I did. I actually wanted to do this.
There was a faint sound of chairs scraping in the background, but I was focused on him. He froze completely. I had a hold on him. He couldn’t move, not an inch. His eyes rolled in their sockets. I could smell the frantic fear on him, and if I were letting him move, he would’ve run by now.
I sensed others leaving the dining hall. The room was fast emptying.
Other humans had better life instincts than this one.
“Kellan!” Shay’s nails sunk into my arm, and she wrenched it from the table. “No!”
She yanked me out of whatever spell I’d been in.
I looked around and realized the black mist wasn’t just in me. It was all over the room, filling it up, going into every corner.
I turned, almost dazed, and realized I was still holding Damien’s friend. I had paralyzed him. I released him, and he scrambled backward. His pants were wet. He hit the floor on his back but was immediately back up and took off for the exit.
“What just happened?” Damien stood, stepping back from the table. He moved to stand between his friend, who was out of the room by now, and me.
Shay groaned and snapped her fingers.
The smell of smoke mixed with my mist.
A moment later, someone yelled, “Fire!”
The alarm sounded.
It was only the three of us left, and for a beat, no one said a word.
I fought the rage, trying to suck the mist back inside me. But it lingered in the air.
“Wha—” Damien started to speak when the door opened behind him.
The alarm grew louder, and his friend—the one I had frozen—stepped back in the room. His face was set, guarded, his fists opening and closing at his side. Then, he lifted his head, his hands unfisted, and he strode back toward us.
Shay moved to stand between him and me.
I moved to the side so he could still see me, and his gaze never wavered.
A few yards away, he stopped and looked at Damien for a second. Then back to me.
“What just happened?” he asked.
I snorted, but Shay rounded on me, giving me her look of death.
I shut up.
“Crow—” Damien stepped toward him.
“No, dude.” He moved back a step, and Damien halted. He looked back at me. “I know something just happened, and I know you did it. I—” His throat moved up and down. He blinked a few times, rapidly, before his chest lifted and held. “I couldn’t move, and I knew you were going to kill me. I…” He edged back another step. “To tell the truth, I still feel like you’re going to kill me.”
He was right. I still wanted to.
The black mist thickened and swirled around in the room.
Crowman saw it and moved to the side.
“That’s smoke,” Shay said.
He turned to her and looked up.