The next day was spent at the house on Ava’s orders. It was a Saturday, which meant Daisy and Rose, the two youngest Masons, were home from school. They liked spending time with Lena and Hesper. The four girls did makeovers and painted each other’s nails, which the younger two greatly enjoyed, and Hesper even told them she would send them some of her old hand-me-down clothes, which made Daisy practically scream with excitement. Hesper bought new clothes every season, so her clothes were rarely ever worn more than a couple of times. Later in the day they left for a sleepover at a friend’s house; a human friend.
“They don’t talk like we do,” Daisy pointed out to Lena in her wide-eyed, innocent way. “But they’re nice and I like them anyways.”
Later, when Lena asked Greg if he ever worried about them saying too much about the Silenti world, he only laughed.
“They’re kids,” he shrugged, wiping away a tear from his eye as he continued to chuckle. “They have active imaginations. When they’re old enough to be taken seriously, they’ll either cut it out when they see how serious it is, or their peers will start to mock them for being crazy. Problem solved.”
Lena forced a smile.
Greg set a hand on her shoulder. “Lena, I wasn’t born into this world. I was brought in, like you. When I was twelve, I ran away from a militant boarding school my parents sent me to. They sent me because I wouldn’t stop lying about being able to hear what people were thinking. Everyone at school thought I was a freak as well, so I left. Human-born Silenti often find themselves on the outskirts of human society because people find them odd. That’s how the Council can scoop them up so easily without anyone noticing.” Greg paused to smile and shake his head. “Someday, they’re going to figure out that humans won’t believe them, even if they tell the truth. I just hope that they decide the friends they’ve made are worth the extra effort.”
Lena had never considered it before, but Greg was right. No one would believe the truth about the Silenti world, especially coming from a child. She supposed that someone might try to prove their advanced abilities using a trick of telepathy, perhaps by having one person read another’s mind to determine the number and suit of a card hidden from view. But hadn’t this been done already? There were reports of people with almost every Silenti ability she had encountered so far, and most humans didn’t believe it. The ones who did believe it were regarded as crazy. Even if a person were to see it for themselves, they would probably still believe there was a trick or “rational explanation” at work.
As Hesper and Eric sat in the living room watching television, Mrs. Ralston was doing a cross-word puzzle in the kitchen, and Ava was battling a headache in her bedroom, Lena found the Masons sitting at their respective desks in the office—Serena eating a bowl of cereal and chatting on the phone, and Greg playing solitaire on his computer. The office was still done up in rugby regalia, the same as it had been when Lena was little.
“Uh huh,” Serena looked over at Lena as she talked into the phone. “Of course. I completely agree. Can I call you back a little later? Something important just came up…Uh huh. Bye.”
Lena shook her head. “You really didn’t have to—“
“You want to discuss your exposition! Nothing is more important.” Serena smiled gleefully.
Greg turned his chair around and gently folded his hands.
Lena looked back and forth between them. “How did you…?”
Serena nodded. “It’s been on your mind for a while now. How much have you figured out?”
“Um…” Lena looked over at Greg, and then back into Serena’s dark eyes. “Well, not a whole lot, I guess. I need help.”
Greg stood up. “Good luck.” And he walked out of the office. Lena stared after him; had she said something wrong?
“He’s not allowed to help. No one on the Council, excepting your uncle, is allowed to help you with the exposition. Too much of a chance for bribery and coercion.” Serena took a last bite out of her cereal and set it on her desk. “We’ll need notes…” She pulled out a legal pad and a pen, gestured to Greg’s empty chair, and Lena sat down. “Now. I know this is going to be difficult for you, but your exposition needs to contain your full opinions on current events. The political situation, the religious situation, and the social situation. And don’t lie, because they’ll know.”
Lena’s jaw fell open. She knew she would be cast as a radical considering her political beliefs. Her perspective on Silenti religion was—unique—to say the least. She hadn’t even known that a social situation existed. “Oh, my God.”
Serena pointed the pen at her and then started jotting onto the page. “You believe in a God…it’s a start!” She looked back up at Lena.
