Still crouched, Hastings looked up at her with depth to his gaze. “Everyone has a weakness. Mine is…my emotions.”
“It’s a weakness you’ve learned to overcome, though.”
“Not entirely.” His tone wasn’t full of resentment and neither was his expression. He’d looked at her like this before, with a distant interest and longing, but they’d never been this close physically or emotionally. She was suddenly acutely aware of the heat that radiated from his skin and felt the urge to close the gap between them.
“Do you remember when you first came to the dry cleaner’s,” he started, his voice soft as he stared down at her hands folded in her lap, “and Aethelred tried to get you to read my mind?”
“The day you were being unusually rude to me?” she clarified, shocked by the bluntness of her own words.
He didn’t take offense; he just smirked. “Yes, that day. I told you I was thinking about your braid, but I wasn’t. I was…frustrated that day, thinking about how naturally destructive I am…”
“You were…thinking about me,” she blurted, her cheeks burning. “I could tell—”
“I was thinking about how sorry I was that I’d involved myself in your life,” he said, his voice wrought with sadness. Emotion flooded his face, distorting his features in a way that, before he’d told her about what happened with his mother, Eliana hadn’t thought possible for him. “You’re innocent and caring, even if you don’t think you are. On the first day we met, you were the only one in that van who didn’t look at me like a delinquent—a criminal. You can so easily see the worst in people—you can see their darkest thoughts and desires—but you always find the best, even when someone doesn’t deserve it. You don’t deserve to be associated with me. You deserve a better…friend.”
Eliana shook her head fiercely, willing her eyes to remain dry. “No, Hastings. You’re a good person—you just showed me you are.”
Reaching out, he touched her hand lightly, as if it pained him to do so. Even though he’d just been clutching her hand, healing her, this time felt different—more intimate and less urgent. Her fingers were rough and speckled with dry clay, which he rubbed away with his thumb. “I’m dangerous in the wrong hands, Eliana. The Wackos know who I am, and they’re going to come back for me. They know how to get into Periculand now, so…I have to leave.”
She tensed, numb to the way his fingers caressed hers. “No. You can’t—”
“I have to,” he interrupted, not harshly but definitely dejectedly. “No one’s safe while I’m here. I have to go somewhere the Wackos can’t find me. You can’t tell Angor—you can’t tell anybody. I wanted to tell you, because…I didn’t want you to think I’d abandoned you. I didn’t want you think that I didn’t—that I don’t—”
His words stopped flowing when her clay-crusted fingers lifted his chin, clamping his mouth shut and raising his face toward hers. There were no tears in her eyes now, only defiance and passion. Her body trembled with anxiety, but her action was clear and firm as she bent toward him and pressed her lips to his.
Stiffness evaporated from him. The rigid facade he’d put on for so long was engulfed by a tidal wave of emotions. She knew he’d never kissed a girl before, but his body responded to hers naturally, his fingers tracing up her arms to the nape of her neck, concealed beneath her soft, cobalt-blue hair.
Thoughts raced from his mind to hers unintentionally. For so long, he’d avoided physical contact, thinking he might burst blood vessels with just a touch. Now that his lips and hands were twined with Eliana, though, he realized this was what he’d been missing—this reassurance that not everything was painful and evil, this affection that melted any astringency lingering in his brain.
Reading his mind, kissing him—it all suddenly felt too intrusive, and she wrenched away, her cheeks hot with embarrassment…and desire. “I-I’m sorry.”
I’m not, he thought to her, his lips set in a permanently dazed grin.
“I’ll protect you if you stay here,” she whispered, afraid to look him in the eye. “Or…I’ll make sure Lavisa and Tray do. You…you won’t be safe on your own, and Mr. Periculy will make sure you’re safe here. He’s your…mentor, or whatever…”
“You’re right,” he said, sobering as he stood straight. “It would be senseless to run away… But, if you…if we… You have to know, Eliana, if the Wackos do come back for me, I’ll die before I let them take me and use me. I’ll kill myself.”
“Can you…?”
