Mythos (The Descendants, #1)

by Vrinda Pendred

  * * *

  Itzy hung by the tree with her head hovering over her mobile, staring at the message she’d just sent that mysterious boy who had seemingly stepped out of her dreams and become real. She could hardly believe she’d just agreed to a - date? - with him.

  Well, it wouldn’t amount to anything, would it? After all, just as Seth had rightly pointed out, Itzy wasn’t ready. She had to move on from Ash first - which was why she’d finally answered all his calls over the last day.

  Her ebony hair whipped around her face in a gust of wind, which whistled through the leaves above her. At least she was warm. She’d gone home and changed into fresh jeans and a long-sleeved grey fleece, with the arms pushed up just past her elbows.

  ‘Itzy!’ Ash called to her.

  She looked up just in time to catch him waving one of his long, toned arms at her. His lifelong love of swimming had given him the sort of physique that made girls’ heads turn.

  Itzy peeled herself from the tree and approached him, a few paces from the tree. ‘Hey you,’ she said.

  ‘Hey you,’ he returned. They held each other’s gaze, each not knowing what to say. Ash decided it was up to him to make the communication work. ‘Sorry if I seemed panicked.’

  ‘Well, I did have about ten missed calls from you,’ she teased. ‘And a text. And a few voicemails. And you posted on my wall.’

  ‘Okay, okay,’ he said, smiling.

  It was that beautiful smile she’d always loved and thought was just for her. Now she wondered if he gave that same smile to Devon. She decided he probably didn’t; he probably had another smile for Devon, one that Itzy had never seen and never would.

  ‘Where were you?’ he asked.

  Itzy shrugged. ‘You know. Around.’

  ‘With your brother?’ he guessed.

  At least that was something she could be honest about. ‘Yeah,’ she said.

  ‘It’s so weird,’ Ash commented, ‘how he didn’t want anything to do with you for all those years, and now you seem to be spending all your time with him.’

  Itzy shrugged. ‘Thanks, Dad, for dying, I guess,’ she said wryly.

  Ash frowned at her. A stray hair flew in her face and he moved it back without thinking, a leftover from the days when he still had a right to do that sort of thing.

  ‘Are you alright?’ he asked. ‘Really?’

  It occurred to her that in the last week, she’d hardly spent much time thinking about her father’s death at all. She’d forgotten she ought to be grieving. Was that wrong?

  She tucked her disobedient hair behind her ears and said, ‘I guess it doesn’t feel real, yet. I mean, I hadn’t talked to him in how long?’

  She thought back to when she was fourteen and he had tried ringing her. When she picked up, Stephen’s voice had hit her like the voice of a dead man. He’d spoken to her as if no time had passed and nothing had changed between them. But she couldn’t just draw a line in the sand the way he could. He’d offered her money, his effort at love.

  When she turned him down, he asked, ‘Then what do you want from me?’ The desperation in his voice told her he didn’t know what to do to make things better.

  The she’d hung up on him, and that was the last time she’d ever spoken to him. Now, she found she hardly remembered what he sounded like.

  ‘It doesn’t matter how long it’s been,’ Ash told her. ‘I don’t think that’s something you ever get over.’

  Itzy didn’t want to hear this. She wanted him to say it would be okay and some day she would move on. She wanted to hear that time was the great healer and would diminish the pain.

  Without warning, she tumbled into his arms. He staggered back a step, not expecting the outburst. Then his arms were around her, wrapped tightly the way they used to be when she was going through one of her many dramas. His fingers caught in the ends of her hair.

  ‘What is this?’ he whispered, his chin resting on the top of her head.

  Itzy didn’t know how to answer him. She thought of Devon. She wondered what she was doing, what she was hoping to achieve.

  But then, she didn’t ask to meet up; he did. So she said, ‘What do you want it to be?’

  Ash carefully disentangled himself from her and drew back to look at her. ‘I want us to be friends. It’s been six months, Itz. Six months. Without you. And I can’t stand it.’

  She was stunned. ‘But…Devon,’ she made out.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not saying that. I just mean…Itzel Loveguard.’ He smiled as he said her name, and stepped closer to her. ‘You’ve always been special to me. And I understand if you don’t love me anymore -’

  ‘Is that what you think?’ she asked in surprise.

  Ash sighed. ‘What else does it mean when you break up with someone and then just never speak to them again?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Not with you. It wasn’t because…I just…I couldn’t do it to you anymore.’

