I tell him as he pays our tab.
“I’ll get it for you,” Victor says, holding out his hand. “Stefen, I have a feeling it’s going to be a pleasure doing business with you.”
When I get home, Phineas is in his room.
“Where were you?” he asks. He is pacing, fumbling with his hands. He seems agitated. I slowly set down my bag. “Settling with Victor.”
“Have you tracked down the Stone?”
“I’m working on it,” I say. “But I’ve got this great id—”
I stop. Suddenly notice the maps spread around him. Maps he’s drawn hastily, over and over, marked with X’s. Maps of Corrander, Sheffield, and Sterling.
“What’s going on?” I ask him slowly.
“Stefen,” he says, “I think I caused the Disappearances.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eight days after the music disappears, Principal Cleary strides into the cafeteria during our lunch hour to announce that the Christmas Ball is canceled. It is so quiet when he leaves that his footsteps echo all the way back down the hall.
“He’s not even going to give us a chance to find a Variant in time?” George grumbles, pushing his food around his plate.
“How long does it usually take Dr. Cliffton?”
George sets his fork down on the table. “Well—” he admits, wiping his mouth. “Usually? Years.”
Someone sticks out a foot and trips me on the way out of the cafeteria, but George catches me just in time.
“Sorry,” I mutter. “Clumsy.” George’s hand lingers one half second longer than necessary on my arm. He flushes and pulls away with a look that leaves me feeling suddenly confused.
I’m still thinking about that look hours later, at Stars practice. Wondering if it’s possible that George has started to think of me as more than a friend.
My toes graze the line Mrs. Percy has taped along the wooden slats in the floor. I wind up, picturing George’s easy smile, his rumpled shirts, his hair that sticks up and reminds me of Miles.
Throw.
There’s no tingling electricity, no heightened senses or self-awareness that I always feel whenever Will is near. But . . . could there ever be?
Throw.
It would make much more sense on paper than Will and me. That and the fact that Will seems to like Eliza anyway.
Will probably thinks of me as the sister he never wanted.
Extra hard throw.
I stand back and look at my work. All three Stars have hit their marks and stuck, shearing in deep. My practicing is starting to pay off.
I take an extra step back from the throwing line, my shoes scuffing against the wood in the bright warmth of the gymnasium. My final Star zips through the air and catches its teeth in the white space, just edging the bull’s-eye.
Mrs. Percy erupts into applause so sudden it startles me.
Then the doors to the gymnasium burst open and Eliza strides through, past the wall of trophies encased in glass. She is accompanied by another student and is dressed in a fencing jacket, with a mesh mask under her arm.
Mrs. Percy waves at her. “Plenty of room for you and your sparring partner, dear.”
Eliza nods and brandishes an epee.