“I’ll find a way,” he assured her, no emotion, all severity. Clearing his throat, he reached over to the far side of her desk, which was mostly covered with blood and clay, and picked up a black fabric pouch. “This was what I scared you with earlier. I meant to surprise you, but like I’ve said, I’m naturally destructive.”
She caught the playfulness in his tone and shook her head. “I’m just a poor mind reader—I should have sensed you come in. But…why?”
“It’s a sculpting kit—tools and stuff,” he informed her, placing the pouch in her hands. “I didn’t know your birthday was on Sunday, but Zeela told me this morning. I picked this up after work—there’s a little art store next to the bookstore, if you didn’t know. Happy belated birthday.”
Rising from her seat, Eliana examined the pouch, unraveling it to reveal a line of shiny silver tools much nicer than the ones she’d scavenged from the Mentals Building. When her eyes met Hastings’s, she was overcome with poignant happiness that felt as alien to her as it did to him. “Thank you.”
“Ah, the infatuation of teenagers—lovely enough to make me want to barf up my intestines,” Adara drawled, watching with a wrinkled nose as Hastings and Eliana entered the training gymnasium.
Bottom wedged between the bleachers and legs propped up on the orange bench, Adara lounged in displeasure while the rest of the students practiced their Affinities. Ackerly sat cross-legged on the mats before her, playing with the potted twinflowers he’d brought to practice with today. Upon hearing Adara’s statement, however, he perked up and followed her gaze to the couple. They hadn’t declared themselves such, but based on the coquettish glances and faint smirks that characterized their normally apathetic faces, there was something suspiciously romantic going on between them.
Ackerly smiled shyly to himself. “I think it’s nice if they’re together,” he said, his voice quiet compared to the others that bounced off the high walls. Not far from them, Lavisa and Hartman were “fighting,” which was really just Lavisa delivering complicated and deadly blows while Hartman teleported around to avoid a fist to the gut. He’d been improving over the past week, and he could now teleport a whopping twelve feet at a time.
“I think it’s predictable and sappy,” Adara countered, her feet bouncing mindlessly where they rested on the bench. Eliana and Hastings had positioned themselves in a rather secluded part of the gymnasium now, and apparently Eliana was practicing her mind reading on him. Adara barely suppressed a gag when her roommate began to giggle behind her hand. “The two quiet, tortured souls fall in love and live happily ever after.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Ackerly said, shrugging as he examined one of the leaves on his plant.
“Of course you don’t; you don’t see anything wrong with anything. You’re an optimist, Greenie.”
“Well, um, I think I see something wrong with this leaf… It looks bigger than the rest—”
“What’s poppin’, friends?” Seth greeted enthusiastically as he slid across the bench of the bleachers and collided with Adara’s legs. She shot him a lighthearted scowl.
“Hello, Birthday Twins,” she said, shifting her eyes from Seth to Tray, who was holding only a single piece of paper instead of a tower of books. He didn’t even bother to look at her as he slumped down on her other side, engrossed in his reading. “Are you enjoying your gift, Jockface?” Adara asked, spinning her attention back to Seth.
“Loving my gift,” he corrected, glancing down at his light blue t-s
hirt. It had originally read “Birthday Boy,” but Adara had crossed out “Boy” with marker and written “Badass.” Every one of their teachers today had told him to take it off and put on his uniform t-shirt, but Adara was proud to know he’d refused each time.
“Are you ignoring me because I didn’t get you a shirt, Nerdworm?” Adara asked, peeking over at Tray in an attempt to see what he was reading. “I thought you’d be more mad if I did get you one, which is why I didn’t. You can’t tell me I’m never nice to you.” Tray grunted something incoherent. “You know, though,” she pressed on, tapping her fingernails on the bleacher beside him, “I feel like I haven’t made fun of you enough for how you carried Eliana to the nurse’s office last week like she was your dying princess.”
“I feel like you’ve made fun of me every day for it,” Tray retorted, his tone dry.
