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Savannah

I gasped, "Anne, what are you-"

"You kissed Tristan? Is this the Tristan I think it is, as in Tristan Colerade?"

What had I said? Biting ed Yep, I&039;d slipped and said his na so careful not to Oh, crap I shouldn&039;t have even told Anne about the drea dreale person to share it with

So I told her al I told her about how Tristan had stepped in and fought Greg for aze dazed hier and escort after his parentsDylan during a game And how he and I had ended up on our secret first date last night

Being able to talk to soe relief, even if Anne wasn&039;t exactly his biggest fan But either she washih I was braced for it, she didn&039;t givea player ould only break my heart And out of all the people in my life to accidentally slip and confess to, there was no one better than Anne, Jacksonville&039;s very own human vault of secrets She had never once spilled anyone&039;s secret, not even in anger or revenge So I knew I could trust her with the details about Tristan andI couldn&039;t tell her aboutabout the existence of vaht the vampire council do if she learned about their existence and they found out about it? I also couldn&039;t tell her that my family used to be in the Clann

She already knew about the Clann&039;s abilities, though Or at least strongly suspected

"They&039;re all a bunch of witches, aren&039;t they?" she said "I knew it Everyone says they are, and I believe it You knohy? Because it explains everything I mean, how else would he have saved you all those tih-tech CIA-ave me They just worked way too well and way too fast"

Huh? "Anne, what are you talking about?"

She pressed her lips together, considered then nodded "He never made aze-daze victims just suddenly left you alone?"

"Yeah, but that was because the effects wore off"

"Sorry, ave ot a new stalker He askedAnd immediately your stalkers stayed away I alondered how he did it, though"

"And now you&039;re thinking it was soic spell?"

She nodded

So it wasn&039;t just the gaze-daze effects eventually wearing off I&039;d had help all along

At first, I absolutely ht in shining ar out for ain Not towith Anne could not have been fun for either of them

But then the blood drained froht along with it Oh, no If this was true, then

"What?" she demanded

"I&039;ve ht after he fought with Greg in Septeh I could swear he wasn&039;t affected" I cringed in anticipation of Anne&039;s reaction She hadn&039;t thought uess how she&039;d react this tiainst her door with a thu you out?"

I nodded, saw the direction of her thoughts and felt sick to aze dazed" She sounded like a doctor announcing I had cancer

Suddenly it was hard to breathe My fingers twisted together "But he didn&039;t look possessed like the others And besides, ould he want to help with the algebra boys? That ay before he and I everyou so badly in the fourth grade"

I cringed "You really think so?"

"The pattern behind his actions seems pretty clear to ebra and then later fro such a jerk for years And then you popped hiaze daze, so he joined the Charmers so he could be around you, then was driven by a second hit of the gaze daze to ask you out until you finally gave in" She stared at me like it was all too obvious and I was an idiot for even doubting it "Why else would Mr Macho go froging you twice a day to date hie

My stomach cramped so hard I had to wrap my arms around ht, how he&039;d held me while we danced, how he&039;d toucheddelicate and precious while he kissed ered and seemed ready to fall over after our kiss, and orried that I ain And how I&039;d wondered why in the world he would be so into soht I knew it had all been way too good to be true

"Fine, he&039;s gaze dazed" Anger atsensation I didn&039;t want to think about just yet,sensation in my eyes and tried not to take it out on her "Okay, so nohat? If he&039;s the only reason those other guys leftto save him?"

"His sister?"

"I can&039;t ask her for help! Can you see that conversation? &039;Hi, Eoofy and obsessed lately Listen, could you do a spell to keep him away fro help Thanks so o over so well"

She sighed and put the truck back into gear "Well, you can always go with plan B See how long it really takes for the effects to wear off without help"

The only problem wasthat evil side deep within me didn&039;t want the effects to wear off Tristan Ever "Or there&039;s plan C"

"Which is?"

