by Kristi Cook
Jack shook his head. “But why would Blackwell have wanted to protect you? Aren’t vampires and werewolves supposed to be enemies?”
“I think Blackwell just wanted to keep me around to learn as much as possible about lycanthropy. We’re normally a pretty secretive bunch, but I was happy to trade pack information for a chance at a normal life.”
Her gaze slid to each of us, one by one, silently daring us to criticize her for what could surely be interpreted as a betrayal of her kind.
No one said a word.
“So I accepted his offer,” she continued. “Blackwell appointed Aidan my babysitter to keep a watch on me when I shift. You know, to keep the humans safe from the big, bad wolf.” Which I had to admit was kind of funny, when you thought about it. A vampire assigned to keep people “safe.” Of course, if that vampire was Aidan, then people were safe.
“And in case you’re curious, it is biologically necessary for me to shift, at least occasionally. Anyway”—she waved one hand in dismissal—“everything was fine, until last year. Blackwell started setting these conditions for me—things I had to do, or else he’d turn me out. Giving that picture to Violet was one of the conditions. I had no idea what it meant—it seemed pretty harmless. It wasn’t like Blackwell gave me much choice.”
“It’s okay,” I found myself saying. “You did what you had to do.” Besides, if Aidan hadn’t lied about the miniature to begin with—
I said I was sorry about that, Vi, came Aidan’s voice in my mind. A million times over, and I meant it every time.
How did you know what I was thinking? I asked, startled. I’d had the wall around my thoughts; I always did when he was around. He’d said that wall was impenetrable.
It was easy enough to figure out, he said. I knew your thoughts would go there the minute she mentioned it.
For the first time in a very long time, I wondered if he was lying to me. Had he figured out a way around the wall?
“What about that night here at the chapel, with Julius—how did you know what was going on?” Marissa asked.
Jenna shrugged. “I didn’t. Blackwell sent me.”
I was sure I had misheard her. Everyone started whispering at once.
Only Jack spoke up. “The acoustics must be really weird in here. Because it sounded like you said Blackwell sent you.”
Jenna folded her arms across her chest. “That’s exactly what I said.”
All the air left my lungs in a whoosh. What the hell?
“Go on,” Aidan urged, his eyes troubled, more gray now than blue.
I saw her swallow hard. “He said … he said it was his last condition, that he wouldn’t ask anything more of me after that night. He didn’t tell me why, didn’t tell me what I was going to find. Just that I should shift and go to the chapel. So I did.”
“You’re lying,” Kate called out. She turned toward Jack. “She has to be lying.”
Sophie shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Jenna shrugged. “Look, I don’t care if you guys believe me or not—it makes no difference to me, one way or the other. You wanted to know why I was there; I told you. End of story.”
Suddenly everyone was talking at once—everyone but Aidan. He was silent, his expression stony, entirely unreadable. I just sat there watching him, wondering what was going on his head, wondering if I dared attempt to breach his mind and listen in.
“Okay, let’s say Blackwell did send you,” Joshua shouted above the din, and everyone finally quieted down. “So you got here, you saw what was going on. You could have just turned around and left. Why did you decide to help us?”
She regarded him coolly, her jaw set firm. “Regardless of what you might have heard, I’m not a total bitch. I wasn’t going to just sit there on my haunches and watch you all die. Besides, I owed it to Aidan.” She glanced over to where he sat stiffly beside her. “He saved me, that day in the woods. And now we’re even.”
“I suppose we are,” Aidan said softly.
“But … but what happens when you graduate, when you leave Winterhaven?” Cece sounded genuinely alarmed. “Won’t they come after you then?”
Jenna’s eyes glittered. “I’ll move away, change my name. I dare them to come looking for me.”
Whoa. I had to give the girl credit—she obviously had some serious cojones.
Jenna rose, gripping the back of the pew. I noticed a ring on her right hand, polished onyx with some sort of design etched into it. “So, are we done here?” she asked, sounding bored now.
