Human by Alycia Linwood Page B

I'm frozen on the spot.
    "Hey, what are you doing here?" Leonard's features soften as he comes towards me, taking me into his strong arms. "This is not a good place for three-year-olds. Let's get you back to your room."
    I press myself close to his warm chest, playing with a strand of his soft blond hair. Maliadades appears out of nowhere, his black eyes shining with fury. I bury my face into Leonard's green shirt, even though I know that won't make me invisible.
    "What is he doing here?" Maliadades growls. "I told you we should have locked him up."
    "He's just a child," Leonard says. "And he was in his room all the time. I only took him for a walk."
    "Are you lying to me?" Maliadades asks.
    "Why would I lie to you, my love?" Leonard says. "I'll just take him to his room. I'll be right back."
    My vision distorted into thousands of broken pieces. I blinked a few times and was able to see the street, cars, shops and people around me. I was sitting on the bench, my head resting on Devin's shoulder, his strong arm keeping me from toppling down to the pavement.
    "Are you ok?" Devin whispered into my ear, his warm breath making me shiver.
    "Yeah," I breathed. My pulse sped up as I realized I didn't have my backpack on me.
    "Hey, relax," Devin said, holding me so tightly that I couldn't get up. "You don't want to make a scene. People already think you're drunk."
    "Where's my backpack?" I managed to make my voice sound even, but I knew he could feel the tension in my muscles.
    "It's right here." He patted my backpack, which was on the bench on the other side of him. Uh oh. The only thing between me and my knife was... Devin.
    "Give it to me." I had no idea how long I'd been unconscious. He could have gone through my backpack a thousand of times. He effortlessly lifted it up with one hand and gave it to me. Of course, it hit the ground almost immediately as Devin let go of it, assuming I'd be able to hold it. I rolled my eyes and leaned it on my leg so it wouldn't just lie there in the dirt.
    "What did you see?" Devin's cerulean eyes assessed me curiously. I looked down at his arm still around me, and he took the hint and let go of me.
    "Can't you tell?" Last time I'd been able to pull out one of his memories out of his mind, he'd known what I had seen. Or had he?
    "No. I can only feel your energy going through me."
    Ok, that was creepy. "How do you know I saw something?"
    "Someone I know can do the same thing as you do," he said. "The energy feels the same."
    So there was actually someone like me? A demon? But that would mean Devin was right about me being a demon. The only thing that didn't make sense was why would the angels, my sister's real parents, leave her in a family with a demon. If solely demons could see through the demon magic, then maybe they hadn't known. Could it have been a coincidence that both angels and demons had chosen the same family? No, I believed not.
    "Do you think demons will come for me?" I stared at my hands in my lap.
    "No," he said like he was a hundred percent sure of it. "No one will find out about you."
    "Can't they feel me or something?" I looked up at him, wondering had he already told someone.
    "No," he said. "Not unless you have a vision near a demon."
    "Great." I sighed. The problem was that I was actually getting these visions when I was near a demon. And I could do absolutely nothing to control that. Maybe I should just ask him whether the other demons would come to investigate his death and how much time I had before they found me.
    "Do you still want to go to see that movie with me?" I said after a few moments of silence. I couldn't really let him think I had ulterior motives, right?
    "Yeah, but I know you're doing this just to find out more about your demon side," he said. "Don't even try to deny it."
    "Fine. Let's go." I got up, picking up my backpack. What if I tried to kill him in the dark during the movie? No, too many witnesses and potential victims if I only succeeded to piss him off.