Shadowed (Unbound, Book 2)

Chapter Thirty One

           

"What is this?" I looked to Duvessa at my side. "Some sort of psychedelic hideout?"

We stepped into the massive black-walled room and the door shut behind us, cutting off the sound of Ericka's laughter. I felt like I stepped into a silent theater placed inside an arcade, like my sitting room—only cooler. Placed against the entire left wall was a flat screen television hooked up to more consoles, new and old, than I'd ever heard of. Speakers were placed all around the room. There was no couch, just two rows of crimson theater seats complete with drink holders in the armrests.

At the center, every game I owned and more spaced well enough apart so no gamer would crowd another. With no one else here, it was quiet, empty in more than just the literal sense. But even if it were packed full of warm bodies, it oozed with electricity.

"Pretty much." Duvessa laughed. "The hideout bit, not the psych-a-whatever. Some of our parents pooled together and set it up. It's like, if we have somewhere to go to get away, that will keep us from getting into trouble."

"It looks more like they gave their kids a place to hot-box."

Duvessa laughed, looked around the room, and then settled her focus on me. "There are better ways to feel high than drugs."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She shrugged but looked away. Duvessa took a deep breath and pointed to the chairs in front of the television. "Another time I'll tell you all about it. Why don't we watch a show?"

"But..." I looked around, pausing to point at the heavy red curtain hanging from a golden rod on the right-hand-side of the room. It was closed to overlap at the middle, blocking whatever was behind from being seen. "What's that?"

"Another time."

"Really? You're not going to clue me in?" My hand dropped to my side and I rolled my eyes. She was just like everyone else after all, secretive and reluctant to share.

Duvessa looked at me without blinking and then asked, "So what kind of movies do you like?" She walked over to a shelf placed at the end of the chairs and paused, fingering the spines of movie cases. "We have action, horror, chick flick?"

I glanced back at the curtain, hesitating, and then shook my head. "You decide," I said, and walked over to sit in a chair in the front row so I could sprawl my legs out in front of me. "I'm easy, though I am pretty sure I don't like reality shows."

"Got it."

She picked a movie out and set it up, and then sat down three chairs to my right with the remote control in her hand. I studied her out of the corner of my eyes, noticing that she'd chosen the Craft, a movie about witches, before losing focus to surrender to the random ordering of my thoughts.

Out of everyone, Duvessa was the only one who had been honest with me up until now. At least bottling up wasn't the same as lying, but it made me stop to think long enough to compare her with everyone else. The questions I wanted to know which I'd allowed to dominate my thoughts subsided once answers became improbable. Now I saw she'd done nothing to prove we had been friends except drive me home. Even Maible, who I met for a few minutes, had given me something to grasp, tying us together. Duvessa hadn't even shown me the way to my room.

Did she know where it was?

Maybe this is what Calin wanted me to be careful of. People pretending to know me. But to what end? What could Duvessa—or anyone else, for that matter—want from me? Aside from what I assumed to be old money in our family, I had nothing to offer. At least that I knew of.

"I love this movie."

"Beats sitting in school." I slouched in my chair and tried to pay attention to the movie, but I had already seen it—at least I knew it enough to predict what happened next, which killed the joy and drew the conclusion. The best I managed was to appear interested as I continued to dissect my thoughts, one-by-one, though never achieving success with gaining answers.