Aidan rose to stand beside her. “I might be able to help you out with a cure. I’ve been studying up on it, reading about the effects of wolfsbane—”
“Why don’t you just concentrate on finding your own cure,” she interrupted, sounding a lot like the bitch she claimed she wasn’t. “At least I’m not really a danger to anyone—”
“I’m not a danger to anyone either, Jenna. You’d do well to remember that.”
“Oh, yeah? I saw you and your little girlfriend this afternoon in the quad. Your teeth were awfully close to her neck, don’t you think?”
Little girlfriend? Okay, she was seriously starting to piss me off. “Aidan isn’t going to hurt me,” I said, rising. “And maybe you should consider minding your own business, besides.”
“It is my business,” she shot back. “It’s everyone’s business here at Winterhaven. Because if he hurts you, it’s going to get out. It’s going to bring attention to this school, and we’ll all be exposed. Not everyone here has a luxury apartment on the Upper East Side to go back to. Did you ever think of that?”
I guess I hadn’t. Still, it didn’t change anything. “He’s not going to hurt me,” I repeated as resolutely as before.
“You’re pretty confident about that, huh?”
“Yeah, I am,” I said, moving closer, putting myself between her and Aidan. “And you of all people should understand that better than anyone.”
The color rose in her cheeks, staining them scarlet. “Are you suggesting that I’m anything like a vampire?”
“Those lycans you described—your own family, even—sounded pretty murderous to me,” I challenged.
Jenna’s gaze met mine, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. She clenched one hand into a fist by her side, the hand wearing the onyx ring. For a second there, I thought she might actually take a swing at me.
Cece stepped up beside me, laying one hand on my wrist. “Um, yeah … we should probably call it a night, don’t you think?”
I nodded. “Definitely. Aidan?”
“Aidan?” Jenna called out at the exact same time.
His head shot up, his gaze traveling from Jenna to me, and back again.
“I’m going to need your babysitting services tonight,” she told him. “I could use a good, hard run.”
Of course she had to make it sound dirty.
He sighed resignedly. “Fine, but I’ve got to go to the lab first.” He turned to me. “Dr. Byrne’s meeting us there in a half hour. We’re going to start working on that new idea of his.”
“Just be there,” Jenna snapped. “Usual time and place.” With that, she turned and strode toward the vestibule without a backward glance.
Hmm, so they had a usual rendezvous routine. That ember of jealousy stirred in my breast, newly stoked.
“Don’t let her get to you,” Aidan said as the doors closed behind her. “It’s not personal—she dislikes you by association, that’s all.”
But my mind was already elsewhere. “So, when she shifts … what happens to her clothes?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, a faint smile tipping the corners of his mouth. He knew I was jealous—and he was enjoying it. Payback for the whole Dr. Hottie thing, I guessed.
“They just … what? Burst at the seams?” I made an exploding motion with my hands. “Pop off her, just like that?”
His lips twitched—yeah, he was enjoying this, all right. “I’m pretty sure she takes them off before she shif
ts.”
“Pretty sure?” I pressed.
“Okay, I’m sure of it. There’s a little outbuilding at the edge of the woods, down near—”
“Forget I asked.” The last thing I wanted was the details. “Don’t you have to go to the lab?”
“I do.” He nodded in Jack’s direction. “Hey, you ready?” he called out to him.
“Yup,” Jack answered, leaning over to kiss Kate on the lips. “Later, okay?”
There wouldn’t be a “later” for me and Aidan—not tonight. He’d be out with his werewolf instead. His naked werewolf.
Ugh.
7 ~ You Lie like a Rug
I set aside the stack of textbooks with a sigh. If these books were any indication, this semester was going to be tough. What ever happened to taking it easy senior year, having some fun? And why had I ever thought that taking calculus was a good idea?
The only consolation was that seniors weren’t required to attend study hour in the East Hall lounge every night like everyone else—it was one of the very few privileges afforded us, and I was grateful for it. It was so much easier for me to concentrate in my room, my radio set to a classical station.
