Page 83 of Heart of Mischief

“No,” she cut him off. “No, youdon’tknow. You have no idea what it’s like to have gone through that night. To have almost died. To have watched yourbest friendsandbrotheralmost die.”

Her voice was growing louder, angrier, filling with all the emotion she worked so hard to keep at bay. She didn’twantElias to know how deeply his betrayal had cut her, but she couldn’t help it. The words were spilling from her, impossible to shut off.

“Every morning, I wake up feeling like I’m being watched. Like there’s someone right outside my window that I can’t actually see. And every night, when I close my eyes to go to sleep, the first thing I see are the Fenrir’s fangs. His claws. His glowing red eyes. The nights Idomanage to nod off, I wake only a few hours later, panting, covered in cold sweat,convincedI’m seconds from death.”

Elias’s brow was furrowed. He looked… confused. Lost. His lips twitched, like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

“And the worst part,” she said, voice shaking, “is that it was all because of someone I trusted. Someone who I believed was on my side, whocaredabout me, but who was only ever looking out for himself. Looking to get what he wanted.”

He blinked back at her, expression blank.

“Well,” she said, heart pounding as she waited for his response. “Am I wrong?”

Please say yes, begged a tiny voice in her head.Please tell me I’m wrong.

Elias’s lips hung open. For a moment, it looked as if he wouldn’t be able to respond at all. Like a wire in his brain had short-circuited, her lecture breaking something inside of him that she hadn’t known existed in the first place.

But it was only a moment. Then he came back to himself, recovering his ability to speak.

“No,” he said at last. “No, you’re not wrong.”

Charlie’s heart sank. She dropped her eyes to the ground, ashamed that she’d expected anything else.

“But…”

She looked back up.

“What’s that phrase?” He rubbed his jaw, as if thinking deeply. “The one about how time changes everything? Even distractingly handsome, nearly perfect men who are usually right but occasionally make spectacular fuckups and would love to be forgiven for them?”

For several seconds, Charlie could only stare at him.

Then she burst out laughing.

Her laughter was loud and true, startling not only a pack of vibrantly colored birds from the branches above them but also Elias, whose eyes widened at the sound. At first, he could only watch in disbelief, but his face quickly spread into a grin.

“Elias,” she said through laughter, “that sounded suspiciously like an apology.”

“From me?” He gasped, holding a hand to his chest. “Never. Though I can’t be held responsible for any subtext that might be read into my words.”

Charlie tossed her head back and laughed louder. She felt as light as the leaves falling from the trees, as if someone had filled her body with air. It was a bizarre feeling, after so many weeks of barely suppressed dread.

She might very well be making a huge mistake. What was the quote that Lou once told her about insanity?Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.Something like that.

By that logic, trusting Elias after what he did on homecoming was akin to insanity. He had lied to her before. And doesn’t inviting a liar back into your life just open the door to more lies?

Still, as they resumed their walk to the car, the autumn breeze toying with her hair and carrying her laughter up into the trees, Charlie couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t giving too much weight to Lou’s words. After all, which was more insane: repeating an action you’ve already taken, or living your life based on some words your sixteen-year-old best friend found on Instagram?

Maybe it was time Charlie stopped making decisions based on other people’s advice.

Maybe it was time she started deciding right from wrong all on her own.

Part

IV FRIDAY

29

Butterflies flitted throughCharlie’s stomachas she pulled the Bronco into the school parking lot, one hand on the steering wheel, the other clutching a large, triple-shot oat milk latte. Despite her complete lack of sleep, she didn’t feel tired at all.