Page 14

His skill for stalking was up to par, at least.

“Isn’t that right?” Miles asked.

Oh, he’d asked me a question. I blinked and forced myself back into the conversation. “Yeah,” I replied. “I decided on French because I’m less terrible at it than other languages.”

“Well, you need two semesters of a foreign language to graduate,” Miles informed me. “I might have to tutor you, otherwise you might not ever get your degree.”

“I see,” I replied. I might need to take him up on that. The foreign language requirement was the weakest link in my academic record. “Maybe,” I promised. “But… ”

“But what?” he asked, leaning toward me. I could feel his breath against my cheek and the solid brush of his arm against mine.

I’d made my decision—and I didn’t regret it. But the aftermath of an ugly confrontation and the certainty that the rest of the room was currently scrutinizing us made it difficult to appreciate the moment.

“Hey, Miles,” I began, biting my thumbnail as I allowed my gaze to dart around us. “Are we really friends?”

They’d claimed as such, and I certainly believed it, but why couldn’t I ignore the lingering feeling in the back of my mind that I was missing an important piece of the puzzle?

There was something strange in the way that Miles looked at me then, a glimmer in the depths of his deep, brown eyes that was deeply unsettling. I didn’t like this.

“Of course,” he said. “At the very least.”

At the very least?

I opened my mouth to ask but then closed it as a lump lodged itself in my throat. Maybe I really didn’t want to know the answer.

My last class of the day had been a rather lackluster affair as Bryce Dubois either disregarded my presence or was oblivious to the pointed stare I’d been leveling in his direction the entire lecture.

The man remained calm and cool under pressure, and in any other situation, such a trait would be a boon and benefit worthy of the topmost henchman within my future enterprise.

But not today.

How dare he ignore me!

Then, as class let out, he finally met my eyes. And in my true, cowardly fashion, I let out the furious swell that’d been gathering in my chest and ran away.

I fled through the hallway without thinking, and my thoughts scrambled to figure out why Bryce affected me in such a way. It had to be a spell, but I couldn’t help but care very much about what he thought of me.

My skin felt feverish—maybe I was ill.

I was so lost in my thoughts that it didn’t occur to me that I’d traveled in the wrong direction for my meet-up with Damen. My footsteps slowed as I glanced down the dimly lit science building hallways.

Out of habit, I’d begun to go to Professor Hamway’s office.

There was nothing for me there. The last thing I wanted was to see Bryce once more. And now I was going to be late for my meeting with Damen.

This was a terrible way to start my career—good assistants weren’t supposed to be late. Besides, Norman was already waiting, watching for an epic screw-up, before he would swoop in and tell me, ‘I told you so,’ and hold my weaknesses against me.

I had to do a better job at this thing.

I grumbled under my breath as I pulled out my phone and opened my texts. I had a series of unread messages from the guys. Julian was checking in, and Titus was asking about my day. Then there was Miles, who’d started sending me French stuff that I’d have to translate later.

Lastly, Damen was on his way to pick me up. I had to respond to him first.

Me

I’ll be right there. I got sidetracked.

I pushed the send button as I turned back the way I’d come. It would take at least five minutes to get to the library from my current location without running, and I had no intention of resorting to that extreme.

Besides, this gave me time to come up with a super professional reason for my tardiness.

The phone vibrated in my palm, and I glanced down.

Damen

Sidetracked doing what?

I frowned—he sure was a nosy one. Asking me questions before I could think of a decent excuse.

I couldn’t admit I hadn’t been paying attention. Then he’d think I was absentminded.

A shadow fell over my path as a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts. “You are insanely difficult to find alone these days.”

My fingers tightened around the device, and I looked up as fury raced through me. Damen’s response was all but forgotten as my entire focus redirected on the object of my hatred.

I hadn’t seen him since we’d both been almost killed by a ghost.

“Finn!” I pointed at him with my phone-grasping hand.

He was meticulous as ever, of course, at least on the surface. However, there was a tiredness and sadness in his eyes that hadn’t existed before.

I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

“Bianca,” he started, his kind tone was reminiscent of the early days of our friendship. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” I moved past him, loathing the brush of his sleeve against my own. But he was in my way, and I wouldn’t be the one who stepped aside. “I’m meeting Damen. We’re off to have an adventure.”

Before I realized what happened, Finn blocked me between his arms and the wall. “You can’t yet!” he told me .

My annoyance grew. I was going to kick him. Screw Miles saying it wasn’t part of the plan; he deserved it. “Don’t you get it? I’m angry at you. What happened the other day doesn’t change that.”

If anything, it just made me even more upset with him. After all, it’d been more than obvious he not only knew who I was but had been actively hiding me from the boys.

Suspicions further proven by his next words.

