C
HAPTER
50
“W
e need to think about our future,” my mom said over dinner a few nights later.
“Okay.” I set my fork down. I’d been doing nothing but thinking about my future—namely, how much I wished it was already here. And how to explain to my mother that it didn’t lie in Chicago.
“I don’t want to reopen The Slice,” she said. “It’s too hard, Mo, going back there.”
“I understand.” I hadn’t been back to either the restaurant or Morgan’s. On the bus ride to school each morning, I made sure to sit on the opposite side and stared out the window until we’d gone three more stops. “What do you want to do?”
She folded the napkin into a perfect square, touched it to the corner of her eye. “I don’t know, exactly. I can cook. Manage a restaurant. Manage any sort of shop, I suppose.”
“That’s a good start. There’s got to be a place around here that could use you.”
“But I don’t want to be here.”
I choked a little on my water. “Excuse me?”
“Your father always wanted a fresh start,” she said. “To go somewhere new. It’s time for that.”
“But all of your friends are here. You’ve lived in Chicago all your life. All your memories ...” I trailed off, understanding.
“We could go somewhere together,” she said. “You and I. The Fitzgerald Girls. You’ve got your pick of schools. Your father had a life insurance policy. It wasn’t very large, but if we sell the house, and I work, we’ll get by.”
For the first time since my father’s death, she looked hopeful. Telling her no would be the cruelest possible thing I could say—but the truth was, I needed a different kind of fresh start, not just the same life in a new location.
She must have seen it on my face, because she waved a hand, as if erasing her words. “Or not,” she said quickly. “I don’t want to be a burden, Mo. I’m not trying to keep tabs on you. I’m just afraid that the minute you move out, I’ll lose you. I’ll never see you again.”
“Of course you’ll see me,” I said. “I’ll come back all the time. Breaks and holidays. Weekends, even.”
“Not if you’re all the way across the country. I want to be somewhere I can see you easily. What if you’re in New York and I’m in California? It’s not as if you can fly across the country at the drop of a hat.”
But I could. Luc could, anyway. She just didn’t know it. I’d have to tell her about the magic eventually, but not while she was still reeling from so many revelations. She needed to be somewhere she wouldn’t feel alone but she wouldn’t feel judged. Where I could visit without raising suspicions.
My smile felt genuine for the first time in a week. “How do you feel about New Orleans?”
C
HAPTER
51
“Y
ou promised me the ocean,” I said when Luc appeared in my bedroom a few nights later. “I distinctly remember you said we could go to the ocean.”
“It’s past midnight,” he pointed out. “But it ain’t too late, considerin’ the time difference. You got a swimsuit?”
“No.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He held out his hand, an invitation, but I tugged him into the bed instead.
“Mouse,” he protested, landing next to me. The ancient bedsprings groaned in protest. “Your mother’s in the next room. That’s a little too much risk, even for me.”
He stretched out and I tucked my head against his shoulder. “She’s asking me about the future. Everyone is. They all have ideas.”
“And what about your ideas?” He slid a hand along my leg.
“It’s funny. The whole time I’ve known you, I wanted to make my own choices. But now, I can go anywhere I want. Do anything. It’s overwhelming. There are so many possibilities, I don’t know how to choose.”
“Don’t, then.”
“I have to,” I said. “Otherwise I’m stuck.”
“You don’t have to decide everything all at once,” he pointed out. “Choose one thing, Mouse. One thing you want.”
“You,” I said immediately.
“That’s a given,” he said, but he looked pleased. “Something else.”
“The ocean,” I said, thinking of endless waves and endless sky and the sun glinting like diamonds. All that freedom and light, room to move in any direction. I could spill out all of the sadness I’d been carrying for so long, and the water would wash it away. Power and peace, all in one. “Start there.”
“Works for me. And when we get there, we figure out the next thing.”
“What about college?”
“It’s a big ocean, Mouse. I’m bettin’ there’s at least one nearby.”
“We just ... choose,” I said, trying to wrap my head around the concept. “We don’t plan?”
“You’ve made plans,” he said. “You used them like a shield, a way to make sure your life stayed safe and small. Did they work?”
I shook my head, blinking back tears.
“Let’s try it this way. You’ve spent so long doing what’s right for everyone else. This time, pick what’s right for you.”
I twined my fingers with his. “What about fate?”
He kissed me, full of laughter and promise and love. “You don’t believe in it.”
“You do.”
“You’re my fate. Remember what she said—the destination is fixed? That’s us. We’re the destination. And I don’t care where the journey takes us, as long as I’m with you. Ocean, city, middle of the damn desert. Let’s have an adventure, Mouse. Let’s make our own fate.”
He kissed me again, a different kind of kiss, and when I opened my eyes, it was under a blanket of stars, infinite and bright, and the magic within me just as vast. I kissed him back, and the world began anew.
