“Stop trying to answer it and get moving!”
Gideon gave up on silencing the phone and bounded up the stairs two at a time. I followed as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn’t dare look behind me as we hauled ourselves to the top of the stairs and around the corner into the girls’ bathroom.
Gideon finally shut his damn phone off and we stood side by side against the wall, gasping for air. A few minutes passed, and it seemed like we were in the clear. Shauna, for whatever reason, didn’t pursue us.
“Why was your phone on?” I demanded.
“I was waiting for a call.” Gideon met my eye and quickly looked away.
“From who?” What could possibly be so important that Gideon would leave his ringer on and risk losing his phone for the day? Hell High had a generous phone policy compared to most other schools, but an incoming call during class was a guaranteed way to lose your phone and land in detention on a Saturday.
Gideon looked sheepish.
“I’m waiting.”
“Damien,” he answered quietly.
“Seriously?! Is that why you were so desperate to go for coffee?”
“I don’t do desperate.” He shot me an icy glare that could give Shauna a run for her money.
“Since when is Damien calling you?” Despite my annoyance, and almost getting busted by Shauna, I was nearly giddy for my friend. He didn’t open himself up often or fall into crush after crush. Gideon was hard to win over, but he was worth it times a million when you did.
“He was going to meet us for coffee. We’ve been texting a little bit. I wanted you to meet him officially and without a counter between you.”
I clasped his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’d be honored. I’m sorry my Red Court nonsense got in the way.”
He shrugged. “Being a spy was kind of fun.” The edge of a smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“It was, wasn’t it?”
Still holding on to Gideon, I dropped my head back against the wall. My heart beat at a gallop and adrenaline was singing inside me. My feelings toward the Red Court—bitterness and anger and exhilaration—were all tangled up in a heady mix that gave me a high like no other.
And I was officially addicted.
CHAPTER 22
THE QUESTION OF GRETCHEN dogged me through the weekend, a shadow constantly at my heels. I couldn’t outrun it on the track or distract myself with homework or reading assignments enough to avoid it. She was a puzzle I couldn’t solve, and I didn’t know why that bothered me so much. It was enough of a distraction to pull me away from the mystery of the girl from the carnival.
I looked Gretchen up and added her to one of the empty spokes on my corkboard. Her last name was Goldberg. She was a sophomore like me, but we didn’t have any classes together. That wasn’t too unusual with a class of over six hundred students, but I thought I’d at least recognize other kids in my grade.
Overestimating yourself again, Ember.
“Do you know anything about Gretchen Goldberg?” I asked Gideon the next Monday in the deserted section of the library. Gideon was covertly texting Damien that our coffee date was rescheduled for next week.
“Sure,” he said, not looking up from his phone.
“And?” I prompted when it became clear he wasn’t planning to participate willingly in our conversation.
“She’s in my math class. She’s really smart. Doesn’t tend to do homework, but she aces all the exams and that saves her ass from failing.”
I made a noncommittal noise. Smart but lazy did not Red Court material make.
“Is that who we heard in the hallway last week? Talking to what’s-her-face?”
“Yeah, and I can’t understand why she’s in the Red Court. I get me, obviously. I even get Haley and Shauna, but Gretchen’s different. She seems...”
“Nice?”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but yeah. She seems nice. And the rest of us aren’t. What does she want so badly to make her turn to the Red Court?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” he quipped before returning to his phone.
* * *
A text from Haley had me hauling to the theater room after school. It had been over a week since Homecoming and I’d received nothing from my partner since the carnival.
“What’s going on?” I said after kicking the door open in my best Haley impression.
She sat perched on the sofa, unamused by my antics. “We have some work to do.” Her expression was bordering on pissed off. Well, more pissed off than usual.
I was instantly on guard. “Ok. What kind of work?”
She sighed. Seriously, what the hell?
“The kind where we need to do some cleanup.”
“Again? Sheesh. First the carnival and now this? Are we the only competent ones in the Red Court?”
“You did get busted when we broke into the school.”
“Fair enough. How can I help?”
“Another team was working on this, but we’ll have to step in to finish.”
I thought of Gretchen and her probation. Was this her job? Haley handed over a folder with some notes on a student that graduated two years ago. Someone who still owed us a favor and hadn’t paid up when we called it in.
“Oh,” I said, “I know him.”
It was April’s ex-boyfriend Alec, the one who’d moved on to a happy life without her. Not that the breakup was his choice. But still, his memory caused April pain on an ongoing basis.
“I know. I read in his file that he used to date your sister. He’s going to college in Denver now.”
“Lucky him. Shiny new life. Shiny new girlfriend.” Whatever we’d be collecting from him would be my absolute pleasure.
Haley studied me, perfectly still. It seemed like her version of the Gideon arched brow. Something I’d done interested her. Maybe it was the malicious light that was undoubtedly glowing in my eyes. “Shiny new fiancée, actually. They just got engaged.” Haley paused a beat to let that fact settle in. “He never had to repay his favor while he was still here, but as you know, no one ever really stops owing us.”
“What did we do for him?”
“Seems like we helped him land the lead in the musical a few years back.” Haley was back to business, scanning through her tablet for additional notes.
I remembered my mom’s birthday and Alec’s need for applause and attention. Ugh. Gross.