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I expected him to ask why, but instead Balthazar patted his leg, offering to serve as a pillow. At first I was uneasy as I lowered myself onto the ground and rested my cheek against his thigh, but his hand on my shoulder steadied me, and I was too tired to fight sleep for long. It was the first time in hours I’d felt safe.
During the next few days, word of my new “romance” spread throughout the school. Balthazar and I met up after our classes and hung out together to study in the library—all of which we’d done before, but add some hand-holding and apparently it looked just like a blazing-hot love affair. I could tell that most people were wondering what a mature, sexy guy like Balthazar was doing with the redheaded astronomy geek, but they didn’t seem to doubt the relationship was real. Courtney even started trying to put me down in classes again, which was too ridiculous to be very annoying.
I wondered if Raquel knew about it, but I couldn’t really ask. We were speaking, but since that night I saw the wraith, she wanted to be around me as little as possible. When I was in the room, she made an excuse to leave it, and when I tried to start conversation, she’d just say “yes” or “no” or “fine” until I finally gave up. It was funny, but I hadn’t realized how much time Raquel had spent skulking around in our room until this—too much, really. I knew she wasn’t okay, and something about what I’d said had made matters even worse, but there didn’t seem to be any way to reach out to her.
The one person I’d been most worried about turned out not to be a problem at all. One evening, when I went into the great hall, I saw the usual collection of people talking, loafing, and hanging out. Among them, sitting at one of the tables nearest the door, were Ranulf and Vic, who sat on opposite sides of a chessboard. Vic looked as serious as I’d ever seen him, even though he wore a Hawaiian shirt. He moved his knight, smacking it down on a new square with a thunk. “Do you feel the hurt? Oh, yeah, I think you do.”
“I feel no hurt from your clumsy play.” That was about the best Ranulf could do for trash talk. As Ranulf leaned over the board to consider his next move, Vic stretched in lazy satisfaction, then saw me standing there. I flinched and would’ve left, but Vic simply rose from the table and came to my side.
“Hey,” he began, shifting from foot to foot. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty well. I guess—I guess we kind of need to talk.” This was even harder than I’d thought it would be. “About Balthazar.”
“There’s just one thing I want to say, okay?” Vic put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re my friend, too. I want you to be happy.”
“Oh, Vic.” Too moved to say anything else, I hugged him tightly.
With his voice muffled against my shoulder, Vic said, “I like Balthazar. He’s okay.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“You’ve told Lucas, right? Or you’re gonna tell him soon? Because it’s not right, keeping it from him.”
“We’re supposed to talk before long.” I didn’t give any more details about our upcoming meeting in Riverton; doing that would only draw Vic in too far. “I thought it would be better if I could speak to him, not just send a letter or e-mail or something.”
“I guess it’s hard, being apart all the time.”
“It really is. If Lucas were still here, everything would be different.”
Vic’s smile turned smug. “Yeah, I’d have a roommate who could beat me at chess instead of the other way around.”
Ranulf never looked up from the chessboard. “I hear your insults and plan to silence them with my victory.”
“Keep dreaming,” Vic called.
What Vic didn’t know was that I’d tell Lucas the full truth about the game Balthazar and I were playing. Everything really would be fine. And now there was only one more hurdle to cross, the most important one of all: my parents.
Chapter Ten
THE CONFRONTATION I’D BEEN WAITING FOR CAME the next day, as I ducked out of the library, already running late. I started to jog down the hall, but her voice stopped me cold.
“What a hurry you’re in, Miss Olivier.” Mrs. Bethany’s sharp gaze took me in, head to foot. She wore a dress of crisp, dark-brown wool that made her appear as though she were carved into the very woodwork of Evernight itself. “You act as though you’ve seen a ghost.” Was that supposed to be funny? I could only stare at her.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to expect a reply. “We should at some point discuss what you witnessed upstairs.”
“I told Balthazar all about it. If he talked to you, then you know as much as I do.”
“Have you mentioned this matter to your other classmates? Or your parents?”
“No.” That wasn’t the whole truth—I’d sort of mentioned it to Raquel, or tried to, anyway—but given that Raquel had refused to hear me out, I figured I’d kept the secret well enough.
“Good. See that you don’t. I am certain the event was an aberration.
People do behave irrationally when confronted with the supernatural.” For once, I could see Mrs. Bethany’s point. Just one question about a ghost had freaked Raquel out pretty badly. The last thing I needed was for my parents to go into overprotective mode. “Yes, ma’am. I won’t say another word.”
A conspiratorial smile crept across Mrs. Bethany’s face. “In recognition of your discretion, we’ll forgo any punishment for your infringe-ment of school rules by slipping into the gentlemen’s dormitory at night.
Despite your lack of self-control, I find this a heartening development.
