“Easier said than done.”
“Not really.” I tried for the door again, and this time, he stopped me, resting a hand on my shoulder.
“Sage?”
I turned. “Yeah?”
“Do you know why I don’t like him? Brayden?” I was so astonished he’d gotten the name right that I couldn’t voice any answers, though several came to mind. “Because of what he said.”
“What part?” Seeing as Brayden had said many things, in great detail, it wasn’t entirely clear which Adrian was referring to.
“‘Historically inaccurate.”’ Adrian gestured at me with his other hand, the one not on my shoulder. “Who the hell looks at you and says ‘historically inaccurate’?”
“Well,” I said. “Technically it is.”
“He shouldn’t have said that.”
I shifted, knowing I should move away… but I didn’t. “Look, it’s just his way.”
“He shouldn’t have said that,” repeated Adrian, eerily serious. He leaned his face toward mine. “I don’t care if he’s not the emotional type or the complimentary type or what. No one can look at you in this dress, in all that fire and gold, and start talking about anachronisms. If I were him, I would have said, ‘You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth.’”
My breath caught, both at the words and the way he said them. I felt strange inside. I didn’t know what to think, except that I needed to get out of there, away from Adrian, away from what I didn’t understand. I broke from him and was surprised to find myself shaking.
“You’re still drunk,” I said, putting my hand on the door knob.
He tilted his head to the side, still watching me in that same, disconcerting way. “Some things are true, drunk or sober. You should know that. You deal in facts all the time.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t—” I couldn’t argue with him looking at me like that. “I have to go. Wait… you didn’t take the cross.” I held it out to him.
He shook his head. “Keep it. I think I’ve got something else to help center my life.”
CHAPTER 15
I FELT SO BAD for Brayden the next day that I actually called him, as opposed to our usual texting and e-mailing.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “Running out like that… it’s not my usual style. Not at all. I wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t a family emergency.” Maybe that was stretching it. Maybe not.
“It’s okay,” he said. Without seeing his face, I couldn’t tell if it really was okay. “I suppose things were winding down anyway.”
I wondered what “things” he meant. Did he mean the dance itself? Or was he talking about us?
“Let me take you out to make up for it,” I said. “You always do everything. I’ll handle it for a change. Dinner will be on me, and I’ll even pick you up.”
“In the Subaru?”
I ignored the judgment in his tone. “Are you in or not?”
He was in. We made the necessary arrangements, and I hung up feeling better about everything. Brayden wasn’t mad. Adrian’s visit hadn’t ruined my fledgling relationship. Things were back to normal—at least for me.
I’d kept to myself the day after the dance, wanting to catch up on work and not stress about social matters. Monday morning started the school week again, back to business as usual. Eddie walked into East’s cafeteria when I did, and we waited together in the food line. He wanted to know about Adrian’s visit to the dance, and I gave a glossed-over version of the night, simply saying that Adrian had gotten drunk and needed a ride home. I made no mention of my role in getting the queen to act on his behalf or of me being “the most beautiful creature walking this earth.” I certainly didn’t mention the way I’d felt when Adrian had touched me.
Eddie and I walked over to a table and found the unusual sight of Angeline trying to cheer up Jill. Normally, I would’ve chastised Angeline for what she’d done at the dance, but there’d been no damage done… this time. Plus, I was too distracted by Jill. It was impossible for me to see her down without immediately assuming something was wrong with Adrian. Eddie spoke before I could, noticing what I hadn’t.
“No Micah?” he asked. “He was out the door before me. I figured he would’ve beat me over here.”
“You had to ask, didn’t you?” Angeline grimaced. “They had a fight.”
I swear, Eddie looked more upset about this than Jill. “What? He didn’t say anything. What happened? You guys seemed to be having such a great time on Saturday.”
Jill nodded morosely but didn’t look up from her uneaten food. I could just barely catch sight of tears in her eyes. “We did. So good that he actually talked to me yesterday and asked… well, he asked if I wanted to have Thanksgiving with his family. They’re from Pasadena. He thought he could either get permission from the school or talk to you guys.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Eddie cautiously.
“Thanksgiving with his family is serious! It’s one thing for us to hang out together here, but if we start expanding that… becoming a couple outside of school…” She sighed. “It’s going to go too fast. How long would I be able to hide what I am? And even if that wasn’t an issue, it’s not safe anyway. The whole point of me being here is that it’s a safe, controlled environment. I can’t just take off to meet strangers.”
It was another step of progress to her accepting the difficulties of a “casual” relationship with Micah. I offered a neutral comment. “Sounds like you’ve thought a lot about this.”
Jill looked up sharply, almost as if she hadn’t even realized I was there. “Yeah. I guess I have.” She scrutinized me for a few seconds, and weirdly, her distraught expression softened. She smiled. “You look really pretty today, Sydney. The way the light hits you… it’s kind of amazing.”
“Um, thanks,” I said, uncertain as to what had prompted that comment. I was pretty sure there was nothing remarkable about me today. My hair and makeup were the same as ever, and I’d chosen a white shirt and plaid skirt uniform combo today. I had to make up for this weekend’s color splurge.
