“Tell him what I said. And Malcolm? Make sure nobody else knows about this.”
“The dean would rip my head off if I told anyone.” He sighs and turns away. “Well, Emilio, it’s been fun sparring with you. I’ll miss the fights.”
“No, you won’t.”
He flips Emilio off and leaves. The door clicks shut and I whirl to face Emilio, heart racing, confusion ripping through me.
“Why?” I manage to choke out.
He smiles and stands. “I asked you to trust me a while back. Do you remember, pet?”
I glare at him. “What’s that got to do with anything? You’re talking about ending Calico.”
“Pet.” He comes closer. His eyes are bright now, lit up with an inner fire I haven’t seen in days. “Trust me. Can you please trust me?”
I let him put his hands on my hips. I shiver with how good it feels to be touched, even if it’s only a glimpse of the old him.
“I can trust you, but this is killing me, you know that?”
“Good girl,” he whispers, leans down, and kisses me gently. “I have a meeting to prepare for.”
Chapter29
Kaye
We trek through the forest. Emilio holds a flashlight, illuminating the winding path. Everything seems strange, foreign, even after only a few days of staying on campus. The smell of charred wood lingers in the air and I wonder what the house looks like now, if the few remaining walls and that concrete foundation have sunk into the earth and disappeared, or if the skeletal remnants will stand like a monument to what we used to be.
“No matter what, don’t get involved in what’s about to happen.” Emilio speaks quietly and doesn’t look back at me. I stay at his heels, walking close to him, nervous about all this. “Can you promise?”
“I promise.”
“No matter what.”
“No matter what. But, Emilio—”
He shakes his head to cut me off and I close my mouth. He made me promise that if I came with him, I wouldn’t interrupt. He made me swear I’d trust him.
It’s hard to go along, knowing he’s about to sacrifice everything.
Calico is done, but at least it’s like he’s waking up. This is the brightest, most animated I’ve seen him, and there’s a part of me that wants to see Calico disappear if it means getting this version of him every day. But I think back to that day on the boat, to that initiation in the basement, and I wonder if this is only ever a shadow of what we could’ve been, if that house hadn’t burned to the ground.
There’s no use wondering and worrying. It won’t bring anything back, and besides, there’s an entire world ahead of us. I want to take his hand and hold it, but I keep to myself and keep walking.
The path steadily winds upwards until the trees fall away and the cliffs appear. The boulders are like I remember, big and fractured. Standing twenty yards away and looking out at the moonlight ocean is a lone person, hands clasped behind his back.
He looks over as Emilio shines his flashlight on him. Dean Wotherspoon smiles.
“You came.” He turns and faces us. Emilio lowers his light. The moon’s full and bright and I can see the wicked grin on the dean’s face. “I wasn’t sure you would. Malcolm said you seemed off.”
“I want to be done with this.” Emilio moves closer. I stay where I’m standing, far from the edge, and look out at the water.
This is the spot where my sister died. The spot where Emilio first recorded Don Wotherspoon and started down this path. Everything emanates from here, like the invisible lines of a magnet’s force.
“Then we can be done. I’ll admit, I didn’t think you had the good sense to take me up on my offer.”
“What’s left for me to fight for? The boat’s gone. The house is gone. Terrence was a traitor. Dirk’s on the mainland with him. Jayson’s staying with a girlfriend. Paola and Lesley moved into the dorms. I’ve got nothing left. The society is done.”
Dean Wotherspoon grins triumphantly. “Don’t be too sad, Mr. Bruno. You’ll still graduate from Saint Parras, and I might even be kind enough to write a personal recommendation you can use wherever you might need it.”