“Thanks. I’m glad you guys came.”
“You couldn’t have kept us away.” He holds up his phone. “Kat asked me to record it for her. She’s sorry she’s not here.”
I stare at him. This is the first mention I’ve heard of Kat since she left. “Thanks.”
We walk out into the main hall, where Rayne and her mom are waiting for me. Even though her memories are still brief and scattered, I’ve had her meet with Janine a few times to help her adjust to her new Akhet life. For as much as Veronique succeeded in opening up her memories, she got one thing wrong—Rayne was never Alessandra. The two of us have tried and failed to make that connection. “This is for you,” Rayne says, shoving a bamboo plant into my hands with a grin.
“Thanks,” I say. “Just what I needed. Way too many people bring flowers to these things.”
“You and your students were wonderful, Cole,” her mom says.
“Thanks.”
Rayne leans in toward me. “Don’t know if you saw him, but Drew was sitting way in the back of the room near the door. The second you were done playing he practically raced out of here.”
Drew. Hearing his name makes me feel unsettled. He’s tried to get me to see him in the past couple of weeks, but despite the guilt I feel about how things ended, I always refuse. Drew is gorgeous and kind, and I know his only flaw is that he loved someone too much. Unfortunately, that someone was just a ghost from the past, and I can never be the person he wants me to be. One thing I do know is that he isn’t the type to stay just friends. Better for everyone if we stay far apart. So what was he doing here?
Mom comes up and gives me a hug. “I loved your performance, honey. And it looks like that little blond girl is going to give you a run for your money.”
“I’m not competing with anyone, Mom. Olivia’s just my student, that’s all.”
“I know, I’m just joking,” she says, bending down so that her lips are close to my ear. “Besides, you were much more accomplished when you were her age.”
“Seriously, Mom. Stop it.”
“Okay, okay. How about we all go out for ice cream to celebrate?”
“Maybe in a minute. I need to put some things in the practice room.” I turn to see Griffon standing behind me, red tulips in his hand, just like the last time he was at one of my concerts. It’s been a month since the night we rescued Rayne, but I still feel the rush I always get when I see him, and I hope my face doesn’t give me away.
“Am I too late to celebrate?” he asks.
I’m so unnerved by the sight of him that I say the first thing that pops into my head. “As usual.”
“I deserved that,” he says, keeping his eyes steady on me. “But I couldn’t miss your big comeback.”
“And that was so nice of you,” Rayne says for me. She cuts me a look. “Wasn’t it, Cole?”
I nod, temporarily out of words. This isn’t the same Griffon who barely spoke to me the night we rescued Rayne.
“You know,” Rayne says, looking directly at Mom, “I’m really tired, so I think I’m going to skip ice cream for now. Plus, Peter’s coming over later this afternoon.”
Mom picks up the thread. “And I just remembered an appointment I have in less than half an hour.”
Dad just looks confused. “What appointment? It’s Saturd—” Mom doesn’t give him a chance to finish before she elbows him in the ribs.
“An appointment I didn’t tell you about,” she says to him through clenched teeth.
I’m mortified because none of them will ever win awards for acting, but Griffon just smiles. “If you don’t mind, I’ll make sure you get home.”
“That would be great,” Mom says with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Let Dad have the box and the bamboo plant.” She takes the pink cake box from me and stares at the flowers in Griffon’s hand.
“Oh—these are for you,” he says, handing the bunch to me. “Thanks,” I say, slightly mystified at the flowers and the smiles. I’m not sure how to feel at this point.
“We’ll take those too. I’ll make sure they get in some water,” Mom says. “Keep your phone on, and don’t stay out too late.”
“I won’t,” I say, giving her a hug. Apparently all it took was one career-ending arm surgery and seeing someone way too old for me to get her to lighten up.
A whirlwind of hugs and good-byes, and Griffon and I are alone. I point vaguely to the back of the theater. “I have to go put this music away,” I say, holding up the folders in my hand.
“I’ll come. If that’s okay.”
I nod, but can’t think of a single thing to say.
We walk toward the back room in silence, dodging the students and their parents as they put their things away and head toward the door. “I hope you don’t mind that I showed up like this,” he says.
“Free country,” I say, knowing it sounds bitchy, but I can’t help it.
“Janine told me you were playing again.” He glances at me. “I couldn’t miss your triumphant return.”
I allow myself a small smile. “Just a student recital,” I say. “Hardly triumphant.” I point to an open door. “In here.”
We walk into the practice room just as Zander is putting his music stand away. “Hey, it’s the Etch A Sketch boyfriend!” he says with a slight sneer. “Are you getting any yet?”
Griffon looks surprised and slightly amused, but I’ve finally had it with this kid. I can deal with a lot, but Zander is working my last nerve. “Knock it off,” I say.
Zander shrugs, and as he moves, I catch a glimpse of something under his polo shirt. I reach for the chain around his neck and pull out an ankh—a silver one with a black stone and hieroglyphic writing around the edges.
“Where did you get this?” I demand. It’s the same ankh that Veronique gave Rayne, I’m sure of it.