“And the burgundy trim in your skirt really brings out the amber in your eyes,” Jill continued. “It’s not as good as the bright red, but still looks great. Of course, every color looks great on you, even the dull ones.”
Eddie was still focused on Micah. “How’d the fight come about?”
Jill dragged her gaze from me, much to my relief. “Oh. Well. I told him I didn’t know if I could do Thanksgiving. Probably if I’d just given him one reason, it would’ve all been fine. But I started freaking out, thinking about all the problems, and just went off on a ramble, saying we might go back to South Dakota or maybe family would come here or maybe you wouldn’t let me… or, well, a bunch of other things. I guess it was pretty obvious I was kind of making it all up, and then he outright asked me if I didn’t want to be with him anymore. Then I said I did but that it was complicated. He asked what I meant, but of course I couldn’t explain it all, and from there…” She threw up her hands. “It all just kind of exploded from there.”
I’d never thought much about Thanksgiving or meeting one’s family as a rite of passage in dating. Brayden’s family lived in southern California too… would I be expected to meet them someday?
“Micah’s not the type to hold a grudge,” said Eddie. “He’s also pretty reasonable. Just tell him the truth.”
“What, that I’m one of the last in a line of vampire royalty and my sister’s throne is dependent on me staying in hiding and surviving?” Jill asked incredulously.
Amusement flickered in Eddie’s eyes, though I could tell he was trying to stay serious for her sake. “That’s one way, I suppose. But no… I meant, just give him the simplified version. You don’t want to get too serious. You like him but just want to watch how fast things are going. It’s not unreasonable, you know. You’re fifteen and have been ‘dating’ for barely a month.”
She pondered his words. “You don’t think he�
�d be mad?”
“Not if he really cares about you,” said Eddie vehemently. “If he really cares, he’ll understand and respect your wishes—and be happy at just any chance of spending time with you.”
I wondered if Eddie was referring to Micah or himself, but that was a thought best kept quiet. Jill’s face lit up.
“Thanks,” she told Eddie. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. You’re so right. If he can’t accept my feelings, then there’s no point to anything.” She glanced over at a wall clock and jumped to her feet. “I think I’m going to go try to find him now before class.” Like that, she was gone.
Good work, Eddie, I thought. You may have just helped get the girl of your dreams back together with her boyfriend. When Eddie caught my eye, the look on his face told me he was thinking the exact same thing.
Angeline watched Jill dart out of the cafeteria, her blue eyes narrowed in thought. “Even if they make up, I don’t think it’ll last. With their situation… it can’t work.”
“I thought you were all about vampire and human relationships,” I said.
“Oh, sure. Back home, no problem. Even out in your world, no problem. But Jill’s a special case. She’s got to stay out of sight and stay safe if she’s going to help her family. Dating him won’t do that, and she knows it—no matter how much she wishes it weren’t true. She’ll do the right thing in the end. This is duty. It’s bigger than personal wants. Jill gets that.”
Angeline then declared she needed to get back to her room to catch up on homework. Eddie and I were left staring.
He shook his head in amazement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Angeline so…”
“… subdued?” I suggested.
“I was thinking… coherent.”
I laughed. “Come on, she’s coherent plenty of times.”
“You know what I mean,” he argued. “What she just said? It was totally true. It was… wise. She understands Jill and this situation.”
“I think she understands more than we give her credit for,” I said, recalling how much better-behaved she’d been since the assembly—breaking into dances aside. “It’s just taken her time to adjust, which makes sense, considering what a change this is. If you’d seen where she’s from, you’d understand.”
“I may have misjudged her,” Eddie admitted. He seemed astonished by his own words.
Part of me had expected to get chastised by Trey today for having skipped out on Brayden at the dance. Instead, I found Trey missing again from our morning classes. I almost worried but then reminded myself that his cousin was still in town, possibly muddling Trey in “family stuff.” Trey was competent. Whatever was going on, he could handle it. Then why all the bruises? I wondered.
When I reached Ms. Terwilliger’s independent study, she was waiting expectantly for me, which I took as a bad sign. Usually, she was already hard at work at her own desk and just gave me a nod of acknowledgment when I took out my books. Today, she was standing in front of her desk, arms crossed, watching the door.
“Miss Melbourne. I trust you had an enjoyable weekend? You were certainly the belle of the ball at the Halloween dance.”
“You saw me?” I asked. For a moment, I expected her to say she’d been watching the whole dance through a crystal ball or something.
“Well, certainly. I was there as a chaperone. My post was near the DJ, so I’m not surprised you didn’t see me. That, and I hardly stood out the way you did. I must say, that was an exquisite neo-Greco reproduction you were wearing.”
“Thanks.” I was getting compliments left and right today, but hers were much less creepy than Jill’s.
“Now then,” said Ms. Terwilliger, all business again. “I thought it might be useful for us to discuss some of the spells you’ve been researching for my project. Notating them is one thing. Understanding them is another.”
