Freak of Nature (The Lost Witch Trilogy #1) (2 page)

Zane looked down at her from his 6 foot height and shrugged. “I’m not like other people. But let me know if I do something that makes you uncomfortable.”

Sarah shook her head in confusion.
“Everything about you makes me uncomfortable.
Who are you?
I mean, most people can’t come within 3 feet of me and you’re acting like a magnet. And you marked me! Like, is this permanent? Seriously, who are you?” Sarah demanded, stopping in the middle of the empty hallway.

Zane stopped too, his hand falling away from her back as he turned to face her.
Sarah stared up at him, breathing fast with her heart racing. He stepped closer to her and cupped his hands around her face. She immediately felt that strange pleasant warmth seep into her skin and she stepped closer before she knew what she was doing. He smiled and tilted her face up towards him.

“I recognized you were different as soon as you stepped onto the grounds of the school.
I could feel you coming closer as you were walking down the street. I can feel the blood coursing through your veins and through your heart. I’m like you.”

Sarah blinked quickly and tried to step back, putting her hand on Zane’s chest. “What do you mean
like
me? What do you think I am?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Zane placed his hand over the top of hers on his chest and closed his eyes as she felt some of her energy leave and enter him.

“You’re a witch of course, just like me.”

Sarah’s mouth opened in shock as she jerked her hand out of Zane’s grasp.
“
No
,” she said, shaking her head firmly. “I have psychokinesis but I’m not a witch. There’s a book about people just like me. You can buy it on Amazon.
No
. There’s no way I’m a witch. That’s crazy,” she whispered.

Zane looked genuinely surprised.
“You pushed my power back with your foot! You have an energy field bigger and brighter than anyone’s I’ve ever seen. You can call it psychokinesis if you want, but from where I’m standing, you’re a witch.”

Sarah felt something that could have been tears mist her eyes as she pulled back from Zane shaking her head.
“I don’t have to be anything I don’t want to be.”

Zane’s mouth twitched up on one side as he studied her with compassion.
“That’s like a wolf saying he’s just a little puppy. We really need to hang out. There are a few things we need to talk about. First priority would have to be you accepting yourself.”

Sarah continued to inch away from Zane.
“And what’s the second priority?”

Zane grinned at her.
“Me of course. Although if you want to make me first, I’m okay with that too.”

Sarah peeked out of the bathroom, scanning the hallway for Zane.
Fourth period had just ended and Zane had popped up three more times since English. Of course the last two times he had been surrounded by groups of girls flipping their hair and flirting like crazy. She had walked past him, trying as hard as she could to ignore him, but he’d still managed to reach out between a cheerleader and the captain of the softball team and touched her arm. The girls had all turned around and when they saw who he was talking to, stared in shock when he had called out,
‘See you at lunch, Sarah
.’

Sarah shook her head in amazement at his cockiness and huffed out an impatient breath.
Sure he was gorgeous. Yes he could stand her company and seemed determined to stay in it. But going from zero to sixty was not her style and she was not going to be pushed into anything until she was good and ready. Especially with a guy who not only thought she was a witch, but thought he was a witch too.

She pushed through the cafeteria doors and automatically scanned for Lash.
Lash was the only reason she inflicted the cafeteria on herself. One large room filled with clique after clique after clique. And none of them seemed receptive to including her for some strange reason. She’d much rather be in a quiet little cubicle in the library but saving Lash from the ever-present bullies won every time. For some reason, she just couldn’t ignore him or his sad eyes.

She remembered the first time she’d seen Lash.
He and his father had moved into town when she was in the third grade. He’d been a skinny, pale weak little thing and had been easy game for the school yard predators. Not much had changed since then. She grinned as she remembered the feeling of breaking Jackson Hathaway’s nose after she’d found him holding Lash’s head in the toilet.
Good times
.

She caught a glance of jet black hair and made her way to the lunch line, standing two people behind Lash.
She didn’t break people’s noses anymore. She’d found better ways to stick up for Lash. Anyone who bumped into Lash, making him drop his lunch found that their pants magically fell to their ankles. Last month when Rod Carey, a two hundred pound jerk, decided to show off in front of Charity Klein, he found that the hamburger he’d snagged off Lash’s tray and crammed down his throat was determined to come right back up. All of the kids still teased Rod about his queasy stomach.

She glanced around the room trying to scan for danger when the conversation in front of her started to sink in.

“Lash, you have the most gorgeous blue eyes.”

