all the auditionees, and came second in both backstroke and
butterfly.
“Not bad,” Haven said with a smile when I came out
of the water.
“Except when compared to you and the others...” I
shook the water out of my hair.
“You'll catch up,” said Haven. “Don't worry – I know
talent when I see it. And if you're willing to commit to daily
practice, I'm pretty sure that we can make an amphibian of
you yet; isn't that right, Cassie?”
“Mhm,” Cassie nodded vigorously.
“I'll do my best,” I promised. “However good that'll
be.” If I wasn't distracted by books or getting killed by
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mermaids, that was.
“Listen,” said Haven. “How about we save you a seat
at lunch? We've got an extra space at our table, and we'd just
love it if you ate with us tomorrow. Right, Cassie?”
Cassie's job seemed to be to nod at whatever Haven
said.
“Really?” I was shocked at Haven's sudden change
in behavior. “I wouldn't be intruding!”
“Not at all,” Haven said. “We love having new blood
– we always sit in the back center table – the square one with
a rickety leg. Come find us, okay?”
Somehow I'd managed to thaw Haven's suspicions of
me. But how? She'd seemed to dislike me on first meeting
me, and other than revealing my penchant for swimming, I
wasn't sure how I'd managed to change that impression.
As I went back to the locker room, I overheard Cassie
and Leia talking in hushed tones.
“I know, it's scary.”
“Especially from the back – with her hair wet.
Spitting image.”
“I thought we'd seen a ghost.”
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“And Haven! She must have been devastated when
first meeting her. Imagine – this girl shows up looking just
like your dead best friend. I'd have been freaked out too, if
that was me.”
I remembered what Brandon had said about me –
about my similarity to Jana – and colored. Were the girls
talking about me? I felt a strange, sick feeling in my stomach.
Why was everyone comparing me to Jana? Even Varun and
Chance – were either of them really attracted to me, or did
they just see what everyone else saw: a girl who looked
almost, but not quite, like the girl they had once loved?
“Poor Haven – I don't know if I could have lived if
I'd gone through something like that. She loved Jana so
much...like, even when Jana started dating Varun, she didn't
even bitch her out or anything. And Jana knew that Haven
had liked Varun forever – and Haven wasn't even mad! She
just figured she wanted Jana to be happy.”
“I could never do that,” Cassie sighed. “Not even for
you. If you date Tim Blanfield, Leia, you are dead to me. Do
you hear me? Dead to me.”
I listened with surprise. Could it be true that proud,
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haughty Haven was the meek one in her relationship with
Jana? And if so, did that explain Haven's nasty reaction upon
meeting me for the first time? Was she just upset that another
girl showed up at Aeros with Jana's face, Jana's body,
replacing Jana?
This girl was getting more mysterious by the second.
That afternoon, after practice, Varun showed up
outside the locker room. “I'm sorry we didn't get to see each
other more last night,” Varun said, kissing me gently. “You
were so freaked out – I just wanted to give you some space.
Are you okay?”
“I'm okay.”
“Do you maybe want to get a picnic? Talk more
about what happened?” He smiled shyly. “Or just talk about
something else – if you don't feel up to it.”
“I'm distracting myself,” I laughed bitterly. “Figured
if I just ignore the whole god-thing maybe it'll go away.
Already I failed a pop quiz this morning because I was too
worried last night to do my reading – although weirdly none
of my teachers seemed to be upset at all. It's like they didn't
even care.”
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Varun smiled a knowing smile. “Ah, well, that... ”
“I managed to make it onto the Varsity Swim Team,
though. And Haven even invited me to have lunch with her!”
“Lucky you,” Varun led me to a quiet patch of grass
not far from the hotel, taking a picnic blanket out of his
basket. “It's not every girl that gets to be asked to sit at
Haven's table.”
“Well, I'm on the swim team now,” I said. “I guess
that's it.”
“More than that,” said Varun. “She wants you there,
I think. For some reason. Maybe it's just because she feels
bad about how she treated you on the first day – she
mentioned to me she felt pretty guilty about that. She was
weirded out, you know...”
“Because I look like Jana?”
Varun looked down. “Yeah, that...and seeing you and
me together...it was hard for her. I love Haven, really I do.
As a friend. But she knows I don't feel that way about her.”
He sighed. “It doesn't make it any easier, though. But her
interest in you – it could be something else. Something more
to do with the Book than with teenage popularity contests.”
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“The book? She's in on this whole magic thing too?”
“Haven't you guessed, Mac?” Varun took my hand.
“We all are. Most everyone on Aeros is employed, either
directly or indirectly, by my uncle. Families have
