The Skylar Experiment : Beginnings

Chapter Sixteen (part two) - Sleepover

THIS TIME, I COULDN'T DETACH my stare from his. "No one's ever tried to catch you?"

"Apart from the fact that we have to keep this to ourselves, we're doing fine." He had a vague grin that leaned more toward a wince.

I ran a hand through my damp hair, placing a curly strand away from my face. Their story was bananas, too incredible to be invented. It wasn't hard to believe the government would try to experiment on unsuspecting people. There were a million conspiracy theories on the internet. I just never thought one of them would be true or that I'd find out.

"Earth to Sunshine? You're not running to a corner to bawl your eyes out, are you?"

I gave him a bland look, and then the air in my chest swelled and brushed overworked nerves. "So you're going to release me tomorrow? Even though I know something that I shouldn't?"

His hand curled over the sweets. The room shifted somehow, and that grudging resignation on his face was swept away. His body coiled as he rose upright, elbows spread out over his knees. "I intend to if you behave."

Whiteness flashed inside the pupils, and it required all of my control to not run behind a door to escape that unearthly stare.

He spied the coffee table like he was debating to move past it. In the end, he kept on the couch, but the pupils were roving over my chair. "I'm not fond of unnecessary trouble, but you ought to understand that what follows next banks on your reactions. If you're cool, I'm cool. That's all I'm saying."

That was so not the type of person he was. In the short week I've had to learn about him, this was a big fat lie.

I pressed a hand over my lips to stop an inappropriate laugh. If I started, I didn't know if I'd ever stop, and I'd probably start crying midway. "I was not imagining this."

"Imagining what?"

"Something like werewolves or vampires. Aliens." My voice lowered and I avoided his stare. "Maybe even zombies."

Real amusement, derived from no one's humiliation, transformed Luc's features, something I'd never caught before.

"A zombie is nowhere near as badass as I am. And werewolves? What stuff are you reading and watching?"

My cheeks blazed in embarrassment. I deserved that. "It's absurd, I know."

I could feel his eyes trailing my expression, and he let out a low chuckle that rumbled his chest.

"You don't seem scarred for life. That's a good sign."

Something bitter ran over me again. I rolled the sleeve of my shirt. "I'll never get rid of this."

He focused on the bite, and his face darkened considerably. "You could always say a dog did that."

But every time I'd see it, it would be a brutal reminder of how inconceivably thick I'd been. "I must have had it coming. Stumbling out more drunk than I've ever been to try and prove something? Hell, if I would have been someone else, I'd think I should have died."

"I did want to shake the crap out of you for getting your butt out there, but you would have still been in serious danger even if you hadn't done that."

"What?"

Luc exhaled, his forehead creasing. In a matter of seconds, he'd gained three years. "It's the Wanderers. They're onto you and they're persistent. I've never seen anything like it."

"Those things are called Wanderers?" Who the hell came up with that? "What are they?"

"Early experiments gone wrong. They're bigger in numbers than us, as failure was more common than success. They multiply just fine, like cockroaches."