Crave (Harlequin Teen)

I leaned against the doorjamb and slid down as my legs went weak with relief, my breaths coming out fast and short.
    Oh, crap. I couldn’t go back out there. I would have to walk right past them to get to the field. I would be within feet of them. They might jump out and grab me or something.
    I’d have to miss practice today. I’d have to…
    I didn’t hear Tristan come up the stairs. “Hey, Sav, what’s wrong?” He crossed the distance to me in three long strides then crouched down before me. His hands surrounded mine, the heat from his skin letting me know how cold I was.
    “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
    “Try me.”
    “There’re these…people outside by the practice field. At the edge of the woods. Adults. Three of them. They keep staring at me. They were there at lunch, too, but my friends swore they couldn’t see them. None of them could. How could they not see them? I think they’re ghosts or something.” The words poured out of me, my voice rising to a near shriek at the end.
    “Okay, calm down. You say they were staring at you?”
    How could I explain why the watchers freaked me out so much? “Yeah. But they’re not blinking or moving or anything. They’re like statues. Only their heads and eyes turn when I walk by.” A sudden thought hit me. “Do you think the Clann sent them to spy on us? Maybe your parents suspect we’re dating and sent them. But why not make themselves invisible to me, too? Wouldn’t that make more sense?”
    “Whoa, slow down.” He stood and pulled me up with him. “If the Clann sent spies to watch me, which I doubt they’d do, they would make themselves invisible to everyone. Otherwise they wouldn’t be very good spies, right?”
    His calm confidence reached out to me like a soft, warm blanket. My heartbeat slowed down in response. Feeling stupid, I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I was over-reacting. “You’re right. But why can’t my friends see them?”
    “I don’t know. Why don’t we find out if I can?”
    It took several tries, but I managed to unlock the office closet so we could get the sound system and my trainer’s bag. Then we made our way downstairs and out the building.
    The watchers were still there. This time their eyes widened as if in shock. Proof they probably weren’t ghosts. Ghosts didn’t act surprised and weren’t affected by the wind, were they?
    “Are they still there?” Tristan muttered, looking in their direction.
    I nodded, fear closing my throat again. He couldn’t see them, either. Oh, crap, I really was going crazy.
    “Well, they won’t hurt you as long as I’m here.” He reached out to hold my hand.
    The woman in the middle lurched forward a step and hissed, but her companions grabbed her arms in restraint. Her fury washed over my skin.
    I gasped and froze. “Let go of my hand. It upsets them.”
    He released my hand. “We’re going to be late for practice. Why don’t we go around the opposite side of the math building—”
    As if they’d heard, the watchers turned toward the practice field. Then they took off, moving so fast they became three blurs. Holy crap, how could they move like that? They couldn’t possibly be descendants, not unless they’d used magic to give themselves superpowers somehow. Then again, maybe that was exactly what they had done. After all, what did I know about magic and what descendants could or couldn’t do with proper training?
    Where had they gone?
    The only thing worse than being stared at by three creepy watchers was not knowing where they were now. I jogged down the ramp to the road and past the math building. I was just in time to see the watchers’ blurs streak alongside the practice-field fence before they stopped at the far end, becoming solid once more.
    “Wow. They move fast.”
    “Where are they now?”
    “Far end of the field outside the fence. And they’re staring at me again.”
    His eyes widened. “Yeah, that is fast.”
    “You still can’t see them, can you?”
    “No. I’m sorry, I wish I could. Maybe if the Clann sent them then I could at least identify them.”
    A horrible thought came to me. “What if that’s the point? Send watchers only I can see so I think I’m going crazy. Try to scare me away from seeing you.”
    We entered the field. I tried not to look at the watchers, but it was like trying not to look at a train hurtling toward me while I stood on the train tracks. Survival instinct demanded I glance their way every few