True Colors (The Masks #1)(21)

“Okay.” Eric cupped my face with his hands, putting an end to my stuttering drivel. “Just take a breath.”

I did as I was told.

“And another one.”

As I was expelling that breath, he gave me a gentle smile. “I need you to start at the beginning. Did this change happen last weekend?”

I nodded.

“Tell me about it.”

And I did. I spilled it all out, starting with Friday night. I even humiliated myself by mentioning Chase’s sex obsession and how he was supposed to be my first and it would have been the biggest mistake ever. And then I finished with how I just left a dead guy in an alleyway. It was such a relief to say it, to finally come clean as if I was confessing to a crime or something. I couldn’t look at Eric while I was talking. I ended up pacing from the tree trunk and back to the bench, rabbiting on about everything I’d seen over the last few days.

I had no idea what he was feeling as I spoke, but the fact that he remained in his seat was a good sign.

“And now I’m here and I want to run away and not face this, but then I thought of you...” I finally looked at him.

He was pleased. He was stoked I’d said that and that just made me blush. I rubbed my cheek and began playing with the ring on my finger as his pleasure morphed to a frown. He licked the corner of his mouth, obviously trying to decide what to do with this information. It freaked him out a little and so it should. I mean I got an electric shock from a homeless guy and can now read people’s emotions!

I wanted to turn away, tell Eric to forget I’d said anything, but I couldn’t. And the main reason I couldn’t was because he believed what I was saying. There was no scoffing, no scuttling away from me in terror, just a quiet, calm acceptance.

What was up with that?

Maybe I wasn’t the only non-normal person around here.

“You believe me.”

He glanced up from his fidgeting hands. “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Because, it’s weird. Stuff like this doesn’t happen in real life.”

“Sorry to break it to you, Caity, but this is real life.”

“No it’s not.” I shook my head.

His smile was tender. “You hear about supernatural stuff happening all the time. It’s not like you’ve grown a second head or can suddenly fly or shoot webs from your hands. You’re just seeing things differently.”

I gave in with a sigh.

“Explain to me how it works. You look at people and you see everything they’re feeling?” He shifted in his seat. I guess it was starting to dawn on Eric that I could do that with him as well. I looked to the ground, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable.

“It’s like layers fall from their face. The homeless guy described it as masks. People hide behind a mask and I can pull it away without them realizing it. If I can look into their eyes it happens much faster. I glimpse them normally and then everything changes, all their real emotions start to show.”

“And that’s what’s freaking you out? You can’t handle the onslaught of what you’re seeing.”

I nodded. That was exactly it, and the fact that people I thought I knew were not at all who they appeared to be. My heart did this painful hiccup and I pressed my hand to my chest.

Eric placed his elbows on his knees and loosely threaded his fingers together. He tapped his thumb against his knuckle as he thought, no doubt trying to figure out a way to help me.

“Well.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t want you to go to Wyoming and I don’t think your parents would be overly excited about that either. So that plan is now off the table.”

I chuckled. “So what do I do?”

Sitting back, he stretched his arms across the seat and thought for a minute. “I know you’re having a hard time and rightfully so. But you’ve got to come back to what that guy said. He chose you for a reason.”

I sighed.

He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not saying you have to embrace it. You’re obviously not ready and that’s cool, but running’s not going to help you either. You’re going to have to learn how to process everything you can see.”

“You mean like, control my...”

“Power. Yes.”

“It’s so not a power.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s like a super power.”

“How can you say that? This is like the world's worst hex.”

He grinned. “Just wait ’til you can control it. You’ll be like Mind Girl.”

“That’s...” I wrinkled my nose. “That’s really lame.”

“Yeah, yeah I know. I’ll keep working on it.” He winked.

I blushed. “You just told me it wasn’t that weird. Giving me a superhero name is so not helping.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. No more superhero names."

I crossed my arms and sighed, "Thank you."

His grin was adorably boyish as he slapped his knees and stood tall. “Alright little lady, come with me. Let’s go work on your mind control.”

I took his hand and followed him out of our quiet grove. The human population came back into view and my immediate response was to grimace and look toward the grass.

“Caity, you’ve got to face this.” Eric tugged my hand. “Now, look at that couple over there. Tell me what you see.”