The icy hot sensation snapped me back to reality before I heard his chiding voice. “Ivy! What the hell are you doing! Look at me.” He pulled me away from skater boy. Collin's blue eyes came into focus, as my buzz faded, leaving nothing but my drowning fear.

“Hey dude,” brown-haired boy said, “back off. She's mine.” The guy tried to get Collin to let go of me, but he wouldn't.

Too dazed to realize what was happening, I felt Collin in my mind. By the time he saw how screwed up I was, it was too late. I couldn’t hide my sinful intentions. His grip didn't loosen. Instead, he shoved back my make-out buddy. “Fuck off. She's mine.” I tried to twist my wrist out of Collin's grip, but stuff got weird fast. His sadness and concern started to leak into my emotions and swirled together. But instead of mixing, they were remaining separate like swirled ice cream.

Heart racing, I tried to pull away from Collin. “Leave me alone, Collin. You don't know...”

His grip tightened, as he stood between us. His face lowered and came down into mine, our noses almost touching. “I'm not leaving you to ruin your life. You said you were done with this shit, Ivy. What are you doing?”

“Hey man. She said back off. Back off.” Skater dude tried to be valiant, but failed.

Collin turned slowly, with rage in his eyes. He looked slightly insane. “If you want her, you're gonna have to take her from me.” Collin yanked my other arm before I knew what happened. Moving quickly, he slung me over his shoulder, and ran.

“LET ME GO!” I screamed. I shrilled a terrified yell, as he bounded down the steps, and out the front door. My body bounced like a rag doll, and I half hung on for my life. Collin ran through the house, and burst through the front doors. He slowed in front of the illuminated fountain. I screeched, “Noooo!” before he dropped me, but I was already airborne. My body twisted, as I tried to stop myself from hitting the waist-deep water. The cold liquid sucked me under, crushing the breath out of my chest. My butt bumped into the cement bottom, and I staggered to my knees. The wind sent a chill through me, and my body shook as I glared at Collin. Water drained from the hair that was plastered to my face. Apryl's comb was barely hanging on. Water filled my boots, and lots of other places that cold water shouldn't go.

Anger flowed through me, white hot. At first, I just breathed, watching him. A crowd followed to see what would happen. Some kids said something about not wanting to be on the receiving end of that. Eventually, I threw my leg over the side of the fountain, and ran at him. My body slammed into his. My fists smacked into his chest, as I yelled up into his face. “You had no right! Who the hell do you think you are?”

Collin didn't move. He let me vent, watching me with irritating calmness. His eyes had turned back to their normal hue, and not the impossibly deep blue that looked insane a few moments ago. Now I looked insane. The crowd was laughing. Some shouted stuff at us, but I was too pissed off to understand. I ignored all of them, except Collin. “How could you! What makes you think you could do this to me!” The shrill in my voice was dying, as the coldness seeped in. My anger was burning out, and the cold was taking over. My black chiffon outfit clung to my body; making me feel colder than I thought was possible. I stepped away from Collin, tears streaming down my face. Between sobs I said, “You should have left me alone.”

“I can't leave you alone,” he stood, arms distance from me, looking hopelessly lost. “Nicole baited you. You didn’t really want to be with that guy.”

“Nicole did not bait me. I came here looking for him.” I couldn't look at Collin. He didn't understand. And I couldn't tell him. His hands reached for me without hesitation, and he firmly gripped my upper arms. There were no icy hot tingles, just a blast of remorse that flooded through the bond.

“Ivy,” he breathed. “Just tell me. What's got you so scared that you'd do this?” His voice was softer, “You used to tell me anything. And everything. We had no secrets. Just tell me.” His breath washed over my skin, startlingly warm.

Twisting my shoulders, I cleared my mind as I broke contact with him. “Things changed. It's not like that anymore. I'm not the same girl anymore. If you don't like it—too bad.” I folded my arms tightly, trying not to shiver. He straightened, looking as if I’d kicked him in the stomach. He took a step toward me. His eyes were trying to lock with mine. Determination was exuding from him.

“I know something happened to you—and it has you scared to death. The fear is rolling off of you, thick and heavy. It's drowning you. You're reaching out for random guys, so you can feel something besides the horrifying terror that's consuming you.” I kept my face downturned, toward the ground, saying nothing. My entire body was numb. I couldn't tell him he was right. He already knew it, anyway. His warm hand touched my face. He pulled it up to look him in the eye. “You're still the same girl, whether you see it or not.”

Swallowing hard, I shook my face out of his grip. I answered, “You've never been so wrong.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Shannon emerged from the crowd with a surprised look on her face. She inserted herself between Collin and I, and then pulled me away from the staring eyes of the crowd we'd attracted. Nothing was said. Nothing had to be. I could see the look on her face, and I saw the thanks she nodded at Collin before she drove me home.

Soaked to the bone, I sat in her car, and blasted the heater in my face. Every attempt was made not to take out my anger on Shannon. I did something incredibly stupid, and got caught.

