“Ouch, that hurt. You don’t know how much I care about you.” His game face fell, and suddenly his hand curled around mine. I wriggled my fingers against his, but he clamped down tighter. “Maybe you’re right, but not just for the reasons you think.”
“Okay then, what is it? Spit it out already.” I pursed my lips together. Could I really trust his perspective?
“Feisty today, aren’t we? I like it.” His eyes dropped to my mouth, traces of a grin creeping up his face. Then he cocked his head at me. “First off, Bryan’s little group is completely messed up. They only want to bring the Seer’s bloodline back to the Guardians. They don’t care about you at all.”
“What?” I backed up, sliding my hand from his grip. “Like Nexis is any different.”
In an instant, his smile faded. “You may be right about Nexis, but don’t think the Guardians are saints by default. Do you really want to be a pawn in their little game?”
I glared at him. “Better to be a pawn in yours, I’m guessing. Exactly what game might that be, anyway?”
Those platinum eyes were stuck on me like Velcro, and I couldn’t look away. The breeze died down, the air stilled around us.
“You wouldn’t believe the truth if I told it to you.” He stood too, closing the gap between us. His cinnamon breath warmed my face until my cheeks blazed.
Yet, I couldn’t pull away. Those hypnotic eyes held me in place with some strange sort of fascination. A shiver slithered down my neck.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” My voice wobbled, a chink in the armor that finally gave me the freedom to break his gaze. Wind rustled through the maple tree. A red leaf drifted on the breeze, landing in my lap. “You better say what you wanted to say, or I’m taking off.”
He reached out one finger and grazed my chin, guiding my face toward his. “I doubt he’s told you what really happened, but Bryan broke my friend’s heart last year. He dumped Colleen for not conforming to the strict Guardian rules. Then he kicked her out. That’s why she joined our group. I just don’t want the same thing to happen to you. You don’t deserve that kind of heartache.”
Could he really be so low? What if someone pranced around campus telling everyone about me and Jake, from Jake’s perspective? I’d kill them.
The anger practically steamed from my pores until I wanted to scream. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” His jaw clenched. He punched his thigh, then his head snapped back to me, a fire in his eyes. “Why would I lie?”
That really burned me up. “As if I know the inner workings of your twisted mind. I don’t know why you’d lie, but you lied about James. Why wouldn’t you lie about this?”
“What I told you was entirely true.” His arms crossed over his chest like he wasn’t going to budge.
“Liar.” If only I could punch him right now. I balled up my fists, clenching them to my sides. “I know he wasn’t just banished from Nexis. He had to hide out in the chapel. What did you do to him?”
“I didn’t do anything to James.” He reached across the gulf I’d carefully crafted between us and grabbed ahold of my fist.
The harsh vision came back to me, the field, the figures. I yanked my hand back. “Nexis did something so bad he had to leave the country. How could you keep that from me?”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone. How did you even find out? You’re not a member. Look, I’m sorry, Lucy.” His fingers ran up my arm, brushing back my hair. I flinched as his nails grazed my skin. “If you become a member, I can tell you everything. I promise.”
“You haven’t denied any of it. Can you promise it won’t turn out like it did with James? That I won’t be banished from the country for God knows what reason? Blamed for someone’s death?” Tears stabbed my eyes.
“What are you talking about?” His eyebrows scrunched into that V shape I used to think was cute.
“I’m talking about Colleen and Monica accusing my brother of being the last one to see Maria Donovan alive.” My voice was booming now, shattering the silence of the quad.
“What, why would they say that?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, air whooshing from his lungs. “It has to be a misunderstanding. They didn’t actually say he did anything, did they?”
“They implied.” If only I could bore holes into him with my eyes. “If you think I would ever join a group who kicked out my brother, whose members implicated him in someone’s death ...”
“I still don’t know how you found out about James. I wanted to tell you myself.”
“Please. Wouldn’t you like to know?” Why was I still sitting here, listening to all this garbage? Like he had some kind of spell over me, a cobra staring me down with its sick fascination. No more. I snatched my bag off the bench, threw it over my shoulder, and stormed down the cobblestone.
“Lucy, wait,” he called after me. “Don’t be like this. You don’t understand. I have so much more to tell you.”
“Too little, too late.” I ran across the quad as fast as I could, as far away from him as I could get. I didn’t need him. I’d find my own answers.
I’d made my choice, and Will knew it now. What would he do? If he was mad enough to confront me like that, what about my parents—would he tell them? But above all those questions, one blared through my brain like a fire alarm.
Why would my own parents want me to join Nexis after what had happened to James?
Maybe they didn’t know, they certainly hadn’t seen my vision. On the other hand, maybe