"Do what my father wants, switch schools and move in with him"

"Oh, you will not et over it naturally I&039;ot hit with a dose of kar in defeat Noto be hurt And it would be all ht as I climbed into bed, I wonderedwhat if I really had dreaht? Would he try to connect with ht? And if he did, should I try to end the dream? If he didn&039;t see me anymore, at least romantically, maybe the effects would wear off faster It sees for me when, as Anne had clearly pointed out, they obviously were just a product of the gaze daze

Whichabout our date had been real, either The dancing, the kisses, his asking to seefrom a vampire effect I&039;d put on him

And I was a horrible, selfish person for even partly wanting hiold locket If we drea and tell hi, I didn&039;t knohether to be grateful or depressed that I hadn&039;t dreamed about him at all

What I did knoas that it was tiaze of mine Unfortunately, the only person who kne to control va his stupid cell phone, because apparently my father was still too busy with his precious council I thought about leaving hiainst it A panicked plea for help would only et involved in, and who kneould happen then Better just to wait until he called aze daze&039;s cure in general as a hypothetical situation

He&039;d said he would be out of contact for a while Hopefully it wouldn&039;t be too long, though Because in the meantime, it looked like I would be on eous ainst the foyer doors of the sports and art building Monday ulped and steeled myself even as the familiar ache slammed into otten its fill of his kisses for a while

I also felt so at the back ofwatched I shook it off Of course I was being watched Tristan was staring straight at me

How in the world would I work beside hi, Savannah," he said, taking my tea from me just like alhile I unlocked the doors

"Goodas we crossed the entrance hall When we started up the stairs, I dared to breathe a sigh of relief Maybe Anne rong and he wasn&039;t gaze dazed, after all It was going to be okay I would just have to be sure to see him only at school and nowhere else

So why did I still feel so ain, I led the way into the dirabbed an to sing throughin my ears like the dull roar of a far-off ocean

"Now that&039;s the proper way to say good- to his shoulders so I could stay standing

Oh, crap I couldn&039;t think straight He stepped away fro I&039;d wanted to talk to hi hihthis pu

He definitely kne to kiss

I stu routine And yet, I had a feeling nothing would be norain

He followeda little as he picked up the sound system

He&039;d never acted like the sound system was heavy before Distracted, I raised my eyebrows in silent question

"Heavy today," he rin

"Uh-huh, let aVox case frohter today, actually" Just to be sure, I opened the hard plastic lid and peeked inside Yep, the fifty-pound MegaVox was still in there H the lid shut, I handed the case back, and he ooain

"What&039;s the ?" I teased as we headed down the stairs But my mind was focused on yesterday&039;s talk with Anne She and I had to be wrong Nothing about Tristan&039;s facial expression or actions was anything like how Greg and the algebra boys had appeared Still, Anne was ht Tristan had to be gaze dazed So he et much rest this weekend," Tristan replied "Which re the news that you won&039;t be ain "He&039;s out of town for a while But how Did you talk to Anne?"

"No" He reached the botto so close I had to tilt my head back to look up at him

"Then how did you?" The dream Our minds really had been connected

He smiled down at me, a soft sht in our dreaht yet again "Uh, not to sound less thanbefore I drop this stuff I swear it really is heavier today"

In stunned silence, I followed hi As alked down the cah and sway just like the trees had in our dreaether I replayed every drea a blush or a groan at each thing I re to hiain

And then I reht out ofan ass, saying stuff about you He&039;s lucky I didn&039;t bust his lip while I was at it"

Which meant in a way, he&039;d lost the ability to play football for the entire last month of the season because of me While the trees still blocked us from the view of the practice field, I reached over and wrapped an ar I felt him kiss the top of my head then murmur, "Like I said, I shouldn&039;t have lost control It washim rile me up like that"

Then the trees ended and we had to step away fro ers It felt like I was ripping off s for Tristan during practice Every few seconds, ht about kissing hi on a blanket with him by a stream in my dream Make that our drea about Tristan being gaze dazed Over and over, I co eye contact with , I&039;d known aled hi eye contact with me was his desire to date me Even before our kiss in the uniform closet, he&039;d constantly found ways to touch ht be a leftover effect from e&039;d made eye contact in September But he hadn&039;t attempted to see me or even talk to me for weeks after the first eye contact So how could he have been gaze dazed then?

Dilanced around for the source then juaVox I looked up at the bleachers to find an exasperated Mrs Daniels staring down at et my attention

Heat flared intothe music for the dancers Crap Had everyone on the tea at Tristan?

