Page 6
CHAPTER SIX
“Okay,” Felicity said, as Theo peeled an apple for her in the cafeteria. “So either your dad has some voice mimicking powers we don’t know about, or your old basketball teammate is in on the plan to make a bunch of vampire thralls.”
“She’s not a thrall,” Kade pointed out, a term Theo only knew because Kade made him sit down for a vampire movie marathon during winter break. “She won’t do what he says.”
“Maybe she’s a power source for the ritual?” Felicity suggested.
“Milly didn’t find anything about power sources,” Kade pointed out. “It’s just something she wrote up when she was throwing around ideas about…”
He sent Theo a sideways look. Theo kept his head down, peeling another strip off the apple. Power source was the second most popular theory on why Victor was keeping Carol around, since Milly couldn’t find any evidence of her being Cyth’s reincarnation.
Theo looked over at Finn Harley, who was sitting at his usual table with the basketball team. It was infinitely easier to wonder if Finn was secretly helping Victor than dwell on his mom’s probable death.
“He’s probably just lying to her so she’ll stick around,” Felicity said with the airy lightness of someone who didn’t really believe what they were saying. “Maybe she’s not involved in the ritual at all. You said he really loved her. Right?”
Theo shrugged, watching Finn pick a shred of meatloaf out from his canines. Everyone was always telling him how sweet his dad was, how he doted on Carol. Taking her out for elaborate dinners after crushing a court case together. Keeping candy in his pockets in case she felt faint. A sweet for my sweet, like he wasn’t keeping her blood sugar up so he could feed on her later.
Self-loathing washed over Theo as he remembered the chocolate bar he had in his jeans. That was different. He wasn’t manipulating Kade. He wasn’t lying to him. He was making sure Kade was okay because he cared about him, not because he was a portable blood bag.
“Sure,” Theo said. “But I also thought he loved me, so. Maybe I’m just an idiot.”
“You’re not,” Felicity said sharply. She’d always disliked his dad, and Theo could tell part of her was thrilled that she finally got to double down on it. She’d printed a picture of Victor on a knife-throwing target before she realized Theo didn’t find it funny.
Kade’s boot nudged Theo’s sneaker under the table. Theo pressed back, the guilt still churning inside of him. He peeled the last strip off the apple, sliding the red spiral over to Felicity.
“Freak,” Kade said as Felicity munched happily on it.
“Takes one to know one,” Felicity said. She bared her teeth, poking the apple peel between them like a snake’s long tongue.
Theo handed the peeled apple to Kade, only allowing himself a moment to watch Kade’s lips brace against the white flesh before he turned back to Felicity.
“How’s our new friend?”
“She’s fine. Still freaked out, but fine. Playing a lot of chopsticks and getting annoyed when I inevitably win. Also she’s pissed off that the last meal she had was this gross broccoli casserole her dad made.”
Theo tried to remember the last meal he ever had. It was while he was setting up for the last Founder’s Day party, so it would’ve been rushed. Leftover rice and frozen chicken tossed in the air fryer and a handful of whatever fresh vegetables were in the fridge.
Kade grunted. “That sucks. My last meal’s going to be great . Comfort food the whole way down. Shepherd’s pie. Scotch eggs. Bangers and mash. Shut up ,” he added when they both looked at him with badly disguised glee. “American food is just as crappy, it’s just a different brand of crap! Stop putting sugar in everything! Why is your bread sweet?”
Felicity leaned over to Theo. “What’s bangers and mash?”
“I don’t know,” Theo lied. Kade had shown him during a PowerPoint presentation of traditional British foods that ended with Kade instructing Sundance to wrestle Theo so he’d stop teasing him.
A loud bark of laughter made Theo look over. Finn Harley was slapping a choking teammate on the back, looking less like he was helping and more like he was enjoying the opportunity to slap the shit out of his friend.
Theo sighed. “I’m going to go catch up with an old teammate.”
Kade made an uncertain noise into the peeled apple.
“Remember the best way to take a guy off guard,” Felicity told him. She reached over to Kade, miming twisting his nipples.
Theo stood and pushed his chair back. “I’m not going to fight him. He’ll know we’re onto him. I’m just going to talk.”
Finn was still smacking his friend on the back when Theo arrived behind him. A shocked silence descended over the table. Theo hadn’t approached any of them since he moved in with Kade.
“What?” Finn asked. He turned to Bradley, the guy who’d been choking. “Why’s everyone staring at me?”
Bradley, a senior with a bad elbow and a dangerous love for pranks that had ended in more than one ER trip, pointed timidly at Theo.
Finn twisted in his chair, giving Theo a baffled grin. “Oh shit, hey man! Uh, sorry about yesterday. You know how it is.”
“Sure,” Theo said dryly.
Finn patted Theo on the arm. “Knew you were cool, deep down. You’re coming to my party, right?”
“Party,” Theo repeated. “What party?”
