I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 5

Samuel's POV

Mina looks at me, but only for a second before her eyes move to my right and left. And not once do her eyes change from the irritated expression she's wearing.

"What is this?" She turns back to Olivia. "Do you think that just because you're injured, I'm going to be at your back and call?"

"What? No. I called you in here so you can kick him out of the house." Olivia points at me, but once again Mina only briefly glances in my general direction.

"I was kidding about the imaginary boyfriend before, but I guess you weren't. You should get a real boyfriend instead. That is if you can actually get one with that dull hair of yours." Without a backward glance, Mina spins around and closes the door behind her as she leaves.

The moment the door clicks shut, I turn back to Olivia. She is glancing between me and the now-closed door and then lifts her hand to the side of her head to scratch her temple.

"There's your proof." I nod at the door. "I'm not human."

"Then what are you?" She reaches for her crutches and pulls them closer to her. "And why can I see you if Mom can't?"

"I'm a Guardian." I fold my arms in front of my chest. "And I'd like to know the second thing as well. I've been with you since you were born, but you've never been able to see me. Not until today."

"Since I've been born? You want me to believe that you've been following me since we were both babies?"

"You were a baby, not me. I don't age."

"Sure, this makes it so much more believable that you've been around me for my entire life." She lifts one of the crutches into the empty space between the bed and the desk and points it at me. "How gullible do you think I am?"

"Olivia Han. Seventeen. Divorced parents. Lives with mother Mina Han. Only child. No pets." I list the first facts I remember about her.

"That's what you could have read in my hospital file or heard from one of my friends. It proves nothing."

"What about all of those times you use this book," I point at the worn-out Encyclopedia beside me, "to pretend that you were studying, when you were playing video games. Or that you have a stash of money hidden underneath your mattress."

"The money isn't there anymore." She glances at the edge of the bed, where I know she hid the envelope. "And you could have read those things in my journal."

"You don't have a journal. And if you did, it would be lying empty at the bottom of one of the drawers."

She actually tried to write into a journal once when she was thirteen, but that ended with all the pages thorn out and scattered across this very room.

"You're right." She lowers the crutch again. "What does this mean now?"

"It means I need to find the reason why you're able to see me and reverse it." And before anyone figures out that she can see me.

"Why? Why would you need to reverse it? So you can continue to stalk me without my knowledge?"

I pull the pocket watch back out of my jeans and flip it open. The second hand is already on the nine and I watch the time tick by for another ten seconds before I jump off the desk.

"Your time's up." I clasp the watch close and put it back inside my pocket. Then with one last nod at Olivia, I close my eyes.

"Wa—" she begins, but her voice is abruptly cut off.

I open my eyes and find myself in the middle of a busy police station. Phones are ringing, while police officers dressed in dark blue clothes move around the room. I groan at the location and look up to the ceiling to curse my bad luck. First I discover one of my charges in the hospital, covered in bruises and her left foot wrapped in a cast, and now I find another charge sitting in front of a police officer's desk.