“Silas?” Quillan spoke into his phone, moving away.
“Tariq,” I breathed, as my brother picked up.
“Hey, Seph.” He sounded happy, if a little strained. “I was going to call you tonight. How is everything? Are you coming back soon?” He asked me the same thing every time I called him.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m coming back tomorrow. Can you pick me up from the station?”
“Yes! Ah, I mean, sure. Yeah, that’s cool. Just text me the time.”
“I will—Tariq?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay away from Gerald, okay?”
He hesitated. “I was going to go over there tonight to drop some money, I’ve been putting it off for too long.”
“Don’t go.” My voice turned hard, unyielding. “I’ll do it when I get there.”
“It’s no prob—”
“Don’t go!” I began to shake, my grip on the phone unsteady, and he must have heard the hysteria that laced my tone.
“Seph, what’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. Stay safe.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you, too.” I hung up, my breathing slightly erratic, and walked to Quillan, tapping him on the shoulder.
He held the phone away from his ear.
“Can you ask Silas to book me on a train tomorrow morning?”
Quillan nodded. “You heard? Okay, thanks. We can’t all go; it’d be too obvious. Just you.”
I waited for him to finish the conversation, my arms wrapped around myself.
“Don’t tell Noah or Cabe until they’re back tonight,” Quillan warned me, ending his call and returning his phone to his pocket. “They’ll abandon their assignment and come back early if you do.”
I nodded. “Sure.”
“I would suggest that we bring Tariq here, where we would at least be able to keep a better eye on him, but I think that’s possibly a very bad idea. The messenger followed us over here, and he killed Aiden just for talking to you. The last thing we want to do is plant more people under his nose that he can use against you. Your father might be a piece of work, but this guy is worse.”
I nodded again, frustrated tears gathering in my eyes. “I know, and I won’t let him kill anybody else. Tariq needs to stay out of this mess. He has a safe place to stay, and Gerald won’t bother looking for him at school. He won’t bother with anything much as long as he has money to drink away and occasionally buy food with.”
“Then we’ll keep him buttered up,” Quillan said. “And Tariq won’t need to go over there anymore.”
“I need a job,” I repeated glumly. “I don’t feel right, not paying for these things myself.”
Quillan crossed his arms tightly, boring a hole right through my skull with the intensity of whatever was turning the clogs in that brain of his.
“Alright,” he seemed to decide. “I’ll talk to the others about it.”
“Thankyou!” I reigned in the urge to hug him.
“Don’t thank me yet, you’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
I didn’t care. I was overjoyed by the time I barrelled into Poison in the car park.
“Awe.” She laughed, patting my head as I hugged her waist. “Aren’t you the most adorable thing that ever lived, with your hugs and your hair and your boobs and whatnot.”
I rolled my eyes at her and Clarin found us, swinging his bag into the back of her car. Poison had picked us up for school that morning since Noah and Cabe were on assignment.
“Don’t empower her with boob compliments,” Clarin said with mock seriousness. “We need to keep the little mouse pure.”
“But they’re glorious,” Poison protested, sliding into the driver’s seat. “Who knew a girl so small could be packing that much into a t-shirt?”
I looked down at my chest. I was well-aware that my size was entirely average, if a little on the small side. Poison must be trying to boost my confidence for our double-date.
“Yeah,” Clarin relented. “They’re pretty good, as far as boobs go.”
This made me smile, since Clarin complimenting boobs was a rare thing. Poison, on the other hand, spoke about boobs far too much to be considered within the scope of ‘normal’.
“Thanks.” I said.
Clarin chuckled.
Poison snorted. “You wouldn’t know good boobs if they smacked you in the face.”
“Neither would you!”
She gasped in fake outrage. “I am a girl, Clarice, we notice everything.”
“Name’s Clarin,” he corrected her with insurmountable, fake patience dragging at his tone.
“Clarice is better,” Poison decided. “Seph loves my nicknames, don’t you, cupcake?”
“Sure.”
