by W. J. May
Then she saw the papers.
What the ...?
The normally tidy room was completely submerged in a literal forest of print-outs. In some places, they covered the floor a foot deep. What they were and how Jason had possibly gotten them all there was a complete mystery—one that temporarily derailed her interrogation.
“Jase?”
There was movement in the corner. A hand emerged from the sea of paper, waving weakly before pushing aside the heavy door. His face appeared a moment later, flushed and breathless.
“Oh, it’s you.” A painful smile filled his face as he extracted himself gingerly from the pile. “Of course it’s you—who else comes into a room like that?”
“What are you doing?” she asked slowly, bending down to pick up a stray piece. It read like a medical file. Name, age, location. “Eliza Habberton? Who is this?”
Jason paused with a flash of embarrassment, then pushed to his feet—gesturing down at the pile. “It could be my mother.” He picked up the door and replaced it on the frame—hopefully slightly secure.
Aria’s eyes widened before she glanced back down at the page. “Mortician’s assistant?”
“Well, probably not that one.”
The page slipped from Aria’s fingers as she slowly looked over the room. A sense of sudden understanding swept over her, followed by a heartache that tugged plaintively at her chest.
“All these women...” she murmured, shifting the colossus with her foot. “You’re looking through all these women...”
Jason flushed again at the astronomical odds, then tried to rally.
“What’s more likely—that the woman suddenly vanished from the face of the earth, or that she just changed her name?” He grabbed up a random handful of papers, shaking them. “I read somewhere that when people do that, they tend to keep their same initials. These women are all in the right age bracket and come from a heritage that could technically produce someone who looks like me.” The names fell to the floor as he looked at the mountain around him a bit hopelessly. “I thought I’d start there...”
Aria pursed her lips, trying very hard not to smile. It wasn’t enough that the papers covered the floor—they were stacked upon the beds and the shelves as well. There didn’t seem to be any sort of order to them, except that they all detailed women with the initials E and H.
“And you’re making progress?”
He shot her a rueful grin.
“...they were better organized before.”
A flush of shame warmed Aria’s cheeks as she stared down at the broken door. There she was, raging in unannounced to question him about a high school romance that may or may not be happening, and all the while Jason was on a quest to find his long-lost mother.
“I’m sorry for...” She trailed off. “I’ll just let you get back to it—”
He caught her by the hand.
“I’m sorry I left you with Alexander today,” he murmured. “I didn’t remember until halfway through the class. And...I’m sorry about last night, too.” His cheeks flushed as he bowed his head. “I didn’t mean to storm out like that.”
“I understand why you did.” She settled tentatively on a stack of papers, patting the place beside her. “You know...your dad understands, too. I think he feels really bad about it.”
Jason hesitated before taking a seat. “Yeah, well...he should.”
She shot him a sideways glance, not wanting to push the wrong buttons but unable to let something like that go at the same time. “...should he?”
Jason shot her a quick look and she held up her hands.
“Honestly, Jase,” she pressed gently, “would you have done anything different?” The friends were eternally tender to each other and blind to each other’s faults, but at the same time they didn’t shy away from hard truths. “If you had a kid in the same situation, and no matter what you tried, you couldn’t find the answers that he needed...wouldn’t you have done the exact same thing?”
A flash of anger shot through Jason’s eyes.
“But it wasn’t his decision. I wasn’t his kid.”
Aria smiled patiently, shaking her head. “You don’t mean that.”
There was a defiant pause, then Jason leaned back against the bed with a sigh. Pushing tangled waves of blonde hair out of his face.
“No, I don’t.” He kicked half-heartedly at the mountain of papers. “This is a mess. And I used up half the toner in the library printing it all out. Why did I ever think this was going to work?”
“Because it might.” Aria groped around in the pile, then pulled out a name. “Elizabeth Harcourt. Thirty-seven. Works at an animal preserve in Kent deworming African baboons.” She waved it hopefully between them. “You think that’s her?”
There was a beat of silence.
“It does not say that.”
“It might.”
“There are no African baboons in Kent.”
“There might be.”
The two friends leaned back against the bed, laughing softly. It was easier to find the humor in things when they were together. Easier to pretend like the problems facing them might have actual solutions. That they might actually get the answers to all those endless questions.
“How were you going to keep all this from Benji?” she finally asked, nudging the pile with her toe. It was stacked on the cheetah’s bed as well, and had completely submerged his computer.
Jason lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I was going to say it was spring cleaning.”
Ridiculous as it might sound, it wasn’t a bad idea. The boy might have eyes like a hawk, but he could also been impressively unobservant when he deemed something unworthy of his time. At the word ‘cleaning’ he was sure to tune out entirely.
“Spring cleaning?” she pressed with a smile. “It’s coming up on Christmas.”
Jason shook his head with an affectionate grin. “Yeah, well, the guy’s a loon. At any rate, he’s been a little distracted lately.”
All at once, the image came back to her. Two sets of legs crossed beneath the desks. Two heads bent together, smiling at the same shared joke.
