Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) (6 page)

And then, he stopped. His hand still tangled in my hair, he whispered hoarsely, “Not here. I want this to be special for us, Paige. Come to my home.” I saw in my mind an image of a huge, beautiful home. He sent it, my mind received it. I knew how to get there, he sent that straight to my mind, too.

As he pulled away from me physically, his control over my mind slipped and terror engulfed me. My stomach lurched and I forced my brain to picture Johnathan in order to pierce the remaining haze surrounding my thoughts. I finally started fighting back. I drew in a breath to scream, but he was too fast. His hand clamped over my mouth. His soft voice whispered in my ear, soothing my fear, my guilt at losing myself to him.

“Shhh. Paige. Listen. Listen to me. I can give back your sight.”

I stopped struggling. He had my full attention.

“It would be a simple matter of calling in a favor owed to me. All you need to do to receive this gift from me is to willingly take the other gift I offer you. Let me show you what true ecstasy is. Give me your innocence; I’ll give you your sight. You win on both accounts. Come to me tonight, after sunset. You can look upon my face as I show you pleasure like you’ve never known. Tonight.”

He dropped his hand from my mouth and brushed his lips across mine one last time before he walked away, his footsteps fading around the corner.

tunned, I slid down the wall until I sat on the gravel covered ground. I hugged my knees to my chest. My body trembled and my mind reeled with conflicting emotions. I have no idea how long I sat there. I was afraid to try to find my way back to the mini golf course. Afraid to attempt to negotiate my way back through the building, through all the people, tables, video games.

I was still shaking when I heard Johnathan’s frantic voice. “Paige! Paige!”

“Here, John. I’m right here.”

He exhaled a held breath then his feet pounded the pavement as he ran to me. “Paige, are you okay? What are you doing out here? You scared me to death!”

I did
not
want to tell him what had just transpired. My guilt at nearly giving in overwhelmed me. The guilt increased as I realized I was seriously considering the offer the Incubus had made. I’d been offered a way to regain my sight without Johnathan’s involvement, without him putting himself in danger.
Without him getting hurt
.

There was something wrong with that thought.

He
would
be hurt—and though the scars from this kind of hurt wouldn’t be visible, they were much more painful and impossible to recover from. Emotional scars were like that.

I couldn’t answer him, so I just shook my head.

He sat next to me, put his arm around my shoulders, and pulled me to him. I held back the sobs that threatened to break free from my throat. I couldn’t let him know.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep—a couple of nights of no sleep must have caught up to me. Please forgive me.” He kissed the top of my head.

I couldn’t let him feel guilt over this. He had done nothing wrong. I spoke, hoping my voice wouldn’t give away my roiling emotions. “Don’t be silly, John. I just needed to stretch my legs. I was trying to find my way to a bathroom and I got lost, so I decided to sit here until you found me, as I knew you would.
I’m
sorry. For scaring you. I should have asked you to help me.”

“Yes, you should have.”

I considered how to respond. I didn’t want to lie to him anymore. “I… I didn’t want to wake you. It’s my fault you’re so tired to begin with.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re shaking.”

“I was a little scared, that’s all. I’m fine now that you’re here.”

He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “We’d better get back in there. The others are looking for you, too.”

He helped me to stand. My knees were weak and I fought to keep from swaying. I wrapped my arms around Johnathan’s neck and hugged him tight against me.

“I love you, Johnathan.”

He hugged me back, lifting my feet off the ground. “I love you, too.”

We stood that way for a couple of minutes. It felt so right to be in his arms.
How can I even be considering
his
offer?
I could never betray Johnathan or my own morals, could I?
I can’t betray Johnathan. Not for my sight. Not for anything.

A terrifying yet provocative idea implanted itself in my mind in that moment. I knew where he lived. We could go after him, now. We could end this torment tonight, together, the Five of us.

Or, I can go alone, and get my sight back. Johnathan wouldn’t need to know. I could keep it from him. Make up some story as to how I came to see again.
The thought of the Incubus’s lips, his body pressed against mine, his muscles tightening as he wrapped his arms around me…

I shook my head to try and clear those traitorous thoughts away.

“You okay?” Johnathan asked, as he lowered me back to the ground and pulled back from our embrace.

I nodded. “Kiss me, John.”

He did. His lips tasted so sweet, his kiss so gentle. My mind and heart filled with images of Johnathan. The feelings I’d felt while locked in a
soul-gaze
with him came flooding back. The sure knowledge of his love engulfed me and wrapped me in a protective blanket. I felt his sharp intake of breath as I pressed my body closer to his and entangled the fingers of my good hand in his hair. The intensity of the kiss increased and he tightened his grip with one arm encircling my back. He brought his other hand to my face, resting his palm near my ear while his fingers wrapped around to the back of my head, pulling, tilting my head up so his mouth could more fully devour mine.

Thoughts of the Incubus fled to the back edges of my mind. They were still there, but dull and lifeless now.

