I take that as an invitation to continue.
“I know Baz lived with you guys for awhile, and I know a little bit about his parents and brother. Beyond that, the details aren’t important at the moment. Whatisimportant is that he’s recently come face to face with some of those old ghosts, and he’s not handling it well. It’s… it’s changing him. Messing with him, somehow.”
Carly’s energy spikes with real fear, and for the first time, I look into her eyes and see her genuine love and concern for Baz—a look that goes far beyond her infatuation with him and her frustration that he chose me.
Shereallycares about him. As a friend, as a pseudo-brother, as an old crush, I don’t know. But one thing is certain: her feelings are real. And whatever they are, however complicated and messy things get between us, for once Carly and I are on the same team.
Team save fucking Baz.
“What do you mean he’s come face to face with old ghosts?” she asks.
As much as I need her help, that’s not a question with an easy answer.
“Basically… I think he’s… having nightmares,” I finally say, deciding it’s the closest thing to the truth. “Reliving some of the things about his family situation and childhood that he never fully dealt with.”
“And you think I can help fix… whatever this is?”
“You basically grew up together. There are things you must know about him… Things you guys share that I can’t even begin to guess at.”
“No, you couldn’t,” Carly says, but there’s no animosity or pride in her tone. Instead, sadness weights her shoulders, and a darkness seeps into her energy that’s so cold it makes me shiver.
I take another sip of latte, trying to warm up. “I’m not asking for the details. I was just hoping you could talk to him.”
Carly nods, her eyes going far away. After a few beats, she finally looks up at me and says, “Do you know where my mother is?”
“Um… why do you ask?”
Deflect! Deflect! Deflect!
“Baz isn’t the only one not returning texts and phone calls. I haven’t heard from my mother since Friday, which would normally be fine by me. But she’s been up my ass like a hemorrhoid ever since she took the librarian job—I swear the woman can’t go an hour without nagging me. Now it’s just radio silence.” Carly shrugs. “Not only that, but Trello messaged me last night saying she had to send my mother overseas on urgent library business, which would’ve been weird enough, because what the hell could be so urgent about the library? But then she sent out that memo yesterday saying Mom was called away by a family emergency.”
The mention of Anna Trello momentarily shifts my attention from Janelle.
“Yeah, that whole memo was bullshit,” I say. “That stuff about the gas leak? Trello said the explosion caused the water main break, which caused the flood. But when we saw you that night on our way to Hot Shots, you told us the bar was already closed because of the leak. And that was before the explosion.”
Carly points at me, her eyes lighting up. “Exactly. She’ssoshady. Which is why I’m a little worried about what’s really going on with my mother. What if she and Trello had an altercation? What if something happened and Trello’s covering it up? What if—”
I hold up my hand to stop her, her sudden neurosis feeding into my guilt.
I can’t keep hiding this from her. She deserves to knowsomething, even if it’s only part of the story.
I close my eyes and attempt to gather my thoughts, no idea where to start or how much I should reveal to her. Yes, I was on the “go team, we need all the help we can get” kick with Doc, but this feels different. ItrustIsla and Nat. Our professors too. Even Casey, when she’s not being hijacked by an ancient dark mage.
But Carly? What reason has she given me to trust her?
I’m here tonight because I believe that for all her faults and fuckups, she really does care about Baz. But I’m not naive enough to believe that her loyalties extend to me. And if I tell her about Janelle threatening us, I’ll have to tell her what Janelle wanted in the first place, and that means filling her in on the legends and the prophecies too. But that opens up the can of worms about—
“It wasn’t fair,” she says suddenly.
“What?” I meet her eyes again, surprised to find a flicker of warmth there.
“How I treated you,” she says. “How I’mstilltreating you.”
Her observation takes me completely off guard, and it takes me a few beats to respond.
“I… I could’ve been a little less antagonistic too.”
“Maybe,” she says. “But petty games aside, you’ve been pretty decent toward me. Even that first night, over at Smash? You invited me to sit with you guys and you didn’t even know me. I was being a total bitch to your friends, and you still tried to be kind. That meant a lot to me, even if I don’t show it.”
