Her gaze jumped to his face. She nodded and pushed potatoes around on her plate. “There’s no way to control it when so many people are together. I try to stay out of the way, off by myself, but if the crowd gets too excited, or especially if the debate starts raging, then if I don’t leave fast enough, the electromagnetic field can be alarming very quickly. It’s hard to tear myself away when the material is so fascinating.”
“The changes in your body would happen subtly at first, right? The static electricity. The power would be difficult to contain.” Rubin forced himself to keep his voice very mellow, as if he were simply stating facts. Deep inside, he felt real excitement, the kind he hadn’t felt in a long, long while. He wanted to see her like that.
“Yes,” she admitted. “Unfortunately, that’s what happened. In a dark room, my hair and skin can be a beacon. That isn’t all that can happen. When the electrical current is moving through me, sometimes the charges can be seen circling my skin or hair as well. It can look something like the little lightning bugs dancing around in the grass here at sunset. I hide it behind clothing, but when it’s becoming too strong, it can be difficult.”
She didn’t look at either of them but took a small bite of the potatoes she’d been pushing around and chewed as if it were her life’s work.
“I imagine there could be sound,” Rubin said.
She nodded. “If the buildup is bad enough. I usually get out before it’s that bad.”
“Someone from this team saw this phenomenon?” Diego asked.
“Maybe. Probably.” She shrugged. “They could have as I was slipping out the door.”
“But that wasn’t the worst of it, was it?” Rubin asked quietly. He didn’t look at her. He concentrated on eating. He wanted to see her face. Instead, he chose to feel her. She was first-generation Ghost-Walker. It was difficult for her to hide her emotions when they were heightened. She gave off far too much energy to be able to be successful if she wanted to escape his scrutiny.
3
Diego, the food was absolutely delicious, but I’m not used to eating very much, nor am I used to spending time in the company of others. I’ll just step outside for a few minutes. If you’ll excuse me.” Jonquille sent both of them a vague smile and was on her feet, pushing back her chair.
You pushed her too hard, Rubin.
I think I got that. She’s going to run.
She won’t go without her things. They’re here inside, Diego pointed out as he watched her go out the door.
She doesn’t have enough weapons or clothes in here. No rifle. If she’s that good of a shot, she’s got a rifle. Where the hell is it? Rubin asked. She’s got a stash somewhere else.
Rubin pushed back his own chair. “Leave the dishes for me. I’ll go do damage control.”
“Don’t let her shove a knife in your gut,” Diego advised. “Although you might deserve it if you keep interrogating her.”
Rubin followed Jonquille out into the gathering darkness. She stood at the edge of the tree line, nearly blending into the woods. Had he not had superior night vision, he doubted he would have seen her. As he stepped outside, she turned her head to look his way and he caught the sheen of silver in her eyes. His heart contracted. He hoped she wasn’t close to tears, because if she was, he’d done that. She looked on the verge of flight, a wild thing, unable to make up her mind whether to stay or flee into the woods, where she could escape him. He continued walking right to her, using the same easy, steady, nonthreatening pace.
“I love the night,” he confessed. “The peace of it.”
There was a slight breeze moving through the trees, just enough to ruffle the leaves and produce a music he recalled from his childhood. Enough to send her unique fragrance to him.
“Did you know that you have this incredible scent on your skin? I’ve never smelled anything like it. I noticed it immediately, when I first entered the cabin. It isn’t a perfume. It’s not your shampoo. It’s not even your soap. It’s really you. It’s very subtle and incredibly alluring, not that I want to sound like some crazy mountain man who’s been alone too long.” He tried not to fixate on her mouth when her lips suddenly curved into a smile.
“I smelled alluring? Rubin, I had been traipsing around in the woods all day.”
“Nevertheless. It’s a combination of coral honeysuckle and wild daffodils. Just barely there. I doubt if anyone else notices it. I didn’t ask Diego. Maybe I should have.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.” There was amusement in her voice.
She didn’t look as ready to run as she had a few moments earlier, and Rubin wasn’t certain why. He was socially inept. He was considered brilliant in a lot of ways, but he kept to himself. He certainly wasn’t a ladies’ man.
He sent her a grin. “Maybe you’re right. I’m sorry for sounding like I was treating you like an experiment. Anything to do with lightning, I get excited about. It interests me. I have a few gifts of my own that were enhanced by Whitney. I was asking you questions because one of those enhancements has to do with electrical energy.”
He heaved a sigh. “I actually came up here because I get tired of the way everyone watches out for me. Stands over me, eyes on me all the time. I imagine you felt similar, way worse, in Whitney’s laboratory. At least I have freedom. I shouldn’t have started in on you.”
He pushed a hand through his hair, trying to find his way with her. Trying to be honest. “I’m not good with women. I don’t usually …” He trailed off. “It’s just that I find you very attractive and I didn’t quite know what to do with that, so I fell back on what was most comfortable for me … science. I apologize, Jonquille.”
Her silvery-blue gaze drifted over his face in slow scrutiny as if checking to see if he was telling the truth. His gut clenched. There was something very otherworldly about the color of her eyes. The electrical charge in him bumped against the electrical charge in her over and over and then moved away just as it would in a thundercloud. He felt the buildup between them more as a sexual jolt each time and wondered if she was experiencing the same strange phenomenon.
He waved his hand, dismissing the subject. “Let’s not talk about Whitney or his experiments for a while. I came up here to get away from everything to do with him.”
She looked around her. “It is beautiful here.”
“Very remote. Not too many people could live here. Or understand the people who do choose to live here,” Rubin said. He swept his hand toward the cabin. He was beginning to feel a little desperate to find a way to get around the electrical charge building between them. He could feel the air growing heavier with it. “Did you discover the graveyard behind the house?”
“It’s covered over in the most beautiful wildflowers,” Jonquille said. “I weeded. I could tell it was a family plot.”
“Nearly our entire family is buried there. It started with both sets of grandparents. Then my father. My two older brothers aren’t in it because they disappeared, hiked out to find work, but they never returned, so we knew they were dead. If they weren’t dead, they would have come back to help. The rest of the graves are my sisters and mother. Diego and I buried them, one by one, before we left for Detroit to find work. We were kids when we left. Fourteen.”