“I’ll behave myself,” he said. “I promise.”
I laughed at that. “All right, let’s go.”
It was brisk outside, nowhere near as cold as it would become once the sun set. Instead of heading toward the woods, he steered me in the direction of his SUV. “Exactly where are we going to take a walk?”
“Outdoors,” he said dryly.
“Well, I think I figured that part out.”
“You ask a lot of questions, you know.”
“I’ve been told I’m very inquisitive.”
He leaned forward and whispered, “I think I figured that part out.”
I made a face at him, but I was intrigued. I climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Have you heard anything about Simon?” I asked after he’d backed out of the driveway. “I haven’t.”
“I haven’t either.”
An array of golden, red, and brown leaves blurred as Daemon flew down the highway. “Do you think an Arum had anything to do with his disappearance?”
Daemon shook his head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any, but we can’t be too sure.”
An Arum taking Simon wouldn’t make any sense, but kids around here didn’t disappear without it having something to do with the Luxen and Arum. I glanced out the window at the familiar scenery. It didn’t take me long to realize where we were going. Confused, I watched Daemon pull the SUV off the road and park along the entrance to the field the kids partied in.
The same place we’d fought Baruck.
“Why here?” I asked, climbing out. Dead leaves of various colors littered the ground. With each step, my feet sunk an inch or two through the leaves. For a while, the only sound we heard was the rustling of our feet wading through the colorful sea of leaves.
“This place might hold a lot of residual energy from our fight and from Baruck’s death.” He stepped around a fallen tree limb. “Watch out, the branches are scattered everywhere.”
I moved around one particularly gnarly-looking one. “This might sound messed up, but I’ve wanted to come back here. I don’t know why. Crazy, huh?”
“No,” he said quietly. “It makes sense to me.”
“Is it the whole energy thing?”
“It’s what’s left over.” Daemon bent and pushed another fallen limb out of the way. “I want to see if I feel anything. If the DOD has been out here to check it out, it might be good to be in the know.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence. I was following slightly behind him, careful of the rough terrain. I felt a peculiar stirring in me as soon as it came into view. The ground was covered in leaves but the trees were still bent, looking even more grotesque as they twisted toward the ground. I stopped at the edge and tried to find the spot where Baruck had last stood.
I pushed the dead foliage with my foot. Soon, the scarred ground came into view. The soil seemed to remember what had happened that night and refused to let go of the memory.
This spot was like a sick gravesite.
“The ground will never heal,” Daemon said softly from behind me. “I don’t know why, but it took on his essence and nothing will grow from this spot.” He took over, pushing back the leaves until the area was uncovered completely. “Killing at first used to bother me.”
I tore my eyes away from the burned patch of ground. What little sun that peeked through the clouds caught the auburn tint in his dark hair.
Daemon smiled tightly. “I didn’t like it, taking a life. I still don’t. A life is a life.”
“It’s something you have to do. You can’t change it. It only wreaks havoc on you to dwell. It bothers me knowing that I’ve killed…two of them, but—”
“You aren’t wrong for what you did. Never think that.” His eyes met mine for a second, and he cleared his throat. “I don’t feel anything.”
I shoved my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie, curving them around my cell phone. “Do you think the DOD found anything?”
“I don’t know.” He crossed the small distance between us, stopping when I had to tilt my head back to see him. “Depends on if they’re using equipment I’m not familiar with.”
“And if they are, what does that mean? Is it something to be worried about?”
“I don’t think so, not even if the levels of energy are higher.” He reached out, smoothing back a strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail. “It doesn’t really tell them anything. Have you been experiencing any outbursts recently?”
“No,” I said, not wanting him to worry needlessly. Today I’d blown the light in my room. And I’d moved my bed about three feet.
His hand lingered on my cheek for a moment longer, and then he captured my hand, bringing it to his lips, placing the lightest kiss against the center of my palm. A hot shiver went up my arm. Peering through his dark lashes, he burned me with one smoldering look.
My lips parted and my heart fluttered in my chest like the many leaves that fell to the ground around us. “Did you bring me out here just to get me completely alone?”
“That may have been a part of my master plan.” Daemon’s head lowered and his hair fell forward, brushing my cheek. The slant of his mouth tilted and an exhilarating heartbeat later, his lips pressed against mine and my heart swelled.
I jerked back, breathing heavily. “No kissing,” I whispered.
His fingers tightened around mine. “I’m trying not to.”
“Then try harder.” I slipped my hand free and took a step back, shoving my hands back into the pocket of my hoodie. “I think we should head home.”