“Oh, right.” Finn patted Theo harder and stood up. He climbed onto his seat, then the table, narrowly avoiding several lunch trays as he spread his arms wide.
“CITIZENS OF LOCK HIGH,” he yelled. “You are hereby invited to my birthday party, the biggest event of the year! Our usual biggest event of the year was sadly sullied by the death of our beloved classmate, Scatter.”
“Skeeter,” Theo reminded him.
Finn snapped his fingers gratefully. “Always in our hearts! Anyway, this party will rectify that. A monster masquerade, a proud celebration of our Lockian roots! Don your fangs and your masks and come as your favorite spook, specter, ghost or ghoul! Vampires preferred, obviously.”
He fell silent, arms still spread, waiting.
Theo stared up at him, almost pitying. There was something missing from Finn’s rallying cry. Aaron and Theo always had an assuredness, a particular smooth cadence or a cocky tilt to their heads which let everybody know who was in charge.
Finn wasn’t letting them know. Finn was asking : shoulders hunched self-consciously, a desperate glint in his eyes as he looked over the masked crowd. His arms were still open, like he was trying to make himself bigger. Trying to be bigger. A second-rate basketball player in a tiny town, making a deal with the devil so he could convince the world he was someone.
Nobody spoke. Finn glanced down at his teammates, panicked.
“Woo,” Bradley said uncertainly.
Finn stabbed a finger at him. “Yeah, woo! Woo- hoo ! Who’s excited?”
A halfhearted chorus of whoops echoed around the cafeteria.
“Yeah,” Finn said, climbing down to give Theo an anxious grin. He wasn’t good at faking it. He never was, even back when he first joined the team. His nerves always shone through, no matter how much cockiness he tried to broadcast.
“So,” Finn said, “you coming?”
“Sure,” Theo said suspiciously. “Monster masquerade. Sounds great.”
“I know, right?” Finn knocked his arm a third time. “You can bring Renfield along, just make sure he behaves himself. At least he’ll have a good costume. Little freak looks like a vampire already.”
Theo took a deep breath, reminding himself why he came over here. For information, not a fight. No matter how badly he wanted to shove Finn against another wall and tell him that whoever had a problem with his boyfriend had a problem with him—he had to hold it in.
A flicker of movement caught his eye.
Theo looked up. Aaron was slinking over to Theo’s corner table, where Felicity and Kade were breaking the remains of the apple peel like a wishbone.
Theo walked off without thinking.
“I’ll see you there,” Finn called behind him. “Wear something cool, okay? I want it to be a photo op!”
Theo ignored him. He’d get back to Finn and his monster masquerade crap later.
Aaron was already at the table when Theo returned. Felicity aimed a razor-sharp smile sat him.
“Oh hey,” she said to Theo. She pointed at Aaron. “Look, it’s our ex again. Say hello, ex.”
She motioned for Kade to say it. Kade stared determinedly down at his half-eaten apple, averting his eyes. None of them liked it when Felicity implied that Aaron and Kade were exes with a capital E , except Felicity, who liked it in the same way she liked pressing a bruise after a brutal training session.
Aaron had his hands in his pockets. Well, hand . He had his stump in his other pocket. Theo had rarely seen him do anything else with his hands since he showed up at school with one hand amputated at the wrist. His veins were still dark above the stump, faded black lines winding up to his elbow. Theo had gotten a glimpse during the one gym class Aaron attended with short sleeves. The next gym class, Aaron showed up in long sleeves and a glare daring the teacher to confront him about it. Nobody ever did. Aaron might not be popular anymore, but he was still intimidating. Just like Theo.
“Great to see you,” Felicity continued, dripping acid. “Have you come to ask us to the monster masquerade? Apparently it’s going to be a total photo op.”
“No,” Aaron said. Then he just stood there, jaw working. Figuring out a way to say it that wouldn’t get him killed, Theo assumed.
“Heard Skeeter’s funeral got delayed,” he said finally.
Felicity sighed, biting another strip off the apple peel. “And you put the pieces together and want to know if you and your mommy need to put her down?”
Aaron’s shoulders stiffened even further. “I?—”
“Relax,” Felicity said through a mouthful of apple peel. “She’s safe.”
“Safe,” Aaron repeated flatly. He took a deep breath, like he was going to say something. Then he stopped. The barest smile strained over his mouth.
“Have a good lunch, Liss.” He started to turn. Then he paused, eyeing Theo’s tray, full of things he was going to throw out at the end of the period. “There are people starving, you know.”
Theo wished he had a good comeback for that. He looked over at Kade hopefully, but Kade was aiming all his focus at the apple core he was gnawing. He’d been getting like that a lot in the past few months: less eager to snarl at people who messed with him. Less likely to throw himself into a fight. Theo was glad about the fighting thing, but part of him missed Kade throwing scathing comments at their classmates.
He waited until Aaron was out of earshot. Then he leaned in.
“We’re still on for tonight,” he said. “Right?”
Felicity flicked him a salute. “Operation Condolences is a go.”