I’m never going to get in… Lena thought.
Serena tilted her head to the side. “And that’s going to be a problem. First, you’re going to need confidence. And second, was it your intention to just broadcast that to the house?”
“No, I was just…”
“Try again, and this time think exclusively at me.” Serena said.
Lena closed her eyes and concentrated hard. Is this any better?
“It was okay. The exposition is usually given in the Silenti language…in thoughts, not words. As I’m sure you know, the assemblies are constituted of a great many people from all over the world. Some don’t speak English well, and communication through our thoughts—which is universal to all Silenti—is a key point in becoming a family representative. You’re going to need to work on your skills in that area.”
Lena flinched. Mrs. Ralston had given her copious lessons on Silenti thought-language, and the truth was that she just wasn’t very good at it. Her public speaking came across muffled, and she had no ability at all to hear the public thought-speak of others. It had to be specifically directed at her for her to hear it; she couldn’t generate private thought-speak at all. But she was willing to work on it. “Okay.”
Serena nodded resolutely. “Let’s start with the easy question, then. Where do you stand on our social situation?”
Easy question? Lena thought. “I’m sorry, which social situation?”
Serena crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. “You’ve only been to one assembly, but I assume you noticed that the beds were always made, the food cooked and served, and the clothes always washed?”
“Yes, because the Families bring their house hands to help.” Lena said.
“House hands, servants, slaves…There’s different dogmas and situations the world over. The big situation is that the Silenti do not regulate or have any laws concerning the ethical treatment of the lower classes. They don’t have representation in the Council because most of them are recovered children—human-raised Silenti who never gain what can be considered full Silenti abilities…” Serena paused. Lena was in such a situation, except that she was in the dining room and not the kitchen. “Recently they’ve been asking for it. They want representation, and many are hesitant to give it to them on the grounds that the family representative speaks for the entire household; others say that they shouldn’t have it because they aren’t full Silenti.”
“I’m in favor. They deserve to vote.” The family representatives voted out of self-interest, and the lower classes were feeling it. Devin had told her so once while they dried dishes together.
“That won’t do well before the Council.” Serena looked up very solemnly.
Lena shrugged in frustration. “But if I’m not allowed to lie, then—“
“Try to think about it from a different angle,” Serena tucked the pen behind her ear as her hand movements became more animated. “You’re well-traveled, yes? How many times has intervention from an outside force caused a people to stand up, unite, and peaceably agree to a new governing system? Rarely, if at all, to my knowledge. It takes a revolution.”
“You think the lower classes would revolt?” Lena asked.
“It happened in France, and many other places. But it’s not about what I thi
nk…It’s about the fact that, historically speaking, you can only be sure that a vote will be used responsibly if it’s taken by those who want it.” Serena reasoned.
“So…” Lena mulled Serena’s position over in her mind. “You’d rather the Council waited for a violent upheaval that would probably divide the community further, rather than settling it now? Is that what you mean by taking it?”
Serena threw her hands in the air. “It’s not about me! It’s…look, you’re insane if you think the majority of people on that Council would vote to give their servants a voice in the law. It’s good to be the king, right? Same reason they’ve kept it a system of mostly first-born males. It’s self-preservation. Change won’t happen overnight. What I’m trying to say is this: they won’t let you in if you have an agenda concerning the lower classes. None of them are really from the lower classes. So you need to frame your opinion carefully—overnight change never works, fair statement?”
“Sure.” Lena replied. It seemed to have worked for France.
“So maybe you do support better representation of the lower classes, but not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. You support a system that will prepare everyone, the lower and upper classes, for a new governing system. Slow, gradual change—because we have a problem and it needs to be fixed. Just try to avoid defining ‘slow’ in concrete terms.” She looked over at Lena, who wasn’t convinced. It was the biggest load of bull she had ever heard, and yet she had heard it several times before from various politicians. “Just think about it. Maybe talk to someone about it.”
Lena shook her head. “I’ll think about it. It’s not right, though.”
Serena scribbled onto the page and looked back up. “What about politics?”
