A slight flush creeps up Anna’s neck. “Thanks, Ella. You should confront Silas. I’m serious,” she says when I shake my head. “You need closure.”
“Maybe.” But what if I don’t want to know? My whole life, I’ve never fit in. At school I was picked apart for everything from my unwell mother down to the wedge of brown in my right eye. But those girls were strangers. Cruel nobodies who didn’tknowme.
Not like Silas. He knew me down to my core. Knew my story, my fears and my dreams. He came into my life at precisely the right time, helping me with the transition into college, booking my first appointment with my psychiatrist, and setting me up with ways to protect myself from the world. Something about being in his presence had felt soright, like the comfort of your own bed after an all-nighter or a sliver of sunshine on a cold winter’s day. Deep down, I’m grateful for the heavy blanket of fog that hangs over our memories. Because hearing how messed up I am from Silas’s mouth would break me.
“I don’t think I’m ready to hear what he has to say.” I clutch my mother’s charm in my hand. “I think… it might hurt too much.”
“It might. But never knowing might hurt you more, long term. You know?” Anna chews on her bottom lip. “Oh, what did Sarah say?” I stare at her blankly, and Anna tilts her head. “Your school friend. Is she coming?”
“Oh.” I check my phone. “She didn’t write back.”
“Boo. I want to meet her.” A notification chimes on her phone and she shrieks, jumping to her feet. “Uber’s here.”
I follow her to the front door, tripping in my borrowed stilettos. Taking one last glance in the mirror, I adjust the stretchy fabric over my torso, grab my clutch and follow Anna into the night.
Wet grass tickles my feet as I stagger toward our apartment, my high heels swinging from my hand. I dart past a lone figure sitting in the dark beside Bromley House without a second glance.I guess liquor has its perks.I stumble upthe steps leading to the building’s entrance. I’ll pay for this tomorrow.
Beside the front door, the numbers on the keypad split into blurry doubles, chasing each other around the screen.How many shots did I have?Four attempts later, I enter the building, climb to the second floor, and sink onto the rough, brown carpet outside Anna’s apartment.
“Where are you, Mr Keys?” I murmur to myself between hiccups. I tip my clutch upside down, littering the floor with lipstick, tampons and debit cards.No key.I burst into giggles, broken by my back thudding against Anna’s front door. My eyes drift shut.
“Ella?” says a warm voice from behind the door opposite mine.
My eyelids snap open. Even in my drunken state, Parker’s voice sparks shivers along my skin.
“Can you open the door?” he asks from inside his apartment. “It’s unlocked.”
Leaning forward on my knees, I grasp the handle, twisting it back and forth until it budges open. Parker steps out into the communal corridor. “And they say chivalry is dead,” I murmur, laughing as I slump back against my door.
Parker’s tall frame towers above me. He drags his thumb along his bottom lip, his mouth curving into a dimpled grin.
“What?” I ask, struggling to focus on his translucent skin.
“You look beautiful,” he says, his voice almost pained. He sits opposite me, lazing against the wall with his forearms resting on bent knees.
“All Anna’s”—hiccup—“doing.”
An easy smile flitters across his face. “Have you been drinking, Ella?”
“A bit.”Wait. Why is he transparent?“Why do you look like that?”
“I’m not sure.” He studies his large, faded hand. “It gets worse the further I am from Rose.”
I push myself more upright. “Do you think she’s losing her powers?”
“No,” he says, a little too quickly, and looks away. “She’s just exhausted.”
“Where is she?”
He tips his head to his apartment. “Sleeping.”
I press my lips together and nod, but I can’t stand the silence stretching between us. “Are you really going to take me to see my mother when you get your powers back?” I ask.
The tension in his shoulders ebbs. “I promise,” he says, staring me directly in the eye. “You’re my first stop the second I can travel again.” He leans toward me, squinting at the side of my face. “Hey, did you get your ear pierced?”
I beam. “Anna pierced it at the club with the back of her earring.”
“Sounds sanitary,” he says, shaking his head at the ceiling, but there’s a wide grin on his face.