“Hm. You’re probably right… Still not enough, though. We’re all aware that you’re romantically inept, Nerdworm, but typically, when you’re into a girl and she’s into another guy who has a super deadly power, you don’t make your affection for her pathetically obvious. Just a tip.”
“Thank you, Stromer, for your advanced knowledge of romance. Perhaps you should take your own advice.” For the first time since he’d entered the room, Tray’s gaze slid away from his paper and to his brother, who was obliviously watching other students train.
Adara’s eyes slivered, and she was about to hiss, “That’s different,” when Seth spoke over her.
“Be nice to Tray today, Adara—it’s his birthday. He doesn’t need to be reminded of the fact that Ellie will never fall in love with him because she’s in love with a mute delinquent.”
Tray sighed exasperatedly. “I don’t have a crush on Eliana; I simply respect her because she’s actually a decent human being.”
“Mm…so she’s a boring conformist, is that what you’re saying?” Adara prompted, smirking. “That’s really not something you want to say to the girl you’re trying to get with.” Tray opened his mouth to protest, but she continued, “Before you can lamely try to defend yourself, tell me what you’re reading there that’s more important than your academic studies.”
He rubbed his forehead as he glanced back down at the paper. “It’s a letter from Mom—”
“Did she send us anything?” Seth questioned hopefully.
“Just some money—that I’m going to save for emergencies,” Tray added with a parental look. Seth and Adara exchanged eye rolls. “I just hate this letter-writing crap. I know Fraco reads them before he gives them to me, and it makes me want to…to…”
“Beat him in a heated game of trivia?” Adara suggested as he struggled to find the right words. He sent her a withering glare that didn’t faze her.
“I just wish I could call her,” Tray said. “I wish I could talk to her on the phone and make sure she’s okay, you know?”
Adara brought her hand to her chin in mock contemplation. “No, I don’t know.”
“I just wish we had internet,” Seth said before his twin’s irritation could erupt. “I miss watching funny videos online, you know?”
“That I do know,” Adara agreed, causing Tray to scoff. An altercation probably would have ensued if Avner hadn’t picked that moment to approach them.
“Hey, happy birthday, guys,” he greeted, clapping both twins with a handshake. Though his lips formed a cordial smile, his electric yellow eyes were as dull as they had been since Maddy was kidnapped, and his overall posture was despondent. “Nice shirt,” he added to Seth. “Adara made it for you?”
“You know it.” Seth flashed his teeth as he extended his arms to show off the t-shirt.
“She gave me a shirt like that once,” Avner recalled reminiscently, “except she made mine say ‘Birthday Bitch’—and I obviously didn’t wear it.”
Seth chuckled. “Of course she’d get us the same gift. Makes sense, since we’re both basically her brothers.”
Tray choked out a laugh while Adara fought to keep her hands from curling into fists. “Well, my birthday’s been made,” he mused.
To Adara’s relief, Seth couldn’t seem to figure out why his twin was suddenly so cheerful. Instead of addressing it, he asked, “When’s the next JAMZ sesh, Av? I have a feeling my strength Affinity is gonna kick in soon, since I’m sixteen now. I am pumped to take Tray’s spot on the team.”
“As am I,” Tray said, now leaning casually back against the bleachers. “I’m not really interested in being pelted by rocks again.”
“Maybe if you took this training time to practice your Affinity, that wouldn’t happen,” Adara recommended vindictively. Tray didn’t have time to counter before a group of people entered the gymnasium and caught Adara’s attention. “Who’s that?”
Both Starks looked up and Avner spun his head to see that Fraco had just walked through the doorway accompanied by two unfamiliar adults, one male and one female. Avner’s expression soured upon recognition.
“Those are the Regular ambassadors, Artemis and William Ross. They’re Reggs who work for the government and, apparently, set standards for Angor and Periculand. They’re…well…”
“Weirdly familiar,” Adara finished, though it was clear by her brother’s wide eyes that that wasn’t what he’d been about to say.
“You think you know them, too?” Avner questioned, and she looked up at him seriously.
“We’ve met them before, haven’t we?”