“Integrationist.” Lena replied flatly. “That’s not up for debate.”
Serena scribbled onto the page. “And where do you stand on religion?”
Staring at the ceiling, Lena sighed. “Nowhere. I don’t believe in the portal. I’ll respect the religions of the Silenti as long as they don’t intrude on my life.”
Serena cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t believe in the portal? Not at all?”
Lena leveled her gaze. “Nope. It’s never actually been confirmed as real—probably just lore.”
“That’s very interesting.” Serena raised her eyebrows, turned to a new page on her legal pad, and scribbled.
Suddenly feeling as though the session had taken a turn to becoming a psychological examination, Lena felt defensive. “Just because I’m a Daray doesn’t mean that—“
“Not because you’re a Daray.” Serena looked up quickly. “Because your mom is the only living Silenti who claims to have actually seen it.”
Standing in the doorway of Ava’s bedroom, Lena looked at the strained figure lying on the bed. She had changed into a silver nightgown and cotton candy-like pink bathrobe, and her face was obscured by the eye mask and cold towel compress on her forehead. An open bottle of aspirin sat on the nightstand.
“Mom?”
“Is it important, Lena?” Ava moaned.
“When did you see the portal?” Lena asked.
Ava lifted the eye mask just enough to peek out from under it. “You’ve been talking to Serena. There’s no point in my telling you because you’ve already got your opinion.”
“All she told me was that you saw it. I need to know what you saw because…I never thought it was real, I guess.” Actually, Serena had said that Ava was the only living person who claimed to have seen it, but Lena felt it best to leave that tidbit out.
Ava removed her compress, sat up, and pushed her mask up. She spoke in an exhausted tone; each word dragging out like it weighed too much to easily travel the distance from mouth to ear. “Sit down. It’s a long story.”
Lena sat down on the bed next to Ava. She was hoping what her mother was about to say would decide her mind for her by being either entirely ridiculous or revolutionary—anything in between would stick her in a difficult spot.
“Fourteen years ago, Aaron and I were in Ecuador diving the reefs for our third anniversary. We lived very much like you lived, I suppose. Place to place, one right after the other. No real home.” Ava shuddered. “I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want my father to have you. He was so angry with me, he said he’d kill me if I ever tried to come home. When he found out about Thomas, he started petitioning to gain custody because he immediately named him his heir. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
“I was selfish and I wanted to prove to him that I could do what I wanted when I wanted, but it was hard. It was so much harder than I ever thought, because you and Thomas were such a handful. I never knew taking care of kids could be so hard—you were always hungry, or sleepy, or needed changing…did you know that kids don’t toilet train until they’re three? Sometimes you two would just cry and cry for no reason. One of you would start to cry and wake up the other…I was overwhelmed. Two small children, and we were always traveling to keep Thomas away from him. It was hell.
“And then there was Ecuador. Aaron wanted to take me scuba diving for our third anniversary…I didn’t want to celebrate it at all, but I guess it worked out lucky for me. He took me out on a private tour…one of his friends had a boat and was certified. He stayed up on the boat with you two. When we were down there, we found a box partly buried in the coral. A big old trunk, just like pirate’s treasure in the movies. Aaron said to leave it at first, because the coral was growing all over it, but then I saw what was written on it. It was in Latin, which I didn’t know, but there on the lid…smack in the middle of the lid…was the word ‘Silenti.’ And I knew. I just knew.” Ava looked over at Lena, who sat with her eyes straight ahead, focused on the wall opposite the bed.
“Wait.” Lena furrowed her brow. “I thought the portal was old. Like, older than Latin--older than the word 'Silenti'.”
“The adornments were added later.” Ava shrugged. “It’s in one of those old books. Aaron couldn’t see it…he was human. Only I could see the writing. We pried it out of the coral and swam it back up to the boat. His friend was really upset that we had destroyed part of the coral formation until I said what I thought the box was. Aaron was livid—he said I should have left it in the coral. Another fifty years and it might have been covered completely. But then we had it, and we had to decide what to do with it. It was heavier on land, so we left it in the boat at the dock. Aaron said we should dump it back in the water the next day, and I told him we would. But as I lay there in the dark, another possibility came to me.