Sarah’s eyes widened as she turned to see who in their right mind was coming on to Lash.
Her mouth fell open when she realized it was Jill Cavanaugh. Jill was gorgeous, rich, smart and one of the nicest girls at school.
What the heck?
She inched closer and glanced at Lash. Lash grinned at Jill and then noticed Sarah staring.

“Hey Sarah, how’s it going?” Lash asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Sarah smiled back and gave him the thumbs up signal behind Jill’s back. “Great Lash. Life is great.”

“Lash, there you are
you freak
.”

Sarah frowned, her eyes turning to slits as she moved quickly in front of Lash and Jill.
Rod was back, wanting someone to pick on. His hulking frame came within inches of her. He barely winced as he came up against her energy. He was too focused on Lash.

“Rod, the end of the line is back there.
Take off,” she said in a steely voice, glaring at him and trying to think of something to do that wouldn’t look suspicious and bring unwanted attention on her.

“Y
ou’re always sticking up for Lash,” Rod said. “It kind of makes me wonder. You in love with this wimp? You think you’re such a big man, right Lash? You need a girl to fight your battles for you?”

Sarah felt Lash move around her and she groaned hoping he didn’t bleed too much before she could come up with some way to stop it.
She glanced over and then surprised herself by having to look up. Lash must have grown a little over the summer.
Or a lot
. Of course she hadn’t seen him in three months since he had spent the summer in Harrisburg with his dad. This was the first time she’d had to look up to see his face. She glanced at his ripped arms and her eyebrows rose in surprise as she looked closer at Lash. He looked good. His black hair was longer than most guys’ hair but it went well with his cheek bones. His face looked more hardened, more sculpted than last year. He looked like a man now. Holy crap.
Lash was hot
.

She stepped back and watched what Lash would do, prepared to have Rod’s pants fall to h
is ankles the second he looked like he was going to start swinging.

“Rod, I’d be happy to kick your butt here and now, but I don’t want to get expelled and I know you don’t want to get expelled.
So just cool off and get out of here.”

Rod glanced around and noticed that two teachers were already looking at him suspiciously.
He shrugged and sneered at Lash. “I’ve got unfinished business with you Lash. Don’t forget it.”

Lash sneered back as Rod walked away.
Sarah grinned as Rod’s pants fell quietly in a rush of denim to his ankles showing his bright blue plaid boxers to a large group of sophomore girls. The cacophony of giggles and Rod’s bright red face had her laughing to herself as she turned back to the lunch line.

Lash’s hand on her shoulder had her looking up.
“You didn’t have to do that. I mean, . . . you don’t have
to do that
anymore
,” he said quietly, leaning down so no one else could hear.

Sarah blushed as she stared up into Lash’s bright blue eyes.
“I don’t know what you mean.”

Lash grinned at her and touched her cheek.
“You’ve been sticking up for me since the 3
rd
grade Sarah. Maybe it’s time I started looking out for you instead,” he said with a half grin that had her staring.

Jill cleared her throat loudly and touched Lash’s arm. “Lash, let’s go sit in the corner so we can talk, okay?”

Lash looked down at Sarah for an extra second and then followed Jill. Sarah laughed softly to herself and picked up her tray. It was a good day when Lash stuck up for himself and looked good doing it.

She usually sat at the table with the best visual of Lash and known bullies. She’d pretend to read a book, ignoring the groups of kids around her, or even occasionally joining in a conversation after the kids got used to her energy.
Now what was she supposed to do?

“I saved you a seat Sarah.
Come on, I’ve been waiting for you,” Zane said, appearing in front of her. He took her tray out of her hands forcing her to follow him.

He walked past the hopeful stares of the most beautiful girls in school and picked a table for two in the very back of the lunch room.

She sat down opposite Zane and glanced around noticing that half the lunch room was staring at them. Lash and Jill were at a table two rows away and Lash was staring at Zane in a dark way that made her look twice. There were some strange undercurrents floating around.

“I guess we’re the newest exhibit at the zoo today,” she said, wishing she didn’t blush so easily.

Zane shrugged and opened his chocolate milk. “For you and me, people are always going to stare. They can’t help it. They don’t even know why they’re staring. They can’t figure it out. What is it about Sarah Hudson that draws people’s eyes?”

Sarah glanced at the table of girls staring at Zane, just begging him to look back and grinned.
“Whatever. I do believe I’ll use my witch mind-reading skills.
Hmmm,
yes, got it. Why is that gorgeous guy sitting with
her
when he should be sitting with
me
?” she said in a high pitched annoying Barbie voice.

