Chase, of course, had to take Joy to the hospital, to her delight. Cora and Riley were nowhere to be found. Most of the guests left after Joy hit the ground. Elle and I were picking up all of the garbage that was left behind, and Genevieve was busy cleaning dishes in the kitchen.
“Nicholas, you’re the best. You really know how to throw a party,” Eric said, staggering down the hall with his jacket thrown over his shoulder, pretending to be drunk. “The entertainment was stuuuu-pendous.”
Seth laughed. “Very funny, Eric,” he said, “but if I ever find out that you have been drinking underage, I will break you in half.” He grabbed the back of Eric’s jacket like he was taking out the trash.
“I don’t drink. I’m not that stupid,” Eric said, trying to pull away from Seth. Seth tightened his grip and dragged him out the front door. They were the last to leave because they were trying their hardest to get Genevieve to pay attention to them, but with no luck.
“Where’s Cora?” Elle asked.
“Not sure. I am giving her some room, you know.”
“I can’t believe that Dr. Chase Letterby asked her to marry him. There are going to be a lot of broken-hearted women around the world if she says yes.” Elle smiled.
“She’s not going to say yes,” I said quickly.
“How do you know?”
“Just a feeling.” I really didn’t know, but I knew she didn’t feel that way about him. Well, at least I was hoping that was the case. I didn’t want her to marry him because she deserved so much better. But maybe this was her only way to escape the danger that I was putting her in. Chase would definitely protect her, and probably take better care of her than anyone else. Chase was arrogant, but he did love her.
Elle ended up leaving not long after Eric and Seth. I walked her out to the car.
“As soon as I check on Cora, I will come over,” I said.
I walked back into the house and down the hallway. I heard voices from one of the bedrooms. It was Riley and Cora. I opened the door. Cora had been crying and Riley was standing off to the side, not trying to comfort her at all. His arms were crossed and he was looking down at the floor.
“What’s going on in here?” I demanded. Riley brushed by me. “Cora, are you okay?” I went over to her.
She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Nicholas, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She stood up and tried to walk past me. I caught her arm. I had to tell her that she could marry Chase if she wanted to. She had given up Marcus, the love of her life, to keep me safe. If she wanted this, then she had my blessing.
“Cora, I want you to marry Chase if that’s what you want. I can’t ask you to give up this chance for me. You deserve to be happy.”
With a big tearful grin, she laughed and wiped away a few stray tears. “Nicholas, don’t be ridiculous. I don’t love him.”
“Then why are you crying?”
She paused. “It just reminded me of my past.”
We didn’t say anything else after that. I just held on to her, giving as much comfort as I could. I began to wonder what Riley had said to her, but right now was not the time to ask.
Genevieve and Riley had finished cleaning up the rest of the party’s mess by the time we came out. I sat down on the family room couch, and they both came over and sat down with me. Cora emerged a few minutes later, looking a lot more composed. Everything in the house had been moved back into its place. The only evidence of a party was the punch bowl on the table in the kitchen, some decorations and the Christmas tree. All the inside lights had been turned off, so now only the outside lights were illuminating the interior with their wonderful winter glow.
“That was an interesting party,” Genevieve said, looking at Riley and Cora to see their expressions.
“It sure was. So, Cora, are you going to be Mrs. Doctor or not?” Riley asked rudely.
Cora stood abruptly and walked up to him, blocking our view of his face.
“It’s none of your business what I do,” she said calmly. Genevieve grabbed her arm, just in case her calmness turned to rage. Cora took a deep, angry breath and jerked free from her grip, then sat back down.
“I don’t know what has gotten into everyone. We were supposed to be checking out the three candidates and reporting back about what we found out,” I said. “But instead we are talking about Chase. Of course she’s not going to marry him. If you don’t know that by now, Riley, then you don’t know Cora at all. And even if she did, it’s none of your business.”
“Nicholas, you are absolutely right. I am sorry for the way I have treated you tonight, Cora. You didn’t deserve that and of course I know that you wouldn’t marry him. But, Nicholas, you’re wrong. It is my business what she does.” He turned and looked directly at her. “We might be searching for the 4th, but you will always be part of our group in my eyes,” he said.
Riley and Cora just stared at each other. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I guess Genevieve didn’t care anymore, because she was now sitting sideways on the couch, exposing most of her legs and her neon orange gym shoes.
