Survival

18. Dancing with Darkness

"You're sulking now."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

Stephanie had her arms crossed over her chest, fighting the childish urge to stick her tongue out at Daniel. He was right- a terrible habit of his that needed to be broken. Since English, she'd badgered him for everything he had, but he was a vault with an unbreakable code.

"It's not my fault that you won't tell me anything," she muttered.

Daniel gave her a long look, rolling his eyes. "It kind of is, since you lost your temper with Caroline."

Stephanie glared at him, letting her arms fall to her side. "Why does nobody get that that was not my fault?"

Daniel shrugged. "Most likely because you won."

It was terrible, but Stephanie had to smother the glow of satisfaction that the statement ignited in her chest. Stephanie wanted to like the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, but she made it so frustratingly hard that it was just impossible to. Was it so horrible that she took a little pride in having had the last word, so to speak, in the argument?

"It wasn't the best idea," Daniel countered.

Stephanie looked up from the ground, her cheeks coloring. Did I just say that out loud? "Oh, yeah. Probably not."

Daniel didn't quite manage to stifle the grin that showed itself soon after she'd made her admittance. Embarrassed, Stephanie fell into silence, studying the paving stones under her feet with suddenly increased interest. She willed the rebellious, annoying thoughts of the information being withheld from her away. They weren't doing much but teasing her in any case.

So focused on bringing down the flush in her face, Stephanie didn't register the prickling of the hair on the back of her neck until the blood finally receded from the surface of her face.

Her step faltered and came to a halt.

"What?" Daniel asked, ungainly coming to a halt a few feet ahead.

Stephanie shook her head softly, sifting through her senses. Her body relaxed into a natural routine, bringing up everything that it had peripherally noticed and catalogued without hindering Stephanie with it immediately. Beyond the gentle whoosh of air in between wooden boards and leaves and grass, was the sound of general life: people and their families, small animals in the forest. But even under that was the disconcerting sound of careful footsteps, coming to a stop nearly as suddenly as Stephanie had.

"Stephanie?"

Then her heartbeat was all she could hear. Peaceful houses lined the street, nestled in the safety of the tiny town. Nothing seemed out of place, not a piece of grass out of place. Kids were still walking home, meandering around the streets without sense of time. Two of them had just stopped outside of a gate, a distance away, coinciding with Stephanie's hearing.

"What are you doing?" Irritation now opened up in his voice.

"I thought," she whispered, barely hearing herself. "I thought that someone was following us."

Daniel paused. "Why would you think that?"

"I can usually just tell," said Stephanie quickly.

Then, he snorted. "If you think this is going to make me tell you everything because we're 'in danger', I hope you have something else up your sleeve."

"I'm serious, Daniel."

"Then you're just wound up tighter than I thought," he remarked drily. "There's never been any trouble here before. There's no need to be paranoid now."