“Well… with everything people are saying at school… seems like you’ve got a lot to deal with…”
She’s obviously digging for a confirmation or denialabout Elodie, just being cagey after I’ve gone off on her before.
I tip my head back against the tree trunk. “People talk shit all the time. It’s no skin off my back. And it shouldn’t matter toyoueither, because nothing’s going on with us anymore. Nothing at all. Never will again. Not sure how many more ways I can say it.”
“I know,” she says with a wobble in her voice that sets my teeth on edge. She’s quiet for a moment. “I’ll get over it. I wasn’t trying to bug you. But we’re still family, aren’t we?”
Exactly how much family is up for debate, given the levels of separation between our bloodlines, but her mom or grandma or someone was a Morelli and so is my mom. “Yeah. What’s your point?”
“Family should look out for family.” Another pause. “It’s not only me wondering what’s up with you. I’ve overheard your parents talking. You’ve been MIA a lot. They don’t sound all that happy about it.”
She hangs up abruptly, leaving me with a click and blank silence.
I blink at the phone before ending the call on my end. My annoyance softens.
Simone was sticking her neck out for me. Giving a warning of possible doom.
Maybe she does care about me as more than just a guy to get her off. Which makes a whole one person who’d have my back between both sides of my family, but one is a hell of a lot better than zero.
I shoot her a quick text.Thanks.
I don’t want to give the impression that certain feelings have changed, but she should know I appreciate the heads up.
When I focus on my bond again, Elodie feels just as far away as before. Forehead furrowing, I tap out a quick message to her.
My words soar off into the ether… and remain unread.
Does she have her phone silenced? Where would she have gone after we left the Raiths’ house?
Uneasiness wriggles through my nerves. I skim through the numbers I dug up through various means Elodie probably wouldn’t approve of and tap on Professor Raith’s.
He answers on the second ring, as brusque as I probably sounded with Simone. “Yes?”
I roll my eyes. “Hello to you too, Professor. I just want to know if Elodie came back to your house after we left.”
I don’t bother to identify myself, but he must recognize my voice. His stays hard, but a more urgent note creeps into it. “What? No. Why would you think that?”
My stomach sinks, but I don’t want to loop this prick in any more than I need to. “Just wondered.”
I stuff the phone in my pocket and hop down from the tree.
Elodie’s gone somewhere, almost definitely on her own, and cut herself off from outside communication. After seeing the bunch of us sniping at each other over her, after feeling like she fucked up in all different ways.
I don’t like where those thoughts lead me at all. I really don’t like where they might have ledher.
I hustle through the thickening night to the car and head back west. At every stop sign and red light, I check in with my sense of Elodie’s presence.
It gets a little stronger as I close in on her location, but I can’t tell anything else about what she’s up to through the bond. The neighborhood it’s brought me to doesn’t give me any clues.
Her prissy friends definitely wouldn’t be hanging out on the fringes of lucent territory, mingling with drabs in the low-rent bars and restaurants I’m passing. With each thud of my heart, I’m more sure something’s wrong.
Did the people who are out to murder her grab her off the street? Did she go chasing some other lead alone?
When the twinge in my bond solidifies enough that I know Elodie must be in one of the hazily lit buildings ahead of me, I pull over and park. The urge to race to her possible rescue yanks at every muscle.
But I have to be smart. We still aren’t sure what we’re up against. These evil fuckers are powerful.
I want to protect her, not make the problem worse. I’m man enough to recognize that problem might be bigger than me.