“Yeah, he has.” Aria slid down a few inches, crossing her arms over her chest. “You should have seen him with Sofia today.” She shook her head in disgust. “As if he could even be considering that sort of thing at a time like this.”
Jason shot her a quick look, then dropped his gaze. “Would that be so crazy?” he asked lightly, glancing from the corner of his eyes. “To be thinking about it?”
She froze, staring down at her hands. “That depends.”
The corners of his lips twitched. “On what?”
She forced herself to look at him, half-ready to bolt from the room. “On how much you remember about that night.”
For a second, they just stared. Every muscle on high alert, she was leaning towards the door without even thinking. Then he took her by the wrist, easing her closer.
“I remember everything...”
Before she knew what was happening, she was sitting on his lap—straddling him with her ankles locked behind his waist. She hadn’t planned on moving. She hadn’t even done most of it herself. A few skillful tugs of his hands and they were suddenly together.
“You thought I didn’t remember?” he asked softly, gazing up at her. “This whole time, you thought it was just you?”
She flushed and bowed her head, her hair spilling down.
“It would be understandable,” she murmured. “I know we keep looping back to it, but you did almost die that night, Jason. I’m actually a little surprised—”
“—a little surprised I remember asking you to be my girlfriend?” That same crooked smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Arie...that’s not the sort of thing you can forget.”
She was smiling now, too, reaching up to twirl a lock of his hair.
“As I recall, you didn’t exactly ask me to be your girlfriend,” she answered coyly. “I mean, you never actually said the words.�
�
He leaned into her hand, pretending not to. “I didn’t figure you to be so traditional.”
She bit her lip, trying to control her expression. “Oh yes, very traditional. I’d actually prefer that you ask my father first.”
An actual shudder ran through his shoulders as he leaned against the bed, considering the possibility for the first time. “Now there’s a chilling thought...”
She let out a laugh, swatting his shoulders. “I’m kidding. And besides—my dad loves you.”
“He loves me like a nephew,” Jason clarified. “He would not love me dating his only daughter. Trust me. He’s not going to love anyone who signs up for that.”
She shrugged daintily, glancing at her nails. “Well, like I said, you never actually signed up—”
He caught her face in both hands, eyes twinkling with a secret smile. “Aria Wardell...will you be my girlfriend?”
Her skin warmed and her heart skipped unevenly in her chest. Not for the first time, she was suddenly glad he didn’t have a shifter’s advanced senses. Otherwise it would be a dead giveaway.
That being said, he seemed to know anyway. The mischief faded from his smile, leaving it softer and more serious. As their eyes locked, a thumb came up to stroke the side of her cheek.
“...will you?”
She thrilled in a moment in silent bliss, then lifted a casual shoulder. “If you like. You don’t have to be so formal about it...”
That’s when he threw her into the air.
“What—”
She smashed onto the bed a second later, breathless with peals of laughter, sending hundreds of papers fluttering towards the ceiling. Before they could land Jason jumped on top of her, pinning her casually to the mattress while shaking his head with a punishing smile.
“Oh I’m sorry, were you making a joke?”
She tried to shake her head, but she was laughing too hard. He took full advantage of the moment to begin tickling her mercilessly—anchoring her to the bed with his knees.
“Did that strike you as a moment to be funny?”
She struggled and writhed, still gasping for breath, but could do nothing to shake him. She tried to use her powers, but he pinned her wrists securely above her head.
“Now...is that a yes?” he asked sternly. “You’re not the only traditionalist around here. I need to hear a formal answer.”
The tickling came to a pause, leaving her flushed and grinning.
“That’s a yes.”
His eyes twinkled as his free hand brushed a lock of hair from her face.
“That’s really good news,” he said softly. “Because I have been thinking about it. And there’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time...”
He leaned closer, hovering just an inch away from her face, but suddenly paused. The muscles in his arms went rigid as his eyes flashed up to her face.
Tell me you actually want this. His thoughts rang out loud and clear, betraying a fear he’d never dream of saying out loud. Tell me you want this as much as I do.
Her heart melted as she stared up at him, never knowing it was possible to feel so protective and desired all at the same time. She pulled a hand free, trailing her fingers down the side of his face.
“Kiss me.”
That was the last of the talking.
The moment the two of them came together, there was no pulling them apart. Their bodies melted together like they’d been designed for the very purpose, like they’d been waiting years just for the chance. His hand slipped into her hair. Her legs wrapped around his waist. When he reached tentatively for the base of her shirt, she slipped it off without a second thought.
“Just tell me,” he panted, kissing the side of her neck, “just tell me if you want to stop.”
Her head was spinning, her heart was pounding, and for the life of her she couldn’t take her hands off him. But his words lodged somewhere deep inside her brain.
When DID she want to stop?
Unlike Jason, unlike Benji...she’d never actually slept with someone before. Yes, she’d fooled around with guys, snuck in and out of her share of dorm rooms. Things had even gotten a little serious once, but Benji didn’t like the guy so it was over before it began.
But Jason Alden...? That was a whole different level.
