Dangerous Lovers

by Becca Vincenza

  To my relief, Nelly found me. She must have been watching the entrance for me, because she hopped up from where she had been sitting and ran over to me.

  “Finally,” she breathed. “I’ve been waiting for you. I got you some pizza.”

  I smiled and gestured to Tommy. “Nelly, this is Tommy. Tommy

  this is my sister, Nelly.”

  They exchanged greetings, and Tommy told us he was going to grab some food and he would be right back. When I reached the lunch table, Jackson pulled out the chair next to him. I sat down. Daniel was also there, sitting next to Nelly.

  “Hey, darling,” said Jack, leaning over to kiss my cheek.

  I smiled at him and stuffed a big bite of pizza in my mouth. It was delicious, or maybe I was just that hungry. I nodded to Daniel, who smiled back at me. Then I turned toward Jackson. “Hey, Jack. I’ve missed you.”

  He raised his eyebrows and pretended to choke on his soda. “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my Alexa?”

  I was about to make fun of him for that stupid line, when Tommy pulled up a chair on the other side of me. “Your Alexa?” he asked. “We’ll see about that.”

  Jackson and Tommy locked eyes from both sides of me and sized each other up. Before either of them could say something else stupid, I held up my hands. “Down, boys, I don’t feel like beating up the two of you right now.”

  Across from me Nelly and Daniel laughed. Daniel said, “I don’t know, I think that would be pretty entertaining.”

  “Well, I don’t like fighting for entertainment,” I snapped.

  Daniel’s smile slipped off his face and he looked down at his hands. “Sorry.”

  Nelly was glaring at me now. I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m sorry,

  Daniel. I’m just kind of wound up right now.”

  He shrugged. “It’s cool.”

  Everyone went silent after that and I felt bad for bringing so much tension to the table. None of what was bothering me was their fault. I didn’t want my bad mood to rub off on them, so I asked them how they liked their classes.

  “They’re awesome,” said Nelly.

  “Yeah,” Jack agreed. “I really like it here. I like being around so many other Wolves.”

  “Have you talked to your parents?” I asked.

  His expression turned sheepish. “Yeah, I guess they called my Aunt Marcia and found out I haven’t been there. They were a little mad, but I told them I would come back when I was ready.” He shrugged. “We’re Wolves. Sometimes we take off on our own for a while. They were just happy to hear I was safe.”

  Conversation flowed easily after that. Everyone joked and told stories about their experiences thus far. Even Tommy and Jackson got along nicely. They all seemed to be so happy, so I pasted on a smile and tried to let myself enjoy their company. As I filled my belly with the greasiest food I could grab, I felt a little happier too. Glancing around me, I noticed that everyone here seemed to be pretty cheerful. Maybe life here wouldn’t be so bad after all. I could make something of myself and earn some money doing it. It really was a beautiful place, maybe I just hadn’t been allowing myself to see it.

  Then Tommy said something that snapped me out of my thoughts. “I can’t believe that man tried to blow up Queen Camillia. He deserves to be executed.”

  I almost choked on my brownie. “What are you talking about?” Tommy looked over at me, sly smile returning to his face.

  “They’re going to execute him.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The way Tommy said this pissed me off. It wasn’t his fault. He was just relaying an interesting piece of information. Still, I didn’t like hearing someone talk so lightly about execution. I remained silent after that. The guy had tried to kill me. I shouldn’t care about the punishment he would face as a result of it. So why did I?

  Maybe I had just been seeing too much death lately. I still hadn’t gotten over the fact that I had taken three lives. And I definitely hadn’t gotten over the news about my mother. Death was a sore issue for me right now.

  Nelly shot me a look from across the table that no one else noticed. She didn’t have to tell me what she was thinking. She knew something was wrong and wanted to know if I was going to tell her later. I gave a slight nod and she returned to her food and the conversation with the others.

  When lunch ended we all headed off to separate classes. Tommy had Calculus next and I had Biology, so I guessed I would be on my own for the rest of the day.

