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"Yeah, well." She turned back to her computer, but gave me a sly, knowing look out of the corner of her eye. "Luca didn't look as though he slept all that much, either."
I flushed. "It's not like that.”
"Sure," she said. "Whatever you say. I totally believe you didn't rip that tight little T-shirt right off his pecs the second you got through his door."
"Vanessa!" I looked around. "Walls have ears."
"Good thing this is a tent, then," she said. She wrinkled her nose. "You really didn't?"
"I really didn't."
"Hmph," Vanessa said. "Well, I guess there's always Theo."
The heat in my cheeks blazed hotter. "Oh, come on," I stammered.
Vanessa's eyes went wide. "River."
"No."
She turned to face me fully, her mouth a literal O of surprise. "River," she said. "Theo?"
"Yeah?" said Theo, from the tent door.
Vanessa and I turned at precisely the same time, wearing, I imagined, precisely the same expression, but for very different reasons. My head felt as though it was going to explode. "Hey!" I yelled, jumping to my feet. "So you're done for now, right?"
Theo raised his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah.”
"Great." I grabbed his arm and hauled him toward the parking lot. "Me too. Let's go."
"Hey." Theo stumbled a little. "Slow down, will you? What is up with you?"
"Nothing's up with me," I snapped. "Why do you keep asking me that all of a sudden?"
"Okay." Theo stopped cold, and I nearly lost my grip on his arm. "River."
I glared at him. "What?"
"Noodles.”
I froze. "For this?"
"Yeah, for this," Theo said. He extracted his arm from my grasp. "I haven't talked to you in days, and now you're acting like you're about to jump out of your skin every time I'm in the room. So, noodles."
Scowling, I pulled my keys out of my bag and shoved them into his hand. "Fine," I said. "But you're driving."
It was much harder to find a noodle place in Velarta than it had been in Colorado, but it had to be done—Theo had invoked our code word, and I had no choice but to comply.
We eventually found ourselves at a tiny restaurant just off campus. I couldn't read the menu, but according to the pictures next to the entrees there were at least two dishes that looked like they contained noodles. We both ended up ordering something called haluski, which apparently involved cabbage. Theo waited until the dishes had been set before us and the server had disappeared into the back before he locked me in place with a piercing stare. "Okay, spill. What the hell is going on?"
I knew he was trying to figure out if the night we'd spent together was going to affect our friendship. But when I opened my mouth to tell him we were fine, that everything would be the same between us, somehow something entirely different came pouring out.
"I think Vanessa's right—the site is cursed. Or maybe I'm cursed. That book Blanton called you here for, it's...wrong. Something happened, and I—I don't—I might just be going crazy, but—"
"Whoa, whoa." Theo held up his hands, his glare melting into a concerned expression. "Back up. Start over. Tell me everything."
So I did. I started with the woman on the plane, Ona, and her vague comments that had set me on edge. Vanessa's theory about the dig site. And then the book. I didn't hold back any details, from the strange reading on the GPR screen to the weird time lapse as I'd held the book. I told him about the strange sensation of heat, the pulse of light, and the bizarre way the book had aged overnight, going from pristine and intact to cracking with age over the course of a few hours. I even told him about the dirt in my bed. The only thing I held back was Luca—his strange reaction to the book and whatever secrets he might be keeping. And the kiss. I might not have brought that up either. Not that it was relevant in the slightest.
When I was finished, I blew out a breath and took a huge bite of my haluski, slumping back in my chair. "Well?" I said through a mouthful of noodles.