She nodded quickly, realizing he was waiting for a reply, but found herself physically incapable of putting any distance between their bodies. His tongue was in her mouth. Her hands were fiddling with the top of his pants. She was about a second away from taking things to a place she might not have been ready for, when the sound of footsteps pounded towards the room.
“Crap!”
They leapt away from each other at the same time—flying to opposite sides of the room. It was a rare moment that she wouldn’t have been using her fennec fox tatù, but since ripping his door off the hinges she’d yet to switch back.
She scrambled to button her shirt while Jason smoothed down his clothes. His hair looked like she’d attacked it with a butter knife, but there was no helping that now. Distracted as they were, they only had a few seconds before—
“Bloody hell!”
The door flew open, miraculously saying on its hinges, and Benji stepped into the frame, staring around the room like he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a split second where she and Jason froze, barely breathing, then he threw down his school bag atop the ocean of papers littering the floor.
“What’s all this?”
If he’d been paying more attention, he might have noticed the way both his friends let out a breath at the same time. He might have seen the fact that Aria had mismatched several buttons, and Jason had a giant tear running up the side of his shirt. But he didn’t. He was too busy reading about Emma Holt—a thirty-nine-year-old receptionist at a Manchester hotel.
Jason raked back his hair, still trying to catch his breath. “Uh...spring cleaning?”
“Oh.” Benji looked at him for an endless moment. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Aria would have laughed if she wasn’t still having a mild heart attack from what had almost just happened. And no, she wasn’t thinking about when Benji had burst inside.
“I thought you went back to your dorm,” Benji said sarcastically. “Feeling better?”
She forced a tight smile, perching awkwardly on the side of the bed. “You know we can’t leave him unsupervised,” she mumbled, trying her best to avoid Jason’s eyes. “There’s no telling what trouble he might get in to.”
Jason pursed his lips, staring pointedly out the window, while Benji flopped onto his bed with a laugh. “Yeah, that’s actually what I had in mind...”
The others turned to him at the same time.
“What do you mean?” Aria asked with a frown.
Benji held up a finger, finishing off a text. No sooner had his phone dinged than the door opened again and Lily swept gracefully into the room.
“No need for the message, I’m already here.”
“Great,” Jason muttered, folding his arms awkwardly in front of his chest. “We should just open the door and invite everyone inside...”
“What’s with the papers?” The psychic knelt down and picked one up, holding it by her fingertips. She scanned quickly, then looked up in surprise. “Are you thinking of going to medical school?”
“Of course not,” Jason snapped. But he confiscated the doctor’s file and put it with a pile of other hopefuls on his desk. “I’m just...cleaning. You know how it is.”
She lifted her eyebrows with a knowing smile. “Yes, I do. Was Arie helping you?”
Jason froze on the spot, still clutching a random handful of papers. “Was...I didn’t...excuse me?”
“With the cleaning,” Lily clarified innocently.
Aria shot her a death look, while Jason turned the color of spoiled milk.
“Why are you guys here?” she asked rather sharply.
“I happen to live here,” Benji answered without missing a beat. �
��And I texted Lily, because the four of us have business to sort out and I figured we might as well do it now.”
Aria paused, curious for the first time. “What business?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already,” Benji teased, eyes lighting up with that look of mischief she knew so well. “We’re going on a little patrol tonight...”
Chapter 12
Throughout their parents’ years of service, many phrases slipped into the vocabulary of a spy. Things like ‘lying low’ and ‘waiting for the heat to die down’. Aria and her friends may have found themselves on the other side of the law virtually every day that week, but no one had ever seen fit to employ them as spies. Perhaps it was for that reason that they went right back out again that night.
“You know,” Lily panted, dropping down onto the grass, “we should really invest in a rope ladder or something. Maybe an invisible pulley system going down the outside of the tower?”
Aria landed beside her, straightening up from a roll. “Or we could just buy Madame Elpis some earplugs.”
Both girls were lacking the official PC spy-wear they so craved, but they’d made do the best they could. Black leggings, dark camisoles, and skin-tight sweaters that zipped all the way to their chins.
Aria had even tentatively suggested the idea of a beanie, but the only one she possessed was a strange tie-dyed monstrosity from elementary school which she silently put back on the shelf.
They darted across the moonlit lawn, sticking as close as they could to the shadows. About a hundred paces away, both Benji and Jason were making their way out of Joist Hall. Given their rather lax house-master, they didn’t necessarily need to jump out the top story window. But a feeling of adventure had seized them as well and they were halfway down, dangling from the stone.
Aria switched into an owl tatù with a grin, listening in on their conversation.
“—terrible idea. Why do I always let you talk me into these kinds of things—”
“—stop complaining. At least we caught the stereo before it could fall—”
The girls stopped at their meeting spot beneath the trees, watching from a distance as the two tiny silhouettes abandoned the idea of a climb and dropped silently to the earth. They were so busy congratulating each other that they didn’t see a third silhouette peek its head out of one of the lower windows before hurling itself to the ground.