  He narrowed his eyes at her, which had always reminded her of melting Rollos. ‘What is it you think you were doing to me?’

  ‘Ash,’ she said, unable to believe him. ‘The book. I actually threw a book at you. I was so unstable. I was having breakdowns left, right and centre. But when was I ever there for you?’

  His mouth fell open. ‘But Itzy, I wanted to be there for you.’

  ‘Yes, I know. But maybe I didn’t feel comfortable with how unbalanced it was.’

  He gave her a sad smile. ‘You sound like you’ve changed. Like it would be different, now.’

  His body hunched under the weight of the complications rising up like a brick wall between them.

  ‘Look,’ he said, ‘the point is: I want you back in my life. I keep worrying about you, wondering how you are, hoping you’re okay. I can’t stand this not talking.’ One of his fists clenched. ‘It’s not right. You shouldn’t be able to be as close as we were and then never talk to each other again. How can you be okay with that?’

  ‘I’m not,’ she admitted in a shaky voice. ‘I’m not, at all.’

  ‘So don’t do it.’ Ash took her hands. ‘Let’s be friends, hang out again. The way you wanted when we first broke up,’ he acknowledged. ‘I know I didn’t handle things right, and there were things that were probably my fault. But I’ve changed too, yeah? And I think I can do this now. Just….’ He took a deep breath. ‘Please don’t shut me out of your life as if we never mattered to each other.’

  Itzy sighed as she weighed up his words. A small voice in the back of her head told her this would never work, and she should walk away.

  But a louder voice reminded her that this was Ash. Her Ash. Even beyond being the one boy she’d ever dared to fall in love with, he had once been her best friend after Devon. And it had killed her to let him go.

  ‘Alright,’ she said. ‘Let’s try being friends.’

  Ash squeezed her hands and leaned forward so their foreheads touched. It was just like what Seth had done, but the response in her body was different. It felt less thrilling and more like returning to a place she had forgotten she was missing.

  He pulled away and let go of her hands. He motioned to the ground and they both sat down. ‘So, as friends,’ he said, ‘what’s been going on?’

  ‘I’ve told you.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ He nodded in a knowing way. ‘So what’s really going on?’ When she didn’t answer, he said, ‘Look. You came to my house in a state and ducked out without even saying goodbye. Devon got all cagey with me when I asked her if something was up. Then yesterday, she got dropped at my house - in the same car I once saw you get out of, by the way, so I know you were in there with her.’

  Itzy swallowed, unable to meet his eyes. ‘Did Devon, um…say anything?’

  ‘What, you mean about aliens and man-eating plants dragging you through a cornfield, and your brother saving you by raising dinosaur skeletons from the ground?’ Ash said with an
absurdly straight face. ‘Yes, she had quite a lot to say, actually.’

  Without meaning to, Itzy found herself laughing.

  ‘What?’ he said. ‘What’d I say?’

  She laughed harder and tears spilled from her eyes. She fell forward, her head hitting the ground as she laughed. ‘It sounds so - funny when you - just say it - like that!’ she choked out.

  She felt Ash’s hands yank her back up so she was sitting. He turned her face to his. ‘Sorry?’

  She pressed her eyes shut and took a breath, trying to suppress the laughter. ‘Okay, okay,’ she said, inhaling and exhaling deeply. ‘Okay, first of all, there was only one dinosaur skeleton.’ A giggle slipped out of her, but she quickly forced her face to look all business.

  He released her. ‘Again,’ he said, ‘sorry?’

  So she told him. It slipped out of her with the ease of a baby being born, and like a baby, she wondered just what would become of this story as it was told and retold after Oz had seemed so keen on keeping it secret. When she’d finished, Ash’s beautiful brown eyes had expanded to twice their normal size and he looked unable to think what to say.

  ‘So,’ she concluded her story, ‘you asked what’s been happening with me, and…there it is.’

  Ash pushed his toned arms into the ground behind him and leaned back. ‘You really believe this, don’t you?’

  Itzy shot him a here we go again look. ‘I already went through this with Devon,’ she said, ‘and, as you saw, Devon’s now a believer.’

  ‘As I’d like to be,’ he said. ‘So show me.’

  She didn’t have to ask what he meant. And she hoped she would be able to deliver. ‘Alright,’ she said. ‘But I can’t guarantee I can do it. I’ve only ever done it once on purpose.’

  ‘Try. You’ve always been able to do whatever you put your mind to.’

