Eleven
Thankfully Paris and Kelsey arrived in separate cars, and after an hour of playing catch-up we left a morose Sami with Aric and Rafael, and headed toward the athletic building. I hadn’t been there in thirteen years. I expected some changes, but I was flabbergasted to see the sprawling building at the edge of campus when we hit the parking lot.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I muttered, leaning back in the passenger seat of Paris’ car. “Did you know it was like this?”
Paris shook her head, dumbfounded. “I haven’t been back since we were here together. I have even less interest in this place than you do.”
I wasn’t sure that was possible. I shifted to look to the back seat, where Kelsey typed on her phone. “What are you doing?”
Kelsey, her dark blond hair cut just below her chin, shifted her odd green eyes in my direction. “I’m texting Corey to see how the twins are doing.”
I’d only met Kelsey’s husband a few times, but he seemed an agreeable sort. He was friendly, pleasant and seemed to dote on Kelsey, which was enough for me. Still, five years ago when she announced she was pregnant with twins I was doubtful. Corey stepped up to the plate and was a wonderful father to the rambunctious boys, so I tamped down my worry and instead opted to watch Kelsey thrive. They lived on the west side of the state – closer to Paris and her husband Heath – but we tried to get together every few months.
“Oh.” Guilt swarmed in my stomach. “I shouldn’t have called you, dragged you away from them. I’m sorry about that.”
Kelsey snorted. “Please! I needed a break. I love my kids, don’t get me wrong, but momma needs a few days with adults and cocktails.”
“This break could be a dangerous break,” I reminded her.
“Our entire lives are dangerous on some level,” Kelsey pointed out. “It’s fine.” She dragged her attention from the phone and focused on the building. “Holy crap! Did you see how big this thing is now?”
I exchanged an amused look with Paris. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Well, this can’t be normal.” Kelsey turned back to her phone. “Let’s see if we can find some newspaper articles on the expansion, shall we? Someone had to pay for this stupid thing.”
Huh. Kelsey was often the most pragmatic of all my college friends – which isn’t saying much because most of my college friends were complete morons – but I hadn’t even thought about Googling the building expansion. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Give me a minute.” Kelsey remained focused on her phone as I shifted my eyes to Paris.
“I’m sorry about dragging you away from the baby. I know it must’ve been difficult. He’s only a few months old.”
“It’s okay.” Paris shot me a reassuring smile. “I don’t like being away from him, but Heath will keep him safe. I wouldn’t want you to do this without me. It seems somehow fitting that we’re all here together.”
“Yeah, you even dug up the tan vampire,” Kelsey noted. “How did that happen?”
“He was already here. He heard rumors while in Europe and wanted to see what was happening himself.”
“Well, that’s good for us, because he’s strong and can provide some added muscle.” Kelsey was intent on her phone, but didn’t seem distracted by the conversation. “Of course, you’re a lot stronger than you used to be, so we might not need any muscle.”
“Yes, I’ll just burn my way through the student body,” I suggested dryly.
Kelsey refused to rise to the snarky bait. “Don’t rule it out. Okay, here we go. So … yeah, here it is. Three years ago a wealthy and anonymous former student donated fifty million smackers to the college with the express purpose of updating the athletic center.”
“No name?”
“No name.”
I turned my eyes to the building. I wasn’t an expert on construction by any means, but I’d learned a thing or two from Aric. “I’ll have to wait until we’re inside, but I seriously doubt that this expansion cost fifty million dollars.”
“The money wasn’t just for the athletic center,” Kelsey noted. “It was also earmarked for a few scholarships and the football field.”
“Of course.” I shook my head. “I’m guessing the scholarships are for athletes.”
“It doesn’t specifically say, but that would be my guess.” Kelsey bobbed her head. “I wonder if we can find out who made the donation. Aric’s father has power, right? Maybe he can pull a few strings.”
That was an interesting idea. I had another, though. “Brittany is still here. Maybe she knows.”
Paris sucked in a breath as she turned in her seat, stunned. “Brittany is still here?”
I nodded. “I ran into her at the University Center yesterday. We were having lunch on the patio and there she was.”
“How was she?”
“She seemed the same.”
“Forget about that,” Kelsey ordered. “How did she look? I’m guessing that when you’re dealing with someone wound that tight it does a number on your skin. Was she ugly?”
“She looked mostly the same,” I answered, swallowing my chuckle when I saw the dark look on Paris’ face. She was much fonder of Brittany than I was back in the day. “She picked a minor fight, of course.”
“What kind of fight?” Paris looked concerned.
“She said that I was as mean to her as she was to me.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Now it was my turn to muster the dirty look. “Excuse me? She slept with my ex-boyfriend, hit on Aric every chance she got, aligned herself with evil werewolves and constantly blamed me whenever something went wrong.”
“She didn’t know she was aligning herself with evil,” Paris argued, going for practicality. “You can’t blame that on her. We purposely shut her out of everything at a point. She couldn’t possibly know what we were dealing with.”
