Tap, tap, tap. Someone trapped, trying to get out.
My chest ached. With a few sentences, Wolfe tore me open after a lifetime of silence.
I should’ve gone back to Atlas Hall, tackled my homework, and forgotten this entire scene. Pretend I didn’t nearly break school property—or Wolfe’s jaw—because something volcanic cracked open inside me. Pretend nothing had happened. That was the Mercer way.
But now questions were out there, floating in the air like echoes, and I couldn’t unhear them.
Aren’t you at all curious about your extraordinary gift, Orion? Did it ever occur to you to ask?
I never had. Not once. But nobody had ever asked me either.
Cambridge. Mercer Chemicals. A life mapped out, and I’d accepted it the way you “accept” the air you breathe or the language you grow up speaking—without question or protest. Why would I? You didn’t question the weather or the tides, either. You didn’t raise your voice. And you didn’t rock the boat, but that boat was now a shipwreck after the storm I’d created…
I wasn’t the same guy who walked into that room, and I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do about it.
I thought about going to a piano room, but that felt too raw, so I ended up in the student lounge, pretending to study. Across the room, Aria Kingston and Elowen Blake were whispering together. I watched them watch other students walk by, sizing Benders up and down, then whispering some more, and a different kind of storm seized me.
I tossed my books in my bag and passed by, catching my name from Elowen, followed by Aria’s dismissive laughter.
“Please. He was bored. She’s nobody.”
My hands curled into fists before I even realized it. A hot, uglyrush of fury burned in my blood. Harper had heard some version of this. Of course she had.
She thinks I’m another spoiled prick who would use her, ditch her, and leave her with the fallout.
No wonder she drew that line and barricaded herself behind it.
“Aria,” I said with a nod, a tight smile on my lips. “Elowen, may I speak with you a moment, love?”
“Of course!”
“Sorry about Saturday night,” she said, moving to stand right up against me. “I can’t believe I got so wasted. But I promise that if you give me a second chance to be taken home, I’ll be much moreavailable.”
I crossed my arms. “Did you say something to Harper?”
The smile fell off Elowen’s face like a mask. “Who?”
I cocked my head.
“Oh, the Bender from the bonfire? No, and why would I?” Her eyes narrowed in anger. “Why? Did she say something?”
“She didn’t say a word,” I said. I put on a dangerously lazy smile. “I was just curious, that’s all. She’s my chem partner and I don’t like drama. In fact, I hate it. Nothing makes me more…turned off.” My smile tightened. “So. Did you?”
“Oh, well…” Elowen looked uncertain. “I might’ve mentioned that you’re a big deal at this school.” Her smile turned flirty. “Because you are. That’s no lie, right?”
I’m a big deal and Harper is not.
The picture could not have been made clearer if I’d been there. My stomach clenched.
“No lie,” I agreed. “But I don’t need anyone speaking for me, do I?”
“Um, no. Definitely not,” Elowen said.
“Good. Then there’s no need for you to talk to Harper ever again. Is there?”
“Oh. No, I suppose not—”
“Great. Glad to have that sorted.” I turned my smile up tofull wattage. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask. Are you going to the Halloween festival?”
