My grip tightens. Never wanting to let go.
“Same for you.” Managing to somehow get a few words out. For her benefit, not me.
“Always.”
“Always,” I repeat.
I peer over my shoulder when Alma calls out my name as I’m about to climb into the SUV. Her grin so wide it distracts from the sadness coated behind her lashes.
“Don’t forget to let those silver sparklers shine, alright?”
My lip twitches on a wave. A quiet reverie sets in my bones as soon as I take my seat in the back, not looking back again.
The car ride to the airport as quiet as the flight itself. No one pushes me to talk the entire time and I’m grateful.
It’s not until later, sitting in the car that’s headed back toward the Caspers’, that the question comes to me. Something I never got the chance before to ask.
“Why did you come back for me?”
Finn’s mouth is grim, downturned. Almost like he’s offended, but I don’t back down. The formalness of his posture doing the same.
He looks at me as if the answer is obvious, but it isn’t. Not to me at least.
“We’re Caspers. We stick together.”
ten
Rory
IfiguredwhenIcame back, things would be a little different, but I definitely hadn’t been expecting this.
The hallways of KPA are the same.
Students littering around sipping coffees and reeking of privilege. Nothing my psyche isn’t used to by now on a Monday.
Bypassing my locker, I head straight for my first class. The warning bell hasn’t rung, so there’s no need to rush, but I already have my book. The perfect excuse not to spend excess time out here.
I haven’t seen any of the hellhounds this morning, but that’s not surprising. Hailey gave me a ride since Finn has been so in and out with basketball practices.
Still, why linger in the kingdom wherehisfamily’s name gives him power over everything and everyone? While I have nothing?
I can feel the curious stares of my peers the farther I go, but they don’t bother me. Riding solo after Hailey had to break off for some club meeting catastrophe. Something about a paper-mache explosion?
My chin arches higher. They can keep gaping. Why I’d been gone none of their business. The students here are like vultures to a corpse for gossip.
Thankfully, I’d only dipped out a little earlier before our fall break started, so I didn’t miss too much school. Managing to catch up on all my homework before classes started again.
I’d missed the holiday, still at Alma’s at that time but that doesn’t bother me. I’d grown used to being alone on them, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Hailey updated me on everything. Coming over that very first night I got back and spending the last few days of our vacation at the Caspers’.
It’s nice having her back. She’s someone I hadn’t realized I would miss so much. Not until I no longer had her over zested personality around anymore.
Who would have thought my refuge would be in a classroom where I hardly speak the language?
Another reason I headed straight here from the car—no boys with hair the color of night, cheekbones that could cut glass, and smiles so cruel it could make the dead wake—in this class.
Iceman is already fluent in French, so there’s no way he’d show for the additional credit. Safe from at least one hellhound. A different one, another story.