Johnathan’s lips pulled away. His breaths came in short, quick bursts of air. He tilted my chin up with one hand and then brushed the hair away from my face—still holding my body tight against his with his other arm. “As much as I’d like to stand here and kiss you all day, we’d better get back to the others.” His voice was low and husky.

Footsteps on the gravel were followed by Halli’s voice. “There you are. We were starting to get worried. Joe sent me out to see if you needed help, Johnathan. It looks like I just interrupted you, though.” I pictured the impish grin I was sure was plastered on her face.

Johnathan cleared his throat. “We were just on our way back in.”

He turned and grasped my good hand in his as we walked with Halli back toward the building. The others met us at the door and Alec said, a bit boisterously, “Mariah said there’s a great ice cream shop down the street. You guys wanna go check it out?”

I’d completely forgotten about Alec’s date. I wondered if anyone had had the chance to ask her about the Incubus.

“It’s called Crystal’s Cakes and Cones. They have cupcakes
and
ice cream,” Mariah said.

“What’re we waiting for?” Seth asked. “Do you know how long it’s been since I had ice cream? Too long!”

“All right, we’ll go get ice cream.” Joe sighed. “But then we have things we need to get done.”

“Yes! Lead the way, Beautiful,” Alec said.

I pulled on Johnathan’s hand a little so we moved to the back of the pack. “Has anyone asked her about the Incubus?”

“I don’t think so. No one’s quite sure how to bring it up.”

“I’ll bring it up.” I quickened my steps to catch back up with the group, dragging Johnathan along with me.

As soon as my sonar spell told me I was near them, I said, “Mariah, aren’t there any good looking guys around here? I mean, I feel bad that you have to settle for the likes of Alec.”

Mariah laughed. “Alec’s pretty cute, actually. When he isn’t starting food fights, that is.”

“Hey now, how do you know I started it?”

“You just have that troublemaker look about you,” she teased.

I tried again. “I heard some girls talking in the Family Fun Center about a guy that lives here. They said he was, and I quote, ‘the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on’. One of them said something about him being with a different girl every time she sees him. Girls of all ages. She actually said ‘I’d give anything to be one of his flings for a day.’”

“Yeah, I know exactly who they’re talking about. His name’s Trey and he is gorgeous, no doubt. But there’s something about him that freaks me out a little. I stay as far away from him as I can. My friends all think I’m nuts, though, as they flock to him like moths to a bug zapper.”

Trey. Why didn’t I ever think to ask his name? He obviously knows mine.
This Mariah was a smart girl.

“Do you know where he lives?” Halli asked. “Like, is he rich or something?”

A twinge of something akin to possessiveness shot through me. I didn’t want my friends, or anyone for that matter, to know where he lived. The thought was insane, though. I planned on telling them anyway, later. Didn’t I?

“I’m not sure where he lives. I don’t know of anyone that’s actually been to his house. He always conducts his
business
in hotels. He doesn’t get with the girls around here, though. He brings them from somewhere else, other towns I guess. That doesn’t mean the girls around here don’t try. But, yeah, he’s loaded. That much is obvious.”

I felt relieved. Then alarmed.
Maybe I really am special to him. He wants me to come to his house.
Not paying attention to my sonar spell, I ran into the back of someone. Apparently, Johnathan wasn’t paying attention either; otherwise, he would have prevented the collision.

“Sorry, Paige,” Seth apologized. “Next time I’ll warn you before stopping in front of you.”

The sweet smells emanating from the ice cream shop made my mouth water. I would have smelled the baking cupcakes a block away if I’d been paying attention.

The ice cream was fabulous—and much easier to eat than pasta with stringy, melted cheese. We sat and talked long after we were finished eating. I leaned my head against Johnathan’s shoulder and yawned. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost five o’clock. We really do need to get on with things,” Joe answered.

I raised my head. “How much longer before the sun sets?”

“Not much, maybe an hour. Why?”

“Just wondering. I’m not looking forward to the long walk back to our… campsite. Why don’t we stay in a hotel tonight?” My motives for wanting to stay in town weren’t entirely clear to me. I
was
tired. But, I also had a mission to accomplish. I just wasn’t a hundred percent sure which path I would take. I mean, I was mostly sure. The only thing that kept me from being completely sure was the thought that I could fix my blindness without putting Johnathan in danger. At least I kept telling myself that was the only reason.

“A hotel tonight isn’t a bad idea,” Joe said. “We’ll talk about it.”

We walked Mariah back to the restaurant where she’d left her car. She and Alec made plans to meet up again the next day.

“Okay, Paige. Are you really that tired? Or, is there another reason you want to stay in town tonight?” Joe asked.

A breeze had kicked up and it started to get chilly. A shiver escaped my weakly constructed fortress. Johnathan’s arm snaked around me and held me close to his side as we stood on the sidewalk. The warmth of his love overcame me and I decided right then to do the right thing, what I had known the decision would be all along.