“I waited until he fell asleep and then I snuck back out to the boat with Thomas. I knew that I couldn’t dump it back out at sea because I’d never find it again. I hired some locals to help me move it out of town. I hid it in a little cave just outside of Manta. Then I took Thomas and went to the airport, and I went home. I asked for full amnesty from my father in exchange for Thomas and the location of the portal. So I was allowed back, and the nightmare was over.” Ava smiled over at Lena, proud of her cleverness, but Lena was frowning.
“You just left me and dad there? You didn’t say goodbye to me, or anything?”
“Well, I only really needed Thomas, and I couldn’t cart both of you out to the airport. It would have been such a hassle.” Ava crinkled her nose. “My father only wanted a boy. Tough luck for him when he found out Thomas was human.”
Lena sighed. It should have upset her, but such attitudes just didn’t anymore. Her mother was as self-centered and arrogant as any other Daray. “What happened with the portal?”
“I went before the Council and told them the location, a representative was decided on, and he went out and retrieved it. He was murdered on the way back, and the portal hasn’t been seen since.” Ava shrugged.
“Who killed him?” Lena asked.
“Oh, we never did find out…” Ava yawned and reached for the hairbrush on her nightstand. She started to pull it through her matted hair.
“Investigati
ve services really suck here.” Lena observed.
“Don’t use that word.” Ava replied indifferently. “It’s unbecoming of a lady. We’re sure it was someone with the New Faith, and that’s good enough.”
It was all very convenient. Too convenient. A Daray, the only Silenti who would be able to find and identify the portal, just happened to be scuba diving in the exact location where the portal is. And then the portal disappeared before any conclusive evidence could be gathered? It wasn’t enough to earn Lena’s blind faith, but it was worth asking around for more information.
Lena got up and walked back to her room. Since Hesper had helped her pick out a new winter wardrobe at the start of the trip, she hadn’t unpacked any of the summer clothes that she had brought in her suitcase. Now she was digging through them unceremoniously, looking for something she had packed on Griffin’s suggestion.
“There you are…” She whispered.
She pulled the journal free from a mess of shirts. She flipped it open to the inscription on the inside cover and tried to read it again, but to no avail. She flipped through the rest of the pages, wondering if she had missed something, but it was empty. She thought hard; if Griffin thought that she would need it, odds were that she would. But why would she need an empty book?
The rest of the next week passed Lena by without any need of the blue journal. She denied her impulse to call Griffin and ask what the book was for; she would figure it out on her own. But with only one more week to go, and her chances of figuring it out by herself getting slim, she finally enlisted Hesper’s help. After making her swear that she wouldn’t tell Griffin, of course.
“You know he’ll probably know anyway, right?” Hesper said in a bored tone.
“I’m asking that you try, that’s all.”
Hesper rolled her eyes. “I’ll try. Does this mean that I can ask you a favor, too? No questions asked?”
“Sure. Whatever. You’re my friend.” Lena looked sternly at her. “Do you read Latin?”
Hesper stared. “No. Lena, why the hell would I read Latin?”
Lena sighed. She really was going to have to learn Latin. “It’s…nothing. No reason. What do you need?”
Hesper checked the hall, closed the door, and lowered her voice. “I’m sneaking out tonight, and I need you to cover for me.”
Lena’s defenses went up. From experience, it wasn’t good for political figures to go sneaking out alone. “That’s really not a good idea, Hesper…”
“I’ll be fine. Look, you can sound the alarm if I’m not back by two.” Hesper implored.
“Where are you going?” Lena asked.
Hesper’s expression softened and Lena started to worry again. She was keeping another secret. “I want to tell you. You have no idea how bad I want to tell you. But your blocking isn’t that great yet, and you live with one of the most powerful living Silenti in the world. Not to mention Griffin. I just can’t tell you yet, okay? I swear I won’t be in any danger.”