“I don’t care about that right now. You can’t go out with Damen!” Finn repeated, still panicked. “Or have adventures. Especially his kind of adventures. You’re not ready. Believe me, you don’t even know how not ready you are.”

How dare he. Zeroing in on my insecurities and making me feel inadequate seemed to be a special skill of his.

“Begging your pardon.” I put my finger to his chest and pushed. “Damen and I fared rather well in our battle against the hyena horde. I even smacked one on the head, and Damen didn’t even bleed that much.”

Still, though, the guilt I felt at the thought of him shedding any blood on my behalf took my breath away.

“Wait.” Finn blinked, and his arms relaxed slightly. “What?”

My heart raced, but it didn’t matter how cute he was when confused. We had passed the point of redemption long ago. I only needed to think of the injustices I’d suffered.

“Besides, what are you doing here?” I asked, my anger growing at the recollections. “I thought you were supposed to be redeeming yourself. Someone is going to see you talking to me, and you’ll get into trouble.”

Why didn’t he realize that Damen would beat the crap out of him for coming near me? Maybe.

Actually, I wasn’t so sure about Damen .

Or even most of the others. Miles didn’t want me to kill him. Titus hadn’t said…

But Julian, he definitely would. Julian seemed to really hate him.

“I doubt it,” Finn responded. “There’s an emergency faculty meeting. We’re alone.”

And just how would he know about that?

“Bianca.” Finn frowned at me, and there was a hesitance to his tone as he said, “Before anything else, before they question me, I need to know what you want to tell the others. Are you going to hide it or—”

“Hide what?” I snapped. What was he going on about now?

He sighed, lowering his arm as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “The other Xing are not stupid. They have to wonder,” he said.

“About?” I asked.

“I know the program has been deactivated and the phone disconnected.” Finn glanced at me. “Titus has to know what it does. Are you trying to tell me that no one has asked you about my motives?”

The ground fell from under my feet as I stared at him. Because it was true, they had asked, and since I wasn’t certain exactly why Finn had done what he had, it’d been easy to brush the question aside. However, upon reflection, I certainly suspected.

“What are your motives?” I asked. The words escaped in a breath past my numb lips. He was bluffing.

“I think you know.” He frowned. “Especially after Adrian.” When I didn’t answer, he continued, chin lowering. “You can’t possibly believe that I don’t know.”

“I’m leaving,” I told him as my face heated. I tried to sidestep him, but Finn grabbed my hands .

“You need to talk to me!” he said, holding my fists against the wall beside my head. The phone dropped from my grip and clattered to the floor.

My throat closed as panic began to spread under my skin. I was helpless as I stared at the man who’d been my only friend for a decade.

“Bianca.” Finn sighed, his expression morphed from frustration into something sad.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I would never…

” He paused, his vision landing on my exposed forearm.

Regret settled into his expression. “Well, I would never intentionally hurt you. I’m sorry about the other day. I lost my temper.”

His words trailed off. And I, still unable to speak, continued to watch him.

“Please don’t look at me like that.” He sounded pained. “I only need to talk to you. I deserve that much.”

My fear faded at his words, and reckless fury rushed through me once again.

Had he honestly believed I’d show up to our nightly meetings at the coffee shop? How dare he play the victim. I didn’t want anything to do with him.

His betrayal had had me locked in an asylum.

“You lied to me.” I felt so useless. It was impossible for me to smack him. And right now, I wanted to pulverize his face. If only I had laser vision.

“I want to turn you into a stone and throw you from a cliff,” I told him.

He did deserve to know his fate, at least. “Then I’d grind that stone into a powder.

Afterward, I’d take the dust and scatter it into a small pool of water in the desert.

And when the water evaporated from the heat, I would have an elephant go and urinate into that hole. ”

“That’s…” Finn raised his eyebrow, and his mouth dipped. “That’s weirdly specific. ”

“I’ve had a lot of things to work through, no thanks to you.” I glowered. “My own emotions, first of all. But now I also need to get used to dealing with feelings that aren’t even mine.”

His eyebrow dropped, and his lips thinned. “Just how long have you been off your medication?”

“You’re not going to try to deny it?” I couldn’t believe his nerve. “Since you’re being so honest, where’s your annoying sidekick?” I asked, still disappointed that it hadn’t made an appearance before now. “The glowing one.”

“My shikigami?” he asked, tilting his head. “First of all, it isn’t a sidekick—it’s a kami. But it doesn’t matter. Why do you care where it is?”

“Because I need to care.” I hated him so much. “I want to know if I’m going to end up in the hospital again—like ten years ago when I saved you from being dragged into hell.”

“What?” His mouth twisted in confusion. “I think you’re misunderstanding—”

“Finn!” A deep, gleeful voice echoed from the end of the corridor. “There you are! About fucking time!”

Finn stiffened—but didn’t release his hold on me—as we both looked toward the intruder.