They both laughed, and Clarin slid down his seat to wind his arms around my neck from behind.
“Little Seph,” he lamented. “You’re so eager to please. The entire student body hangs off your every gesture—of course it’s probably because you’re pretending to be Cabe and Noah’s sister. Have you noticed, Poison?”
“Sure I’ve noticed.” Poison clucked her tongue in a disapproving manner. “They call her the Duchess.”
“Huh?” I looked at them both, but they apparently weren’t in a particularly informative mood today. Poison was too keyed up about her date.
“Do you think Mike’s a secret sex-fiend?” she asked Clarin.
“He’s got a few tattoos that he keeps hidden.” Clarin seemed to be considering her question seriously. “I saw them at Sierra’s pool party last month. And he runs with Hallagan’s pack outside of school. They’re pretty wild sometimes. It’s a possibility.”
“I can sense it.” Poison sighed. “Whenever he pushes his glasses up, he secretly looks at my boobs.”
“That’s because your boobs are hanging out.”
“They are not!” Poison tugged down on her Charlie Chaplin shirt until her black bra was peeking out.
“Skank,” Clarin shot out from the back.
“Man-whore,” Poison returned quickly. “Don’t forget, cousin, your reputation proceeds you.”
“Apparently it runs in the family,” I said.
Clarin barked out a laugh but Poison shot me a concerned look. It softened when she realised I was joking.
“Cabe and Noah are reformed, remember?” Clarin’s tone insinuated that he didn’t believe it for a second. “It’s all on you, Seph. You’re the only Weston-spawned bastard in the country with a squeaky-clean rep. Do us proud, kid.”
We arrived at Poison’s mansion and I waved them inside, dialling Cabe on my new phone as I lagged behind in the front courtyard.
“Adair residence,” he answered. “You’ve reached Mr. Adair’s assistant, Gillian IV, how may I be of assistance?”
“You’re supposed to say Gillian the fourth, silly. Not Gillian IV.”
“Ugh, Seph, hearing your voice is too much. Give me a warning next time so that I don’t fall off the roof.”
“What are you doing on a roof?”
“Can’t tell you that.”
Nothing new there.
“Um… can you get off the roof for a second?”
“Why? Are you going to tell me something that’ll make me fall, or something that’ll make me jump?”
I laughed uneasily. “I’m going on a date.”
“Jumping it is.”
“Cabe!”
“Sorry. What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well it’s actually Poison’s date, with Mike, and I’m kind of tagging along, and so is Mike’s friend. Poison said everyone is gossiping about how you guys are suddenly not interested in girls anymore, and she thinks it’s attracting too much attention.”
“It is,” he admitted. “But what does that have to do with you dating?”
“I’m setting a precedent. It’ll be fine. Harmless conversation and all that.”
“Have you ever even been on a date? Before you s
tarted hanging out with us you were kind of a loner. Tariq told me all about it—you barely even used to speak to him, and he’s your brother.”
“Dating has become really loosely defined—”
“That’s a no, then.”
“Hmph.”
“Silas is going to flip the hell out; you know that right? He might not want to be part of a bond, but he goes all psycho-alter-ego whenever somebody touches you.”
“I’ll deal with him.”
“When?”
“After the date.”
His laugh was muffled, as though he was trying to mask the sudden sound. “Good plan,” he eventually said, his voice clear again. “Seph?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for the heads up, I’ll let Noah know. Don’t let the poor sucker touch you. I’m serious.”
“I know, Lucifer.” I worked to soften my voice, and he paused on the other end.
For a moment, neither of us spoke, and it was like he was right there, in front of me. I turned from the house, looking out to the road as my breath whispered out in a light sigh. I had spoken to Cabe first for a reason, and now I was starting to feel a little guilty about it. Him and Noah had feelings for me, I knew that, I just didn’t know exactly what that entailed. I also didn’t know whether to attribute the bulk of their feelings to the bond, or whether they genuinely felt a certain way about me—outside of our obvious friendship. It was hard to tell, especially with the knowledge that they had been actively dating for a year before they really got to know me—all the while knowing that I was their Atmá.
