"I thought you were going to call," I said.
"You not happy to see me?" he teased.
A smile tipped my lips and I shook my head. He knew the answer to that.
I stepped back so he could enter the house. He dropped a quick kiss on my lips as he walked into the house. It was so brief but it was enough to summersault my stomach and eased the need to touch him.
"Did you finish your schoolwork?" he asked as he followed me into the house. I sat down on the sofa and he dropped into the seat next to me.
"Yeah, I got it all done." I answered. The TV was still on and the soft voices from some reality show flowed into the room.
"I can't believe you watch this rubbish," he teased me as he saw what was playing on the TV.
"Yeah, I know but I can't seem to help myself." I shrugged.
I found the remote on the coffee table and switched off the TV. He put his arm around my shoulder as we both sat on the sofa. I looked up to him, trying not to feel like I was hiding something from him.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly as he brushed my cheek with his finger.
Had he picked up on the fact that something was on my mind? I wasn't ready to come clean and tell him about the blue spark. My excuse was that I'd already explained it away and until something else happened to change that I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it.
"Yes, why?" I said, not feeling as confident as I should. My eyes never left his.
"You just seem quieter than usual." His eyes scanned my features.
He'd noticed. I felt like a child trying to hid the fact that I'd stolen a cookie out of the cookie jar without permission. My cheeks flushed despite my attempts to keep my composure.
"Everything's fine," I assured him breaking our eye contact. I found it difficult to deceive him with his eyes looking intensely into mine.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah," I admitted. I hadn't bothered eating anything other than the packet of crisps since I'd gotten home from school so I was feeling peckish.
"Do you want to come over to my house for supper? My mom is making lasagna," he asked, tilting his head to the side as he waited for my answer.
"Sure."
He stood up and pulled me to my feet. He ushered me out of my house and hand in hand we walked to his house. The aroma that hit me as I walked through the front door was delicious. My stomach growled in response, it smelt so good.
Jared walked into the kitchen and I followed behind. Catherine was busy in front of the oven. The delicious smell was coming from the oven. Her face lit up when she turned to us.
"Hi," she greeted me. She gave me a quick hug.
"Hi," I greeted back.
"Do you want something to drink?" Jared asked.
"Yes, please," I said.
"Soda?" he asked as he pulled a glass out of the cupboard.
Did I want a soda? I loved soda but for some reason the thought of it made my stomach roll.
"Water," I replied with a dismissive shrug of my shoulders.
Jared raised an eyebrow. Did I just say that? Water? Jared watched me closely before he got some cold water out of the fridge and poured me a glass.
Usually I hated drinking water. What was going on with me? The only time I would really drink the stuff was when I'd been in an emotionless state but I wasn't in an emotionless state. It didn't make any sense.
"How was school?" Catherine asked. Jared handed me the cold glass of water.
"It was good. With everything going on it was nice doing something normal," I said.
"You've been through a lot," she sympathized as she touched my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. I just nodded my head and sipped my water. Jared leaned against the kitchen table on the other side of me.
"Hopefully everything will settle down now. But you do realize your life is never going to be the same again," she said.
I had. I was different now and I would never be just human again.
"Yes I do." If I hadn't survived the initial attack and the altering I would be dead right now. So if it wasn't for the mutated energy inside me now I would be dead.
I felt Jared touch my arm as if to reassure himself that I was okay. I turned to look at him. His look was deep and intense. He didn't want to be reminded about what could have happened.
"The food is ready," Catherine said when the timer buzzed.
She dished up the lasagna and the three of us sat around the kitchen table.
The conversation was light and there was no more talk about Archaics or Hue and that was okay with me.
Blue. It didn't make any sense. I brushed the thought away and tried to concentrate on the conversation flowing at the table. Then I remembered my bruised side. I touched it gently and it didn't hurt anymore which meant it had healed.
Catherine and Jared had a very easy-going relationship similar to my relationship with Anne. Except they were both descendants and Jared was the leader of the Archaic. It all sounded so weird. They weren't human. Then it occurred to me, I wasn't human either. It was a jolting thought, to be reminded.
We finished our supper and Jared cleared up the dishes.
"I'll do the dishes," his mom told him.
"Okay," he said.
"Thank you for a lovely supper," I thanked her.
"You're welcome, anytime," she said back as she starting to run water into the sink.
Jared and I disappeared upstairs to his room while his mom cleaned up the kitchen. He sat down in the chair at his desk. I sat down on the bed.
"How are you feeling?" he asked. His eyes watchful reminding me of my deceptiveness.
"Fine."
"Did Mason mention how long the change takes to complete once the altering has been performed?" he asked.
I thought back.
"No. He said the original change normally took two weeks to complete but he didn't mention how long the change would take to complete after it was altered," I answered.
More than a few times I'd wished I'd asked more questions because I had the feeling that was the only time I would have a chance to find out more about my situation.
The Archaic didn't know much about this type of thing. Mason was unfortunately the only one that really knew what was happening with me.
And it isn't like I could just walk up to him and say, "I have a couple of questions about this whole altering thing". Besides if I tried to he would probably kill me. The only reason he hadn't killed me before was because we'd share a link but it had been severed.
In the initial change, the duration and regularity of the emotionless states had given me an indication of how much closer I was getting completing the process to become a Synthetic Hue. This time there wasn't any distinctive affects to measure, to get an idea of how much longer the process would take.
"So we're just going to have to keep an eye on you," he said more to himself then to me. I started to fidget feeling a little guilty about keeping the blue energy from him.
"Have you had any side affects yet?" he asked.
It was an opportunity to tell him about the blue energy but I ignored it.
"Just the anxious feeling I get when I'm away from you," I stated dishonestly. I lowered my gaze to my hands because I couldn't look him in the eye as the lie left my lips.
I heard him move. My eyes took in his legs that came into view. I looked up to him. He took my hand and pulled me to my feet. I bit my lip as he stepped closer putting his hands on either side of my face before gently kissing me. My knees weakened as I kissed him back.
He pulled away and continued to cradle my face in his hands.
"I can see you're stressing." My breath got stuck in my throat. Had he guessed I was hiding something from him?
"Everything will be fine. Soon you will complete the change and you will be an Archaic like me," he paused and then said, "Don't worry everything will be okay."
He put his arms around me and pulled me close.
He thought I was worried about turning into a synthetic Archaic. He didn't know I there was a good possibility I was turning into something else entirely. He pressed a kiss to my forehead which did nothing to soothe my anxiousness inside.