Zane laughed and glanced at the table of girls still staring at him.
He winked and waved at the girls but then turned his whole attention back to Sarah.

“They’re like moth’s drawn to a porch light.
Unfortunately, porch lights aren’t drawn to moths.”

Sarah looked down at her chicken nuggets and corn and tried not to smile.
She pushed the tray away and leaned her chin on her hands.

“So you’re a porch light huh?”

Zane grabbed her chicken nuggets and gave her an apple from his back pack. She took it gratefully and rubbed it on her shirt.

“Right now, I’m the moth to your light,” he said with a sweet smile that had her heart jumping.

Sarah shook her head laughing. “That was such a line.”

Zane smiled and grabbed her hand.
Sarah immediately felt the warmth seep into her cool hand and flood her body. She breathed in deeply and felt her face flush, not from embarrassment, but from warmth. She looked down at the bird he had marked her hand with and watched it fade quickly until it was as if it had never been there. She pulled her hand slowly out of Zane’s grasp and looked away.

Zane leaned back and shook his head, glancing around the lunch room.
“So walk me through this. I couldn’t help overhearing that guy over there, who’s still staring at you by the way. What’s your history with him? Why are you sticking up for him?”

Sarah looked over at Lash, surprised to find that he was still looking at her and Zane.
He didn’t look happy. She looked away in confusion.

“Um, I don’t know.
Poor little kid moves to town when he’s eight and every jerk in a four mile radius wants to pound him into dust. I step in occasionally. End of story.”

Zane looked over his shoulder at Lash until Lash finally looked away.
Zane shook his head and took another chicken nugget. “That guy’s no poor little kid now. He’s got a really strange aura too. Do you see that dark brown, greenish light he’s emitting? That’s not normal and it’s definitely not good.”

Sarah leaned forward and looked at Lash who was now in deep conversation with Jill.
She tried to see some color around Lash but all she could see were shoulders where before he’d been so tiny and skinny. Holy cow, what had happened to Lash?
Steroids
? How blind could she have been to miss shoulders like that?

“I don’t see anything Zane.”

Zane shrugged and put the cap back on his milk. “Regardless of his aura, weird as it is, that guy can fight his own battles now. Using your skills to rip that guy’s pants off was hilarious, but unnecessary from where I’m sitting.”

Sarah grinned. “Humiliating bullies is how I get my cheap thrills.”

Zane’s gray eyes brightened immediately as he leaned over the table towards her. “Thrill seeker, huh?”

Sarah swallowed nervously and put the apple down.
She’d never had a boyfriend before, she’d never even been kissed and this guy was too much for her to handle. She was smart enough to know that.

“Look Zane, like I said, you’re gorgeous and you’re intriguing and you understand things about me that I don’t even understand myself.
But you’re coming on too strong. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t know the first thing about how to handle you. You intimidate me. You make me nervous. You look at me differently. You see me and I’m not used to people seeing me.”

“You mean you’re not used to someone looking at you, seeing the real you, liking what they see and wanting to get to know you better?” Zane said, sounding serious.

Sarah pushed her hair behind her ear and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what to do with you. You’re completely out of my realm of experience. And you say you want to hang out. What exactly does that entail?”

Zane turned his head and smiled, causing a girl at the nearest table to drop her Doritos bag on the floor.

“Well, being a porch light, I have to admit I don’t have a lot of experience with moths or even other porch lights since there are so few porch lights my age that are stunning, like you for instance. I think you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it is. It’s just a boy, who happens to be a witch, meeting a beautiful female witch and wanting to do a happy dance. What you see as coming on strong is just me expressing my happiness, glee and joy.”

Sarah tilted her head and studied Zane. Was he a player or was he just a witch excited about finding another witch?
Oops, someone with telekinesis
. “Your happiness, joy and glee are a little over-powering.”

Zane winced and looked away, but then sat up straight and leaned towards her.
“Sarah, when I felt you walking towards me and then I saw you, this gorgeous red head, emitting enough energy to light up the East coast, I couldn’t contain myself. I apologize for coming on too strong so I’ve got a deal for you. I’ll slow down; I’ll back off a little if you’ll agree to be friends,” he said, holding out his hand for a shake.

Sarah looked at his hand suspiciously until he lowered it.
“
Just
friends? Like you’re in the friend zone kind of friend?”