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“Melissa—”
“He killed a girl. Sensing a pattern here? Jason killed a girl. Ashton killed a girl, too. I bet if I look into the other two, I’ll find a similar story. These boys are marked by violence, blood and death. And youkissthem.”
I poke at my cooling pasta. “Yeah, well, what you’re giving me is so vague I can hardly use it.”
“Then make up a story,” Melissa says.
I glance up. “Beg your pardon?”
She waves a hand at me. “Fill in the gaps. That’s how gossip works, you know.”
“It would be a lie. I won’t do that.”
She leans back and laughs.
“What?” I demand.
“Ask yourself what you want. What you know in your heart. Are they bad? Do they deserve punishment? How far are you willing to go to deliver it? Are you really going to stop because you don’t know every detail? Do you really abhor lying? Didn’t you lie to the whole school about who you are? Don’t be a hypocrite.”
“Whoa, okay. Calm down.” I make placating gestures with my hands, glancing around. Of course many students are already staring at us. “You’re right, okay? I did lie. But I had my reasons. I wasn’t sure the boys would get close to me if they knew I’m a witch.”
“They don’t seem to have any trouble with it now.”
“But I didn’t know that, did I? Now… This is good information. I need more. I know you want to take them down as much as I do. It’s personal for us. They’re vicious and they need to be put in their place. Help me and I’ll deliver that punishment, like you said. Give me something on the other boys, too, and I’ll work on the rest of what needs to be done.”
It makes me feel kind of sick to my stomach, to tell the truth, but I know why. It’s because I let myself get too close, too deep. Because I like it when they kiss me and touch me, when they worry about me and get all protective. I like it a lot.
It’s hard not to like being the focus of their attention.
Which is why I need Melissa. She returns my feet to the solid ground.
“Fine,” she says. “I know Vanessa might have something on Emrys. Talk to her, and I’ll see what I can find on Sindri.”
“Good.” I swallow down the ball of nerves that’s closing up my throat. “I’ll talk to Ashton and Jason, try to find out more about what you told me, fill in some gaps. Prepare the story. Thank you, Melissa. I really appreciate your help.”
“Just get them,” she says and gets up, taking her tray with her. “I’m not sure I like you, Mia, not sure I trust you, but if you manage to hurt them as much as they’ve hurt me… Then I’ll be your best friend.”
“You still haven’t told me what they did to you,” I call after her.
She doesn’t reply.
Just… great. I watch as she heads out the door. She’s right. I appear flakey. Iamflakey. I keep replaying Jason’s kiss in my mind and my body remembers it, sending hot shivers through me.
I should get to PE and then study calculus and French—even if the boys expect me to find a spellbook and magic them back to how they were before.
And then I see Ashton.
“So you aremy guardiandu jour?” I wait for Ashton to reach me, glancing one last time in Melissa’s direction. Has he heard anything we said? Where had he been sitting? Just how sharp is vampire hearing?
“Ah, yeah, it’s my turn to guard you.” He smiles distractedly, stopping in front of me, shoving dark hair out of his eyes. A few strands catch on his ring. “Listen, can we talk? I…” He gazes down at me and his eyes go wide, then blank and unfocused. “Whoa. You’re wearing clothes. I mean… The clothes I bought you.”
“Yeah.”
“Holyfuck.”
Heat rises in my neck. “Ash… What do you want?”
“You,” he breathes. Then he blinks. “I mean, to talk about the Golden Moon. I found a reference to it in an old book.”