Lena didn’t want to let her go. It was a bad idea to go out alone. Hesper was Griffin's sister, which made her a potential target. Her death wouldn't go unnoticed; it would be a powerful political statement. It was fraught, especially with the way Eric had been following her around... But Lena agreed, and as sickening as it was to her, asked her to call every half hour or so to check in.
Lena laid awake in bed, flipping back and forth through her journal. It was possible there was something written in it, but very doubtful. Lena had been able to read every book in the Waldgrave library for several months, and in general had no issue reading Silenti scripts anymore.
iter itineris susipio hik
Hesper had set her look to be a little more punk than usual that evening, wearing a pair of black jeans, a corset-style top, extremely dark eye makeup, and even putting temporary blue streaks in her hair. She had spent nearly two hours picking out clothes and putting on makeup, which was unusually long, even for Hesper, before she finally slipped out the window and down a ladder. As her blue pigtails disappeared into the warm night air, Lena had to wonder who had set up the ladder for her.
Why wouldn’t Hesper tell her? She could keep a secret. And it wasn’t safe to go out alone. That was one of the things that Hesper and Lena had in common. They should be best friends, but they weren’t. Hesper was keeping secrets because she didn’t trust her, Lena, who had thought they were best friends.
iter itineris susipio hik…
She could keep a secret. What could be so important in her life that no one could know, anyway? Lena had bigger secrets. She had bigger problems. And Hesper knew about all of them. Lena rolled over and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. Two forty-six.
Maybe she should ask Mrs. Ralston, who knew everything, but might not want to help, given who the journal was from. Ava didn’t speak Latin; she had said so when she talked about finding the portal. Hesper didn’t know. Daray would certainly know, but Lena sure wasn’t going to go asking him. And she certainly wasn’t going to go to Griffin. She could imagine the smug expression on his face, the conceited tone of voice he struck when she admitted he had something she needed.
iter itineris susipio hik…
The journey begins here.
Lena turned around. Serena was standing in the doorway, wearing a plush green bathrobe and holding two steaming coffee mugs. Panic stricken, Lena sat up and started to babble like an idiot.
“Hesper had to…she’s in the…she had to pee. Hesper’s peeing.” Wow. Maybe she really was bad at keeping secrets. “I mean, diarrhea. She ate something, and she’ll probably be in the bathroom for a while.”
Serena smiled and closed the door behind her. She sat down on the bed where Hesper was supposed to be sleeping. “It’s okay. I know she’s out. Reading up on your Latito?”
Lena stared. Serena pushed a mug of hot tea into her hand. She had to be the coolest adult she had ever met. “Latito?”
“It’s Silenti. The way our language is written. No one knows it anymore, in favor of whatever one’s first spoken language is, but it’s still used on occasion to document the formal Councils. It’s good that you’re learning it. Might impress the current representatives.” Serena yawned and looked down into her mug.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Lena said.
“Oh, I was up anyway. I’m up a lot, lately.” Serena traced the rim of her cup with her index finger. Her hair was done up in a bun that bore a striking resemblance to a pastry. “Just worried. Politics and whatnot. That must sound really stupid to you.” She looked up and smiled.
“No. I worry sometimes, too.” Lena sipped her tea. “I thought it was Latin.”
“It’s not Latin. It was Latin at some point, I guess, but someone way back when took it and made it ours. Now it’s ours. Only the Silenti can see it, and only the learned Silenti can read it.” Serena said.
“Could you teach me?” Lena asked.
“Oh, no. My Latito is terrible.” Serena frowned. “You’d need to ask a specialist, or get your hands on one of the older grammars.”
“But you just translated that passage for me…”
“That’s different—it’s from the oldest known Silenti text. The opening inscription: iter itineris susipio hik , kod hik is vadum terminus, per nuskam varius tamen ki reverto. ‘The journey begins here, and here it shall end, with nothing changed save those who return.’ The book was supposedly written by one of the First Ones, and it’s been copied down through the generations. Who knows how close it is to the original now, but it’s still held as our greatest story of all time.” Serena yawned again.
