I smiled again and nodded my head;but suddenly I had a very uneasy feeling about the true meaning of his words. Iremembered back when my life as a human was so simple; all I had to think aboutwas myself. Sure, I lived in fear of what I would blow up or burn down next,but even that seemed so much simpler than now. This whole fairy tale Kingdomcame with a lot more baggage than you read about in Disney books. Not tomention the super powers; they had a different playbook all together. I stalkedup to my room, exhausted and overwhelmed, hoping to forget it all in the sweetnessof sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“Eden, let’s go!” Avalon yelled atme from the driver’s seat of his oversized truck.

I took a final glance in themirror, and applied another layer of lip gloss, before I grabbed my backpackand rushed out the door. Avalon revved his engine, accentuating his impatience.I flung the door open, and threw my backpack in before struggling to make theclimb up into his cab.

“Tomorrow we are taking my car,” Isaid, out of breath as I worked to buckle my seat belt, although Avalon hadalready taken off and was flying through the neighborhood streets haphazardly.

“Only if you let me drive it,” hereplied, swerving in and out of spaces I was convinced were much too small forthis tank.

“Why can’t I drive?” I whined,remembering my Land Rover with sentiment.

“First of all, you don’t use magicenough for me to trust you,” Avalon explained as if I was the unsafe driver,meanwhile I was pretty sure he just ran the last three cars we passed off theroad. “Second, it’s not safe. Eden, you are in real danger whether you believeit or not.”

“I do believe I am in danger!” Ifolded my arms across my chest defiantly. “I believe your driving is the mostdanger I have ever been in!”

“You’re such a human. Relax,”Avalon demanded.

I laughed out loud. I was prettysure Avalon meant “human” as an insult. He could insult all he wanted, but atleast when I was a human I wasn’t in life threatening jeopardy constantly.

“No, only everyone around you wasat risk. Do you remember what you were like as a human?” Avalon answered mythoughts and I let out a small grunt of frustration.

“Just because you can read my minddoesn’t mean that you should,” I growled.

“Alright, alright,” Avalon liftedhis hands off of the steering wheel and held them up gingerly as if to say heconceded; but I knew it was only an act. He would be in my mind as long as welived; and apparently that was going to be a very long time.

As it turned out twins were able toconnect to each other’s minds without letting their other defenses down. Wecould always communicate with each other and read each other’s thoughts, nomatter how far away we were. Amory said that to a certain extent even humantwins had this ability; ours was just strengthened because of our other powers.

I was sure this would come in handyone day, but right now I found it extremely irritating. Since he moved in withus over two weeks ago, he was always there, always around and always in myhead. I found it ironic that even though Avalon and I only just met we fell easilyinto the role of siblings without any extra effort by either of us.

“How did you sleep last night?”Avalon asked a little more sensitively than I was used to.

“Fine, thanks,” I replied, not surehow to read his question.

“No weird dreams?” he pried further.

“No, not that I remember. Why?” Iasked, suddenly suspicious.

“Just wondering,” he turned sharplyinto a parking spot in the student section and I was convinced he was going toscratch the cars to either side of us. When he shut the engine off, I foundmyself clutching the seats and holding my breath. “Calm down, Eden. See this iswhy you can’t drive, you rely too much on your human senses and forget to useyour Immortal ones,” he jumped down from the cab with ease and I followedbehind carefully but awkwardly.

We were two of the last students toarrive, due mostly to my inability to be on time. Only a few other studentshurried up the walkway to their respective classes. I watched Kiran andSeraphina from a distance. Her long blonde hair bouncing with every step shetook. They seemed to be laughing about something and then he held the door openfor her and let her pass with a small bow. Gross.

“Let it go, Eden,” Avalon growledin my ear. He had obviously watched the same scene, but for completely differentreasons. And I could guarantee his stomach didn’t feel empty and his heartdidn’t tighten with jealousy after it happened.

“You’re right. He’s the bad guy,” Isighed quietly, watching him walk through the door to the English building withlonging.

“And you’re the idiot,” Avalonnudged me with his hand, pushing me in the direction we needed to continue towalk.

“I just thought that… I mean hedidn’t even let me thank him for the night of the dance,” I referred to thefight on the gymnasium rooftop. It had happened over two weeks ago, and Kiranhad yet to say even two words to me.

“Told you. He’s the bad guy,”Avalon picked up his pace, and I had to run to keep up with him.

After the dance, it was days beforeKiran returned to school. I had looked forward to each day, when I wouldhopefully find a chance to talk to him, to thank him for saving my life, andthen to apologize to him for what happened next. But by the end of the week,when he finally came back to school, looking more beautiful than ever, completelyunscratched and completely perfect, he did not pay me even an ounce ofattention.

I expected to feel relieved; notonly did his inattention appease Amory and Avalon; I thought I would be able toforget about him and therefore stop suffering from all of the mixed feelings Ihad for him. And although Amory and Avalon were quite pleased that he seeminglywanted nothing more to do with me; and although my feelings had become clear,it was not quite in the way I anticipated. I found myself missing him more andmore every moment. Memories of our kiss, or the strange dreams I’ve had of him,flooded my thoughts and I realized that I had utterly, hopelessly andpathetically fallen for him in a way that must be categorized as much more thana simple crush.

“We’re skipping after lunch, so beready,” Avalon whispered to me before opening the door to English class. Imumbled a reply, too wrapped up in my thoughts of Kiran to really understandwhat Avalon just said to me, and then prepared myself for the verbal lashingMr. Lambert was sure to give me on the crime of tardiness.

–-

“Where are we going?” I demanded ofAvalon, as he once again controlled his truck carelessly. I gripped thedoor-frame and whispered a silent prayer.

“I told you, it’s a secret,” I couldhear the smile in his voice, but I refused to open my eyes and view thedestruction ahead of us. Suddenly the road was very, very bumpy and I bouncedaround violently in the passenger’s seat. If I had not been born and raised inNebraska and realized the transition from pavement to gravel, I would have lostmy lunch all together.

“Ok, fine. But why couldn’t we goafter school?” I asked, as the remorse set in for skipping class.

“Don’t worry about that. We havepermission,” Avalon replied confidently.

“Sure. Sure,” I decided not toargue the point as another wave of car sickness washed over me.

Just when I decided I couldn’t takeanymore and the car ride seemed endless; Avalon shut off the engine and let outa huge sigh of contentment. “We’re here,” he said as if referring to his home.

I opened my eyes and breathed asigh of relief. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I was content with whatI saw. We were surrounded on every side by corn and bean fields. The rows offarmland stretched on and on as far as I could see, rolling over hills and downinto shallow valleys. The gravel road that got us here seemed endless as well,and I mentally calculated how fast Avalon had to be driving on it to get ushere as quickly as he did.