  I actually enjoyed the classes. It was like a perfect mixture of physical training and mental stimulation. In my Conditioning class, I learned that my lungs weren’t as strong as they could be because I struggled when we were made to run up fifteen flights of stairs. I figured this might have something to do with the cigarettes, but if I had to choose between smoking and being able to run up a ridiculous amount of stairs, I’d choose smoking. I just hoped that it would get easier after a couple of months.

  At the end of the school day, I met up with Jackson and Nelly outside of the school building. Jack said that he had something to do and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading off in a different direction.

  That left me with just Nelly. I didn’t say much as we walked back toward my dorm room. My tongue felt thick in my throat and my breathing was shallow. Nelly seemed oblivious us to this and regaled me with the tales of her day. I smiled and laughed at the appropriate times, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was so glad to see her happy and I didn’t know how to tell her about what the queen had told me. Even though Nelly had already accepted the loss of our mother, I knew that it would just break her heart all over again to hear that acceptance confirmed. I didn’t know if I could do it, but she had a right to know just as much as I did.

  When we reached my room, she glided in and plopped down on my bed. I closed the door, and as soon as it was shut, Nelly’s tone changed. It was full of concern and frustration when she spoke. “Okay, Lex, you ready to tell me what’s been bothering you?”

  I sat down next to her and rubbed my temples. Why did I always forget that Nelly could see right through me? Of course she knew something was wrong. She had probably known as soon as she laid eyes on me in the cafeteria. Her tone had confirmed this.

  I leaned over and grabbed my backpack from the floor, steeling myself for what I was about to tell her. “I saw the queen today,” I told her. Reaching into my backpack, I scooped our mother’s necklace up so that it was concealed in my fist and set the backpack back down.

  “Okay…” Nelly said.

  I swallowed hard. “She wanted to thank me for saving her life. She also had some news for me.”

  Nelly suddenly went very still and stared blankly into my eyes for several long moments. I got nervous and was about to start shaking her when her eyes widened and she gasped.

  I leaned forward. “Nelly? Are you okay?”

  She nodded her head and tears slid slowly down her cheeks.

  I was baffled as a realization hit me. “You knew?”

  She swiped the tears off her face quickly with her sleeve and shook her head. “No, I mean, yes, I mean, no,” she rambled. She took a deep breath that seemed to get caught in her throat. “I mean,” she continued slowly, “no, I didn’t know about what the queen told you, but yes, I know now because I just saw the memory of it in your mind.”

  I sat back, shocked. I hadn’t known she could do that. “I didn’t know you could do that,” I said, echoing my thoughts.

  She smiled sadly. “That’s because other Searchers can’t. And…I’ve never done it to you before. It’s kind of invasive, but I just got tired of not knowing what you’ve been keeping from me all day. I wanted to see if I could help you fix whatever it was. Don’t be mad at me.”

  Leaning forward, I rested my forearms on my knees. I turned to look at Nelly. “I’m not mad at you. Actually, that’s pretty damn cool. You always know what I’m thinking without even having to Search me anyway, so I don’t really care if you do it… Wh
at else can you do that the others can’t?”

  That was kind of off the main topic, but I actually really wanted to know.

  “Well, other Searchers can’t force their will upon others, and they also don’t know the things that I do.”

  I furrowed my brow. “What things? What do you mean?”

  She sighed. “Remember the morning before the Lamia attacked us?” I nodded. How could I forget? She continued, “Well, I told you that I just thought we should stay home that day. That I just felt like it was important for us to stay home that day, remember?” I nodded again.

  “Sometimes I get these feelings. Really, really strong feelings that I have to do something. Something that usually doesn’t make sense at the time; but the urge, the instinct to do it is so great that I do it anyway. And then, after something happens, I realize why I was supposed to do whatever it was that I did. Why it was important.” She paused, then added, “Does that make any sense?”