Maybe he wasn&039;t the only one gaze dazed around here

I le

Still lost in thought at the end of practice, I didn&039;t say anything as alked together back to the dance rooms He waited in silence as I locked up the sound system in the office closet When I turned to face hiainst the doorjaht? I don&039;t reht" My voice came out as a squeak I stared at his nose so I could indirectly study the look in his eyes Nope, he still didn&039;t appear possessed like the others had see we should dreaain Or at least try to"

I frowned and stared at the floor "Tristan, maybe we should just slon and take a fewabout lying to our parents A lot And often My fa do you really think we could keep this a secret? IButaren&039;t you worried just the least little bit about the consequences if we get caught?"

He frowned "We won&039;t get caught E your ive ae were doing "Oh, yeah? And is she also going toabout my face? Because I don&039;t know about you, but I&039; to be able to tell I&039;, he reached out to take ive it a soft squeeze "You worry too et aith stuff all the time"

"Maybe you do But I&039;ve never broken the rules before"

"Which is exactly what&039;s going to help you now They won&039;t be scrutinizing everything you say and do So just focus on so else when you&039;re around them and don&039;t worry about it"

The warh for ged my hand free and crossed my arms over my chest "Tristan, be serious here I don&039;t want to hurt , he crossed his ar back on his heels, he asked, "Do you want to be with me?"

"I Yes But-"

"And do you think it&039;s fair for our families or the Clann or anyone else to tell us e can and can&039;t be with?"

"Well, no, I guess not, but they-"

"No buts I&039; my life for me They&039;ve kept us apart for seven years It&039;s time we take back control over our own lives Do e think is right Their issues are theirs, not ours It&039;s not your fault your faot kicked out of the Clann And it&039;s nothis arguh But standing up against both hi to feel like an impossible battle "Exactly how do you expect us to date in secret without soo on a date?"

He cocked his head in the direction of the dance room next door "We&039;ll always have the dance rooht if you want to"

I thought about his reputation for taking girls to restaurants, to theall that up and settling for dates spent sitting on a cold ceinations Not that I&039;d et But what about what he was used to? Wouldn&039;t he hed, unable to escape est worry of all "Tristan, are you sure this is really you ether in confusion, then he frowned "Is this about the eye thing again? Savannah, that was over o In the closet, before we" My face burned, and I couldn&039;t finish

"So youdeal That was just so I would have felt it if you&039;d used any ic behind the gaze daze Unfortunately, I couldn&039;t explain that without also telling hiic? What if it&039;s soround o witha spell or whatever, so you can&039;t feel aze daze souys in our ninth-grade algebra class?"

"I don&039;t know, maybe fifty yards?"

"And how far away can you nor it is I&039;ve heard everyone on carinned

I tried not to roll aze daze is a really low level of power use, or it&039;s soht?" Lord, I was so reaching here

"Fine Even if it is, I think I&039;d know if I felt differently when you looked at me And I didn&039;t"

"Then why did you act different? Why did you suddenly decide you wanted to be with ht with Greg"

"Savannah, s for you have always been there I&039;ve always needed to be with you After you ended things with Greg, I just didn&039;t see the point in fighting them anymore" He stroked my cheek "It wasn&039;t your eyes that e Just you"

Oh, hoanted to believe that I leaned into his hand, feeling every ainst ument "Maybe I should one, then you could know for sure whether you were thinking clearly or under the gaze-daze effect And if it turned out to be the gaze daze, ht wear off-"

"You do and I&039;ll just have to find you," he growled, but his thuwhat he wanted all the ti school just to chase down soe to smile

"You want to know for sure I&039;m not under a spell?" he asked

"It would be nice, yes"

"Then look at me"

I looked at his nose

"My eyes, Savannah Look into e like those other guys&039; did"

No way, I could not do it to him a third time The effects would never wear off at this rate

"Look at me"

"I can&039;t"

"Look at ainstback at me, with the exact sa Tell an to shake This was too intense, staring into his eyes, searching the hi and the others

The bell rang, signaling the end of first period But neither of ush I could hardly believe it I had spentused to the idea that every o nuts Yet here was Tristan, the one boy I wouldn&039;t htest bit affected Could he be wearing a faaze daze? Were all descendants i to read a vaenetic defense against the vaaze-daze effect?