Faith Heights

Chapter 38

"This won't involve lying," I assured him. "It's just helping me with a little research project. They wouldn't even think to ask about it."

He sighed. "What is it?"

I switched chairs to lean closer to him, although the library was nearly empty. "I need to find out information about someone, but I wouldn't have the first clue how to go about it."

He looked puzzled. "Uh, sure, I can help you with that. But if it's someone at the school, I'm sure they'd be more than willing to tell you anything you're curious about."

"No, it's about someone else. Someone that apparently knows more about my first life than he's willing to share."

"Can't you just ask Lucas for the information?"

I placed my hand over Jackson's. "Please, I need you to do this for me. Lucas is being very cagey in what he tells me, and this is something that can't wait."

He looked at me for a long moment before relenting. "Fine, I'll do it. But you knew I would. So, who is this mystery person?"

"His name is Nick."

He gave a dry laugh. "Nick? I'm going to need more than that to go on."

I frowned. "I-I don't know his last name. But I think it's short for Nicolas."

Were there other names Nick could be short for? There were probably dozens. If I didn't even know his name, it was safe to say there was a lot more I still needed to learn before I could trust him. And I still didn't know what he was, despite his promise. Was he an angel, like Lucas? Or something else infinitely old?

Jackson ran a hair through his shaggy brown head. With his arm flexed, I noticed a slightly more defined muscle tone beneath his lean build. Even in the short time since Lucas had healed him, I'd noticed subtle differences. His skin wasn't so patchy, as if he'd spent the entire semester indoors. And his clothes didn't hang off his body as if draped around an old scarecrow. His eyes held a constant warmth, instead of the spark coming and going, like a sun subjected to a storm's whims. He looked healthy, and we had no one to thank for that but Lucas.

"Look, Lila. I can try to run it through the school's database. It's kind of like Wikipedia for the supernatural. Almost everyone I know has a profile of some kind, so he should be on there. Do you have anything else I can go on?"

"He has black hair, and light grey eyes. And he's about average height."

"I'm still going to need a full name."

I drummed my pencil against the table for a long minute before digging my phone out of my pocket. Five unanswered texts laid against the white screen. I'd read them all about a thousand times over, but still couldn't bring myself to respond.

Slowly, I typed out a message to Nick's number:

What's your last name?

I waited a few minutes for a reply before laying the phone down on the table. I begrudgingly told Jackson to forget my request, and returned to my biology textbook. He tried to ask me a handful of questions about why I wanted the information, but I managed to avoid any direct answers.

Finally, an hour later, my phone buzzed with Nick's reply:

Serafin. Why?

I replied, Don't you find it strange that I didn't even know your last name?

He responded instantly, Maybe there's a good reason it should stay hidden.

I let out a groan under my breath. I wasn't in the mood for his infuriating 'mysterious guy' act. I put my phone back in my pocket and turned to the textbook, ignoring Jackson's questioning looks.

Eventually, I admitted, "His last name is Serafin. Nick Serafin."

"Were you texting this guy?" Jackson asked incredulously. "The way you described him made him sound kind of dangerous."

"Of course I wasn't texting him." I lied. I could tell Jackson didn't believe me, but as long as he didn't have the truth, it didn't matter.

He sighed again. "Any idea what this guy is?"

I shook my head. "Not a clue. I know he's old. At least as old as my first life. But I don't know if that means he's immortal, or just an old soul like me."

Jackson nodded, taking in the information. He began scribbling on a blank piece of paper. "Okay, so his name is Nick Serafin... been on earth for centuries... black hair, grey eyes.... Average height... Okay. I'll see what I can dig up. But I'm not promising anything."

"I know. Thank you."

Jackson paused. "Is everything alright?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I deflected.

He huffed. "I'm not sure. It just seems like you're not telling me the whole story."

Only because I didn't have a complete story to tell. I shrugged off his queries, unable to come up with an excuse that would satisfy him. We studied in silence for another hour when Jackson started packing up his textbooks splayed over the table. 

I was just about to follow suit- when I looked up at the sound of awed gasps. 

***

Sorry everyone for the day-late update! Had work at 5.30am and went straight to university afterwards. Completely slipped my mind, sorry again!