Chapter Twenty Five Continued
James stayed with me for the entire two lessons. We didn't talk much. After a while I stood up and went out to the sinks to wash my face of the salty dried tears. I didn't look too horrible, my skin was slightly paler and my eyes were a little puffy but I could pass it off as hay fever. He leaned against the cubicle frame, watching me carefully.
"I'm okay," I said in a controlled, firm voice.
"I know." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just looking for something."
"Are you reading my mind?" I said, raising my hands to the side of my head. "I don't care if you know all about my past and future, just let me have my privacy for now."
He shook his head. "I've got no interest in what's going on in your head. Probably some messed up feelings for my brother." He made a face. "Gross."
"Then what were you doing," I faced him fully, my hands on my hips.
"I can't see anything about your mother or father."
I stilled. "They're gone, you know that."
He nodded and looked apologetic. "I'm sorry for bringing them up. But, I can't read anything about them. Usually I can find out a lot about someone's parents."
I shrugged, trying to look indifferent. "They died before I could fully comprehend what death was. I didn't know them, therefore you wouldn't be able to get information on them from me."
He screwed up his face, a look of absolute concentration. "But I can't see anything, not even at the moment you were born. It's like someone erased the fragments of their aura that touched you. I don't get why, I've never seen this kind of magic before."
"But I can still remember them. So can your father, their auras would have imprinted on him too. Why don't you search him," I said bitterly.
He pushed off the door frame and walked over to me. His eyes were wide with remorse. "Don't be mad. I just don't like the fact that someone has been messing your parent's auras."
"I'm not mad, James. Can we just drop the subject? I don't feel like talking about the past. Not now when I've got enough problems to face in the near future."
I heard the bell ring, signalling the end of school and took one last look in the mirror. Maybe, just maybe, Liam wouldn't notice the difference to my features.
"Shall we go?" I asked brightly, smiling falsely, preparing myself for greeting Liam.
James' face flushed slightly. "Erm. Not just yet, we should wait until... the corridors are, erm, clear."
I raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly understood why he was so embarrassed. Girl's bathroom. Right. We waited for a little longer before slipping out. I looked around carefully as we left the grounds, on the lookout for Jacob. I wondered if he had woken up yet, or if someone had found him. I breathed easily as we walked out the school gates.
Liam was parked directly out the front and I could see that his fingers were drumming the steering wheel impatiently. As we approached the doors hissed open.
"What happened?" he asked immediately. His eyes searched my face and I was relieved when he didn't comment on my features.
"Kayli thought she'd try and find me but then she got lost." There was no lie at all in James words. I had to ask him how he hid it. "On the way here we decided to have our lesson at the motel, to make it easier for her to practise in the same environment," James' voice was casual, nothing giving away the fact that he was lying through his teeth. I was impressed, and very jealous.