“I’ll see you tonight.” Cabe’s tone was as soft as mine, but then it quickly gained a sharp edge. “At a reasonable hour, young lady.”
I laughed and pushed aside the guilt that I was taking advantage of his good nature to break the news to Noah gently. “Yes, Sir.”
I found Poison’s mother in the kitchen, mixing a salad at the counter. She had maids to do this sort of thing, but I always found her in the kitchen anyway. She wasn’t home very often, so I supposed she liked to enjoy it when she was. I had learned that Poison had a step-father, a man by the name of Dorian, who lived in New York—and that was the reason that her mother was mostly absent. It had surprised me to learn that Aiden had actually been her step-brother, but it didn’t at all surprise me that her mother had married someone other than Poison’s father… since Poison’s father was Weston… and Weston was…
He was…
Fine, I had no idea what Weston was—but I was ninety-five percent sure that he was a terrible and dangerous person.
“Hey there, Stephanie.” Poison’s mum smiled at me as I walked in, but there was something broken in her eyes. The soft brown colour had melted into the more permanent murk of a sorrow that can’t forgive, or can’t forget.
It was always the same. I hadn’t known her before Aiden died, but I assumed that she hadn’t looked quite so sad before then.
“Hello, Mrs. Singala.”
She fixed me with a half-way stern look, but it lacked the power of a proper delivery. “Courtney,” she corrected, not for the first time.
I just smiled and headed upstairs. If I stayed around her for too long my heart would jump out of my chest and throw itself onto her cutting board.
“This one,” Clarin announced as I walked into Poison’s bedroom.
He was holding up a blue dress that looked curiously tame for Poison’s taste.
“Seconded.” Poison raised her hand.
“Thirded,” I said, also raising my hand.
“That’s not a thing.” Clarin smirked at me and tossed the dress to Poison.
She shucked her clothes where she stood, pulling the dress on and then extracting her bra from underneath once she had it in place. I contained a laugh once the dress was on.
“Looks good.” Clarin nodded.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course it does,” she said. “Have you met me?”
“There’s even a bow,” I said, pointing.
They both followed the direction of my finger, to where the higher-than-normal neckline had been adorned with a soft blue bow.
“Is it working?” Poison smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Poor Mike. He clearly hasn’t learnt that the most dangerous things come in pretty packages, yet. But you’re about to teach him, right?”
Poison jumped over the bed with a laugh and grabbed a hold of my upper arms, giving one vicious twist that sent me into a tailspin toward Clarin. I collided with a hard chest, and Clarin easily steadied me, hooking his arms around me and squeezing… until my feet started to lift from the floor.
“Unfair!” I cried out.
“Tsk tsk.” Poison’s grin stretched, her lips revealing a suspiciously feline contentment. “You should know that Clarice is always on my team, little mouse.” She stalked up to me and bopped me on the nose with her finger. “You need to learn to fight back.”
“I fight back just fine. That’s not the problem.”
“Oh, yeah.” Clarin laughed, setting me down. “We know. You fight back a little too fine to risk fighting much at all.”
“Something like that,” I grumbled, my feet shuffling and my head down as I made to move past Poison.
She turned her back to inspect something on the bed, and I let my mouth lift into a smile a bare second before I acted. Clarin narrowed his eyes at my smile, but he was too late. I collided with Poison, my arms wrapping around her waist and sending her propelling toward the bed. She landed on the mattress with an oomph, the breath escaping from her lungs, her short blond locks half-obscuring her eyes—still frozen wide in shock.
“Of course,” she muttered, after recovering, “you’re the prettiest package of them all, aren’t you?”
I jumped off her. “I don’t know if the bow will work. He’s already seen what you normally wear. He sees you everyday at school.”
“Yeah but I told him I’m turning over a new leaf.” She lifted up onto her elbows, pushing the hair from her face.
“Are you really?”