Later, when he’d fallen asleep on the beach, the driftwood from the fire burning low, I watched him. The waves washed over the sand in a quiet rhythm, the stars traced a path across the sky. I thought about Verity, how desperately I’d wanted to avenge her, and how that one choice had set off a chain reaction that had transformed two worlds. If I’d listened to Luc that first night, my life would have continued on—safe and quiet and utterly ordinary. I would never have met Colin, or killed Evangeline, or bonded with the magic, or lost my father. Verity’s death had changed my life, but only because I let it. Because I’d sacrificed, and fought, and made myself into someone new. Someone strong. Someone whose future was as limitless as the water stretching out before me.
I felt for the binding on my wrist, the one that tied me to Luc. It had brought me back from magic and grief, brought him back from a duty that had overtaken his life. The connection between us was constant as the sunrise, edging up over the horizon, the choice that made all the others possible. He was my home now, no matter where our path led.
“Luc,” I whispered, as the sun rose. “Wake up.”
He mumbled something and wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Wake up.” I poked him with a bare toe. “New day. New adventures.”
“Yeah?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow, voice thick with sleep. “What are we gonna do?”
I watched the sky change, the water tipped with gold, and felt the magic stretch and rise within me, a greeting and a testing, all potential and bright power.
“Everything.”
F
OOD
FOR T
HOUGHT
1.
At the beginning of
Bound,
Mo says, “In the end, people have to make their own choice. Even if it’s a terrible one.” What makes a choice terrible—the intention or the outcome? And when is a terrible choice necessary or right? How do you make difficult decisions in your own life?
2.
Mo’s anger over her father’s return affects their relationship throughout the book. Is she unfairly holding a grudge, considering that he went to prison to protect her family, or is she right not to trust him? If someone betrays your trust or hurts you deeply, how do you forgive them—or is true forgiveness even possible?
3.
Luc wonders why Mo’s mother made plans to expand the restaurant if she knew that the family’s “fresh start” wouldn’t last, and Mo replies, “Maybe because she was afraid it wouldn’t.” When Mo’s father suggests they start over in another city, however, Mrs. Fitzgerald resists. Is her behavior optimistic or unrealistic? Given the choice between something familiar but less than ideal and something completely unknown, how do you decide?
4.
Constance justifies her betrayal of Mo as revenge for Verity’s sacrifice and Evangeline’s death. And while Mo could have chosen to punish Constance in kind, she cuts ties instead. Did Mo act out of sentimentality or some other reason? When is vengeance justifiable, and when is it simply an excuse? Do you think Constance can redeem herself?
5.
When Colin finds out Mo secretly traded her future for his family’s safety, he ends their relationship, despite having done something similar when he started working for Billy. Is he holding her to an unfair double standard, or does he have a right to be angry? Would it have been better for Mo to tell him from the outset? Is he more upset about her duplicity or the effect her actions will have on her life?
6.
Mo chooses not to get back together with Colin because she thinks they’ll end up resenting each other. Do you think Colin’s insistence that Mo’s safety is more important than anything else would ultimately come between them? By the end of the book, how are their worldviews different? Is it possible to have a long-term future with someone who wants a fundamentally different lifestyle from yours?
7.
Mo accuses Luc and the Arcs of thinking she is nothing without the magic. Is it only her connection to the magic that makes Mo special, or is there something intrinsically heroic about her? What makes a person heroic: their abilities or their decisions?
8.
Despite the parallels in their situations, Luc is reluctant to tell Mo the story of how he became the Heir. Why? Considering his own history, do you think he was more or less likely to empathize with Mo? Why? If you overcome a difficult situation, does it make you more sympathetic toward others in the same position, or do you assume they should be able to overcome their troubles as you did?
9.
Mo tells Jenny Kowalski she should stop investigating her father’s death because he would have wanted her to move on with her life. Do you think Jenny will listen to that advice? How do you move on from a loss if you can’t have the closure you wanted?
10.
Because of her own family history, Lena is very accepting of Mo’s need for secrecy. Were they able to forge a true friendship despite Mo’s refusal to reveal the Arcs? Was it the right thing for Mo to do? Do you need to know everything about someone’s life in order to trust them and consider them a real friend, or can people hold things back and still be honest?
11.
In the end, Mo decides against attending NYU and the University of Chicago, opting for another school entirely. What were her reasons? Do you agree with them? How do you know when a goal you’ve set for yourself is no longer a good one?
12.
At the beginning of
Torn,
Mo says that fate is an excuse for people who don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions. Do you think her views changed by the end of
Bound
? Did Luc’s? Were Mo’s decisions dictated by fate, or could she have chosen differently? Do you believe fate plays a role in your life?