  His blind faith in her was encouraging, just as it always had been. She may have only ever made a few friends in her time, but they were good people who believed in her, and not everyone was able to say that.

  Itzy shut her eyes with determination.

  Lines of colour streaked through her mental landscape, first reds, then yellows and pinks, against the black background. Then came the letters. They swam up in her vision and tangoed together like old lovers. Then all at once, they came together to form words - a sentence. Dark lines sparked in the air around her.

  Her eyes flew open, just as Ashley’s phone rang.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, checking who was ringing. ‘It’s Devon. Bear with me.’ He took the call and said, ‘Hey, Dev. You al -’

  He stopped there, his eyes frozen on Itzy, who wore a self-satisfied smile, knowing what Devon had just said to him.

  ‘Um…yeah,’ he said through the phone. ‘Alright, I’ll…I’ll ring you later. Bye.’

  He clicked off the phone and pushed it into his pocket without taking his eyes off Itzy. He looked at her as if he’d never seen her before. Even when they’d first met, there had been a spark of familiarity between them, as if destiny had always intended them to know each other. But now…now something had changed.

  ‘How did you do that?’ Ash whispered breathlessly.

  ‘What’d she say?’ Itzy asked.

  ‘I think you already know the answer. But if you must hear it from me…she said I had to believe you. She said she knew what you were doing.’

  ‘Anything else?’ she asked, now with true curiosity. ‘That’s all I made her say. If there was anything more, it was all her.’

  He blinked at her. ‘She said she was glad we were speaking.’

  Itzy let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. It was a relief to hear Devon wasn’t angry at her for being alone with Ash.

  ‘Alright,’ Itzy said. ‘So…do you believe me now?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said carefully. ‘I suppose I have to.’ Then he made a connection in his mind. ‘Could your dad do this stuff, too?’

  She shook her head. ‘Oz thinks it’s only a recent thing, and I think it’s mainly younger people who’ve developed…powers.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Dunno. There have been a lot of unanswered questions raised for me lately. I wish I could tell you more.’

  ‘But your father,’ Ash persisted, ‘he knew - about you and what you could do.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she said in surprise. ‘Although, I don’t exactly know he didn’t know, either. I think he knew about Oz. So I suppose he could’ve worked out the rest for himself.’

  ‘And he was trying to contact -’ He stopped there and clutched his head. ‘No, I don’t think I can bring myself to say that aloud.’

  Itzy laughed. ‘Don’t think I don’t know how mad it all sounds. I didn’t believe it at first, either.’

  ‘But this person - Seth - he made you believe.’

  She nodded at him. ‘And yes, my father was trying to contact aliens before he died. There, I’ve said it for you so you don’t have to.’

  ‘Cheers.’

  ‘I don’t know what he was trying to achieve with it,’ she said. ‘And I don’t know how he knew Aidan.’

  ‘Who you’re meeting tonight,’ Ash jumped in.

  ‘I guess,’ she said in disbelief. None of it seemed quite real.

  Ash’s voice was sullen as he asked, ‘Are you sure that’s safe?’

  ‘You sound like Seth,’ she noted.

  He grew still more despondent. ‘Are you and Seth…?’

  Itzy’s brow went up. ‘No,’ she said with finality. ‘We’re just friends.’

  ‘Okay.’ She didn’t think he believed her. ‘When do you need to be there?’

  She flipped out her phone and checked the time. It was passing quickly. Too quickly. ‘A few hours.’

  ‘Do you…want me to stay with you for a bit, while you wait?’ he offered.

  She could tell it wasn’t meant to be suggestive. This was Ash being protective over her, just as he always had done. There had been a time when she liked it. Now it felt stifling.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Thank you, but…I think I’m going to go home. I haven’t seen my mum in a couple days. She’s probably worried. Maybe.’

  Ash knew all about Myra Loveguard. That was the thing with Ash: everything was so easy. She didn’t have to explain anything to him because he already knew it all.

  On the other hand - he already knew it all. There was no hiding from it, no pretending her life was something other than it was. Not like it was with Seth.

  Or Aidan, a small voice in her head added.

  ‘Can I walk you home, at least?’ Ash said.

  It was strange how she was the one in the desperate situation, and yet it was Ash who came out sounding like he needed her. She wondered how he would view her if she sorted out her life and came out the other side. Would there still be a purpose behind their relationship?

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’d like to be alone for a bit. I think…I need time.’ Time for what, she didn’t know yet.