He brings his eyes up slowly to meet mine. “I found it,” he says, a challenge in his voice. Zander turns to go, but I grab him by the arm to stop him, and that’s when it all comes crashing over me in waves of emotion and powerful Akhet vibrations. An essence so dark and evil that I have to look away from its center. I get images of death and the taste of blood and a craving for power so complete it blocks out almost every other emotion. I drop my hand as though I’d been burned as a sly smile creeps over Zander’s lips.
“He’s Akhet,” I say to Griffon, who takes a step toward us, not totally sure what’s going on.
“Akhet?” Zander repeats innocently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a kid.” He grins, his features momentarily looking much older than his eight years. “A little boy you can say anything in front of, whispering your secrets into your phone because he’s not paying attention.” He waves his hand in a strangely adult gesture. “And even if he was, he wouldn’t have a clue.” He stares at me in defiance. “Isn’t that right?”
I think back to that time during his lesson when I’d talked to Janine on the phone. I’d told her all about Veronique and the formula while Zander was right there. Listening to every word. “You did all this?” I say in disbelief.
Zander takes a step so that he’s inches from me, his light brown hair flopping into his eyes. “You can never take back what Veronique started. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it stays out.”
I grab his arms with both hands, rage practically blinding me as I pull him off his feet. “You almost got Rayne killed!” I shout at him, digging my fingers into his arms so that he can’t wriggle free. “We need to take him to the Sekhem,” I say to Griffon, my words coming in a rush. “They have to know—”
“Mama!” Zander screams, in a high-pitched little-boy voice so different from the one he was just using. He kicks his feet and wriggles in my grasp.
Griffon’s hands are on mine. “Let him go,” he says, calmly but firmly. “You have to put him down.”
I hesitate and Zander wrenches himself from my grasp just as his mother appears in the doorway, her face full of concern. “What’s the matter?”
“Of course,” his mom says, taking him by the hand and leading him out of the room. She looks over her shoulder at me. “See you Monday.”
“No!” I reach for the door again, not willing to let him get away, when Griffon grabs me around the waist and holds me back.
“He’s gone,” Griffon says, gripping me tight. I hear anger in his voice, but more than that, I hear resignation. “In his current state, Zander is untouchable.”
I try to twist out of his grip. “But he can’t be! That’s crazy! You can’t just let him walk out the door like that.” I slide down the wall to the floor and put my hands over my face, my whole body shaking. “We need to lock him up. Make sure he doesn’t have access to anyone again.”
Griffon sits down next to me and puts one hand lightly on my shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do to him. At the moment, he’s an eight-year-old boy.”
“But you saw him! He’s not just an eight-year-old boy. That thing is pure evil.”
“And thank God we now know who and where he is,” Griffon says. “Just because we can’t do anything to him doesn’t mean we won’t be watching him carefully. He made a huge mistake by revealing himself to you just now. The greatest danger of an essence like that is when you don’t know where they are.”
“Can’t you just get rid of him? Make it look like an accident or something?”
“For what?” Griffon says. “So that he can come back ten years from now in another body that we don’t know about, stronger and angrier than ever?”
I can feel my breathing slow down just a little bit. “It’s just so wrong!”
“I agree,” he says. “But sometimes you have to accept wrong now in order to make it right later.” Griffon stands up and holds out his hand. “Let’s walk. You need to get outside, and I was told something about ice cream.”
I shake my head and brush his hand away. “I don’t want to walk. And I definitely don’t want any ice cream.”
“Fine. Just come with me while I get some. There’s a great place with weird flavors just a few blocks from here.”
“Caramelized bacon,” I say quietly. “That’s their best one.”
Griffon wiggles his fingers and I take his hand and let him pull me up, keeping my fingers wrapped around his for just a second longer than necessary. There are so many things I want to say, but everything is so messed up that I don’t know where to start.
“Finish putting your things away,” he says. “I’m going to call Janine and tell her about Zander, so I’ll meet you out front.”
I shove my things into the closet. The rage and fury that took up so much space in my body has vanished, leaving me feeling empty and spent. I duck out into the hall once I make sure that it’s empty. I can’t face anyone else right now.
Griffon is just hanging up when I walk out the front door. “Janine thinks you’re a genius, in case you were wondering,” he says. “She was calling a Sekhem meeting before we even got off the phone.” He matches his step to mine as we walk down the street. “I think she’s going to want you to be a part of this.”
I nod. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Griffon walks in silence for a few steps, but I can tell there’s something more he wants to say. “I . . . I never did apologize.”
My heart races at the words I’ve been wanting to hear. “For leaving you alone with Christophe,” he continues, and I look away to hide my disappointment. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him glance at my neck. The bruises are gone, but I know he can still see them in his memory. “I never would have, if I had any idea what he was.” There’s pain in his eyes, and I see him swallow hard. “I trusted him. I trusted him enough to leave you with him.”
“You didn’t know,” I say. “Nobody did. Christophe was good at hiding who he was.”
Griffon shakes his head. “But I should have known. At the break-in at the Swiss lab, one of the best Iawi Sekhem was killed. We all thought it was outsiders. But putting the pieces together now . . . I’m sure it was Christophe.”
