Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“They don’t answer. That’s so unlike them.”
I could hear the hint of worry in his voice, and somehow it set my own fears off. “Maybe they needed to get out for a while. And your dad is probably at work, right?”
Devon pushed his hands into his pockets and nodded. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll try them again later.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” I said, though that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I had completely lost my appetite since I’d seen Alec, an abyss had taken the place of my stomach.
Devon and I bought fries and hamburgers in the diner beside the gas station. Instead of eating in the dingy diner with its ripped pleather booths and grimy checkered floor (not to mention the curious glances of the waitress) we decided to take the food back to the car and eat it on the bed of the truck.
The fries were greasy and the hamburger bun was too dry, but I didn’t care. It was the first real meal we’d had in a while, and it all tasted bland to me anyway. I could feel Devon’s eyes on me, and a knot of unease built inside me. I hoped he wouldn’t bring up Alec. I didn’t think I could stomach that right now.
“Do you know the extent of your Variation?” I blurted and winced at how loud and panicky my voice had sounded. I stuffed a few more fries into my mouth. The grease clogged my throat and I had to take a few sips from my bottle of soda to wash them down.
Devon swallowed the bite and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What do you mean?”
“What have you tried? What kind of injuries can you heal? Can you heal diseases? Can you even die?” I grimaced when I realized how insensitive that had sounded, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. I stuck two fries into the ketchup and swirled them around.
He took another bite. Apparently he didn’t mind that the food was bad, or the stench of exhaust and fuel. “Well, I’ve never thrown myself in front of a car or set myself on fire to test it. But I’m pretty sure there are limits. I think I’d be dead if my body was torn apart by a bomb or if I was decapitated.”
I wrinkled my nose at the horrible images his words evoked in my head.
Devon laughed, dimples flashing. “You asked.”
“I know,” I said, smiling.
His hair was such a mess. I was glad that I hadn’t checked my reflection in the diner’s restrooms. I could imagine what a bird’s nest my own hair had become.
“So have you ever hurt yourself to see how your body healed yourself?” I set my remaining fries down on the truck bed. I just couldn’t bring myself to take another bite.
Devon looked embarrassed. “Yeah. When I was younger, I used to cut myself and once I broke my own pinkie, but after that I pretty much stopped. I don’t enjoy pain, you know.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “Would have never guessed.”
He jerked his chin toward my discarded food. “You done with that?”
I chortled. “Don’t tell me you’re still hungry.”
Devon’s blue eyes sparkled. “Not quite hungry, no, but I could eat a few more bites. Who knows when we’ll be able to stop and eat again.”
I pushed the fries over to him. “Suit yourself. I think the fries-to-grease ratio isn’t quite working for me.”
“Whatever,” he said, and winked at me.
I felt lighter as I watched him eat the rest of my meal. I’d always marveled at how much Devon could put away. Maybe his Variation made him hungry all the time, and it probably also made him burn the calories the moment they entered his body, because from looking at him you’d never guess how much he wolfed down every day.
“I’m glad you have such a kick-ass Variation,” I said softly. I remembered the night back in Livingston when I’d kneeled beside his lifeless body and cried. I didn’t yet know about his Variation, and I thought I’d never see him again. It had been a horrible moment.
Devon relaxed beside me, our legs and shoulders pressed against each other. I hadn’t even realized how close we were sitting until now.
“Me too.” His eyes scanned my face. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for.
I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I could ban the memories of that day forever from my mind. My arm brushed the scar. Devon didn’t know about the mark over my ribcage. Nobody had told him.
“Ryan did something else that night.” My voice was barely audible even to my own ears.
Devon tensed. I could feel the energy through our touching bodies.
“You remember the A he cut into his victims?” I whispered.
“How could I forget?”
“He did it to me too. He renewed the cut while I was pretending to be your sister, and now it’s part of my body.”