  I thought back to my urge to talk to the man in the blue suit, and said, “It makes perfect sense.”

  She ran a hand through her hair. “So… she’s gone, then.”

  My eyes fell to the floor. “Yeah, she is.”

  Opening my fingers, I let the necklace dangle from my hand. I’m sure she had seen it in the memory of my meeting with the queen.

  “You want this?” I asked.

  She sighed. “Nah, you keep it.”

  I fastened it back on my neck and lay back on the bed. Nelly lay down beside me. We didn’t say anything else; we simply stared at the ceiling. Nelly and I were so different in so many ways, but in some, we were exactly the same. We stayed like that for a long time, until we both fell asleep. Tomorrow we would wake up to a new day, but tonight, we both had to finally accept the loss of our mother and open ourselves up to the futures that were now ahead of us.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The rest of the week passed uneventfully. I was surprised at how easily I slipped into a routine of attending my classes and hanging out with Nelly and the others in my off time. My mood grew lighter and lighter as the days passed by, and I even found myself enjoying school and the time with my friends.

  I had seen Kayden a couple of times, but only in passing. He didn’t even look at me when we passed each other, and this hurt me more than I wanted to admit. He had every right to be mad at me after the way I’d treated him, and I wished there was a way for me to explain myself without sounding like an idiot. But, I had made my decision, and I still felt like it was the right one. Because, as great as things seemed to be going, I couldn’t shake that feeling that I was missing something really important here. Everyone else seemed to be really happy, though, so I just kept those thoughts to myself.

  Before I knew it, it was Friday evening, meaning that I had two days off before I had to return to classes. Jackson, Nelly, Daniel and I stood in the courtyard in front of our dormitories, discussing our weekend plans.

  Tommy came strolling up to us. “Hey, guys.”

  “What’s up, Tommy?”

  Tommy’s sly grin crept onto his face. “What are your plans for tonight?” I looked over at the others, who just shrugged. “Nothing, really. What’s up?”

  His grin widened. “Because there is a party tonight over on the south side of the city.” Tommy took my hand and kissed it. “Would you like to go?”

  Jackson tossed his arm over my shoulder, earning a smirk from Tommy. “What kind of party?”

  “One for cool people, so obviously you’re not invited,” replied Tommy.

  We all laughed, because this was the kind of exchange we had grown used to between these two. I think they had begun to consider each other friends, and even though they would never admit it, they were kind of similar in personality.

  Nelly shrugged and looked at Daniel, who shrugged back. “Sure,” she said. “We’re in.”

  Tommy switched his gaze to me, both eyebrows raised. “Alright,”

  I said. “I’m in.”

  Jackson chuckled and whispered in my ear. “Where Nelly goes…”

  I elbowed him, and he laughed even harder. He was right, though, I wouldn’t have agreed if Nelly hadn’t said she was going. I’m not really a partier. I would prefer to stay home and read in my free time, but maybe that was because I had never been invited to any parties. Perhaps I could use a night of recklessness.

  Tommy grinned triumphantly. “Wonderful. Meet me here at eight, then.”

  We agreed and Tommy headed off. Nelly looped her arm through mine and turned to the boys. “Well, it looks like we need to go shopping—you guys coming?” Jackson and Daniel exchanged looks that answered that question. Nelly rolled her eyes. “Okay, we’ll catch up with you later, then.”

  After they walked away, I looked over at Nelly. “How are we going to go shopping? We don’t have any money left.”

  “Actually, it’s Friday, so our school allowances should be waiting for us in our mailboxes in the dorms.”

  I looked at her like she was crazy. “Our what?”

  She laughed at my expression. “I guess no one told you because there has been so much going on, but yeah, we actually get paid for going to school. It’s crazy, right?”

  As awesome as being paid for attending school sounded, that feeling that I was missing something flooded into me once again. “Yeah,” I agreed. “That is crazy.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Even if I was uneasy about receiving money for attending school, that didn’t stop me from wanting to spend it. We had stopped by our rooms, and just like Nelly had said, there was cash waiting for us in our mailboxes in the lobby. My envelope contained two hundred dollars, Nelly’s had one hundred.

