Sweet Reckoning(18)

“She really loves me?”

“The twins can see bonds. Ginger saw love between the two of you today.”

Poor Jay. He looked so overwhelmed. His eyes shot to mine again.

“Is Patti . . . ?”

“No.” I shook my head. “She’s human. All the other Neph were raised by their fathers and Neph siblings, but my dad was in prison and I don’t have siblings.”

“What about all the mothers?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, feeling the burn behind my eyes again. I had to catch my breath.

“They all died during childbirth, Jay.” I held his eyes, waiting for the terrible moment when he’d understand. “Earthly bodies aren’t made to be able to release a Nephilim soul.”

“Even . . .” He stared down the street in the direction of his house.

“Even Marna,” I whispered.

“That’s why her sister’s so upset.”

I watched Jay grow up in that moment. He sat up straighter, and his eyes cleared. He wore an expression of bravery. It was a sad and beautiful thing to see him so serious.

“Take me back to her,” he said.

I turned us around and did just that. He leaped from the car when I pulled into the driveway, and ran into his house. When I got to his room I found them sitting on the bed, Jay holding her, letting her cry into his chest until she quieted.

“You dreamed of me?” she whispered.

He kissed her forehead. “Yes.”

Marna gazed up at him. “I can see that you’re afraid. But happy. Me, too.”

“You can see it?” he asked.

She pulled back and ran her fingers through the haze at his chest. “Your aura.”

Jay shot me a questioning look.

“We see emotions as colors,” I explained.

“Anna can feel them, as well,” Marna added. “She’s different from the rest of us.”

Jay raised his eyebrows, and I shrugged. He came forward and hugged me more gently than normal, like I was fragile. I squeezed him until he squeezed me back. I didn’t want him to treat me differently.

He pulled away and stared down at me as if seeing me for the first time. “All along . . . you could always see this stuff? And you had, like, superpowers?”

I dropped my eyes. The heightened senses had been a struggle for me. “It’s not as cool as it sounds. I’ve always hated it, and I’m still not so good at it.”

“And Kai!” Jay’s eyes widened. “Duuuude . . .”

“Yeah,” I said.

“It’s all making sense now.”

He sat on the bed next to Marna again. Their hands immediately linked. “So, what makes you different from them?” he asked me.

“Their mothers were all human. My mother was a guardian angel. That’s why I can see the pregnancy when other Neph and the Dukes can’t. It’s an angel ability.”

“Nuh-uh.” I saw in his eyes that his perception of me fully changed in that moment, from the silly, strange Anna he’d once known, to an Anna who elicited awe. “So, your mom was an angel, but your dad’s a demon?”

“It’s complicated. They knew each other in heaven, before he became a demon.”

Jay stared at me.

“I’m still just me,” I promised him.

“No . . . you’re more.”

I shrugged again, embarrassed by the attention.

“And wait,” he said. “There’s really guardian angels? Here on earth?”

“Yes,” Marna said. “All humans have them.”

Jay got still. “I have one?”

Marna and I nodded, and then giggled as Jay’s head swiveled side to side, searching.

“You can’t see him!” I said.

“No way! No way!” He jumped up and spun now, looking right past his guardian angel, who stared down at him with a look of mirth on his celestial, misty face.

“I think he’s laughing at you,” I said. Marna giggled and nodded.

Jay went into spaz mode. “For real? I got a cool angel with a sense of humor!”

“He loves you,” I told him. “He’s always watching over you.”

“Like . . . as in, always always?” His eyebrows went up. Marna giggled again.

“Yep,” I said.

“Oh, man. This is crazy.” His face paled and he started babbling. “Holy crap. Demons. What do they do, exactly? Never mind. I probably don’t wanna know. I knew there was something messed up about your dads, but dang.”