After a long silence she said, “Dumping you in cold water was the best thing he coulda did for you.” Turning my wet head, I stared at her. My eyebrow shot up, as my mouth fell open. She was siding with him? “No,” she said. “I'm serious. For Martis, cold water is like a reset button. It has the same shocking effect that cold water has on humans, but without any of the risk of hypothermia. The cold is supposed to purge ailments from immortals. Did it help?”

“Help?” I chattered. “Help! No, it didn't help. He threw me in cold water, in front of everyone. Now, I'll be the wet virgin. Awh, suck. That's so much worse!” My head slumped forward, as I clutched my face.

“Ivy, you're an idiot,” her sharp words shot through my pride in a way uniquely Shannon. “I'm not talking about your social standing. There's no way that little display helped your social life. Although the skaters may avoid you now.” She smiled, suppressing a laugh. “Did it help you purge whatever was bugging you? I'm assuming the idea of being around Eric, and knowing who he is, had you freaked. Are you better now?”

“Maybe.” She glared at me while I sulked. “Okay, yes. It helped. That’s gone for now. But won't it just come back?”

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, “Only if you let it.” Her face took on a star struck expression. “I wish I had enough guts to throw you in a fountain.” She laughed, “It's almost like he knew that would snap you out of it. Too bad he's not a Martis.” She wagged her eyebrows at me.

I stared at her in disbelief. “Awh crap, Shan. Now you like him? You can't like him. You hate his guts. He hates you. You can't like each other. My head will implode.”

The car came to a stop, a few doors down from my house. She smiled at me. “Maybe he's not so bad. I mean, he kept you from indulging your inner-Valefar. Ivy, Martis don't sleep around. That could have damaged the ratio of your inner good to bad. We don't know what hurls you into the prophecy. Collin may have kept you from making a huge mistake.” She shrugged, “So, maybe he's not so bad.”

“Come inside. I need to tell you something—about him—and me.” Seeing an odd look cross her face, I quickly added, “And it's not what you think.”

After I changed into dry clothes, I felt better. Oddly, the dunk didn't leave me chilled all night. It felt more like jumping into a cool pool on an insanely hot day. I felt refreshed, and the crushing fear was gone. Shannon sat at the foot of my bed. I plopped down on the pillows by the headboard.

“Shannon,” I said, “I think I've done something to Collin. I didn't tell anyone else about it, because I thought it might be Valefar induced.”

Shannon nodded, green eyes widening. “Ivy, what'd you do?”

Taking a deep breath, I continued, “I don’t know. He can hear me. And I can hear him. It's like mind reading, but more vivid. This sounds weird, but it feels like our spirits are intertwined—like we're bonded or something. Tell me you've heard of this?” I gripped my fingers tightly.

She leaned back against the wall, looking very intrigued. “It's only with Collin? Not anyone else?”

I nodded, “Only him.”

“Hmmm. Seyers have unique powers the rest of us don't, but I'm not aware of anything like this. But, it doesn't mean it's not there. It means I'm not a Seyer.” She pulled her hair over her shoulder, twirling the ends.

“Who told you I'm a Seyer?” I asked. “I skipped that part earlier today.”

She shrugged, “Eric called me. I thought that probably added to your freak out, so I tried to track you down. By the time I found you, Collin had you in the fountain.”

“The Seyer thing didn't help,” I acknowledged. “Al made it clear she knows I'm different, although she didn't say she knows what I am. She seems to think I'll do stuff. I have no idea if she knows that I’m tainted. But this? Shannon...” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “I'm afraid it'll hurt him. I don't know what it is, and whatever this is, this bond, it’s changing. It feels different. In the past I could only hear his thoughts by looking him in the eye and touching him. But tonight there was no need for either of those things. He heard me anyway.”

Shannon was quiet before she asked, “Did anything else change?”

Thinking about it, I wasn't sure. The anger earlier had clouded everything else. Nodding, I said, “I can feel the bond. It felt like an old rubber band, tugging me toward him. When we separated, it didn't like it. It felt stretched beyond comfort, and then it snapped. I was so mad, I didn't notice.”

“You need to talk to Al. She's your mentor. She'd know if bonding like that is Martis or not.” She sat up, looking at me.

“It's the or not part that concerns me,” I said.

School the next day sucked. I managed to ruin my reputation, and flamed Eric's in one glorious streak. There were hushed whispers of stopped conversations when I walked by. From what I heard, I cheated on Eric with skater-boy, which was horrible, because everyone thought Eric was a sweet guy. How could anyone do something like that to him? Then I was accused of having a fling with Collin, which is why he tossed me in the fountain in a jealous rage. Basically, I was crowned class slut. Nicole, of course, was thrilled with Collin's humiliating actions. She made sure to tease me, as I walked into my first period class.

Mr. Turner paired everyone up for class work, and I had the joy of working with one of Nicole's drones. Lily had an oval face, platinum blond hair, and bright red fingernails. She also had the trademark big boobs that made Nicole's clique noticeable. She sneered at me when I scooted my desk over. “That was trampy—even for you.” Her lips pulled back into a disgusted expression, as she glared at me.