“It’s always easy to see things after the fact. It’s not your fault.” It seems like it’s just moments before we’re in front of the ice cream store. Neither of us says much, lost in our own thoughts as we order and walk back out onto the sidewalk with our cones.
“You didn’t get the bacon,” Griffon says as we walk slowly down the street. He feels like a stranger to me, like we’re miles apart. “I’m a little disappointed.”
“Peanut-butter curry was calling me today.” I take a lick from the bottom, feeling slightly better with the sharp sweetness flooding my mouth. “Want a bite?”
“Sure.” He leans down and takes a small bite out of the side of my ice cream. I take a bite right after him in the same spot. This is as close to kissing him as I’ve been in a long time.
“I thought you hated peanut butter,” I say. “I’m trying to be more flexible,” he says. “Want some strawberry jalapeño?”
I shake my head. “Too spicy. And a little weird.”
We walk in silence, one of those times where you’re not really walking to get anywhere, just walking to be somewhere. I stop and look into the window of a jewelry store. Hanging on a velvet board are a bunch of necklaces, the one in the middle a silver ankh with a purple stone. I reach up reflexively before I remember that I’m not wearing one anymore.
“Yours is gone,” Griffon says, and I’m not sure if it’s a statement or a question.
I nod slowly, still staring into the window. “I gave it back.”
Something seems to shift in Griffon as we stand there looking at the display. “Let me get that one for you.” He glances over at me. “For your birthday next week.”
I feel myself blushing. “You remembered.”
“August twenty-seventh,” he says, glancing at me.
“Of course you wouldn’t forget,” I say. I look back at the necklace. “Thanks, but no. I’m going to get another one, but I want to wait until I find one I love. And then I’m going to buy it myself.”
He nods as though he understands and turns away from the window. “Two truths and a lie,” he says.
I can’t help but smile. “Okay.”
“I broke my leg so badly the first time I went snowboarding, they had to get a sled to carry me down the mountain. Totally embarrassing. And painful.”
“Aw!”
He shakes his head. “Shh. Not done.”
“Sorry.”
“When I was five, I shaved my legs because I thought they were too hairy.”
A laugh slips out as I picture that, and he gives me a look.
“And my newest Akhet skill is the ability to rewind time.” His face is serious as he looks at me. I hold his gaze a beat longer than I need to before I turn away, my heart pounding.
“Too easy,” I say. “Nobody can rewind time.”
“Doesn’t stop me from wishing I could,” he says.
“And the beauty—and the curse—of being Akhet is that we can never forget. Any of it.” There’s a silence as the words settle between us.
“Right,” Griffon says, squinting into the distance. “It’s such a nice day. Do you want to go down to the beach? We could ride along the Great Highway for a little while before I take you home.”
I think about how it feels to ride behind him, the sun shining on the water beside us. “I’d like that,” I say as we walk back toward the recital hall. “But I need to make a stop first.”
Griffon looks at the shiny blue convertible with the white interior and the big silver bass clef hanging from the rearview mirror. “This is yours?”
“Yep,” I say. “A convertible VW Rabbit.” I see Griffon’s grin. “Don’t tell me you had a car just like this when they first c
ame out.”
“Nope,” he says. “I wasn’t really a Rabbit kind of guy. I did always want a convertible, though. When did you get your license?”
“A few weeks ago,” I say. “I had all that money from giving cello lessons, and one of Dad’s friends sold it to me.” I shrug and look at the car that I’ve come to love in such a short time. “I got tired of always being the passenger. Of not being in control of where I was going.” I lean against the car and hold my breath, feeling the moment change. “Or who I was going with.”
Griffon hesitates, then plants both hands on the hood behind me. Shivers run down my spine as he presses me against the car and whispers in my ear, “You are totally amazing.” As my lips meet his I feel a rush of emotion as everything that’s happened in the past several months collides.
“I’m so sorry,” he murmurs, his lips still on mine. “God, I’m so sorry I was such an ass.” He pulls back slightly and buries his face in my neck, and I reach up to run my fingers through his short hair, feeling the soft fuzz instead of the curls I’m used to, not wanting this moment to end. For a second I feel dizzy and I’m afraid that I might be drifting into a memory, but then everything comes back into sharp focus. With Griffon, there is no past to fall back on, no memories of another relationship, no expectations to meet. With him it’s all about what’s now and what’s next.
“It wasn’t all your fault,” I say, my voice wavering and uncertain as I speak.
“It was,” he says, reaching down to brush a strand of hair away from my face. “I almost let Drew ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me. All because of something that took place hundreds of years ago that had nothing to do with you. It was stupid. I knew you weren’t seeing him. But I needed it to be your decision. I couldn’t live the rest of my life with what might have been hanging over us.”
“Why couldn’t you just be honest with me? Just tell me what happened in the past that was so bad.”
Griffon hesitates. “I should have. It was a long time ago in Italy. I fell for someone who was dealing with a relationship in the past. It . . . it didn’t work out so well for me, and I was afraid to go through that kind of pain again.”
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