“Do you have a copy? I mean, one I could borrow?” Lena asked.
“Sure,” Serena stood and walked to the door. “But tomorrow, okay? You really should get some sleep. We need to get in some more time on your exposition before you leave, and the girls want to go out to lunch with you tomorrow. And shopping. And to the beach. And to the zoo. And to dinner.”
/> Lena smiled nervously. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to pull that exposition off…”
Serena gave her a reassuring smile. “Look on the bright side. You’ve already got two votes…Howard and Greg. Greg is actually very proud of you—more so than he’s allowed to say. Confidentially, of course.”
“Of course.” Lena repeated.
Serena winked. They said their goodnights just in time for Lena’s cell phone to go off. As Serena closed the door, Lena answered Hesper’s call. There was loud music playing in the background.
“Hey yo, I’m not dead yet.” Hesper yelled over the background noise.
“That makes me very happy.” Lena replied.
“It should.” Hesper yelled.
Lena’s phone beeped. “I’ve got another call.”
“Okay, talk to you at three-thirty, mother.”
Lena hit the answer button. “Hello?”
“Hello, princess.”
“Isn’t it early morning yesterday where you are?” Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that she had just figured out the riddle of the inscription, but talking to Griffin didn’t faze her the way it usually did.
His tone, however, sounded different—stretched thin. “It’s not that early here, but why are you up? I was going to leave a message. Is Hesper sneaking out again?”
Lena felt her heart rate surge. This was what Hesper hadn’t wanted.
“It’s nothing new. Why so worried?” Griffin said lightly.
He was always inside of her head, and it annoyed her. “Why do you even have to ask?”
Silence. “I can’t help it, Lena. You get to know people and it just sort of happens. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, of course.”
Lena sighed. He was always so…frustrating. “It’s the exposition, that’s all.”
“I doubt that, but don’t worry about it. Your…Well, Master Daray has decided to support your decision, so I don’t think it really matters.” Griffin said.
“What?” Lena couldn’t believe that she’d heard him correctly. In fact, she had partially made the decision to become and heir to irritate Daray and her mother. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. I don’t know. Everything here has been so…” There was silence on the other end of the line as Griffin’s voice trailed off.
“Griffin? Is everything okay?”
When he spoke again, his words were strained. “He’s dying, Lena…”
She looked away out the window, and then rolled her eyes. “He’s had that look about him since I’ve known him. Doesn’t really surprise me.”
“He’s getting worse.” Griffin insisted. “He’s not able to walk right anymore. He gets too tired too quickly. He’s not…well.”
“You sound worried.” Lena said. “I think that’s a first, for you.”
Silence. “I think you should get back here soon. That’s all.”
Lena rolled over on her stomach, picked a magazine out of the stash next to Hesper’s bed, and started flipping through it. “I realize you care, Griffin, and I’m sorry. Really. I really doubt he’ll die because he’s just not done making my life a living hell. I mean, we’re not married yet, right?”
Silence.
“Griffin?”
Silence. Lena closed the magazine and threw it back in the pile. His silence wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“Griffin?! Please tell me this weird little culture didn’t pronounce us man and wife when I shook your hand or called you a jerk or something?!”
“No!” Griffin replied, clearly irritated that she was making light of the situation. “We’re not married. Yet, as you so aptly put it.”
“I have no intention of marrying you.” Lena said. “Ever. And I sure as hell have no desire to ever be a parent. And that’s why that cantankerous old butt wart won’t die. Because he’s not done screwing up my life. Trust me, he’s dying, but I doubt he’ll go any time soon. I’m just not that lucky.”
More silence. “Thanks Lena. That actually…helps.”
“Oh, I wasn’t trying to help. And you’re really twisted if my suffering makes you feel better.” Lena said.
“I never said I felt…anything. Because I don’t. I’m not worried.”
“Whatever. Is that all?”
Griffin snorted. “You’re all business, aren’t you?”
“I’m tired. I need sleep.”
“You need to stay awake until Hesper gets home and grill her. She’s doing something she shouldn’t be doing.”
