Hooked

Chapter Twenty-Three: In The Open

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. N.L.PETIT 2015.

Chapter Twenty-Three: In The Open

His silence was deafening.

I paused for a moment, surprisingly out of breath from that single statement. His eyes were blankly focused on me, staring into my face as if he could pull information from me without words. I had never felt so vulnerable in my life, had never cared so much about what one person thought. I felt sick.

I sat there beside him for a few moments before the silence became unbearable, and I continued on my own.

"I'm not like you," I rushed. "I'm not a wolf, that is, but I'm sure you already know that." I knew I was beginning to ramble now, but my nerves wouldn't let me stop. "I shouldn't have kept it to myself for so long, but it's- it's a rough subject. It hasn't been the easiest thing for me to talk about, with anyone really, but I... I--."

"Sophie, Sophie, wait. Slow down." Adrian squeezed my hand, watching me with a blank face I could not quite decipher. It unnerved me.

"You're not human," he stated, as if he was accepting it to himself. I shook my head slowly, eyes downcast.

I felt chillingly ill.

"I'm a Mer."

He stared at me. His eyes dropped to my legs and flicked back up to my face. I guessed the emotion in his eyes was confusion, but it was quickly overridden by his question. "How?"

My brows furrowed, and my nerves built up. "'How?'"

"Not that way." Taking my hand, he turned it over and traced a pattern on my skin, his eyes still on mine -- blank, focused. "I haven't heard of Mer in years. For all I knew, they were going extinct. And you've been here for days without being in the water. I was led to believe Mer couldn't survive on land. How are you sitting here with me?"

"People only believe that because we want them to. I don't need to live in water, but it's safer for my kind if everyone thinks we can't survive without it. I haven't lived in water since I was a child."

He sat there for a moment, seemingly lost in thought from the information I had just given him. I knew it was a lot to take in, but everything inside me prayed he would look at me the same way he had before.

But he shook his head.

"I can't believe I never realized it myself. Of course you're not human. Nothing about you seems human."

I was not sure what to do with what he'd said.

"You always heard and smelled things I couldn't believe you could. I always brushed off how fast you were and how much stronger you seemed than any human I've met. I thought maybe I was imagining things because I wanted so badly for you to be something like me, so that I wouldn't have to worry about you hating me when you figured out what I am." He paused here, and for the first time, I saw a hint of what might have been vulnerability flash through his blue eyes. Had he really thought I wouldn't accept him? How could anyone not accept him? Then again, I'd feared the same thing only yesterday. "Tell me about you."

"You already know pretty much everything about me," I replied.

"I meant about your life. Sophie, I know you've been keeping secrets from me. Those secrets are part of the reason I was able to convince you to come here with me in the first place, but I need to know what exactly it is that brought you here to me. I can tell it's not a good thing."

I was quiet for a moment, but I had planned on telling him about Will either way... I just had not thought it would happen right now.

When I took too long to reply, he said, "You know something about what happened yesterday, don't you?"