Page 30

I tossed and turned all night, replaying not only the drone images through my head, but my sparring with Tarquinius. Something had gone wrong at the end, and he’d left so quickly, even though we easily had another forty minutes left in class.

None of this helped my anxiety and I couldn’t stop sweating even though the room was cool. Every time I thought I was finally going to drift off, another wave tightened around my chest and my heart beat out of control as I stared up into the darkness.

Bandit grumbled under his breath. “You’re like a tornado tonight.”

“Sorry.” I threw my arm over my eyes. It was the first night in the dorms with everyone, and between my own thoughts racing, and the sounds of seven other people, there was no chance of sleep for me.

I gave up around five in the morning, swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat there a minute, contemplating my choices, which weren’t many. I didn’t want to wake everyone else up, but with us all smashed in here, I’d have to sit in bed staring at the ceiling to avoid making noise.

The only good thing was that today was our day off. Our one day off a week, and I was about to take full advantage of it. “Go back to sleep,” I whispered to Bandit. “I’m going to get a coffee.”

He grumbled and burrowed deep into the covers.

I scooped my shoes in my hands and crept toward the door. I didn’t want to wake anyone else up, except ...

I found myself grinning. Yeah, this was going to be good.

Closing the door with a soft click behind me, I made my way to the fifth floor where I knew Nikita had her room. Walking the halls was forbidden, but I was going to get my companion right now. Like a good, obedient student.

She was going to love seeing me at five in the morning. At her door I stopped and snapped my knuckles against the door.

Nothing. I frowned and banged my fist against her door again. “Nikita. I can’t be out here without you, and I need a coffee.”

The door next to hers opened and a head poked out. Eyes beady with sleep and irritation, hair in a tangled mess, the girl yawned.

“She’s not there. She left after dinner last night.”

I frowned. “How do you know?”

Another yawn. “She asked me to take her cat overnight because she wasn’t going to be back till breakfast.”

Interesting.

Well, I tried. “Thanks.”

I turned and started back down the length of the hall that went to the stairs. I considered going and waking up Opie but decided against it. She needed time away from me.

My footsteps were silent, which is why when I reached the fourth floor the sound of boots right behind me had me tensing.

A hand clamped onto my arm, and I was yoinked sideways, into a closet.

I threw a punch, caught my attacker on the side of the head, and had my knee driving for the groin before he spoke.

“Harlow, it’s me, Liam!”

I slumped against the wall behind me, the semi-darkness hiding his face from me, but the soft Irish lilt was unmistakable. “What the fruck, man? What are you doing?”

“You ... you didn’t see Tarquinius ahead of you?” He groaned and rubbed at his temple. “If he’d seen you out by yourself again –”

“I went to Nikita’s room to get her, but she isn’t there.” I laid my palms flat against the wall behind me. “I could have killed you!”

He grunted. “With that right hook, you nearly did.”

A breath slid out of me. “Where have you been?”

Light bloomed between us, a tiny glowing light over the palm of his hand. “Tarquinius ... he doesn’t agree with my methods of finding your Quirks. He wants to do it his way.”

“Are you serious? Why wouldn’t he want both ways to be used if we are in such dire straits?”

“My argument too, and luckily, the Senate agrees with us.”

He’d mentioned not wanting them poking around ...

“Which is why I’m back now,” Liam continued. His eyes searched my face. “Are you okay? Something happened while I was gone?”

I tipped my head back and banged it lightly on the wall behind me. “Yeah, you could say something happened.”

Haltingly, I told him about the wishing well, Nikita’s part in it, about being yanked in, about Opie, about being confined now to one big dorm room, and then the back and forth with Tarquinius the day before.

Liam was silent long enough that I was tempted to poke him to get a response.

“You really are chaos.”

Ouch. “Fruck you too, Liam,” I snapped and made to push past him.

He caught my arm. “I don’t mean it like that, it’s just ... House Phoenix is known for this sort of ... maelstrom around them. The stronger the Dwim is, the more,” he shrugged, “you know, trouble.”

I snorted. “That’s an easy out.”

He drew me closer. “No, it’s not. Between what you bring to this place, and whatever else is going on –”

“What else is going on?” We were so close now, almost nose to nose.

His throat bobbed. “I’m not sure ... what I know is that Tarquinius is pushing to keep me out of here.

Turns out he wasn’t the one who requested my presence, it was the Senate.

So, even with the Senate’s backing, he’s still trying to have me removed.

Maybe it’s just about the Quirks, but I don’t think so.

