The watchers were still there. This time their eyes widened as if in shock. Proof they probably weren't ghosts. Ghosts didn't act surprised and weren't affected by the wind, were they?
"Are they still there?" Tristan muttered, looking in their direction.
I nodded, fear closing my throat again. He couldn't see them, either. Oh, crap, I really was going crazy.
"Well, they won't hurt you as long as I'm here." He reached out to hold my hand.
The woman in the middle lurched forward a step and hissed, but her companions grabbed her arms in restraint. Her fury washed over my skin.
I gasped and froze. "Let go of my hand. It upsets them."
He released my hand. "We're going to be late for practice. Why don't we go around the opposite side of the math building-"
As if they'd heard, the watchers turned toward the practice field. Then they took off, moving so fast they became three blurs. Holy crap, how could they move like that? They couldn't possibly be descendants, not unless they'd used magic to give themselves superpowers somehow. Then again, maybe that was exactly what they had done. After all, what did I know about magic and what descendants could or couldn't do with proper training?
Where had they gone?
The only thing worse than being stared at by three creepy watchers was not knowing where they were now. I jogged down the ramp to the road and past the math building. I was just in time to see the watchers' blurs streak alongside the practice-field fence before they stopped at the far end, becoming solid once more.
"Wow. They move fast."
"Where are they now?"
"Far end of the field outside the fence. And they're staring at me again."
His eyes widened. "Yeah, that is fast."
"You still can't see them, can you?"
"No. I'm sorry, I wish I could. Maybe if the Clann sent them then I could at least identify them."
A horrible thought came to me. "What if that's the point? Send watchers only I can see so I think I'm going crazy. Try to scare me away from seeing you."
We entered the field. I tried not to look at the watchers, but it was like trying not to look at a train hurtling toward me while I stood on the train tracks. Survival instinct demanded I glance their way every few seconds to make sure they hadn't moved again.
"Well, at least they're keeping their distance, right?" He helped me set up the sound system. "Just try to stay calm, and when I get ice in a while, I'll stop by the practice gym and ask Emily for advice."
"No, don't. Your sister will think I'm a nutcase."
"No, she won't. I promise. And if the Clann did send spies or someone to try to scare you, she can ask around without looking as suspicious as I would." He smiled. "Trust me, the girl is a mastermind. She can dig information out of anyone."
"Do you think I'm nuts?"
"I hope you are. About me, at least."
I managed a half smile. "Uh-huh. But seriously. Am I nuts?"
"Because of the watchers?" Crouching down beside me, he lifted his head, closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to the ground. After a moment, the smile left his face. "No. Something doesn't feel right. And it's probably them."
CHAPTER 15
Tristan
It was a long hour and a half before practice neared an end and I could go for ice. I stopped by the practice gym first, interrupting the varsity cheer squad as I waved their captain over.
"This better be good," Emily said as she walked up to me.
"It is." I gave her a rundown of the problem and possible theories.
"Well, they can't be like us," she said when I finished. "We'd both feel it if they were using power."
"Then who are they?"
"You mean what."
A hundred childhood stories full of warnings against all kinds of scary things rushed through the back of my mind. "What are you thinking?"
"Shape-shifters. Vampires. Ghosts. Demons. Any of those would be able to move fast like that. Though shape-shifters can't make themselves invisible at all, so cross them off the list. And most descendants would be able to sense ghosts and demons almost like a use of power."
Which left vampires. Vampires here at JHS. Unbelievable. "What do they want?"
"Why don't you ask your girlfriend? Because I can guarantee the Clann would never have sent them. You know we don't mess around with vamps. They're magic leeches. Just because the Clann has a peace treaty with them doesn't make them any less dangerous to every descendant alive."
Our eyes widened in unison.
"Sav. She's a..." I started to say. Fear on a level I'd never felt before exploded inside me. "Emily, she's completely untrained. She wouldn't know how to protect herself at all."
"Be careful," she yelled as I sprinted out of the gym and back to the practice field. And felt my frozen mind kick into gear again when I spotted Savannah calmly sitting at the side of the field with a dancer.
"Hey. Where's the ice?" Savannah secured the dancer's bandage with a metal butterfly clip.
I leaned over and whispered against her ear, "Don't go anywhere or let them leave you here alone. I'll be right back with the ice. Promise me."
She nodded, her dark blue eyes wide even as she tried to fake a smile at the dancer she was helping.
I shot a warning glare toward the end of the field where I assumed the vampires were still lurking around. They'd better not even think about getting near Savannah while I was gone, or so help me, I'd stake every last one of them, and to hell with the peace treaty between our worlds.
Then I ran across campus to the field house. These would be the fastest bags of ice I'd ever thrown together.
I was on the last bag when Dylan strolled over to the locker-room doorway.
"Missing football so much you had to start hanging out in the field house?" he said.
Just what I needed right now. Normally I came here before football practice ended so I could avoid my old teammates. Talking with Emily and then running back to warn Savannah had thrown me behind tonight.
"Just helping out the Charmers," I said, shoveling ice into the clear plastic bag faster. Through the field house's open front door, I could see the campus getting darker as the sun set behind the trees and houses in the nearby neighborhood, throwing long shadows over the practice field.