“I know you said you were busy, and I get it. You have more going on than pretty much anyone else I know. But I was hoping we could grab a coffee. I know you like going for coffee after Lit, so maybe we could make a run together sometime.”
Chase nibbled at the corner of his lip. There was no reason for me to spend more time with him. I had been expressly told not to see him. I’d have to come up with an explanation to satisfy Haley, which was about as likely as me becoming besties with Gretchen. But, as the final bell rang, I said, “Yes.”
CHAPTER 25
A PHANTOM BUZZ from my burner phone drew my attention to the special zipped pouch in my bag where I now kept it hidden but still readily accessible. Gideon and I were in the library, at my suggestion. I may have agreed to go for coffee with Chase, but I was in no hurry to sign my own death warrant.
Gideon slammed his pen down on the desk in front of me. “I swear to Gosling, Ember, if you check that damn phone one more time when I’m trying to have a conversation with you, I will take it to the chem lab and dissolve it in hydrochloric acid.”
“No, you won’t.”
Gideon could threaten all he liked. The chem lab was the off-hour hangout of his ex, Matthew. He wouldn’t step foot in there if it was the only source of hair products in a fifty-mile radius.
This was the third time today I’d thought I felt the phone vibrate only to be disappointed by continued radio silence from Haley. No jobs meant no progress in learning more. After my close call with Shauna and bizarre run-in with Gretchen the week before, I was back to square one. I felt like I was perpetually stuck in the second phase of my takedown plan.
In the last hour, the grass in front of Heller had been covered in copies of an unfortunate senior’s diary entry that named half of StuCo in a binge-drinking excursion. That it happened at all was a bad look, but the implication that it was bankrolled by the activities department’s petty cash landed the student body president in the principal’s office. A voice in my head whispered that if I’d managed to work faster maybe it wouldn’t have happened. That voice was a jerk. And maybe those kids had it coming.
Every day that passed without any word from the best link I had to the Red Court added to my anxiety. The Red Court’s reach was breathtaking. With so many members’ identities still a mystery, everything I learned still only felt like I was scratching the surface. I had to go deeper, not wider.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t, but it’s no use having you over tonight if you won’t be paying attention to me.”
“What on earth would you do without me to worship at your feet?”
My attention was back on the novel in front of me. I was painfully slogging through The Scarlet Letter. Class reading was typically not a challenge for me. I was a fast reader, and a faster skimmer. Boiling all the words on the page down to a few salient points was a talent of mine. But the thread of The Scarlet Letter continued to elude me; I couldn’t find a corner of the story to hold on to. The notes I’d scribbled were worthless, and I’d taken up most of the page trying to sketch the girl from the carnival. With no other progress in finding the Queen of Hearts, I’d returned to obsessing over the mystery girl from the carnival, but already my memory of her had faded. My brief glimpse of her was already too hazy to do me any good. The only thing I knew for certain was that I did not have a future as a forensic sketch artist. Haley would be infinitely better at this.
“I’d find someone else looking to get a tan from my radiant light.”
I dropped my book and the pretense of reading. “Sometimes, you’re—”
“Utterly charming? Thank you, Ember. You’re forgiven.”
My head fell forward to rest on the library desk. We were tucked away in the far corner, behind the stacks, out of view from most of the kids hanging out in the main section of the library.
“I love you. I really do, but right now I can’t handle all of this.” I emphasized my point with a wave of my hand, sweeping over his entire face.
“What’s eating at you?”
I peeked up at Gideon and was relieved to see he was giving me his concerned face. It was the one he wore when he was really willing to listen and not throw every word back at me with a snarky response.
I looked around, but no other students were nearby. Most of the school was still too occupied with the latest takedown gossip. “This whole thing with the Red Court. I haven’t heard from Haley in a week. I’m not making any progress and I feel like April is pulling away from me.”
I debated for days whether or not to confront April over her secret meeting with Alec. Ultimately, I decided against it. April was saving toward an adapted van with hand controls, so one of my parents would have driven her. If she chose to confide in either of them instead of me, I should respect her decision, even if I really didn’t want to.
Gideon slumped back into his seat, his weariness at the shift in conversation apparent. “You can’t keep doing this.” He paused to gauge my reaction. “Do you think everything you’re doing is what April really wants?”
I shook my head. “She’s made it clear that it isn’t. It’s hard to explain, but she was the one who always looked out for me. After she got her license, she insisted on taking me out with her for her first official ride in the Jetta. Everything she’s gone through—” Tears stung the backs of my eyes, but I pushed them down with every ounce of dignity I had. There would be no crying in the library. “I can’t fix everything, but I can get rid of the Red Court for good,” I choked out when I was sure I could speak without sobbing.
“Maybe that’s true, but do you think it’s worth everything you’re sacrificing? Your soul?”
“I hardly think rigging Homecoming Court and making Alec freaking Hardy pay up on a favor are jeopardizing my place in the afterlife.”
“Really? Homecoming Court was a gateway to bigger, better things for you in the Red Court. Maybe Alec had it coming, dickface that he is, but you were prepared to ruin his life. What’s next?”
I winced. True, I’d made the jump from little league to the majors overnight, but this was how the Red Court worked. Alec made a promise of payment and refused to cooperate when his name was called.
“Sometimes the Favored asks us for things and then don’t like the consequences. What goes around, comes around.”
“Favored? Since when do you talk like them?”
“You’re the one who called me out on not owning this whole messed-up situation!”
A librarian passing by hissed at me to lower my voice. Chagrined, I said quietly, “What am I supposed to do now? Walk away? I can’t. I haven’t come this far not to push for the finish line. And Alec deserved what he got. You didn’t hear the way he talked about April.”