Page 59 of Icarus

Angus, thankfully, didn’t follow Icarus’s attention to the counter, and instead stared back at him.

“It . . .” Icarus continued. “It also seems like a good idea to create a habit that makes it make sense for me to be in that part of town? In case people see me . . . around.”

Angus took a drink of his water and placed the glass carefully on the wood.

“You are nearly a man grown. You are allowed to make most choices and be most places,” he said quietly. “Make sure you choose correctly.”

“Yes, Father.”

Angus looked back down to his notebook and picked up his pen, finished with the conversation.

“Also, make sure you get enough sleep,” he muttered and waved a hand.

Icarus took the out and retreated to his bedroom.

The cell phone photo of that new piece, the one near the back door, burned in his pocket. Angus probably knew about it. Icarus knew Angus tracked Mr. Black’s purchases. But like the discovery of Helios, something didn’t feel right. He still couldn’t face him about this.

Check

Class with Aspen had been uneventful of late, but Icarus couldn’t help thinking about Luca’s and Celestina’s words in the forest when they saw him last week.

“People only noticed because you’re so extroverted. If you were more of a loner, it would be too late.”

It had been said with the kind of effortless cruelty that only someone popular would use while trying to make someone feel better. The intention was kind, but it was burning a hole in the back of his brain.

Next to him, Aspen was drawing circles in her notebook.

“Hey.”

She looked up. “Are you doing okay?” Icarus asked. He was worse at this than Luca and he knew it.

Aspen scrunched her nose up. “You mean generally speaking, or like right now this second?”

Icarus looked around, but no one was paying attention to them. It was group work time, so their teacher Mr. Shadid was reading a book at his desk, and it was loud enough for them to talk without people overhearing.

“Generally speaking,” Icarus said. “Like, is your life going okay? It dawned on me that I’ve never asked.”

Aspen’s face went through a series of emotions. Confusion, amusement, resignation. And then it went blank.

“Not really? But whose life is going okay,” she said, deadpan as ever. “Besides, most of us can’t do enough to tangibly make each other’s lives better, so, like . . . calm down.”

Icarus huffed. “I just figured I’d ask.”

Aspen stuck her eraser on the paper on an angle and flicked it so it spun around quickly.

“I was getting Ds in math, but now I’m getting Bs because you sit here. We’re good, dude.” The eraser stopped. “Speaking of, you do know that Celestina and Luca are a thing, right? You and her seemed close.”

Icarus grinned. “We’re friends.”

Aspen nodded. Then she went back to drawing circles.

Clearly she’d decided the conversation had run its course.

“If you need anything, though, let me know,” Icarus insisted.

“Sure.” Aspen didn’t look back up.

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