Melissa Darnell - Crave

I could tell the exact second when the boys noticed Savannah. Almost in a wave, one by one they froze, their easy smiles melting into blank stares. If not for Savannah’s reaction and the fact that she wasn’t in the Clann, I almost would’ve guessed that she’d just put a spell on them. But her smile faded away, too, and her chin ducked down to her chest. She hugged her notebook against her stomach and tugged on Anne’s wrist. Anne studied the boys and scowled. Then the girls beat a fast exit.

Savannah looked back, maybe because she felt the boys still staring at her, and walked away faster. As the pair drew even with me, Anne glanced my way then muttered something to Savannah. I was no expert at reading lips, especially from a distance, but it looked like she’d called me a stalker.

I almost laughed out loud. Me, a stalker? Please. But a glance back at the table of boys made me frown instead. I might not be a stalker, but … they were still staring at Savannah, their expressions zombielike. Savannah might be earning a stalker or three, after all.

Great. As if that Stanwick guy wasn’t enough of a pain. If she kept this up, Savannah would have a line of dazed idiots trailing after her soon.

The tree bark started to burn again. I ripped my hand away and gave up on grounding for now. I’d have to be dead to get rid of all this extra energy. The descendants on campus would just have to get used to my power spikes for today.

Tristan

When I strolled along the catwalk toward algebra class an hour and a half later, I knew the descendants would all be feeling the power spikes yet again.

The creeps from lunch had cornered Savannah outside the math building.

The closer I got to the building, the better I could see her face. Any other girl who had three guys flirting with her would probably have been thrilled. But she wasn’t. She looked murderous.

Yards away now, I noticed that her face was even paler than usual. Her movements were jerky, her shoulders hunched, her hands fisted around her notebook and backpack straps. Her fans seemed too dazed to notice her emotions, though, their pathetic faces eager as they continued to compete for her attention.

She glanced past them to me for a second. For help? Her cheeks turned red just before she looked past me like I was invisible.

She took a step sideways toward the building door. The creep on that side leaned against the wall, blocking her escape. She said something to him in a voice too low for me to make out. He laughed but didn’t move. She tried to take a step between him and the guy in the middle. But all three closed ranks, leaving her no room to get through.

What the …?

Her eyes widened, and I was close enough now to see them turn moss-green. She stomped on the foot of the guy standing between her and the building entrance. He acted as if he were wearing steel-toed boots and couldn’t feel a thing.

Time to step in, whether she wanted my help or not.

“Hey, Sav. You got a problem here?” I stopped a few feet away.

Her mouth opened like she was going to answer. But then she shut it and shook her head. Her chin rose a notch, and she looked through me again. Stubborn girl.

“Hiya, Sav, sorry I’m late,” Anne called out from behind me as she jogged up to us from the catwalk. Ah, so that’s who Savannah had been looking at. “Excuse me, boys.” She barreled right through the creeps, grabbed Savannah’s arm and kept going toward the building entrance like a bulldozer without brakes. “I got held up in English. Thanks for waiting for me.”

The girls made a quick escape into the building, Anne playing bodyguard at Savannah’s board-stiff back. Huh. So it was okay for Anne to come to the rescue but not me. Not a surprise, but that actually kinda stung.

I stared at the three guys. They didn’t notice me, their eyes blazing now as, like magnets, they shambled after the girls into the building. Whoa, now that was extra creepy. They looked like a bunch of possessed zombies.

What would these guys do if they caught Savannah somewhere more private on campus, like in the girls’ rest-rooms or a locker room or something?

I slammed the building door open, wincing as the metal handle hit the brick exterior. Gotta get it under control, Coleman.

I took a deep breath as I entered the classroom. Mr. Chandler had just started class. Great. I’d have some time to think up a solution and make sure those guys left Savannah alone for good. Or maybe my sister would have some ideas. She was excellent at getting rid of creeps without their ever knowing it. It was one of the first things our dad had taught her once she’d started magic training.

I spent the lecture staring at the shaking strands of Savannah’s ponytail and thinking about how best to convince Emily to break the rules and teach me herself. I was so busy planning that it took twenty minutes to notice the difference.

Savannah had done something to her hair.

I’d thought it was just the lighting in the cafeteria earlier. But her hair was definitely different. It used to be more of a fiery orangish-red. Now it was darker, with strands of deep red and brown running through it. And it was shinier, too.

And oh, man, did she smell good.

She still smelled like lavender. But the scent was stronger, warmer. More mysterious. And her skin looked extra good today. Especially right above the collar of her sweater …

I gulped and leaned back in my chair again as I tried to think straight. To remember all the reasons why kissing that curve where her neck and shoulder met would be a bad idea.

I had to pity the three creeps then. There was something about Savannah that went way beyond the normal attraction. I was only surprised that every male in the school hadn’t gathered around her outside the building today.

A foot kicked my left leg.

My head shot up and I looked around. The lecture had ended, everyone was working on the assignment … and Anne seemed ready to punch me. What now?

She wrote in big letters across her paper, Quit staring!

I wasn’t, I wrote on my own paper big enough so she could read it.

Yes, you are. All you guys are such creeps, she added on her paper.

Confused, I looked at her and mouthed the words all you guys, raising my eyebrows. What was she talking about?

Her head jerked to the right and back before she pretended to return to her work. But I could see she was just doodling on her paper.

I waited a minute then faked a silent yawn and stretch so I could glance behind us at the rest of the class. Sure enough, three pairs of male eyes were all locked in Savannah’s direction. Their dark expressions said their thoughts were anything but nice.

The guys had gone well beyond stalker level straight to “lock me up, I’m a serial killer” in just two hours.

Oh, yeah, I was definitely going to have to do something about this. The question was … what? And how much time did I have to work with?

I wrote, I am NOT like them. But don’t worry about those creeps. I’ll take care of it.

Anne’s eyebrows shot up, but she didn’t write anything else on her paper.

When the bell rang, I took my time gathering up my books. Then I sensed somebody coming toward our group of desks. A quick glance behind me showed it was the Creepy Three. I spun out and around my desk, positioning myself between Savannah and them.

“Hey, Ron, think we’ve got a shot of making the varsity team next year?” I said to the guy seated in front of Anne at Savannah’s left. I wasn’t surprised by Abernathy’s confused expression as he looked around at me. Though we’d both played offensive JV football this year, Ron’s family had just moved to Jacksonville last year, and he hadn’t made many friends yet. He seemed like the quiet type, and until today we’d never spoken to each other outside of team time.