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Her words go through my head again. What was she referring to? Whatever it was, it didn’t inspire confidence or positivity.
“Do you think it was some kind of vision?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I guess we can’t rule that out. But she’s been consistently weird lately.”
I have to agree with him. Often, she just sits in class doodling on her notepad and humming quietly. Occasionally, she mutters to herself. Could her proclamation have something to do with Noah? He was giving off a pretty gloomy vibe. He seemed lost and so full rage.
We step into the bus, and I take a deep breath before dropping the bombshell. “I saw Noah,” I say to Ayden.
He looks at me in surprise. He can probably tell by my expression that it’s not good news. I tell him where I found Noah and what he said to me. And of course, I tell him about the diary too.
“He was so angry. I hardly recognized him.”
Ayden runs his hand through his hair, apparently unsure what to make of it all or what to say. He shakes his head and eventually says, “I can’t believe it. He turned his back on his parents and the Noctu only to join forces with the Fabricis?! Has he gone completely nuts?! He can’t be serious about this. Mr. Cunningham is one of the few Council members who can be trusted. I can’t imagine him having any hand in what went down. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Fabricis are just using Noah.”
“You think they lied to him?”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing that family’s ever done.”
True. “So what do we do?”
He’s bracing himself to answer me, I can tell. He cups my face in his hands and says, “Tess, I know you don’t want to hear this, but we can’t change Noah’s mind. You know what he’s like, and it sounds like he’s prepared to do anything. All we can do is try to warn Mr. Cunningham.”
I open my eyes wide. “No. No, we can’t betray Noah.”
“Maybe we don’t have to. But he needs to know he’s in danger.”
We reach my bus stop and step out of the bus together. I’m still thinking about what Ayden just said. What can we tell Mr. Cunningham? How are we supposed to warn him?
“Tess, we can’t risk Noah trying to hurt Mr. Cunningham. Regardless of the outcome, that can’t end well for anyone. We need to do something.”
“I know,” I reply. “But we shouldn’t jump the gun either. We need to think carefully about how to proceed and be absolutely sure of what we’re doing.”
Ayden regards me with a smoldering look and nods. He opens his wonderful lips to say something when I hear a surprised voice behind me say, “Hey, Tess. Is that you?”
I turn around to see Alex. She hurries over and hugs me.
“What a coincidence meeting you here.” She glances sideways at Ayden and asks, “Are you two on a date?” She winks mischievously at me and elicits a smile from me despite my desolate mood.
I shake my head. “No, he’s just taking me home.”
“To that teacher family?” asks Alex.
She turns to Chrissy, who has now joined us too. Chrissy waves but doesn’t get a chance to say anything because Alex keeps talking nonstop.
“I’d die if I had to live in a teacher’s house. Don’t you feel like you’re constantly under surveillance? Although – I guess you could find out where they keep the questions for the next exam. That wouldn’t be so bad.”
“You and your crazy ideas,” Chrissy mutters with a shake of her head. “How are you?” she asks, studying my face. “You don’t look too good.”
“And you keep telling me I need to be more diplomatic!” Alex snorts.
“There was a memorial service at school today. A girl from school died.”
Their eyes widen, and they both hug me.
“I’m so sorry. How awful.”
I know I can’t tell them everything. But I want to confide in them as truthfully as I can.
