Just In Time

Chapter Five

Declan looked at her holding back a small grin that had taken over his features. The shocked look hadn't quite left him but it was mostly replaced by curiosity that mirrored her own.

Michael sighed shaking his head convinced with her excuse,"No, it was my fault I don't know what was going through my head bringing you to the woods at this time of the night. Only idiots risk the forest at night."

The last part was very pointed directly at Declan who brought his hand up to his chest in mock hurt,"How you wound me."

Michael gritted his teeth and grabbed Aubrey's hand and a sudden rush of anger overtook her. For some reason beyond her she wanted nothing more than to get out of the woods and away from Declan, the mysterious boy with gold eyes.

"I'll just take her back home." He said tugging her hand forward. Aubrey willingly complied and started to follow him when Declan's voice cut through the air,"I suppose it's time for me to go inside too. Oh that's a fun idea I'll just tag along with you guys."

There was something very mocking about Declan's tone as he stood on his feet crossing over the stream with absolutely no difficulty, landing in step right beside Aubrey.

Being closer to him any sense of anger Aubrey had vanished in one blink. He was tall, incredibly so and he radiated energy. The type that was exciting at the same time the type that made her skin crawl.

He looked even better up close, his lashes curtained his deep gold eyes in a way that shouldn't have been possible. All her senses screamed at the proximity but then Michael squeezed her hand tightly pulling her harshly back into reality,

Declan may have looked liked it but he was very different from the boy she had seen. Something about him seemed so startlingly different yet Aubrey couldn't tell what exactly it was.

"So Michael care to explain why you brought her to get lost in the woods?" Declan's tone was conversational but once again the hint of mockery underplayed his words.

"I brought her to dinner." Michael replied back, his voice was tight barely controlled,"She's new to our school. Of course you would know that if you ever bothered to come to school."

"Aah the wonders of the American Education System, what could be possibly be wrong with my head that I want to skip all the meaningless babble that our teachers sprout on a regular basis?"

"And you think you're smarter than them?" Aubrey asked.

He looked at her, his air of confidence very clear as he said,"Oh I know it."

"You think quite a lot of yourself don't you?" Aubrey asked once again the words tumbling from her mouth as if she had no control. His mouth curved into a smile as if it's exactly what he had expected her to say.

"Don't you?"

The question was a challenge of some sort almost as if he was taunting her to have the correct answer to it. Maybe he knew that she had seen him before in her hallucinations. Maybe he knew just how insane she really was.

And he may be he was just as insane as her.

You should be dead.

What else could it mean except that he knew everything too?

But Aubrey was hesitant to ask. Michael's presence was obviously the biggest factor but at the same time she was afraid to know that answers and terrified to find out the consequences if she was wrong.

There was a tight feeling in her gut that had almost had her convinced that although Declan looked like the boy there was a strong possibility that he wasn't the same boy. May be it was the fact that he was almost horribly arrogant and self assured as opposed to the boy who had always had this safely mysterious yet somehow knowing feel about him. Declan seemed too guarded and was completely walled up for Aubrey to even try to figure him out.