“I—well, I met them last week, after the Wacko attack, and they felt familiar then. Do you remember where you met them?”
Adara shook her head, studying the woman, short and stiff in her plain black suit. The man was hardly less severe, his demeanor cold and his hair ashy gray. It was something about his tall, athletic structure or maybe her dark features and olive skin that Adara found recognizable, but she couldn’t locate a single memory.
“You know, I don’t remember much of our childhood,” she said to Avner. “They could be our parents and we probably wouldn’t know.”
“You…don’t remember your parents?” Ackerly piped up, his green eyes darting between the Stromers from where he sat on the floor.
“Of course not,” Adara snapped a bit too harshly. “They abandoned us.”
“When you were four and Avner was seven,” Tray added, “which is certainly old enough for you both to remember them.”
“I know,” Avner said, shaking his head in frustration. “My whole life feels like a blur before we were taken by the foster family, though.”
“I remember our mother was ugly and evil,” Adara said nonchalantly, “and that I hate her.”
“Your dad must have been good looking, then,” Ackerly said, causing Adara’s eyebrows to shoot upward. Blushing, he hastily added, “I just mean you two aren’t ugly—you must have gotten it from one of your parents…”
“Personality-wise, our parents were definitely foul,” Avner said, his vision falling back toward the ambassadors. “Anyone who willingly orphans their children is. These Reggs are unfriendly, but I wouldn’t say they’re evil. Besides, if they were our parents, you’d think they’d have awkwardly greeted us by now.”
“True,” Adara muttered, but skepticism still lingered in her mind. “I want to go hear what they’re saying.”
Ackerly became exaggeratedly engaged with his plant when her eyes flew to him. “Um…I…I’m busy.”
“I think I’ve heard that one before,” she noted before pivoting toward Seth. “Jockface?”
He stared off dreamily, and when Adara realized he was admiring Kiki, who sat alone on the opposite side of the gymnasium, her agitation amplified.
“Fine. Nerdworm,” Adara decided as she popped up from the bleachers and dragged Tray with her. Although he could have physically fought her off with ease, he decided instead to grumble verbal objections. She ignored him until they were halfway to the doors, slinking around the outskirts of the room to remain discreet. By that time, he’d given up and simply followed her out of
pure interest.
“You think they might be your parents?” Tray asked her quietly as they passed a group of gossiping primary girls. The two Reggs had been speaking with Fraco, but now the three exited the room, and Adara cursed silently as they disappeared into the hallway.
“Hopefully not,” she replied grumpily. “If I’m lucky, my parents are either dead or in prison.”
Tray exhaled a breath. “Adara—”
“Don’t chide me now, Nerdworm,” she mumbled as they approached the exit. None of the other teachers or students had noticed them, thankfully, but she continued to glance around cautiously. “I know you’re gonna say, ‘You should love your parents, even though they were shitty to you,’ but you don’t understand because you have great parents. Don’t look so surprised. Just because I hate that they’re always up my ass about stuff doesn’t mean I don’t think Linda and Rich are good people.”
He smirked slyly at her. “Only took you three years to admit it. And I was going to say that about your parents—minus the S-word.”
Snorting, Adara patted him on the shoulder. “You’re sixteen now, Stark. I think you’re a big enough boy to say ‘shit.’”
He made a faint noise of disgust. “You’re not going to address that I think you should forgive your parents?”
“No, because then we’ll get into an argument, and we don’t have time for that. C’mon,” she urged, grabbing him by the elbow and yanking him out of the gymnasium.
They spotted the three adults walking down the corridor immediately, their taut voices echoing through its emptiness.
“It’s truly a disappointment, Fraco. We would like to have a word with Angor,” the woman Regg, Artemis, said.
“Mr. Periculy is indisposed at the moment—”
“We were not impressed by what we saw in that room,” the man, William, injected. They’d stopped at the front doors that would lead them out of the Physicals Building, but Fraco was too involved in the conversation to notice the two conspicuously eavesdropping students pressed up against the wall.
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