My stomach sank. I’d grown comfortable in my avoidance of her and the repetitive, almost mindless nature of annotating and translating spells. So long as we didn’t have to actually delve into them, I felt reassured that I wasn’t doing anything real with magic. I dreaded whatever she had in mind, but there was little I could make in the way of protest, so long as this was all couched in the terms of my study and didn’t involve harm to myself or others.
“Would you be kind enough to close the door?” she asked. I did, and my feeling of unease increased. “Now. I wanted to examine that book I gave you further—the one on protective spells.”
“I don’t have it with me, ma’am,” I said, relieved. “But if you want, I’ll go get it from my dorm room and bring it back.” If I timed the shuttle bus right—by which I meant, wrong—I could probably use up a huge part of our hour in the round-trip.
“That’s all right. I obtained that copy for your personal use.” She lifted a book from her desk. “I have my own. Let’s take a look, shall we?”
I couldn’t hide my dismay. We sat in adjacent student desks, and she began by simply going over the table of contents with me. The book was divided into three sections: Defense, Planned Attacks, and Instant Attacks. Each of those subsections was divided into levels of difficulty.
“Defense includes a lot of protective charms and evasion spells,” she told me. “Why do you think those come first in the book?”
“Because the best way to win a fight is to avoid one,” I said immediately. “Makes the rest superfluous.”
She looked startled that I had come up with that. “Yes… precisely.”
“That’s what Wolfe said,” I explained. “He’s the instructor in a self-defense class I’m taking.”
“Well, he’s quite right. Most of the spells in this section do exactly that. This one…” She flipped a few pages into the book. “This one’s very basic but extremely useful. It’s a concealment spell. Many physical components—which you’d expect from a beginner spell—but well worth it. You create an amulet and keep a separate ingredient—crumbled gypsum—on hand. When you’re ready to activate it, add the gypsum, and the amulet comes to life. It makes it nearly impossible for someone to see you. You can leave a room or area in safety, undetected, before the magic wears off.”
The wording wasn’t lost on me, and in spite of my inner resistance, I couldn’t help but ask: “‘Nearly impossible?’”
“It won’t work if they actually know you’re there,” she explained. “You can’t just cast it and become invisible—though there are more advanced spells for that. But if someone isn’t actively expecting to see you… well, they won’t.”
She showed me others, many of which were basic and amulet based, requiring a similar means of activation. One that she dubbed intermediate had kind of a reverse activation process. The caster wore an amulet that protected her when she cast the rest of the spell—one that made all people within a certain radius go temporarily blind. Only the caster retained sight. Listening, I still squirmed at the thought of using magic to directly affect someone else. Concealing yourself was one thing. But blinding someone? Making them dizzy? Forcing them to sleep? It crossed that line, using wrong and unnatural means to do things humans had no business doing.
And yet… deep inside, some part of me could see the usefulness. The attack had made me reconsider all sorts of things. As much as it pained me to admit it, I could even see how giving blood to Sonya might not be so bad. Might. I wasn’t ready to do it yet by any means.
I listened patiently as she went through the pages, all the while wondering what her game was here. Finally, when we had five minutes left of class, she told me, “For next Monday, I’d like you to re-create one of these, just as you did with the fire amulet and write a paper on it.”
“Ms. Terwilliger—” I began.
“Yes, yes,” she said, closing the book and standing up. “I’m well aware of your arguments and objections, how humans aren’t meant to wield such power and all of that nonsense. I respect your right to feel that way. No one’s making you use any of this. I just want you to continue getting a feel for
the construction.”
“I can’t,” I said adamantly. “I won’t.”
“It’s no different than dissecting a frog in biology,” she argued. “Hands-on work to understand the material.”
“I guess…” I relented, glumly. “Which one do you want me to do, ma’am?”
“Whichever you like.”
Something about that bothered me even more. “I’d rather you choose.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You have freedom in your larger term paper and freedom in this. I don’t care what you do, so long as the assignment’s complete. Go with what interests you.”
And that was the problem. In having me choose, she was making me get invested in the magic. It was easy for me to claim no part in it and point out that everything I did for her was under duress. Even if this assignment was technically dictated by her, that one small choice she’d given me forced me to become proactive.
So, I put the decision off—which was almost unheard of for me when it came to homework. Some part of me thought that maybe if I ignored the assignment, it would go away or she’d change her mind. Besides, I had a week. No point in stressing about it yet.
Although I knew we had no obligation to Lia for giving us the costumes, I still felt the appropriate thing to do was return them to her—just so there was no doubt of my intentions. Once Ms. Terwilliger released me, I packed up my and Jill’s costumes into their garment bags and headed into downtown. Jill was sad to let hers go but conceded that it was the right thing to do.
Lia, however, felt otherwise.
“What am I going to do with these?” she asked when I showed up at her shop. Large rhinestone hoop earrings made her dazzling to look at. “They were custom made for you.”
“I’m sure you can alter them. And I’m sure they’re not far off from your sample sizes anyway.” I held the hangers out, and she obstinately crossed her arms. “Look, they were great. We really appreciate what you did. But we can’t keep them.”
“You will keep them,” she stated.
The Golden Lily: A Bloodlines Novel Page 22
