Outlier

The Proposition

Still in Jace's arms, Venus refused to look anywhere but down. He was patting her back absently, as if she was actually crying. She could have pretended to keep crying some more, if he was clueless like her father's bodyguards, but she knew he wasn't.

"The necklace," she muttered. "What's wrong with it?"

She also wanted to ask, Why did my block go away as soon as I put it on?

She didn't, obviously.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Don't you like it?"

Venus delved into his mind, then. She was surprised that he was thinking simple things like before; his thoughts weren't complex, like a normal person's would be. He thought of one thing, or perhaps a few things at a time, but never about anything more. He wasn't even thinking of the necklace. He was thinking of the tulips, lying abandoned on the couch. Why didn't she like them, she musn't like me, should I try a different flower. Venus huffed. She wanted to push him away, but she knew if she did that he would see her eyes, and that would be the end of it.

She ignored his question. "It was glowing. You're hugging me to hide it."

She felt a bit of his emotion- amusement. She rolled her eyes, even if he couldn't see.

"No, of course not. I'm hugging you because we're to be married."

"Oh, stop it already, will you? Can't you tell that this isn't what I want?" She raised her voice, both in pitch and volume, and brought it back down again. "I was doing just fine until you came along."

She wished she could reassume her block. She didn't want to hear his stupid, single-process thoughts anymore, or feel his emotions within her.

Lowly, he asked, "Do you want to listen to me for a moment?"

"No." Her palms were sweating. Try and get the block back, just focus on that and nothing else.

"Well, I'll just talk and if you happen to take in what I say, that's fine." He paused. "You have no future here, with your father. If you stay, your life will end in misery, and that's putting it nicely. I can spare you that fate if you come with me."

She hesitated. "Where?"

"It doesn't matter where. I can offer you protection no matter the location. But we have to leave before tomorrow night."

He wants to protect me?

She shook her head. "No, I want to stay with my father. He loves me. He can protect me better than you can."

"Yeah? Then should I show him how you look right now?"

He turned her in his arms, and pushed her forward so she was in front of him, facing her father who could wake at any moment, and the camera that captured everything that was happening. Venus kept her head down, her teeth gritted.

Jace pulled her back into his arms, to safety. He held her head to his chest, hiding her eyes from sight, and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I know what you are, Venus."

She tried to read his mind in her shock, but found that he was pushing back against her. All of her attempts bounced away like bullets against a shield.

"Oh, didn't you know? I took a class in Thailand on countermeasures against Anomalies. You must have thought I was stupid, thinking the way I did." He laughed.

"So that's it, then?" Venus hissed, low enough so that only Jace would be able to hear her. "You put the necklace on to break my block, and now that you're sure of what I am, you're going to out me if I don't come with you?"