  He understood. He always understood. He reached for her, hesitated, and then wrapped her in a tight embrace. She felt something inside of her plummet to the Earth as she sank into his chest. She wondered if she’d ever be able to return the intensity of his hold, or if she would always feel small and fragile in his arms. There was a time when she loved that. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

  She pushed him away and clambered to her feet, smiling down at him. ‘I’ll see you around. Friend.’

  Ash grinned up at her. ‘Friend,’ he said, looking happier than he had in months.

  EIGHTEEN

  The journey home took almost half an hour. When she pushed open the front door, she was met with unpromising silence.

  ‘Mum?’ she called, not expecting an answer. She was surprised when her mother appeared in the doorway of the lounge.

  ‘Hi, Itzy,’ Myra greeted her. She looked like she hadn’t sl
ept in days, even though she’d probably spent most of that time unconscious. Her hair was dishevelled and darkness ringed her eyes - but they were alert, which was a good sign, something her daughter hadn’t seen on her in a long time. She was dressed in a long black bathrobe.

  Itzy shut the front door behind her and kicked off her shoes. She pushed at the sleeves of her fleece, which had slid down her arms and now felt hot. ‘How’ve you been?’ she asked cautiously.

  ‘Not so good,’ Myra said. ‘My head is killing me. I missed you.’

  Itzy stared at her. ‘You did?’

  ‘Of course.’ Myra sleep-walked over to her daughter and put an arm around her shoulder. ‘We should talk,’ she said.

  Itzy allowed herself to be guided into the lounge, where they sat side by side on the sofa, Myra’s arm still around her daughter’s shoulder. Their house was nothing like Itzy’s brother’s. The sofa had been turned into a bed, heaps of blankets and pillows thrown across it and flowing onto the floor, next to a host of empty glass bottles. Liquid dribbled out of them, staining the carpet, betraying Myra’s weakness.

  ‘How was the funeral?’ Myra opened the conversation. She sounded like she wasn’t completely there, but at least she was trying.

  ‘Dunno what to say to say, really,’ Itzy told her. ‘It was a funeral.’

  Myra nodded, her eyes half-closed. ‘Are you alright, is the thing.’

  ‘What do you think?’ It came out harder than she meant it. ‘I’m sorry,’ Itzy said. She leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder, like she used to do as a little girl. ‘When did life get so complicated?’ she asked.

  Myra laughed. ‘It’s always been complicated. You just never noticed it before.’ She stroked her daughter’s hair and smoothed down the wilful black that had been blown around in the wind outside. She swallowed and asked, ‘What’s your brother like?’

  Itzy shrugged in her mother’s arms. ‘He’s nice. Really nice. And I think probably a lot like me. You know. It is what it is.’

  Myra gave her another squeeze. ‘That’s so good to hear,’ she told her.

  Itzy grew still with amazement. ‘You’re not upset by it?’

  Myra laughed in surprise. ‘Why would I be?’

  ‘I don’t know. Bad memories and all that.’

  Myra sighed and drew back so they could face each other. She put her hand under Itzy’s chin and tilted her head up so they held each other’s eyes. ‘None of it’s Oz’s fault - or yours. I’m glad you’ve managed to connect with your brother. I’m sure Evelyn is glad of it, too, wherever she may be.’

  Itzy smiled in gratitude - not just for what Myra had said, but for the fact that Myra was there at all, in whatever hung-over state. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a proper conversation with her mother, and she hoped she could have one now.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ she said.

  ‘Of course. Anything.’

  Itzy tilted her head, her black hair falling over her shoulder and tickling her neck. ‘How did you know you were in love with Dad?’

  Myra’s smile at this was bittersweet. ‘Is this about that boy who came here looking for you?’ she enquired. ‘Your brother’s friend?’

  Itzy’s eyes grew in surprise. ‘Seth? No. I am not in love with Seth. This has nothing to do with him.’ She stopped herself before she could be accused of protesting too much.

  Her mother mouthed the word oh. ‘Ash?’ she guessed.

  Itzy didn’t want to admit she was right.

  ‘Well.’ Myra sighed. ‘It’s a hard question to answer.’

  ‘Because love is so hard to explain?’

  ‘No. Because I fell in love with someone I shouldn’t have, so how am I anything to go by?’

  Itzy hadn’t considered that. She’d hoped she and her mother would have one of those beautiful mother-daughter discussions she always saw in films.

  Sensing her daughter’s disappointment, Myra said, ‘I suppose I can tell you what love isn’t.’