“You always take her side,” I groused. “She’s not innocent in all of this.”
“Neither are you.”
“Oh, whatever!” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“What happened when she said that you were equally to blame?” Paris asked, refusing to back down.
I heaved out a long-suffering sigh. “Sami had a minor meltdown. I thought she might try to burn Brittany alive in front of the entire student body. She didn’t … everything was fine … but it was a tense few moments.”
“Did Brittany understand what was happening?”
It was an odd question, and I wasn’t sure how to answer. “I don’t think she completely understood it,” I said after a moment. “She knew something was wrong when Aric insisted she trade seats with him. I don’t think she ever fully understood the scope of my powers.”
“That’s probably good,” Paris noted. “The last thing we need is Brittany causing trouble when we have so much to do.”
“Ha!” I slapped my hand against my knee and caused Paris to jolt. “You admit that she’s likely to cause trouble!”
Paris rolled her eyes. “I admit that she could be an issue, through no fault of her own, should things get hairy,” she clarified. “Now stop being a baby. We need to search this monstrosity of a building to see if we can come up with something.”
“Fine.” I reached for the door handle. “She’s much meaner than I am, though. I’m a freaking angel compared to her.”
“Yes, I often think of an angel when I look at you,” Paris said dryly, climbing out of the car.
Kelsey joined us as we trudged toward the building. “At least tell me she was fat,” she prodded after a few seconds. “I always pictured her fat.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smile. “No. She’s not fat. She looks like she has to work out a lot to keep from getting fat, though.”
“Oh, well, that’s a relief.”
“You two suck sometimes,” Paris grumbled. “You know that, right?”
Kelsey shrugged, unbothered. “I can live with that.”
She wasn’t the only one.
“None of this is the same.” I rested my hands on my hips and jerked my head from one side of the expansive lobby to the other. “Everything is different.”
“Stop doing that,” Paris admonished, flicking my ear. “You look like a furious chicken.”
“Maybe I am a furious chicken. Have you ever considered that?”
“If you’re going to keep acting like this because of the Brittany situation, we’re going to have a problem,” Paris warned.
“She was much meaner to me than I was to her.” I hissed loud enough that several people turned their heads in our direction, curiosity etched on their faces.
“Fine.” Paris held up her hands in a placating manner. “She was much meaner to you than you were to her. I hear you and understand your frustration.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Stop feeding me that crap your therapist feeds you.”
Kelsey moved closer, intrigued. “You’re in therapy? Since when?”
Paris shot me a dirty look. “You have such a big mouth.”
“Brittany is in therapy, too,” I offered. “She told me that within a good twenty seconds of running into her.” Okay, that was a slight exaggeration. It was more like forty-five seconds, but who’s counting? “Maybe you guys can get together for coffee and talk about your feelings.”
“Maybe we will,” Paris shot back, her eyes flashing. “Maybe we’ll talk about how you drove us both to therapy.”
I balked. “Me? How did I drive you to therapy?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Paris drawled. “Maybe it had a little something to do with being trapped in a bubble during a witch and shade onslaught, and having to give birth on your living room floor.”
“That’s a very nice floor.”
“It very well may be, but I was terrified,” Paris snapped. She leaned so close our noses almost touched. “I’ve been having nightmares, and Heath suggested I see a therapist. In the dreams we can’t get out of the house and I die trying to give birth. I’m sorry if you think that’s weak, but the dream wakes me up at least three times a week.”
I loosened my clenched hands as I regarded her. “I’m sorry. That’s awful.”
Paris made a face as she waved off my apology. “It’s not your fault. You did what you thought you had to do to keep everyone safe.”
“Yes, but I didn’t think about your feelings.” I chose my words carefully as I considered Paris’ position that day. She’d been trapped in my house while Aric and I attempted to save Sami, going into labor at the worst possible time. I delivered a baby that day, giving Sami something marvelous to remember for the rest of her life. “To be fair, Aric still has nightmares about that birth, too.”
The corners of Paris’ mouth tipped up. “I’m sure he does.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” I offered. “Brittany always had the ability to make me crazy. She still does. I can’t help it. She makes me want to punch someone.”
“I think you should punch her,” Kelsey suggested, not bothering to take a step back when Paris scorched her with a dark look. “What? It’s the truth. I’ve always wanted to watch someone punch that chick. She’s beyond annoying.”
“Let’s just agree to disagree right now,” Paris suggested. “I can’t argue about this. Not again. It reminds me of college.”
I tilted my head to the side, considering. “It reminds me of college, too.”
“You’re smiling.” Paris pointed at my mouth. “I don’t think it’s very funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
Paris heaved a sigh. “Fine. It’s a little funny.”
“Yay! We’re friends again.” Kelsey clapped her hands and hopped up and down. “I think you should kiss and make up.”
