Page 43 of Shattered Stars

I roll my eyes. Seems Winnie was right. Spencer couldn’t just slink off without some big farewell. Although fighting at the Warehouse isn’t exactly the killer party I’d expect from him.

“Are you sure it’s not a rumor?” I say.

“No, Dan had a message from him and Tristan when we were changing in the locker room.” Trent scratches the back of his neck. “I think I’m going to go. I’ve never seen him duel like that and it may be my final chance.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Winnie says, taking his hand.

“Only if you’re fighting, not if you’re watching. Will you come?”

“I don’t know.” He nods, kissing her on the cheek and heading off to some computer club.

“Don’t you want to go?” I ask Winnie when he’s gone.

Winnie chuckles. “I’ve wanted someone to invite me down to the Warehouse since the moment I stepped into this school, but it’s too dangerous.”

“Trent doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Rhi,” Winnie says, stopping on the path. “It’s too dangerous foryouto go and I am not going without you.”

“Why is it too dangerous for me?” Winnie gives me a hard look.

“Renzo Barone,” she says.

“He wouldn’t try something in a warehouse full of people.”

“The Warehouse is full ofhispeople,” Winnie points out. “Plus he’s a madman. Who knows what he’d do.”

“Then go without me,” I say. I’ve never understood the appeal of watching men play at fighting. Hell, I’ve no desire to see them fight for real either. I’ve seen enough violence, enough pain and hurt in my life. I don’t understand the desire to watch it as a sport. “I don’t need to go.”

“Uh uh, I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I’m choosing to stay, Winnie. You’re not leaving me. You go with Trent – make it a date.”

But Winnie’s having none of it and we’re still arguing about it when we arrive at the Great Hall for lunch.

There’s hardly anyone inside and for once we’re at the front of the line with a choice of all the best lunch options. I pick a salad which actually looks fresh and contains more than two vegetables and eye the empty central tables with suspicion.

“I guess they’re all too sad to eat,” I mutter, enjoying a large mouthful of actual avocado.

“I don’t know.” Winnie shakes her head, pointing to the group of students sitting nearest us. They’re all hunched together, talking excitedly. “Seems the prospect of Spencer’s fight has made them all forget he’s leaving. This is going to be all anyone talks about for weeks.”

I sigh and drop my fork.

“Then we have to go, Winnie.” We’re already enough of outcasts as it is. If Winnie and I are the only ones not to show up at the Warehouse tonight, we’ll be bigger social pariahs than we are already, and while that doesn’t bother me, I’m not inflicting that on my best friend.

“I told you already, it’s not safe.”

“Well,” I say, “maybe there’s a way it could be.”

I haveno idea if Azlan’s sister will approve of me going to watch Spencer Moreau fight an illegal duel in a warehouse in the city. I have no idea if she’ll report the fact I’ve asked her straight to Azlan.

But Winnie’s not going without me and, to be honest, the more I hear the buzz about the fight around me, the more mycuriosity is getting the better of me. It wouldn’t hurt just to see what all the fuss is about, right? It sounds like the entire school will be going, something that is confirmed when we receive messages on our phones informing us that our heads of house have given automatic permission to anyone who wants to leave the school tonight.

Winnie pretends not to care, reading the message before returning her attention back to the essay she’s writing at her desk.

I decide I’ve got nothing to lose.

I step outside our room, Pip following me to snuffle around in our patch of grass, and dial Ellie’s number.