My cell began to ring, and I hurried over to pick it up. Whitney. I smiled as I touched the screen to take the call.
“So?” she drawled in my ear.
“Just shoot me now,” I replied, readjusting the phone against my ear. Over the summer I’d traded in my old flip phone for a smartphone, which still felt clunky to me, despite its obvious advantages.
“That bad, huh?”
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge. Anyway, ask me again at the end of the day tomorrow.” I sank back down on my bed, tucking my bare feet beneath myself.
“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Whitney said, the rhythmic drone of a lawn mower in the background nearly drowning her out. “Can you hear me? I swear, my dad picks the worst times to mow the lawn. Here, let me go into the bathroom.” I heard a shuffling noise and then the sound of a door slamming. “How’s that?” she asked.
“Way better,” I said. “So how’s it going? With the parents, I mean?”
I heard her sigh. “Terrible. They’re making me see a dietician and a shrink now.” Because they thought she had an eating disorder. She’d lost so much weight last spring that they’d refused to let her go to the summer dance program she’d gotten into in New York, and they’d even threatened to pull her out of the performing arts high school she attended during the school year. They’d finally given in on the latter—she’d started back a few weeks ago—but I knew things had been tense at home.
Over the summer I’d asked her point-blank if her parents might be right, if she might be suffering from anorexia or bulimia. Because frankly I’d been worried; I’d never seen her that thin before. She’d sworn to me that she was fine, that she’d been eating, just watching her calories a bit more than usual. I wanted to believe her, to think that we were close enough that she’d tell me if something serious was going on.
Then again, look at all the secrets I was keeping from her.
“A dietician?” I asked.
“Yeah, I have to keep a food diary, and I’m doing weekly weigh-ins. It totally sucks.”
“But they’re letting you stay at Performing Arts,” I reminded her. “That’s better than the alternative, right?”
“Yeah, but I swear they want me to get fat and give up dancing. God forbid I do anything artistic. I should go to law school, like they did, and spend my days cooped up in a stuffy office.” I could hear the frustration in her voice. “Anyway, when are you coming back down here?”
“Thanksgiving, probably.”
“Seriously? That’s forever away.” She sighed dramatically. “So, how are things going with Aidan? Everything still all rainbows and butterflies?”
“Pretty much.” I couldn’t help but smile. “But make that Technicolor rainbows and ginormous, sparkly butterflies.”
“Wow. I cannot wait to meet this guy. Hey, bring him for Thanksgiving!”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m not sure how Gran would feel about that.” Or worse, Lupe. I could just imagine her barring the front door as she tried to ward him off with garlic and a crucifix.
Instinctively, I reached down for the delicate silver cross I wore on a chain around my neck—a gift from Lupe last fall.
“Speaking of your gran, I went by and saw her yesterday.”
My heart swelled with gratitude. “Really? That was so nice of you!”
“No problem—you know I love her. She seemed stronger. Better. And I really like Melanie.”
“Me too. I hope it works out.” I looked up as the door swung open and Cece came bounding in.
“Hey,” she called out.
“Hey,” I called back. “I’ll be off in a sec.”
“Is that your roommate?” Whitney asked.
“Yeah, it’s almost time for dinner.”
“I should let you go, then,” Whitney said.
“I guess.” I turned toward the window, watching dark clouds move across the sky. “I’m glad you called, though. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” She sounded like she was going to cry.
“Hey, Whit … just promise me you’re eating, okay?”
“I am eating. Do you really think I’d lie to you?”
Something in my gut told me that she would—and that she was. “Of course not,” I said, despite my misgivings. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Yep. Bye!”
My heart suddenly heavy, I touched the screen to end the call.
“Uh-oh, I spy a sad face.” Cece sat down across from me.
I set aside my phone with a shrug. “I just hope she’s okay.”
