Elodie waves her hand dismissively. “They’ll sort it out.They managed tolivewith each other and Cole without any additional murders, so I have every faith we can make a good union here too.” She pauses and offers me another of those heart-skipping smiles. “Better, because you can be part of it.”
I want to bask in the light of her affection, but my stomach twists harder.
Ihaven’t earned her devotion. She cares about me because she cared about some other Asher in a different reality, one who was actually there for her, who shared so many experiences and confidences with her…
Because, like me, she didn’t really have anyone else. Now she has Salvatore Cosgrave leaping to defend her and Byron Worth hanging off her every word, and even my brother will come around eventually now that he knows the full story. Our most powerful peers at Luminary and a renowned genius of divination.
And me, with my okay grades, mostly average skills, and a secret goal of going off to fight voids like I’m still a Beacon Prep grad.
How the hell do I deserve her?
What the hell can I even do for her? She’s spent this whole time putting herself through agony trying to protectme.
No, to protect the guy she sees when she looks at me.
The surge of uncertainty tangles my tongue. It takes me a few seconds to recover my composure, shoving my insecurities down as deep as they’ll go.
I have to be here for my matchnow, as much as I can be. Even if that’s not very much.
“If we want to get to that point sooner, we should probably go out there and figure out our next steps.”
“Right. Of course.” She stands up with a reluctance I don’t totally understand. Maybe it’s just that she isn’t looking forward to facing my brother again.
I can’t say I’m keen on that part either.
When we step out, everyone is still standing in the laundry room.
Elodie drops into her original chair and aims a pointed look at Cole. “So. Can we get to the important part of the meeting where we figure out how to narrow down who’s trying to murder me—and already managed it once? Hopefully it’ll be easier now that I can be more open, but you should be able to see why I didn’t share this story right off the bat.”
My brother sighs but sinks into his own seat. “All right. This is— There’s probably more we should talk about when it comes to your past, but you’ve all been in the house longer than seems wise already. So let’s get on with the rest.” He rubs his hand over his face. “Why don’t you start with that woman you were so interested in?”
As the rest of us sit back down around her, Elodie hesitates and then presses onward. “Right. She was someone who came up as a potentially dangerous person in my reality. I knew about her Wednesday meetings, but that’s it… I just wanted to make sure it was the same person.” She motions to Salvatore. “Show them the video.”
The mafia heir pulls out his phone while explaining how he happened to break into Kenneth’s bedroom and follow evidence to a coffee shop, a tale it looks like Elodie’s already heard. I guess the rumors about Salvatore’s disregard for the law aren’t exaggerated.
He shows us the security feed, and Cole’s jaw clenches. “That’s definitely the same woman we saw at the plaza.”
Elodie glances at Byron. “Do you think she’s also the woman you watched Grady Tadros get into a car with?”
I don’t know what Grady has to do with anything, but Byron takes the phone from Salvatore and replays the video. His face sets with concentration. “I only got a briefglimpse… I wouldn’t want to say for sure. But it definitely could be.”
Cole glances between them. “What does Mr. Tadros have to do with anything?”
“The original Elodie was apparently asking about Grady not long before she died.” Elodie leans back in the chair, crossing her arms loosely in front of her. “That’s what her friends said, anyway. I still don’t know why, but I’m getting more and more convinced he’s tied up in a bigger conspiracy, the same one that roped in Kenneth. He’s been talking about improving his skills, getting tapped for big things… Sounds like Kenneth with his sudden boost in grades, doesn’t it?”
“I prodded Grady for information as well as I could,” Byron puts in. “The impression I got is there’s a group, very secretive, that sometimes reaches out to lucents and offers them some kind of prestige or benefit… He was very cagey about it. Maybe it’s specifically lucents from certain families. I’ve never heard of anything like that from my parents.”
Salvatore guffaws. “Me neither, but the prestige always skips us over. We steal our own.”
Byron ignores him. “The place where I saw him, Grady’s father was there too. I overheard him talking to someone who was pumping up his ego, telling him how important he is… And after…”
“After?” Cole prompts with an impatient edge after Byron goes silent.
“I’m not sure about this. I was trying so hard to come up with something useful, I could have imagined it. But for a second, I thought I got a vibe of ephemera off the guy who was talking with Mr. Tadros that was like what we felt on Kenneth’s clothes.”
I turn to Elodie. “You said you noticed that effect on something in your friend’s room too, didn’t you? A pen?”
She nods. “It was in her garbage, though. Stella’s nevertalked about any special privileges or enhanced magic or anything… It could be she was a target rather than part of the group.”
