again—and with the way we were feeling, there was a chance we might set the whole mill on fire—but instead, he gingerly pushed me away. “Okay,” he said, closing his eyes. “If you don’t go now, we’re…You should go now.”
Once we were several feet apart, the lust-fog cleared a little. “We still have no idea what we’re going to do.”
Archer opened his eyes and took a couple of steps backward. “Right now, you’re going to go back to Thorne and check in with your dad. I’m going to go back to my people and do the same. Then tomorrow night, we’ll meet here. You’ll stand over there”—he pointed at a corner—“and I’ll stand overthere”—the complete opposite corner —“and there will be no physical contact until we’ve figured something out. Deal?” I smiled, even as I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep from grabbing him again. “Deal. Midnight?”
“Perfect. So.” That grin again. “See ya, Mercer.”
Happiness flooded through me as warm and bright as sunlight. “See ya, Cross.”
chapter 33
The corn mill was just out of sight when reality sunk in. Now I knew that Archer wanted to be with me just as much as I wanted to be with him, but there was a lot of major stuff standing between us. Namely, the fact that basically everyone I knew wanted to kill him, and everyone he knew wanted to killme. As far as obstacles went, that had to be the ultimate. And it wasn’t just what other people thought. I’d gotten kind of used to the idea of being head of the Council one day, and at Thorne, I’d felt less like a freak with crazy powers, and more like…well, someone useful. Valuable, even.
As soon as Archer and I went public, that would be gone.
I made my way through the garden maze, the tall hedges making deep shadows in front of me.
Also, there was Cal to think about.
I stumbled slightly at the thought of him. It’s not like I thought he’d be heartbroken or anything; Cal and I were friends, and sure, maybe he was a little interested in me, but I think that was just a result of the betrothal. I mean, hadn’t I tried to make myself crush on him just because it would be easier?
The closer I got to the house, the more my happy feelings began to deflate. The Eye was Archer’s family. And, I thought as Thorne Abbey loomed above me, the Council had become mine. I wasn’t willing to give that up. Was he?
Ugh. Why did I have to have so many thoughts? Why couldn’t I just be a normal girl and bask in the glow of finally knowing that the boy I wanted wanted me back?
I slipped in the back door, and as I did, one of the maids gave me a quick curtsy. Ah, right. Because I wasn’t a normal girl.
I had hoped to get back to my room without seeing anyone else, but I met Cal on the landing. Wonderful.
“Hey,” he said, taking in my disheveled appearance. “Why are you up so early?”
“Oh, I was just, you know, exercising.” I jogged in place for a second before realizing that I probably looked like a mental patient.
“Okaaay,” Cal said slowly, confirming my suspicions. “Well, I was about to go for a walk. You wanna come with?”
You couldn’t actually die from guilt, right? No matter how stabby it felt in your chest?
“I’m actually fitnessed out,” I told him. “But can we hang later?”
“Sure,” he agreed.
As I watched him walk away, I told myself it was stupid to feel bad about Cal. It’s not like he was going to be heartbroken when I called off our betrothal. Pissed, maybe, but not devastated. He didn’t like me like that. If he did, surely he would have made a move by now.
I walked up the rest of the stairs to my room, the house hushed around me. Opening my door, I flipped on the light and started to sigh with relief.
But the breath caught in my throat when I saw who was standing in the middle of my bedroom.
Elodie.
Well, her ghost, obviously. She was much more translucent than she’d been at Hex Hall, and I could barely see her, but it was definitely Elodie. Her red hair waved out from her face, and she floated several inches off the ground.
I was so shocked to see her that it took me a second to realize she was trying to say something.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in a harsh whisper. I’d never heard of a ghost leaving Hecate. As far as I knew, it was impossible.
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought she rolled her eyes. A horrible thought occurred to me: “Is this about Archer? Please don’t tell me you’re upset about us, because…I mean, you’re dead.”
She floated closer to me, until she was right in my face. At first I thought she was going to spit ectoplasm on me or something, but then I saw her lips moving again. I wasn’t an expert lip-reader, but she was close enough and speaking slowly enough that I was able to make out what she said. “I told you,” her pale lips mouthed, “that I’d haunt your ass.”
I stared at her mouth, horrified, as she smirked. And then, just like that, she was gone. The air near my face wafted slightly, like someone had just opened a window.
“I don’t need this!” I said to the empty room. “Seriously, plate? FULL.”
But there was no reply.
I’d planned on getting my nap on for most of the day, but instead, I ended up spending most of it in the library, researching ghosts and demons. It was not exactly the lightest reading, and none of it did me any good.
All the books on spirits and haunting said the same thing: ghosts are tied to the place where they died, not to people. As forDemonologies: A History, I was beginning to think it would have been better employed as a doorstop. There was nothing in there that shed any light on the Daisy/Nick situation.
I thought about asking them at dinner—quietly, and hopefully somewhere in private—if either of them had any weird memories that might correspond to what I’d seen at Hecate, but they didn’t show up in the dining room that night. I also couldn’t find them the next morning, which was weird. Missing dinner was one thing, but Nick and Daisy always showed up for breakfast. No one seemed that concerned about it, though. “You know those two,” Jenna said. “They’re probably off doing their weird Kurt and Courtney thing somewhere.”
Still, when they didn’t turn up for dinner again, I was worried. I hovered around the hallway where their rooms were until nearly ten that night, but there was no sign of them. I was still hanging around when Roderick found me to say that Dad was back.
“That was fast,” I said, following him inside, even as my stomach started doing jumping jacks. I had to tell Dad what I’d seen at Hecate, but I didn’t have a good excuse for how I’d come by that information. I’d thought I’d have a few more days to cultivate one.
By the time I crossed under the marble arch leading to Council Headquarters, my mouth was completely dry, and my knees felt wobbly.
I wanted nothing more than to flop into one of Dad’s leather chairs and tell him everything. For the first time, I understood why soldiers who go on dangerous missions have to be debriefed. I wanted to get the whole story out as quickly as possible, mostly so I could erase it from my memory. I thought again of that ghoul with the mismatched features, and was suddenly afraid I might hurl all over the diamond-patterned carpet.
But when I opened the door to Dad’s office, he wasn’t alone. Lara was in there, and even though they were speaking in low voices, the magic in the room was so intense it made me dizzy. They were both so busy glaring at each other that they didn’t even notice me standing there, which was good. It gave me a chance to study Lara. I knew I wasn’t going to figure out what she was up to just by reading her face; I seriously doubt there’s an expression that says, “So me and my sister are raising demons at Hecate Hall.” Still, I thought there might be some hint as to whether she already knew someone had found the demon spot.
But there was nothing. She was every bit as good at hiding her emotions as Mrs. Casnoff was. Must run in the family.