  Itzy looked up in curiosity as Myra fell into one of her rare lucid moments and delivered the sort of advice that reminded Itzy this was still her mother, after all:

  ‘Love isn’t compromise. I know, controversial, but it’s true. If you have to compromise yourself, you’re not in love. Real love accepts who you are, faults and all. Real love is working through your difficulties and learning from your mistakes, from each other. Real love is being able to listen to what the other person has to say, see the nuggets of truth in it, and apply them to yourself to become a better person. But it’s not about changing yourself.

  ‘And love is about equality. Don’t ever leave yourself feeling unbalanced. The biggest warning sign with your father was I always felt too breathless around him. Probably not what you want to think about, but…I couldn’t stand being away from him. I didn’t just want him with me - I felt like I couldn’t live unless he was there. I lost my sense of identity. I don’t know how I let it happen, but he controlled me. And that was fifty percent my fault, because I could’ve walked away, but I never did. He had me so broken, I thought I needed his approval just to be alive.’

  She looked into her daughter’s face and ran her hand over her hair, a sad smile on her face. ‘Now, Ash? He doesn’t do that to you. But if you want my opinion…I think you’re too fiery for him. I think with you, it’s the other way around. You’re…forgive me for saying this, but you’re so like your father,’ she blurted. ‘And I don’t mean in all the horrible ways, but…you’re so passionate and determined. When I look at you…I see all the things I used to love about your father. But I see you doing them better. And you’re just too strong for someone like Ash. He’s…he’s too nice for you.’

  Itzy blinked, and blinked again. ‘Too nice? You think I should be with someone mean?’

  Myra laughed off the idea. ‘No, not at all. Just someone…who can handle you. All of you. Without leaving you feeling guilty for being who you are.’

  Itzy was nonplussed. Myra was a mess, there was no mistaking that. Yet she still seemed to understand Itzy in a way no one else did.

  Overcome with a flush of love for her mother, Itzy threw her arms around Myra, who, startled, hugged her back. They held each other tightly, a long time.

  ‘I love you,’ Itzy whispered to her.

  ‘I love you too, baby,’ her mother replied. Then Itzy pulled back and checked her phone again. ‘Expecting a call?’ Myra questioned.

  ‘No. Just looking at the time. I’m going out,’ Itzy said.

  ‘Again?’

  ‘Do you not want me to?’ In her heart, Itzy hoped her mother would say she had to stay home for a change.

  Myra disappointed her. ‘I’m just surprised,’ she said. ‘You’re usually such a homebody. No, go ahead. Don’t let me stop you. It’s good you’re not letting everything crush your social life.’

  If she only knew.

  ‘Ta, Mum.’ Itzy gave her another brief hug. ‘You could…help me work out what to wear, maybe,’ she said shyly.

  Myra raised one of her eyebrows. ‘Is it a date?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Itzy admitted. ‘He didn’t say.’

  ‘Is it Seth?’ her mother guessed.

  Itzy shook her head. ‘Someone else. I don’t really know him, I just met him for a few minutes the other day,’ she breezed out. ‘He accidentally left something with me and asked me to return it.’

  Myra grinned at her. Her eyes sparkled in a way that reminded Itzy of her old mother, when Itzy was still a child. ‘Uh-huh. You don’t think he left it with you on purpose? Just to see you again?’

  ‘It really wasn’t like that,’ Itzy told her, hoping to avoid further explanation. ‘Anyway, will you help me?’

  Myra nodded. After all, that was what mothers and daughters were supposed to do together. They didn’t huddle in dark corners crying the way Myra and Itzy had done so many
times. They were meant to go shopping so they could both try on outfits each other vehemently disapproved of.

  They headed up to Itzy’s room and she flung open her wardrobe. She ran her fingers along the edges of the fabric, hoping inspiration would strike. She wasn’t sure how she should play things. Should she dress up? Or would he show up in jeans and laugh at her for imagining it was a date?

  But what if it was a date and she turned up casual, while he was dressed to the nines?

  ‘What’s his name?’ Myra asked from her place on the bed. She leaned back against a pile of pillows and cuddled Parson Brown to her chest.

  ‘Aidan,’ Itzy threw over her shoulder as she pulled things out of the wardrobe for inspection. ‘What about this?’

  She turned around so her mother could see the black dress she’d worn to the funeral.

  ‘Are you visiting his grave?’ Myra retorted.

  ‘Hm.’ Itzy turned back around and hung the dress in her wardrobe. She retrieved a button-down top, still black, and spun around once more, holding the top in front of her chest. ‘This?’

