Darkest Powers Bonus Pack 2

“You think I’m paranoid.”“No. I think staying in one place is making you very uncomfortable, and I think your discomfort ismaking Chloe uncomfortable.”My head shot up. “If you’re implying we made this up—”“No, I’m not. But I think your eagerness to move on is coloring your interpretations of the situation.I know staying here is hard on you. I know it’s also hard having to publicly pretend you aren’tinvolved with Chloe. When Lauren suggested that, it seemed reasonable, but now I see that it’s puttingextra pressure on you. I also know the situation with Lauren, while improved, is not ideal.”I snorted.He leaned forward. “I’m sorry about that, Derek. She’s come to understand that you’re not a danger,but . . .”“Just because she believes I’m not going to rip out her throat while she sleeps doesn’t mean shewants me dating her niece.”“I don’t think that’s—”“It is, Dad, and we both know it.”“Perhaps, but we also both know that her influence over Chloe isn’t what it used to be. There’s nodanger of Lauren turning Chloe against you. You understand that, right?”I muttered something like agreement.“You don’t worry about Lauren,” Dad said. “Don’t worry about the rest, either. Now that Iunderstand how much all of this is bothering you, I’m going to start making plans to move. We’ll finda new place to stay and you’ll be allowed to openly date Chloe. In the meantime, we’ll just keep acloser watch on things.”Three days passed with no sign of Carter, his “grandfather” or anyone else. I checked the woodstwice a day. I patrolled the property four times a day. Once I even had Chloe walk alone to the mall,with me following from inside the forest. Still nothing. As much as I hated to admit it, Dad seemed tobe right. An ordinary jerk had hit on Chloe and I’d overreacted.On the fourth evening after the food court incident, I was in the study, doing homework at the desk.Chloe was reading a textbook while curled up on the recliner. Simon lay on the throw rug, supposedlystudying, but when he started to snore, I looked over to see him on his back, textbook open on hischest. Chloe caught my gaze and laughed softly. Neither of us suggested kicking him out, though. IfSimon wasn’t with us, it was a sure bet that Lauren would say “homework is not a social activity,” andshoo Chloe and me off to separate rooms.It didn’t matter that we were actually studying. Or that Simon and I had always studied together andI actually found it harder to concentrate when I was alone. Or that she’d never walked in and caught usdoing anything else. To Lauren, it would be just another example of Chloe and me spending too muchtime together.Simon only dozed for a few minutes before he woke, stretching and blinking at the big frontwindow.“Almost dark,” he said to Chloe. “You still taking him for his house-breaking lesson tonight?”I flicked an eraser at him. He ducked it and threw me a grin.While I was getting my Changes under control, we’d decided I should try once a week. Simon wasjoking about house-breaking, but that’s kind of what it was like—take me outside regularly, where I’dattempt to perform a bodily function, and hopefully train my body to do it on command. So far, I feltlike a month-old puppy, struggling to control my bladder before it was ready. Sometimes I didChange, but it seemed more luck than purpose.