  “I wonder why I get more than you.” I said as we strolled up a block that held a variety of stores.

  She shrugged. “I guess fighters get better pay than the rest of us. Oh, look, this place looks like it might have some good stuff.”

  We entered a store filled to the brim with fashionable clothing. I picked out a couple of pairs of jeans and a few T-shirts. Nelly rolled her eyes when she saw what I had chosen.

  “Oh, come on.” She sighed. “Why do you always pick boring stuff?”

  I looked down at my choices. The tops were all either black or gray, but that’s what I always picked. “I like this stuff.”

  “Yeah, but we’re going to a party! Our first social outing since we got here. Don’t you want to look hot?”

  “Uh, I don’t really care. Besides, most of my clothes end up getting ruined. And I get stared at enough already around here.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  “Then let me,” I snapped.

  She raised an eyebrow at that. “You okay? We don’t have to go tonight if you’re not up to it.”

  I pushed the hair out of my face. I had been snapping on her a lot lately. “Sorry,” I said. “We’re going, and who knows, it might be… fun.”

  Nelly nodded, but she still looked concerned. “It will be. We could use a little carefree time.”

  I walked over to a rack holding some floral sundresses and picked out a couple in my size. I usually didn’t wear dresses; they’re not practical fighting attire, but these were cute and modest. And I wanted to show Nelly that I was trying.

  She smiled at my choices. “Much better. Let’s go check out. I saw a shoe store across the street that I want to hit before we go.”

  We headed over to the check-out counter and tossed our stuff on the counter. The lady looked up at us and smiled. Her eyes lit up with excitement.

  “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “It’s you, isn’t it? The Warrior I keep hearing about.”

  I shifted uneasily. “Um, yeah, I guess so.”

  Her eyes widened even more, and I was worried they might pop right out of her head. She leaned forward, like she was about to tell us a secret. “Can I see your marks?”

  I was so tired of this routine. I struggled not to roll my eyes. Reaching down, I pushed the sleeve of my shirt u
p to my shoulder. I had worn long-sleeves, even though it was about seventy degrees outside, in order to avoid this.

  She gasped and leaned forward even more. I shot an annoyed look at Nelly. She just smiled.

  “Absolutely beautiful,” the woman murmured. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She said that last part more to herself than to me.

  I cast another look at Nelly, and she shrugged. Leaning forward, I kept my voice low. “Why? Why do you say that?”

  She looked up like she hadn’t meant to say that aloud and darted her gaze nervously around the store. “I didn’t say anything.” She began stuffing the clothes hastily in a bag. “Will this be all?”

  I narrowed my eyes, and Nelly placed her hand on my arm. She knew I was about two seconds from shaking an answer out of this woman. I really had to get control over my temper.

  “Yes, that’s all,” Nelly replied with a nervous smile of her own.

  “Okay,” the woman said. “Have a nice day.”

  I furrowed my brows. “But we haven’t paid for it.”

  The woman smiled, and scanned the store once more. “You’ll pay for it tenfold… at least, I hope so,” she mumbled. “Have a good day.”

  We left the store with our clothes and headed across the street to the shoe store.

  “Well, that was… weird,” Nelly commented.

  “No shit.”

  She shot me a look. “Don’t curse.”

  I raised an eyebrow, pulled out my pack of cigarettes, and lit one up.

  “Ugh, you’re still smoking?”

  I blew out a long cloud of smoke. “No.”

  She sighed and shook her head. “Well, hurry up. Don’t you want some new shoes?”

  “Not really. I don’t feel like getting any more free stuff.”

  Her brow creased. “This happened before?”

  I nodded. “Everyone keeps giving me free sh—, free stuff. I feel like some kind of mobster.” I handed her some money. “Just go on in and pick me out something.”