Chapter Twelve
Amelia
I woke up with the worst headache yet. With tears streaming from my eyes—partly from Kali’s sorrow—I struggled to get dressed. Nathan had already knocked on my door three times to get me out of the house and to safety, which he thought was the café of the hospital, a slightly ridiculous idea to me. Apparently, my lecture had helped the cause, because Opa had finally decided he wanted to meet with Ryan and Willow, once and for all.
I would be stuck to Perdita’s hip while the rest of the family took care of business, but at least I would get out. Besides, Perdita and I needed some time together. I checked my phone, but neither Connor nor Ger had texted or called me since I kissed Connor. I tried to ignore my disappointment. I wasn’t even sure if I liked Connor that much, but if he’d acknowledged what happened, at the very least, I would have felt better.
She was waiting for me outside the hospital, dancing from one foot to the other.
“I’m so happy to see you,” she said with a grin. “I’m bored out of my mind here.”
“Ugh, I’m sorry I haven’t been to visit you more often.”
She looked taken aback. “Are you kidding? You have your own stuff to be dealing with. I’m happy you’re here now. I’m kind of nervous, though. Wanna wig out on caffeine with me all day?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
We bagged ourselves a table by the window. She really was hyped up. She couldn’t stop fidgeting. I wondered how it would feel to constantly wonder if your mate was okay or not.
“So how is everything at school?” she asked. “Joey only remembers the bits to do with actual studying, and he’s crazy dedicated to revising for the summer exams.”
“Freak,” I couldn’t help saying, but she grinned at me.
“I know, right?”
“It’s okay. Kind of lucky it’s a doss year because I haven’t been paying much attention.”
“Just okay?” she asked.
“Well, kind of awful, really.”
She made a sympathetic face. “What is it?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly irritated by the heat of my hair. “It’s just… everyone’s constantly talking about either you or Nathan, lately, or this thing with your dad, or Nathan scrapping with Aaron. It’s tiring to hear the same questions, over and over again.”
“New friends not helping?”
“Actually, Tammie kind of helps me out now and then. Weird, I know. I wish she could be like that the whole time.”
A frown marred her expression. “Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but there’s obviously something.”
“I kind of kissed someone last night,” I blurted, my cheeks heating up from the look she gave me.
“Who?”
“Connor. Don’t know his surname. He’s in my year, though. You know him?”
“There’s, like, seven Connors in your year. I need a little extra,” she said wryly.
“I don’t know much about him. I think he lives near me. He hangs around with Ger and Julie, those girls you saw me with. And he has the coolest colour eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“Um, well, I don’t know about the eye thing, but I think I might know him. He has a brother in sixth year. So, what, you like him?”
I shrugged. I really liked Andriy. Or rather, Kali liked him so much that her desire had left its mark on me as well. What I felt for Connor didn’t measure up to that in any way. “Maybe. We’re supposed to be meeting up tomorrow, but… you know.”
“Okay, what’s the deal, Little Miss Not-So-Enthusiastic? You like him or not?”
I had to laugh at her expression. I wondered if our relationship was similar to one between sisters, and I thought of Kali and Drina. Yep, pretty much exactly what it would be like.
“He’s… nice. I think I might like him a lot if it wasn’t for…”
“For what?”
“Andriy,” I admitted.
“Who now?”
“Andriy. Andriy from my dreams.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Please tell me you’re not serious.”
“It’s not like… it isn’t… Oh, for the love of… it’s not me. It’s Kali. She’s crazy in love with Andriy, and I feel it, too. Everything she feels in the dreams ripples out into real life. I get so many of the echoes that I can’t remember what I’m about.”
“Now, I’m worried,” she said, “because I don’t feel as if you’re exaggerating here. And this sounds really freaking dangerous to me.”
“Dangerous? How?”
“Well, what if she feels like hurting somebody? Hurting herself? What would that do to you? I think you’re right about these dreams. They have to mean something. Nobody dreams about the same person night after night. At least, not in the way you are. You need to speak to your grandfather about this. Maybe he knows more than we would. And those headaches. You’re still getting them, right?”
I nodded glumly.
“Not only that,” she said, then hesitated. “You look sick, Amelia. Really sick. Don’t think I can’t see how thin you’ve gotten because you’re piling on the clothes.”
“I’m not doing it on purpose. I just can’t eat enough.”
“Maybe you really are sick. We’re in a hospital. We could ask one of the nurses about the headaches.”
“No.” I shook my head fervently and regretted it as blinding pain shot through my skull. “Not now. Let’s get this other stuff out of the way first.”
Her face fell, and I could see she had almost forgotten what Nathan was doing.
“They’ll be fine,” I reassured her, as genuine pain flitted across her face.
“I know. Even if it’s all a trick, they’ll still be okay, right?”
I couldn’t knock away her hopeful look. “Of course. They know what they’re doing.”
“When is this going to end? I mean, how long is it going to take? Are they ever going to stop coming for us?”
I wanted to throw up. The pain was worsening. I took some painkillers before answering. “It has to stop. One way or another. We have to wait until…” I took a deep breath. “Until my family does what it takes to end the conflict.”