The Missing Link (Book 1: Outcast) [CURRENTLY EDITING]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SWEET MINT

We drove twenty minutes before arriving downtown. Hunter took a right turn on Grand Avenue, driving through River North until he stopped in front of a neon sign. The letters were slightly damaged, but they read out perfectly: TEARDROP BAR.

We headed toward the crowd standing outside the double doors, which let some of the music's thumps to flow out. Hunter's fingers laced with mine and he dragged us into the place with a simple nod at the bouncers, leaving me to wonder whether it was an act of magic, luck, or if he actually knew the guys.

I couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

Inside, the music was just as loud. It looked like any other upscale bar in the city: people were rubbing their bodies against each other, and multicolored LED lights were scattered all throughout the place. On the other side, there was a long bar where everyone was trying to order a drink from the fancy liquor lines on the wall behind it.

My eyes moved a little to the right, where there was a narrow staircase leading to the second floor. I saw a couple of couches and guarded areas from where we stood, and through the shadows, I caught sight of some guys and girls entwining their bodies in them. Their hands moved everywhere, and flashes of bare skin showed every now and then.

Surely it had to be the VIP section.

I wanted to map the place out in case I had to run the hell out of there for some reason, but my focus was yanked away from that task as Hunter lowered his mouth to my ear. "People are staring at us, Olivia. You have to relax."

He was right. We were the only ones just standing in the middle of the dancefloor, and I could feel their gazes prying on us even from the upstairs area. "What are they looking at?"

"They can tell when someone doesn't necessarily belong in here," he said softly.

I stilled, processing the idea of being right there—with him—after what we'd been talking about. "Where did you bring me, Hunter?"

"Close your eyes," he said. "I want you to see it for yourself."

I did what he told me to do, my pulse edging as I felt his hard chest rubbing closer against my back. "Now what? I'll open them and everyone will scream 'surprise'?"

"Not quite," he admitted. "Just try to open your mind like you did back at school." I felt his hand trailing down my arm as he whispered, "Look outside this human reality."

Part of me was afraid of doing it again, but my curious side couldn't resist.

I took a deep breath, let my heart relax, and tried to focus as hard as I could in order to have an "open mind" like he said. Hunter's descriptions of shape-shifters and different kinds of creatures then flooded my mind, which was sent reeling, unable to comprehend the images it was being sent by my eyes when I glanced around one more time.

The place looked exactly the same, but the people had changed. I wasn't staring at a girl rubbing her short skirt against some guy's tight pants anymore. I was witnessing a girl with light, wing-like structures adhered to her back, blowing some kind of dust at his face. It reminded me of the waitress back a Freddy's. Then, over by the bar, I caught sight of a man's hair morphing from brunette to blonde, and the woman sitting next to him nodded, as if she approved that version over the last one.