“There is nothing between us,really,” I tried to sound confident, but my voice was tiny and far off.

“Promise me you will not let it getfarther than what it is right now. Promise me you will stay away from him,”Avalon turned to face me and the look on his face was enough to make me promiseanything. I quickly shook my head “yes” and reached out to grab his hand. Hisskin was cold and when I touched it the magic easily flowed between us. Mysenses became even clearer and my magic became instantly stronger, rushingquickly throughout my body.

“He will take that away from you,”Avalon said sadly, and I understood that he was referencing our magic. “Youhave to trust me Eden.”

“I do,” I said simply, knowing thatit was the complete truth. Whatever it was about Avalon, and whatever happenedto our magic when we were together, I knew it was no mistake. I trusted himcompletely, and I knew he would only do what was best for me. I did not knowhowever, if I could keep my promise to him and stay away from Kiran.

The rest of the drive home was madein silence. Avalon’s eyes never softened. I could feel his magic on edge andirritated. I could feel him always searching our perimeter, looking for othersigns of magic. I was not sure what he was looking for, but it made me nervous.

Avalon pulled into the same spot onthe street that he took the Lexus from what seemed like hours ago. He parked itperfectly and I relaxed a little, realizing he brought it back in excellentcondition. We got out of the car, silent still and he walked me to the door.

I expect to say goodbye to him atthe doorstep, but when I unlocked the front door and turned around to saygoodnight, I realized he was following me inside.

“Where’s Sylvia?” Avalon asked. Hebegan to search the downstairs of my house as if expecting to find an intruder.My throat closed in nervousness, wondering what exactly he was looking for.

“Um, I think she’ll be at thehospital all night,” I noticed that Avalon called my aunt “Sylvia” and Icouldn’t remember ever giving him her full name.

“I better stay here tonight. Do youmind?” he didn’t wait for an answer, but walked over to the wicker basket ofblankets behind the oversized couch and pulled out a large, warm quilt.

“I guess not,” I debated whether tobe annoyed or scared, but in the end I decided I trusted him; and so I walkedover to the linen closet and grabbed him a few feather pillows.

“Goodnight, Eden,” Avalon ploppeddown on the couch and pulled the blanket over him without even taking off hisshoes.

“Goodnight, Avalon,” I replied andmade my way up the stairs and into the quiet safety of my bedroom. What anight.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“It looks like you’ve made a newbest friend,” Kiran’s crisp accent whispered in my ear from behind. He scaredme so I turned too quickly to face him and our noses bumped. A shot ofelectricity rushed through my blood as we were less than millimeters apart fromeach other. And then I blushed as I remembered our kiss from the other night.

“What do you mean?” I asked,praying my breath had recovered from lunch.

“The new kid, it looks like you twoare getting along well,” he sat down next to me at the lab table. Lilly wasusually my chemistry partner, but because of her prolonged absence I was alonetoday.

“Avalon is um, nice,” I was notquite sure what Kiran was getting at; but almost positive he was just trying toextract some reaction from me.

I turned my attention back to mywork, not really sure what to do. Both Avalon and Principal Saint had told mecountless times to keep my distance from Kiran and I’d done my best, but Kiranhadn’t been given the same directions.

Well, actually he had been told tostay away from me; he just had the luxury of being able to do whatever hewanted. I found that a tiny bit irritating.

“I bet he is,” Kiran grunted and Irealized for the first time that Kiran was jealous of Avalon. I couldn’t holdback a smile. I looked over at Avalon who was partnered with Adelaide Meyer,extricating her from her usual table with the “holy trinity”. Despite herseparation from Seraphina and Evangeline she seemed completely at ease. Well atleast she was completely drooling over Avalon, finding any excuse possible totouch him; my stomach churned violently, but not from jealousy.

More like I had an internal need toprotect him. I found this weird, since we just met not that long ago, but thefeeling remained despite that fact. I stared at them for a few seconds longerwondering if Avalon enjoyed the attention or was as annoyed with her as I wasjust watching them. Yuck.

“Have you met him yet?” I asked,half joking. I pretended to focus more intently on the busy work Mr. Haymanassigned, carefully looking up answers from the Table of Elements.

“No, not yet. I mean he did manageto break into my private club and all, but I wouldn’t say that we have metproperly. Would you care to introduce us?” his English accent was the epitomeof gentlemen-like behavior, but I noticed his eyes roll and shoulders slump alittle.

“My pleasure,” I mumbled. I glancedagain at Avalon understanding why all of the girls fawned over him, but thatdidn’t mean I necessarily felt the same way. He had turned into my only friendsince Lilly’s absence and we had a lot of fun together, well at least a lot ofexcitement together. But he was definitely only a friend.

I had tried to like him. I hadtried to play his games; but I couldn’t keep up. Besides I was pretty confidenthe was not the least bit interested in me. We were it seemed, just friends.Actually I didn’t even know if I could say that. He at least preferred to talkwith me more than the other girls, but I just couldn’t figure him out.

If I understood Kiran’s feelingsfor me, or non-feelings for me, maybe I could have understood his jealousy, butat the moment it didn’t make any sense. Avalon and I usually sat together andtalked together, but it was completely platonic. Kiran hadn’t tried to do verymuch of either since he kissed me. I guessed since he figured out who I was, Iwas no longer a curiosity; he probably got bored.

I touched my fingers to my lipsremembering his passion. The back of my neck got hot suddenly and theelectricity surged through my veins. Confusing or not, the memory of his lipsagainst mine made me dizzy. I noticed that Kiran’s eyes were also on my lips andhe was wearing his signature smirk.

“Is he taking you to the FallEquinox dance?” Kiran pried, forcing his eyes from my mouth deep into my own.

“Hmmm…. I don’t know,” I tried tobe coy, but knew that I would say no even if Avalon did ask; dancing was notreally my thing. “Who are you taking?” I asked, taking the attention off myself.I already knew the answer though; in fact, the whole school knew the answer. Itwasn’t like Seraphina was very quiet about their relationship anymore.

I was not totally sure if it wasbecause she thought I was a threat to her precious relationship, or if she wasscared that Kiran really wasn’t that into her; but whatever the reason, she wasno longer reserved about her feelings. Every chance Seraphina got, she was allover him, or bragging about him. She loved to talk loudly about what Kiranbought her, or where he took her. Kiran remained silent, but was always by herside lately.

“Are you going to the dance?” heavoided my question.

“No, probably not.” I decided to behonest. I couldn’t play these games; I wasn’t any good at them.

“Why not?” Kiran asked sounding alittle panicked.

“Well dances are not really mything, besides I don’t want to go alone. Avalon and I really are just friends,”I put my pencil down and looked out the window. I’d been talking to Kiran fortoo long and felt like I was going to get into trouble.

Principal Saint warned me everytime I saw him to stay away from Kiran, especially since he caught me atKiran’s club the other night. As helpful as he had been in finally sheddingsome light on who I was; I found staying away from Kiran the hardest thing hehad asked me to do. I understood that he hadn’t asked much of me, but there wassomething about Kiran that I was unable to keep myself from.