Typhon ... something is off with him too.

Promise me you’ll be careful around him, at least until I can figure out what’s going on with him. ”

Hecate’s heart. I was so close to him and his words were so nice, so sweet and honestly, how long had it been since I’d kissed someone?

No. Bad Harlow. No kissing your teachers. I cleared my throat, and the door was yanked open.

Typhon stood there, his hair mussed, his shirt undone to the middle like he’d just chucked it on in a mad scramble and damned if that wasn’t a tattoo peeking out, and ... bare feet.

Why was he barefoot?

I blinked up at him, tried to find my voice because my emotions were pinging all over the place. “Morning.”

“What the fuck is going on?”

Liam shrugged. “We were having a private conversation.”

“Teachers don’t have private conversations with students in closets.” Typhon hadn’t moved but somehow his utter stillness made him look ever scarier.

“Liam was just taking me to get a coffee.”

“At five twenty in the morning.” Typhon turned slowly.

“Yes.” I smiled and nodded. “Nikita wasn’t available, so Liam it is.”

“Tarquinius wants to speak to you.” Typhon barely glanced at Liam. “I’ll take her to get her coffee.”

Sheet. What I’d wanted was a little more time to pick Liam’s brain. He at least seemed to want to help us –

Truly help us.

Liam didn’t have much choice. We both knew Typhon outranked him. He gave Typhon a jaunty salute. “On it. I’ll see you around, Harlow. Just think on what I said.”

Typhon waited until Liam disappeared around the corner. “Let’s go.”

I thought he would try to drag me back to my dorm, but he led the way, barefoot, down toward the kitchens.

Once I had an extra-large mocha in hand, along with a satchel of food from Wickersham, we started toward the dining hall.

“Typhon.”

“What?”

“How did you know we were in that closet? Because I’m pretty sure that you didn’t see us go in, we were talking for like ten minutes before you showed up.”

He didn’t slow his pace, and he didn’t answer me.

I grabbed his forearm, forcing him to stop and look at me while I balanced my coffee and food in the other hand. “How did you know?”

His muscles tensed under my hand. “It’s my job to know where you are at all times.”

“The whole of House Phoenix, or just me?”

Typhon’s eyes ... the Horned King could not have looked sadder. Why was he sad? “Just you, Harlow. Because Tarquinius knew you’d be a problem from the start of this. And he was right, wasn’t he?”

He pulled his arm away from my hand and motioned for me to sit down at the table closest to us. “Eat your breakfast. I’ll walk you back to your dorm after.”

It was the most open he’d been with me ... well, ever. And even though I was the pain in the asterisk that everyone had had enough of ... I wanted to talk to him more. It was a different pull than what I had with Liam.

I stuffed a bit of apple fritter into my mouth and chewed thoughtfully, trying to think of how to get him to be even more forthcoming.

“Why do you help the runaways?”

I choked on my bite of apple fritter, surprised by the random question. “What?”

“What do you get out of it?” He sat beside me, a coffee in his hand. I’d been surprised when he’d put in two sugars, and two creams. I would have taken him for a straight-up black coffee kind of guy.

“They need someone who’s been in their shoes.” I swirled my mug and stared into the chocolatey depths. “I know what it’s like to be alone, afraid, hungry. It’s a beech when you’re a grown-up but as a kid ... it’s terrifying.”

I didn’t look at him, but I could feel his eyes on me, a weight that I wasn’t sure I liked. “And you get what out of it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like a government grant, money, something.”

Fruck, he really thought I was a terrible person. I tried not to let him see how much that hurt as I twisted in my seat to look at him. Part of me wanted to get up and walk away because fruck him. The other part wanted to set him straight.

Latter half of me won out.

“I get the satisfaction of knowing that they won’t suffer the way I did, Typhon.

That they won’t be alone, that they know they always have someone who will look out for them.

I get that doesn’t mean anything to you, really, but to me .

.. It’s why I will do everything I can to protect Opie.

Why getting her out of here before she finds out .

..” I shook my head, my throat tight. “You think I’m selfish, because I want out.

I just want to save her from the pain that’s coming.

Both from the truth of what she is, and from Nocta because he’s not going to go easy on anyone.

He’ll kill us all. I saw the drone footage. ”

Maybe it was too much all at once. Because he didn’t speak to me again, not even to tell me he was taking me back to the dorm. He just stood, and I followed, hating the prickle of tears around my eyes.

He hated me. I got that, I really did.

So why did I keep trying to make him see that I wasn’t the person he thought I was?