Second Sight by Maria Rachel Hooley Read Free Book Online Page B

gently
reach up and touch his hands to loosen the grip.
    “ I’m not crazy. I swear. I
know things about Lev no one else did and that no one else ever
will.” The words choke in my throat, and I feel tears burning
again. The old trick of biting my lip drives them back momentarily,
but I feel them constantly waiting. It’s as if they know I can only
maintain control for a few moments. Then again, my life is in the
now. If I think too hard about the past, it debilitates me—and the
future holds no promise without Lev. Still, there is the anger, edging
along the sidelines, waiting. Powerful, resolute, solid. I try to
will it away, but I can’t. I need it.
    Griffin opens his mouth and closes it several
times, trying to figure out what to say. “Lizzie” is all that comes
out.
    “ I’m not crazy,” I say
vehemently. “How do you think I survived the waterfalls without so
much as a scratch? You saw me fall. But did you see the flash of
light afterward? I’m willing to bet at that moment you shut your
eyes, afraid of what you’d see. But if you hadn’t, you would have
seen a white brilliance sweep in, catching me, carrying me
downstream where Lev and his ‘father’ pretended to fish me
out.”
    He shakes his head. “You were lucky, Lizzie.
That’s it.”
    “ Bullshit. Did you see Lev
enter the building right before Maguire shot me?” I thrust my hands
to my hips.
    “ That doesn’t mean he was
an angel. And the bullet killed him. He was human, Lizzie, just
like the rest of us. I’m just sorry as hell it happened and that it
hurt you so damn badly, but it did..” He sinks back onto the chair.
It’s amazing what a few words can do to make someone look older in
a matter of seconds. Right now, Griffin looks anything but the
eighteen-year-old who graduated last year.
    “ He was an angel, Griffin,
and there’re others out there like him. I know. I’ve seen
them.”
    “ Saw what exactly?” He
keeps shaking his head, as if that will make all this just go
away.
    “ Around Lev, there was this
aura of light. Nobody else could see it, but I did. Even before he
told me what he was, I knew. Then he showed me his wings.” I step
forward, but Griffin steps back.
    “ Stop.” His voice sounds
ragged and tired.
    “ I saw someone else,
too—like Lev.”
    Griffin closes his eyes as though trying to
calm himself. For all I know, he’s forcing himself to count to a
hundred. Maybe he should try for 1,000. “Okay, I’ll bite.” His tone
is clipped and angry. Griffin doesn’t mind pushing, but he never
has liked being pushed. “Who is it, and how do you know?”
    “ I saw the aura.” I throw
my can into the trash and ignore the first part of the question,
hoping it will just go away.
    “ Okay, again, who is this
person you think is an angel?” He looks up at me, narrowing his
blue eyes in hopes doing so will force an answer.
    “ Scott Matthis. I can take
you to him.” My heart starts hammering in my chest, and I hope I
can keep just enough information from Griffin to drag him to
Knoxville, too. If Jimmie thinks Griffin is a suitable babysitter,
who am I to disagree?
    “ And did he tell you he was an
angel?”
    “ I didn’t ask.” I rush
upstairs to get the scrap of paper Scott handed me and head back to
the kitchen, where a shell-shocked Griffin awaits. I want to burst
out laughing, and while that might be a good thing, I don’t think
Griffin would appreciate it.
    “ I must be insane,” he
mutters, rising. “All right, let’s go find this Scott Mathis—under
one condition.” He blocks my path to the door.
    “ Which is?”
    “ If he doesn’t corroborate
your angel story, you let it go. You stop putting your life on the
line, and you focus on the future, not the past. Agreed?” He folds
his arms across his chest and waits. His left eyelid twitches
nervously, and it seems Griffin is hardly prepared for this
babysitting gig, after all.
    “ But what if—”
    “ No buts.” Griffin shakes
his head.