Elusion(51)

“Good. I thought . . . you might think that was stupid.”

I take a deep breath and then exhale, sending a foggy burst of mist into the air. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he says, his lips parting to reveal another sweet smile.

“How many girls have you brought to Elusion?”

Josh’s eyebrows twitch up and he gives me a funny look, but he doesn’t seem offended, of course. “Why do you want to know?”

“No reason. I’m just curious.”

This isn’t exactly the truth, which makes me wonder—can you lie in Elusion? I doubt anyone would have a reason to. Trypnosis typically lowers your inhibitions, so what would be the motivation, really?

“Curious about what?”

I shrug. “Whether or not you’ve hooked up with anyone here.”

Josh takes another step toward me, the icy barrier deep in the cavern looking smaller and less significant the more he closes in on me.

“That’s a pretty personal question,” he says.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay.” Josh reaches out and gently pulls my hand out of my pocket, the softness of his palm sending a tingling riptide up my arm. “One or two, I guess. I’m having trouble remembering.”

My fingers entwine with his, and another crackling wave of energy travels through me at the speed of light. Josh pulls me toward him, his eyes locked with mine.

“What was it like? Kissing someone here?” I whisper.

“You mean, you’ve never . . .”

“No. I’ve only been here with my father and Patrick,” I say.

Josh pushes a loose, damp strand of hair away from my face with his thumb. “So you and Patrick . . . you’re really just friends? Nothing has ever happened between you two?”

“Nothing has, and nothing will,” I murmur. His hands travel down my back and rest on my hips, causing an electric hum to course through my body.

“Too bad for him,” Josh says, his voice rather musky all of a sudden.

“Why do you say that?”

“I can tell from the way he looks at you.” Josh leans in, and his lips brush against my forehead, sending my center of gravity to my neck and making my legs weak. “He wants to be more than your friend.”

“So how does he look at me?” I ask.

Josh’s grip on my hips becomes tighter, and in seconds almost every part of me is pressed up against him. Our world is beginning to fall away behind the veil of Elusion’s white light. The stalagmites, the icicles, the snow, the frozen firewall that we came here to find are fading away, and soon we will too.

“Like this,” he says, pressing his lips to mine. I clasp my hands tightly behind his back, unable to breathe, unable to think. It’s as though I’m being shaken to my very core. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before.

But even with my eyes closed, I can tell the brightness is about to swallow us whole and take us back into the real world.

I pull him tighter, willing the light away. I’m not ready to leave.

He’s kissing me harder now, his strong arms wrapped so tightly around my waist he’s practically lifting me off the ground. All I can think about is how wonderful this feels and how I want to stay here, like this, with Josh. How I don’t want to go home.

But just like that, we’re gone.





ELEVEN


I WANT TO KISS JOSH AGAIN.

We’ve been back from Elusion for a half hour, but my heart is still rattling against my rib cage. Slipping my hands under the motion-sensor faucet, I splash some lukewarm water on my face, hoping that will snap me out of this dreamy, almost lovesick state.

It doesn’t help.

My brain still feels like it’s wrapped in cellophane as I blindly reach for the air-dryer button on the right-hand wall. After I press it, two converging streams of hot air blow out of a nozzle and onto my hands. I lean forward and put my face right in front of the current. Once all the moisture has been sucked away from my skin, the dryer turns off automatically, and I twist back to the sink so I can check myself out in the mirror that hangs above the countertop.

My makeup is a bit smeared, so I pull some toilet paper off of the roll and blot underneath my eyes, where the damage is the worst. I adjust my scoop-neck tee so it’s centered on my chest, and pull up my jeans so they’re not riding so low on my hips. Now I look like I do every night, like nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

Like I haven’t been climbing mountains and suffering through near-death experiences.

Like I wasn’t just kissed.

But was I, really? As I back up against the shower door, I wonder—and worry—if Elusion is powerful enough to create feelings that don’t actually exist in reality. After all, I know I don’t want to be anything more than friends with Patrick, but when I was trekking around the Universe Escape with him, I have to admit, I felt . . . something.

Touching my fingers to my lips, I glance at the bathroom door, where Josh is waiting on the other side. My mind struggles to process what my senses keep insisting was real. And even though I have way more important things to be concerned with than a kiss, that moment is replaying itself over and over again in my thoughts.

My bare feet pad against the floor as I walk toward the door. Since we woke up, Josh and I haven’t spoken much except to comment on the status of our mobility post-Aftershock.