Almost as if he could sense someone staring at him, he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his back pocket and slipped them on. Then he folded himself deeper into his winter coat, like he just wanted to disappear. Suddenly, it seemed horribly unfair that I could and he couldn’t.

Realizing that I’d inadvertently clutched my hand to my heart, I cleared my throat and turned to Gabrielle.

“Let’s get out of here, okay?” I croaked.

Gabrielle nodded, looking uncharacteristically serious. “Yeah, I think that’s probably a good idea.”

She slipped out of her chair without moving it, tilting her head to indicate that I should do the same—no point in going invisible just to alert the Seers to our presence with the scrape of a chair. I followed her lead, wriggling out and then skirting the neighboring tables to better avoid the Mayhews.

I’d almost reached Gabrielle, who waited for me by the café entrance, when I hesitated. Then, like a fool, I reversed course until I stood only a few inches from Joshua.

Stupidly, recklessly, I leaned in close enough to feel the warmth of his presence, to breathe in the sweet, musky scent of his cologne. These were things I’d wanted to experience in full since we first met. And now I had to act like a thief, stealing this moment from him.

I’d just reached out to grab his hand—to see if our connection had in fact disappeared—when I heard Gabrielle choking behind me. Apparently, I’d shocked her this time. I dropped my hand, but that didn’t deter me from lingering beside Joshua … waiting.

Waiting for him to notice me. To sense me, even though he could no longer see me.

I wanted some kind of recognition from him, some proof that our connection withstood what happened last night. I wanted to know that, whether I ran from or fought against the demons, there would always be something of us that survived.

I didn’t get that reassurance.

Without so much as a glance in my direction, Joshua sighed once and then followed his enormous family to the back of the café, where a large crowd of people ate standing up outside at tall, chairless tables.

Watching him walk away, I sighed, too. Then I turned around and slunk back toward Gabrielle, who ogled me from the gate.

“What the hell was that?” she said through clenched teeth. “I thought we were avoiding Lover Boy?”

I hung my head, feeling embarrassed. “We were. We are. Let’s just go.”

Thankfully, she simply nodded, slipping on her sunglasses and moving quickly with me out of the café. She didn’t speak until we’d made it halfway down the sidewalk. Then she smacked me on the arm.

“Where are your sunglasses?” she demanded.

I reached absently for my face and found nothing. No glasses.

“Crap, I left them in the café.” I turned to go back, but Gabrielle grabbed my arm and tugged me to a stop.

“Don’t go back there,” she said. “It will only upset you more.”

I shook my head. “The Mayhews were moving to the back of the café. I probably won’t even be able to see Joshua. Besides, we need to get those glasses back in the actress’s closet—one less thing that could get Felix arrested.”

“Bah,” Gabrielle grumbled. “Who cares about the stupid glasses? I’m sorry I even brought them up.”

“You can’t tell me you don’t know the exact designer and cost of those things.”

She grinned sheepishly. “Fendi. Three hundred and forty-five dollars. Before tax.”

“Now tell me you want to leave them for a stranger to own.” When she didn’t respond, I shook her hand off my arm and began trudging back down the sidewalk. “See you in less than two minutes, promise.”

By the time I’d pressed my way through the line outside Café du Monde, I’d already admitted my ulterior motives to myself. Of course I wanted to catch another glimpse of Joshua; I wasn’t made of stone.

But when I ducked back into the seating area and angled over to our table—where a waitress now cleared our mess—I couldn’t see the Mayhews anywhere.

Maybe they went inside, I thought as I covertly swiped the sunglasses off the tabletop. Couldn’t hurt to check …

I spun around, more than ready to slink my way into the interior restaurant, and then stopped short.

Alex stood less than a foot from me—eyes wide, expression alert. I hadn’t seen him earlier, when the Mayhews entered the café; he must have been buried deep in the crowd. Now he searched, hunted the area where Gabrielle and I had sat only minutes ago.

It’s nothing, I reasoned. This doesn’t mean anything.

But I went cold when he whispered, “Amelia?”

I pressed my lips together, held my breath, and kept so still I thought I could hear my phantom pulse pounding in my ears. Still, Alex inched closer. After another beat, he tried again.

“Amelia, are you there?”

I stayed silent, now biting the inside of my lips to keep them shut. This technique was especially effective when Alex leaned forward until only inches separated us.

“I know you’re here,” he whispered. “I can smell your perfume. Like peaches, right?”

Despite my resolve to stay silent, a tiny squeak escaped my lips.

I prayed that Alex couldn’t hear it above all the laughing and talking and plate rattling. But he immediately jerked backward, looking triumphant. Then his expression shifted to one of pleading.

“If you are here,” he said, louder now, “please stay and listen to me, just for a second. I think I know what’s going on with you. I think you’re afraid of something.”

I stayed motionless, silent, as he continued.

“I know I don’t know you that well, but I could see it written all over your face the other night. Something has you scared, and I think you’re trying to run from it.”

He took a step closer, and I jagged to one side. “I’m sure I look like a crazy person right now, talking to thin air; but I have to tell you: we can keep you safe. Me, Annabel, and Drew. Hayley and Jillian. Maybe even Josh. My group of Seers may be young, but we have the power to protect you.”

I started to move backward one step at a time, away from him. Perhaps Alex sensed my retreat, because he turned blindly in several directions, his arms flailing. I nearly shrieked when one of them hit me.

Or at least it should have hit me.

Like Felix’s this morning, Alex’s hand slid across me as if we hadn’t touched at all. I didn’t feel the pressure of the impact; and, judging by his expression, Alex didn’t, either.

“Think about it, Amelia,” he said, unaware of what had just happened. “Come back to us, and we’ll protect you. I’ll protect you.”

No, I whispered in my head. You won’t.

Then I spun around, running out of the café before I accidentally answered him out loud.

Chapter

TWENTY-FIVE

I didn’t speak to Gabrielle again for at least another twenty minutes.

When I approached her on the sidewalk, I complied with her request to go visible so that we could talk without sounding like disembodied voices. But otherwise I waved off her questions. Then I made some vague gesture, indicating that she could follow me on my blind quest to go anywhere that wasn’t Café du Monde. And if she didn’t … well, I didn’t particularly care at that moment.

Eventually, my quest landed us in a small park with a double alley of oak trees, where I found myself pacing frantically. Gabrielle silently watched me for a few minutes and then plopped onto one of the park benches that line the alley.

“Told you not to go back in there,” she stated bluntly. “I knew it wouldn’t turn out well.”