“Don’t push it.” I shifted to study the lobby again, and then headed toward the kid behind the desk. He looked young, acne pocking his cheeks. He seemed surprised when he looked up to find me staring at him.
“I … can I help you, ma’am?”
I adopted my best “I’m friendly and you can trust me” smile even as I fought the urge to smack him upside the head for calling me “ma’am.” I wasn’t a ma’am. I was still young … and fresh … and good grief, are twenty-somethings annoying or what? “I certainly hope so. We used to be students here.”
“A long time ago,” Paris interjected, causing me to stomp my foot on top of hers.
“Not that long ago,” I corrected.
“Long enough that you could almost be his mother.” Paris can needle with the best of them when she’s feeling irksome.
“I’m not old enough to be your mother,” I said, working overtime to tamp down my temper. “We’re here for a visit – you know, old roommates catching up and stuff – and when we drove by this building we were stunned.”
“Was the building not here when you were here?” the kid asked, confused.
“You mean in olden times?” Kelsey prodded.
“Don’t make me smack you,” I threatened.
“Yeah. In olden times.” The guy bobbed his head. “Was the building not here in olden times?”
“Don’t make me smack you either,” I warned, wagging a finger. “We’re curious about the expansion. I believe it happened recently.”
“Yeah, it happened over the course of about two years,” the boy explained. “Parts of the building have been sealed off for the duration. It reopened completely this summer.”
I licked my lips as I ran the information through my head. “We’re a bit turned around,” I admitted, adopting what I hoped resembled a sheepish look. “We were hoping to visit the basement. They had some great workout rooms down there when we were students here.”
“The basement?” The boy arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t know they ever had classes in the basement … even back then.”
I was seriously going to have to kick him in the nuts before this was all said and done.
“Well, either way, we’d like to see it.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, ma’am,” the kid explained. “It’s closed to the public. It’s all storage now, and for insurance reasons only administrative people who work for the college can go down there.”
I figured that would be the case, but I wasn’t happy to hear my suspicions confirmed. “Okay, well … thank you.”
“No problem.”
I waited until we were back outside to speak again. “I’m going to rip out the tongue of the next kid who calls me ‘ma’am.’”
Kelsey smirked. “You look right smart there, ma’am.”
“That goes for you, too.”
“I’m quaking in my olden times boots.”
Ugh. People say you can’t go home again. I think they really mean you can’t go back to college again, especially when you’re old … er, older. Oh, who cares? This place still sucks.
Twelve
“Ma’am. How can I help you, ma’am? Can I help you up the stairs, ma’am? Do you need me to fetch your walker, ma’am?”
I was in a dark mood when we hit the main part of campus, talking to myself for the duration of the ride to the University Center. Kelsey and Paris let me rant in peace for most of the trip, but I could tell my constant complaining was beginning to grate. That didn’t stop me from doing it, of course, but I was mindful of their shared glances.
“You know you’re getting old when people call you ma’am,” I groused, scuffing the toe of my Converse against the pavement as we trudged toward the building. “I’m sick of being old.”
Paris arched an eyebrow but otherwise remained calm. “Is that your problem? Do you feel old?”
“I don’t have a problem.”
“Oh, you defi
nitely have a problem,” Kelsey countered, smiling happily when she saw the familiar building. “Oh, this brings back cool memories. This should make you feel young.”
She clearly didn’t understand. “Why should this place make me feel young?”
“Because you were young when you were here,” Kelsey replied. “We all were. We were young, dumb and full of ourselves. We thought we could conquer the world. Little did we know at the time, but you were actually powerful enough to conquer the world.”
That was pretty far from the truth, but I let it slide. “Yes, but we’re not young any longer,” I reminded her. “When you go in there and see those kids, you’re not going to feel as if you want to hang out with them. You’re going to feel as if you want to smack the crap out of them because they’re so young … and annoying … and naïve … and unbelievably socially awkward.”
Kelsey let loose an odd snort, amused. “I don’t want to hang out with them. I want to feel superior to them.”
That was an interesting way to look at things. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I want to look at that, reminisce about what it was like to be that young and then be thankful that I’ve grown smarter over the past twenty years,” Kelsey answered. “Think about it, Zoe. When you first came here you thought you knew everything. What did you know?”
“Nothing.”
Kelsey bobbed her head. “Exactly. You didn’t come to this place knowing all of the answers. You came here to learn. You didn’t realize that’s why you were here, of course, but by the time you left you understood things.
“This age – this eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old window – is a brief part of all of our lives,” she continued. “It’s not the experience that’s important. It’s what they learn from the experience. I find it empowering to see people before they’ve experienced anything.”
“Huh.” I risked a glance at Paris and found she was equally impressed by Kelsey’s comments. “That was almost poetic. I don’t even know what to say about it.”
“Thank you.” Kelsey beamed. “I also like listening to them, because they say really dumb things and I get a kick out of laughing at people for being idiots.”
Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Page 63