“Whatever.” She snapped the phone shut. She picked up another magazine to keep herself awake until three-forty, when Hesper hauled herself back through the window. Her hair had moved from pigtails to a simple ponytail, her makeup was faded, and while she was exhausted, she seemed to be in good health. She changed haphazardly into some nightclothes, mumbled a goodnight, and crawled into bed. As Lena closed the window behind her, the ladder was already gone.
Eric was practically smothering the last week of the trip, and even though she wasn’t feeling too great about her friendship with Hesper, Lena made the extra effort to always be at her side. She didn’t like that Hesper was keeping secrets, but she wasn’t about to let something horrible happen to her. Hesper, however, was really starting to get annoyed.
“What the hell, Lena? I promise, nothing is going to happen to me inside this house! You can stop following me to the bathroom! You can stop following me to the kitchen! Just stop following me around!” She finally snapped.
But every time she stopped, Eric was there, following her around instead. He would pop up at the most unexpected times—one time Lena saw him leave for the market, so she went upstairs to read. Fifteen minutes later, when she came down to grab a sandwich, she had found Eric and Hesper standing on different sides of the kitchen island, staring at each other.
“What’s up?” Lena tried to act unsurprised and unworried.
“Nothing. Just fixing lunch.” Hesper looked over at Lena and faked a smile. She clearly thought that her friend had been following her again.
“Weren’t you going to the market?” Lena opened the refrigerator and grabbed a can of soda. She opened it as nonchalantly as possible.
“I was…I forgot which kind of bread Hesper said she wanted.” He glanced over at Lena, and then went back to Hesper. “You’re so picky about what you eat. We don’t have the same things here as you do in California. So I thought I’d come back and take you to the market with me. That way you can pick your own food.”
For the first time, Hesper looked nervous. She looked over at Lena, and then gathered herself. The arrogant, fiery, immortal look came back into her eyes, and she looked confidently at Eric. “Sure. I’d love to go to the market.”
Lena set down her soda down on the counter. “I’ll go too.”
Hesper rolled her eyes. Lena crossed her arms.
Nothing’s going to happen! It’s a public place! Just stop being so paranoid and let me live my damn life as recklessly as I want to! Hesper stomped out of the room. Without looking at Eric, Lena followed her back up to their bedroom. Hesper had put on her mp3 player and had the music on so loud that Lena could hear the lyrics from across the room. When she saw Lena standing in the doorway, she picked a magazine and started to fiercely flip through it.
It’s not safe, Hesper!
Hesper continued to almost rip the pages out of the magazine.
You know, you haven’t been the best friend lately. Lena went on. In fact, you’ve been a pretty bad one. But I’m not going to let you get hurt. I’m sorry.
Lena grabbed her book, Serena’s borrowed copy of Viator kod Venefikus, and walked back down to the living room. She looked out at the driveway; Eric’s car was gone again. Throwing herself down on the couch, she cracked open her book and started to read it.
“Are you girls fighting?” Ava was sitting in a chair watching television. Lena was surprised she had missed her.
&nb
sp; “Yes.” She said dully.
“It’s not good to fight.” Ava remarked. “You’ll be sisters someday.”
“Thanks Mom. You always know what to say.” Lena tried to focus on the text in front of her, which was thankfully a translation into English.
“You love each other.” Ava said. “Maybe you’ve just been spending too much time together.”
“No, it’s because Hesper’s being a total brat lately. And a really bad friend.”
“How so?”
“Well, she’s been…” Lena stopped. She peeped over the corner of the book at Ava, who looked oblivious enough, but couldn’t bring herself to talk about what had transpired over the course of the trip. If Hesper wanted to keep it a secret, there was probably a good reason. Or a good enough one, anyway. “Nothing.”
Ava went back to watching television. Lena went back to her book.
Why do you have to be such a damn good friend?
Lena looked over at the staircase. Hesper was sitting on the top step, looking miserable. She went back to her book; the two of them didn’t speak much over the remaining three days of the trip.
*****