“Me too,” Cece said, and I knew she meant it, even though she’d never even met Whitney. “Hey, I told Sophie I’d go to the school store with her after dinner. Want to come? Maybe some retail therapy will cheer you up.”
“Sure, why not?” I smoothed out the quilt on my bed, trailing my fingers across the colorful squares that Lupe had so lovingly crafted. “Marissa told me they’ve got a new boutique section.”
“Yeah, really nice stuff. Expensive, but nice.”
“Well, Patsy felt so guilty about not being able to spend any time with me before school started that she dumped a small fortune into my school account. Might as well start spending it, right?”
Cece laughed. “Yeah, you gotta love parental guilt. Hey, how was fencing practice? Seems like you were gone all afternoon.”
“It was long, and I sucked. I was so distracted thinking about this whole Blackwell thing. I still don’t get it.”
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us do. Have you had a chance to talk to Aidan, see what he thinks?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I was at practice all day, and he’s going to be working in the lab again tonight on that thing with Dr. Byrne. Sounds like it was going well last night, but he had to stop early and go deal with Jenna.”
“Hey, at least now you know what they’re doing out in the woods together, right? Anyway, back to practice—any new Tyler deets to share?”
“Not really. He was just his usual annoying, overconfident self. I think maybe it’s just an act or something. No one can be that arrogant.”
“I like guys with a bit of swagger,” Cece said with a smirk. “Todd had no swagger.”
I shook my head. “Poor Todd.”
She waved one hand. “He’ll survive.”
“Stone cold,” I teased.
“Whatever.” Cece was literally bouncing on the bed. “Any idea if Tyler’s got a girlfriend? Back at Summerhaven or something?”
“I have no idea—seriously, we don’t talk about stuff like that. Our conversation mostly consists of him telling me how awesome he is just before I kick his butt.”
Cece stood and walked over to the room’s little sitting area. “Well, if he ever needs anyone to soothe his wounded ego, feel free to offer my services
.”
“Will do,” I said with a laugh. “Hey, you got any more of those peanut-butter cookies?” Cece’s mom had dropped her off at school with a Tupperware tub full of homemade cookies, and I’d been craving one all day.
“Uh, uh, uh,” she chastised, laying a hand protectively over the tub’s lid. “Dinner’s in fifteen minutes.”
I stood, reaching for my shoes. “Well, it better be something good, because I’m starved.”
I slid into a desk in the second row, Aidan beside me. I’d made it to fifth period, my last academic class of the day. All I had left was sixth-period fencing.
I glanced over at Aidan and smiled, watching as he slapped a notebook down on his desk and uncapped his pen. It had been a pretty good day so far. First-period calculus had been far less painful than I’d anticipated, especially with Aidan on one side of me and Sophie on the other. Second-period English seemed promising, and Sophie shared that class with me too. Cece and I had third-period French together, and then after lunch I met back up with Aidan for fourth-period British history followed by art history. All in all, it was a pretty good schedule.
I looked up as Joshua entered the classroom, smiling as he made his way toward the empty seat beside Aidan. Joshua and Aidan seemed to have developed a particularly tight bond since last year—probably because Aidan had been responsible for making idiots like Scott Jackson leave the shape-shifters alone, once and for all. We’d passed Scott in the courtyard on our way to fourth period, and he’d given us a wide berth. Last fall he’d seen Aidan’s red-rimmed eyes and elongated canine teeth, and then peed his pants in fright. No way would he want that last bit to get out. Nope, he hadn’t picked on a shape-shifter since.
“Is this seat taken?” someone asked, startling me.
I looked up as Tyler dropped his bag to the floor and slid into the seat on my right without waiting for my reply.
I shook my head. “It is now.”
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said with a grin.
“Yeah, you don’t exactly strike me as the art history type.”
“No?” he asked. “Interesting.”
By now Aidan was sitting forward in his seat, watching the exchange with obvious interest. “I’m Aidan Gray,” he interjected, leaning toward me and draping one arm across my shoulders. “You must be the new guy. Tyler, right?”