  Myra shook her head and got off the bed, tossing the bear against the wall. ‘I’ll be right back,’ she said. She weaved slightly as she left the room and headed into her own, down the hall.

  Itzy frowned at the contents of her wardrobe. She’d never realised before how drab and depressing it was. Nearly everything was black, navy blue or grey. Aside from that ridiculous Heartbreaker top Devon had forced on her in an effort to bring some colour into her life, everything looked like she was a teenager with a hang-up on The Cure. Nothing suggested she might be exciting or adventurous or, dare she even think it, powerful.

  Because she was. She knew that, now. And it was time she started looking the part.

  Myra returned with a bundle in her arms.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Itzy.

  Myra dropped the bundle on the bed and it revealed itself to be a fitted silk plum-coloured blouse and a long, violet, crushed velvet skirt. ‘Try that,’ she said.

  Itzy stared at the clothing like she thought it might jump off the bed of its own accord. She knew what it was: the vintage vestiges of Myra’s golden days, before Stephen had knocked the individuality out of her. And now Myra was passing it on to her. She felt the emotion building in her chest.

  When she tried it on, it was like slipping into a different skin. Looking in the mirror, she looked nothing like the girl she’d grown so used to thinking of as herself. This girl looked several years older, for a start. And she had the beginnings of curves. She looked like a gothic model fit for the streets of Camden.

  Myra was in her face with a stick of eyeliner. Then she brushed out her daughter’s hair and took a strip from each side, just above her ear, pulling them around to the back of her head, where she secured them with a tiny silver clip.

  They both stared at Itzy’s reflection in the mirror. Myra’s mirror image said, ‘You look beautiful.’

  Again, Itzy hugged her mother. She wished to God Myra could somehow sort herself out and be this person all the time.

  Itzy drew back and stared at herself more, unable to believe her eyes. For once, she could see how she resembled her mother. For once, she didn’t just see Stephen looking back at her through her own eyes.

  Then it was time to go meet Aidan.

  NINETEEN

  ‘What do you mean, you’re meeting her?’ Melody screeched, unable to believe her ears.

  ‘There wouldn’t be any hidden message,’ Aidan told her.

  He straightened the collar of his long-sleeved royal blue button-down shirt. It hung smoothly over near-black jeans. This was the Aidan Melody knew - the clean-cut controlled Aidan who wore an expression that suggested he might be plotting world domination, even though she’d learned from experience that most of the time, deep down, he just wished the world would leave him alone.

  ‘But you’re dressing up,’ she said, sounding a little too close to whining for even her liking.

  ‘I’m not,’ he said.

  He had a point. The tracksuit in the cornfield had been odd, not like him at all. That was what he wore when he wanted to be invisible.

  ‘Is it a date?’ she demanded. She tried, but couldn’t keep the jealousy from her voice.

  Aidan finally turned around, his face plastered into a smile. ‘Mel,’ he said so softly, she thought her heart might break.

  He stepped forward and put his hand on her hair, which hadn’t been done up that day. She felt like a slob. She wondered what that stupid Itzy girl with her stupid weird name looked like at that moment. Melody hoped she had a straightening iron crisis and burned her forehead.

  ‘You haven’t said no,’ she noticed.

  ‘Mel,’ he said again, his voice still gentle, ‘stop yer keenin’, would ye? This isn’t like you.’ He took her hands and looked in her eyes. ‘I just want to get some answers. She’s Stephen Loveguard’s daughter. How can I walk away from that?’

  She bit her lip like a child. ‘But what makes you think she even knows anything? She didn’t have any powers, you saw that. Or if she does,’ she added, seeing Aidan’s mouth open to say it himself, ‘she doesn’t know how to use them. So Stephen must not have talked to her about it, right? You probably know more than she does.’

  ‘Aye,’ he acknowledged as he patted down her tousled hair. ‘But I think Oz knows something, he does.’

  ‘Then meet him,’ Melody moaned.

  Aidan laughed. ‘Somehow, he didn’t strike me as an easy fella to talk to.’

  Melody took a breath. ‘What are you going to do to her, to make her tell you things?’

  He smiled at her again, and kissed her. It wasn’t the sort of kiss to make your heart stop - in fact, more and more he was holding back from her - but it was something.

  ‘I’ll be thinking of ye the whole time I’m with her,’ he said as he knelt to slip on black suit shoes.

  After he left, she realised he hadn’t promised her anything at all.