“Minerva?”
“I lost something.”
“What?”
The talisman. But she couldn’t say that. She turned around and stared at him. She’d skinned her knees, the palms of her hands were raw and ached from the fall, and her head was near to bursting. She’d bitten her lip. She could taste blood and swallowed it.
“Can you get me back to my dorm?”
“Jump in.”
She climbed into his car. Noah side-eyed her as he drove.
“I was heading to Patricia’s party. Were you coming back from there?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. I need to get back to campus,” she said, lowering her head and touching her cheek.
“Are you high or something?”
“Do I look high?”
“You were stumbling around.” She didn’t reply. “Look, I’m not going to judge,” he said. “We met because I was puking in the bushes.”
I’m bewitched,she thought.
“I’m okay” was what she told him.
She closed her eyes. When she opened them, it was because they had reached Ledge House. It stood pale and lonely in the moonlight, cradled by darkness. Noah looked at her curiously. She brushed her hair back from her face and grabbed her purse. He extended a hand and caught her wrist.
“If you need to see a doctor—”
“I’m fine.”
She stepped out of the car. He did too, rounding it and frowning. He wasn’t convinced. She fished out her keys from the purse and glanced up at him.
“You’re not going to tell me what happened to you,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the hood of the Jeep.
“It wouldn’t do any good.”
“I thought we were friends now.”
“We’re somewhat friendly, somewhat not,” she said.
“Okay. So you’re my friend only when you need something from me, like a ride or information,” he said bitterly.
“I didn’t ask you to give me a ride. I didn’t ask you to give me a tour of the factory. I didn’t ask you to grab a bite to eat. Don’t act like I’m the one demanding—”
“Well, fuck me for caring about what happened to you, huh?”
“I’m busy,” she said.
What she really wanted to tell him was that she didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust anybody. The world had gone mad and she was attempting to make sense of it, to piece together answers. She went up the stairs to the dorm. His mirthless laugh made her pause at the door, and she considered asking him in for a cup of coffee, conveying an apology.
But she needed to be alone, and once she locked the door she slid down to the floor and rested her back against the wall, feeling the boards beneath her feet and the secret markings she’d hidden under there.