“Nicholas, you go first,” Riley said.
“Before I forget, I want to know what you were doing parading Bryce around in front of the Theasings. You told us not to trust anyone and there you were doing something so stupid like that. Are you trying to get us caught? I’m starting to think you are the one we can’t trust.”
He didn’t even acknowledge what I said. He just sat in place, looking out at the lights. It made me angry. I yelled, “Do you hear me, Riley?”
That got his attention. He still didn’t say anything, but he nodded his head like he knew what he did was wrong. There was something else going on with Riley. He was just not letting on to it. Everything about him was just off, like he was hiding something again.
“Seth is not the one we are looking for,” I said. “Seth doesn’t suffer from any bad dreams at all. He actually always has good dreams. And all of his heroic stuff was due to his training and his unit’s plans. Whenever one of my talents comes out, it’s not always controlled or planned. He may be a Thusian, but he’s not the 4th.
Genevieve spoke next, sitting back up. “Elle could be the one we are searching for. Cora and I learned that she hasn’t been sleeping well for some time. She doesn’t remember her dreams, but she still doesn’t sleep well. This might be because of the accident last year, but it sounds just like my Realization. I didn’t remember any bad dreams, but I knew I hadn’t slept well either. I also found out that she is a pretty great person. It would be a shame if she’s not the one,” she concluded, looking at me. “Do you have a problem with that, Nicholas?” Genevieve asked.
“What are you talking about?” I responded, puzzled.
Genevieve looked mad. “You have a grin on your face like I said something that amused you.”
I must have been smiling outwardly at what she was saying and didn’t realize it. She didn’t like Elle at first and now she did. It had to be eating her up on the inside.
“I don’t have a problem. I was smiling about the part where you said you think she’s a great person. You have never really liked her before.”
I waited for her to answer angrily, but she didn’t. Instead, she sat back on the couch.
Cora just sat motionless. She didn’t add anything to what Genevieve said. I guess she was still preoccupied with Riley.
“Well, I don’t think there is any doubt about it. Bryce is the 4th,” Riley said. “His bad dreams have been getting worse over the year, and he told one of the football boosters that he felt like someone else took over his body on the field when he was playing. That’s classic Thusian. The only way for us to know for sure now is to find out when he started to gain his talents. It would have to be last year around the end of summer or right before he came to Winsor.”
“How are we going to find that out?” Cora asked, now part of the conversation again.
Riley leaned toward Cora like he was going to reach out and touch her, but his
hand never left his lap.
“We talked about that a while ago, right Riley?” Genevieve said, hoping that he would answer Cora’s question.
“Yes, yes we did,” he said. “The only way we can find out is for Nicholas to ask him straight out.”
“What, are you kidding? Why me?” I protested. “A coach would have better luck asking him about gaining talents. You could pretend like it was football-related, you know for college or something.”
“You need to ask him. He would think it was weird if I asked about last year’s football season when football is over now,” Riley said. “And we need more details than just football-related stuff.”
“Are you kidding? It’s going to sound so stupid coming from me. ‘So, Bryce, have you gone through any changes you want to talk about?’ It sounds like I am some crazy person asking if he’s gone through puberty yet.”
“But you are crazy,” Genevieve said sarcastically.
“No, Nicholas,” said Riley. “He feels a real connection, a friendship with you. He’s more likely to open up to you than any of us. When I was showing him around tonight, he kept talking about how much of a help you were when he first got to school. He thinks the world of you.”
I couldn’t really argue with that. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. “Okay then, when should I ask?”
“You should wait a while,” Cora said. “He had to answer a lot of questions tonight. I know time is not on our side, but we need to give him some space. We will be able to get what we need from him closer to spring.” Her confidence made the rest of us nod our heads in agreement.
“Okay then. We need to start protecting Bryce and Elle at all times, even though Bryce is most likely the one. We can’t take any chances. We are too close,” Riley said. “It’s important that both of them have someone watching over them at all times. Their safety is now as important as ours. I am guessing that the Council has to be on to us by now. They may play nice, but they’re not stupid. And there is no doubt in my mind that there has to be at least one Seeker on the Council, so that means that Xavier knows, too.”
My thoughts wandered to James Caldwell and how he treated me at the Council meeting. If there was someone helping Xavier on the Council, he was at the top of my list.