boyfriend?”

“No, of course not! I just don’t feel you should have to try to earn their approval and deal with all those humans and the smells and sounds and the Clann’s attitude on your very first day back.”

I stared at her, everything inside me going still now. “Are you worried I can’t handle it?”

She groaned. “All I’m saying is, why push so hard all at once when you could space out the challenges a little and make it easier on yourself?”

“You’re forgetting I used to play football. I like a good challenge, and the bigger the better.”

She groaned again. “Fine. But the second you look like you’re stressing out, we’re out of here. Okay?”

I nodded.

“Promise me.”

I grinned and held up a pinky. “Pinky swear.”

The flashback to our childhood got a grin out of her. She hooked her pinky with mine. “Deal.”

Finally.

I grabbed the metal handles of both doors, threw them wide-open, and we made our grand entrance into the beehive that was JHS’s cafeteria. Almost every head in the place turned to stare at us. You could practically hear crickets chirp.

SAVANNAH

He was all too happy to lead the way to my friends’ table, which he didn’t even have to search for.

I told you, I’ve spent hours over the years staring at you with your friends and wishing I could be there beside you, he explained silently. I could map out this table’s location in my head at home.

Mmm, stalker much? I teased, trying to ignore the audience all around us.

“Sav!” Michelle squealed as soon as she saw us. All of my friends jumped up from our table.

“Finally!” Anne pushed past Ron so she could be the first to give me a fierce hug. “I knew we should have ignored you and gone over to your house last night anyways.”

As Carrie elbowed her out of the way so she could give me a hug next, I gave Anne a pointed look over Carrie’s shoulder. “You know we had a lot of...unpacking to do.”

Actually, I’d been too nervous about having all three of my human friends at my house with Tristan and my dad. The mere idea had seemed a disaster in the making, so I’d begged my friends to wait for lunchtime today for our group reunion.