She laughed. “Cupcake, I don’t change for nobody.”
“This one is for you,” Clarin interrupted, pushing something against my chest.
I took it from him, holding out the sky-blue, fitted lace dress. It had cap-sleeves and a high neckline, the top-half only a sparse lace covering. There was a white slip beneath the lace outline, ending mid-thigh and providing the cover that the lace was neglecting. It was beautiful, but I only stared at it.
“You promised.” Poison pouted when she saw the look on my face.
I puffed out a breath, pushing away all of the negative feelings and turning my back on them to change my clothes quickly. I pulled on tights and an oversized, soft grey cardigan for a little extra cover. If I hesitated any longer I wouldn’t end up going, and that would make it really hard for Noah and Cabe when the time came for them to show a little interest in the pining female masses of Hollow Ground College.
My stomach began to twist as Clarin did my hair into a loose French braid over my shoulder, and the twisting became somewhat of a tornado as Poison parked in front of a bowling alley and dragged me out of the car.
“Bowling?” I asked, incredulous.
She shrugged. “Mike’s idea. He’s probably well aware that the more innocent he makes himself seem, the more I want to ruin him.” She winked at me, and I tried not to laugh, or choke, or run back to the car and high-tail it all the way home.
We went inside and paid for our shoes, and then Poison was striding toward the far lane, where two guys were waiting. Mike was tall and lanky, his hair close-cropped and his eyes fixed on Poison’s approach. He pushed his glasses up nervously and visibly swallowed. I chewed on my bottom lip. The other boy was sitting with his back turned, and all I could see was a close-cropped head of dark hair.
Poison launched herself at Mike, hugging him tightly. His face went red, and the other boy stood up, stretching to his full height and shoving his hands in his pockets. r />
“Poison.” His voice was familiar.
“Callaghan.” She nodded at him, her eyes flicking back to me. “You know Seph, yeah?”
He turned slowly, and it hit me a little too late.
Danny.
Oh no. No no no.
“Hello,” I said meekly, moving to the row of chairs opposite him. I sat down and concentrated on swapping my shoes so that I didn’t have to look at him.
“I told you the direct approach wouldn’t work,” he whispered, sitting next to me.
I froze. “You set this up?” I straightened, seeing that Poison and Mike had gone off to choose their bowling balls.
Danny was leaning back in his chair, his fingers tapping at his knees, watching me. “Yeah? Is that bad?”
I chewed a little harder on my lip. “I’m…”
“Chill,” he interjected, touching my knee briefly as he stood again. “It’s no big deal. Just bowling, right?” He smiled and headed off to the rack of balls.
I whipped out my phone, my finger hovering over the list of contacts. Before I could decide what to do, the phone vibrated in my hand: a message from Noah.
Where are you?
I glanced up at the others, worrying my lip so hard that I tasted blood. I texted him the address of the bowling alley and stuffed my phone back in my pocket just as Poison returned. I shot her an apologetic look and her shoulders slumped. She groaned.
“Everything okay?” Mike sounded concerned, his hand light on her back.
“Yeah.” She recovered quickly. “I just realised I told my stupid cousins where I was going tonight. They’ll probably turn up at some point.”
Danny froze, his eyes snapping to mine. He wasn’t quick enough… I saw the annoyance clouding the grey of his irises before he shuttered the emotion and the stormy expression blew away. I got up to pick a bowling ball and then returned to my seat, cuddling the heavy sphere in my lap and bouncing my toes against the ground nervously.
“You bit yourself.” Danny touched my chin, tilting my head to the side. His finger swiped the cut on my lower lip and it came away with blood on it. He didn’t look at me, merely placed his finger in his mouth and sucked it off.
A wave of emotion rolled through me with all the severity of a nerve-army tossing fire-balls of fear, confusion and embarrassment at my carefully-constructed social mask. I could feel the alarms going off in my brain, and I imagined little nerve-soldiers marching forward to fix the breach before I could overreact. My phone vibrated again.