“You named your car Dolly?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
I rolled my eyes.
Daemon jogged around the front of the car and slid in. The moment he closed the door behind him, I twisted in my seat and punched him in the arm. “You are such a jerk! I know you did the glass and plate thing. That was so wrong!”
He held up his hands, laughing. “What? It was funny. The look on Bo’s face was priceless. And the kiss he gave you? What was that? I’ve seen dolphins give hotter kisses than that.”
“His name is Blake!” I punched his leg this time. “And you know it! I can’t believe you acted like that. And he doesn’t kiss like a dolphin!”
“From what I’ve seen, he does.”
“You didn’t see the last time we kissed.”
His laughter died off. Uh oh. He turned to me slowly. “You’ve kissed him before?”
“That’s none of your business.” My cheeks flushed, giving me away.
Anger sparked in his magnetic eyes. “I don’t like him.”
I gaped at Daemon. “You don’t even know him.”
“I don’t need to know him to see that there’s something…off about him.” He turned the key and the engine rumbled to life. “I don’t think you should be hanging out with him.”
“Oh, this is rich, Daemon. Whatever.” Staring straight ahead, I hugged my elbows and shivered. I was so angry my head was two seconds from spinning.
“Are you cold? Where’s your jacket?”
“I don’t like jackets.”
“Did they do something terrible and unforgiveable to you, too?” He turned on the automatic temperature setting. Warm air blasted out of the vents.
“I find them…cumbersome.” I sighed loudly. “What was so freaking imperative that you had to go stalker-mode and find me?”
“I wasn’t stalking you.” He sounded offended.
“Oh, you weren’t? Did you use your alien GPS system to find me?”
“Well, yeah, sort of.”
“Argh! This is so wrong.” I seriously doubted Blake would be calling me again. Not that I blamed him. If I were him, I wouldn’t be. Not when a psychotic alien was shadowing me. “So what’s the deal?”
Daemon waited until we pulled onto the highway. “Matthew has called a meeting of the minds, and you should be there. It has to do with the DOD. Something’s happened.”
Chapter 12
We got back to his house before the rest of them showed up, and I was trying to keep calm as I settled into the recliner in the corner. Daemon wasn’t panicking, but he didn’t know what was going on yet. Outside, several car doors slammed shut. I wrapped my arms around my waist, and Daemon moved to my side, sitting on the arm of my chair.
Ash and the Thompson boys were the first to come in. Adam smiled at us before sitting next to Dee. She offered him the bag of popcorn she’d been scarfing and he dug in. Andrew took one look in my direction and rolled his eyes. “Anyone have a clue why she’s here?”
I loathed Andrew.
“She needs to be here,” Mr. Garrison said, closing the door behind him. He moved to the center of the living room, all eyes on him. Outside of school, he always dressed down in jeans. “I want to keep this little get-together short.”
Ash smoothed a hand over her purple tights. “The DOD knows about her, right? We’re all in trouble?”
My breath caught. I wasn’t mad at the scornful tone in her voice. A lot was at stake if the DOD found out about me, about them. “Do they, Mr. Garrison?”
“As far as I know, they don’t know about you,” he said. “The elders called a meeting tonight because of the increase in DOD presence here. It appears something has caught the DOD’s attention.”
I sank back against the chair, relieved. But then it hit me. I may be off the hook, but they weren’t. I glanced around the room, not wanting to see any of them in trouble. Not even Andrew.
Adam stared at a buttery piece of popcorn. “Well, what did they see? No one’s done anything wrong.”
Dee sat the bag of popcorn aside. “What’s the deal?”
Matthew’s ultra-bright blue gaze circled the room. “One of their satellites picked up the light show from Halloween weekend, and they’ve been out to the field, using some sort of machine that picks up on residual energy.”
Daemon scoffed. “The only thing they’re going to find is a burned patch of ground.”
“They know we can manipulate light for self-defense, so from what I’ve gathered, that’s not what caught their attention.” Mr. Garrison glanced at Daemon, frowning. “It’s the fact that the energy was so strong it disrupted a satellite’s signal and they weren’t able to snap any pictures of the event. Nothing like that has ever happened before.”
Daemon kept his expression blank. “I guess I’m just that awesome.”
Adam laughed under his breath. “You’re so powerful you’re disrupting signals now?”
“Disrupted only the signal?” Mr. Garrison barked a short laugh. “It destroyed the satellite—a satellite designed to track high-frequency light and energy. It zeroed in on Petersburg, and the event destroyed the satellite.”
“Like I said, I’m that awesome.” Daemon’s smile was smug, but I was filling with anxious energy.
“Wow,” Andrew murmured. Respect gleamed in his eyes. “That’s pretty awesome.”