The Seventh Hour by Tracey Ward

Author:Tracey Ward [Ward, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

Liv

I lay in bed for an hour trying to find sleep. It doesn’t come. All I can think about is Grayson. About that hug. About his laugh as we walked home. About his hand holding mine in the stairwell. I’m going all mushy over him, full girl with a crush and it’s the worst thing in the world.

I can’t feel this way about him. There’s still something happening between him and Karina, and even if it’s the end of something it’s still something. It’s nothing I want to get in the middle of. I’m building castles in my mind that he can’t even see. He doesn’t feel the same way and this fantasy of mine, it’s just that. It’s a fantasy. I’ve romanticized things between us because he protected me when I was in danger, but I’m not anymore. I can handle Holster, Grayson trained me to protect myself, and the paint on my door was months ago. Even though we still don’t know who did it, it was an isolated incident.

Best of all, I haven’t felt frantic in weeks. I don’t wake up in a cold sweat anymore. I still wake Grayson up at four in the morning, but it’s out of habit at this point. Habit and a little bit of cruel fun. But I don’t need it like I used to because I’m not afraid to be alone. That dark, desperate feeling I had on the boat, it’s a fading memory. A ghoul who’s losing shape, haunting me less and less every day.

I’m not the same girl that I was. If I set foot on a Dasher now no one would recognize me. I barely recognize myself, and I like it. Every day I find out a little bit more about who I am. About what I like and don’t like, what I’m capable of, and I owe it all to Grayson for inspiring me. I’m changed, better for having known him, and now I know that I need to protect myself from him. From this mush that’s seeping in and clouding everything.

The alarm system blazes to life, blaring into my room from the hall. I snap out of bed immediately. My shoes are already on my feet when I hear the pounding on the wall.

“Liv! Wake up!” Grayson shouts.

I kneel on my bed to bang back. “I’m up! I’m up! I’ll be in the hall!”

First shift is exploding into action. Doors are banging open and shut, feet are pounding through apartments nearby. Everyone is scattering, struggling to get dressed in a hurry.

I grab a sweater and my keys on the way to the door. Grayson is just coming out of his apartment as I step out to meet him. He’s lacing his belt through his pants, the shirt of his uniform hanging open over a black tank top.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“I don’t know. There’s been nothing over the radio yet. Only the alarms.”

He cinches his belt before working the buttons on his shirt. He’s halfway done when his radio cracks to life.

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