“No, Skyla, you won’t.” Her dark eyes narrow into mine. “If I’m doomed to be one of the dearly departed soon, I’m for damn sure taking him with me. Can you imagine? Me, Logan, and Gage, running around paradise, having all that fun while you bend over and give it up for your math teacher?”
“Oh, sweetie”—my voice trembles with pure hatred—“no one is letting you anywhere near paradise. You and I both know that. There’s a throne of molten hot nails waiting to greet you where you’re headed, and that’s a promise. It must hurt like hell knowing your expiration date is imminent—that your fire is never going to be quenched. That’s exactly what the good book says, you know. Oh wait, you wouldn’t know because you’d combust if you ever picked it up.” That vision of me begging to spare Chloe’s life comes to mind like a slap in the face. “Although”—I glance down at the Eye of Refuge dangling from her neck—“I might be up for a little negotiating—say, one protective hedge for an extension on that rotten existence of yours?”
Chloe belts out a laugh.
“You wish you had that kind of power, Skyla.” She wanders off toward Ethan’s room and turns back a moment. “And you know what? Even if you did, I’d rather suffer for eternity than give you anything you asked for.” She clasps her fingers over the protective hedge and glares into me. “You took what was mine, and I’ll be damn sure to take everything that’s yours. And that, right there, is gospel.”
***
At lunch, the wind stops bending the backs of the evergreens and puts away the whip long enough for us to stretch out on the senior lawn. I lie sandwiched with Logan and Gage on either side of me as I finish recanting the horror I experienced this morning.
“She’s not going to hurt Gage.” Logan shakes off the idea as if it were impossible.
“He’s right.” Gage tweaks his brows as if he knows this emphatically.
“That’s not the point.” I lean into Gage. “She already hurt you in the war—both of you.” I glare over at Logan a moment because he made me swear not to tell Gage. He wants to break it to the family in his own way. God forbid he gets taken by my mother before he has the chance to say goodbye. I’m sure Emma will have my ass on a post if that happens.
Logan reaches over and lays his hand casually on my forearm, but Gage lands his steel gaze over it and doesn’t bother hiding his annoyance.
I’ll tell them soon
, Logan pumps a dry smile.
I promise. I’ll have you there. You can support me.
He adds a quick wink.
Gage goes ridged by my side. He’s not too interested in Logan and I conducting a private conversation right under his nose, and I can’t say I blame him.
I swallow hard, trying to battle the fist of grief forming in my throat.
“Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Chloe.” Gage pushes his shoulder into mine and effectively dislodges Logan’s hand from my person. “I want to talk about
us
.”
Our eyes lock for a brief moment and I’m lost in those giant blue orbs I could lose hours,
weeks
staring into.
“Our birthdays.” He pulls his lips in a line, gazing past me at Logan.
“Oh, right.” Logan plucks a blade of grass out of the lawn and coils it around his finger. He’s probably thinking he should add birthdays to the long list of things he no longer gets to experience.
“You want to do something big at the bowling alley like last year?” Gage perks up at the thought of exploring party venues with me.
“I’m not sure.” I shake my head.
“Don’t tell her I said anything, but your mom has been after me for weeks trying to nail something down.”
I groan at the thought.
“Of course my mom is after you. I’m shocked she hasn’t left Tad for you yet. She has Gage fever just like Chloe.” I don’t mean for it to come out as pissy as it does.
He ticks his head back a notch and rides his gaze from Logan to me.
“Gage fever, huh? You know”—he starts to get up—“there are some people I wish would get it.”
“Wait!” I snatch him by the ankle as he strides away. “Crap.” I collapse back on my elbow. “I’d better go. I’ve never seen him so ticked.”
“No, don’t.” Logan wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me in. “I sort of got the ball rolling this weekend. He kept riding me about where I was Sunday and when I finally fessed up he exploded.”
Shit. An image of Logan and I wrapped in my comforter as we gazed at the butterflies all day blinks through my mind.
I close my eyes a moment. I never wanted to hurt Gage. I never wanted to hurt anybody.
“He loves you, Skyla.” Logan touches his head to mine and swallows hard. “You’re going to have a nice life together. Gage isn’t mad at you. He’s pissed at me.”
I nod as tears moisten my eyes. “And what about you? Am I just supposed to give up on you because my mother dealt you a crappy hand? I don’t think so, Logan.”
“Don’t worry about me. In fact, don’t worry about Gage either. Worry about that pendant as if your life depended on it. Marshall’s does remember?”
Logan with his blessed-by-God features, those gut wrenching good looks that should be outlawed by the universe to exist in one person alone—he stares at me with a look of certainty as though he could promise that, in fact, my life did depend on it.
“This has nothing to do with Marshall, does it?” I call him out on his bluff.
“Oh, it does.” He gives a furtive nod. “I thought for sure if I tied it to Dudley you’d be on that medallion like white on rice.”
“Logan!” I pull back a little. “You are
so
hiding something from me!”
He opens his mouth to refute it then closes it again.
“Knew it!” I gasp. “You and your dime store analogy. And what did you mean by ‘if I tied it to Dudley?’”
Logan gives a tired blink as if he had just let loose the ultimate slipup.
“It’s true, Skyla, if you don’t get the pendant from Chloe, he’s banished. I don’t know the terms or where in the hell he goes, but he’ll be nowhere near you.”
A boiling anger percolates within me.
I dig my fingers into the lip of his jeans and pull his hip hard against mine.
“I will twist your balls so hard, right here in the middle of West, if you don’t fess up right now, you will wish you could die,” it seethes from me. It might have been the cruelest of threats, and perhaps an unnecessary one at that, but I’m so damn sick of being in the dark.
He holds out his hands and gives a long blink.
“Done. Release your stronghold on the boys, and I’ll tell you everything.”
I give him a little shove before leaning back to inspect him. Treble or no treble, this boy better speak.
“Last summer, before I ever had any idea I’d be dead before fall”—he averts his eyes to the sky a moment—“right after your mother gave me that vision of the two of us on the beach with that child…” Logan drops his gaze to the grass, and I watch as his Adam’s apple rides up and down in rhythm. “Some version of myself came to Paragon—scared the shit out me at the bowling alley. He was insistent that I get the pendant back any way I could. He roughed me up a little to get the message across. Then he babbled on about a few things before he took off. The pendant’s not for me, it’s for you.” Moisture glosses his eyes. “As long you get that pendant in the end, that’s all that matters.” Logan picks up my hand and brings it to his lips. “Gage told me about the vision of you wanting to spare Chloe. That means things are getting ready to happen, Skyla. My grandmother said that Chloe needs to gift the protective hedge for it to work.” He shakes his head. “I was a fucking idiot to give it to her to begin with. You were the Celestra I was supposed to gift it to, and I blew it. And now it’s my responsibility to get it back to you. I figured you’d want it since your own life was prophesied to last.” He nods without breaking our heavy gaze.
“Logan.” I pull him into a lengthy hug and sit there like that until the bell rings.
He helps me up, and I dust the loose blades from my jeans and sweater.
Marshall walks from the administration building, and a thought comes to me.
“So Marshall, huh? White on rice?” I ask as if calling him out on it. “Did you really want to punish him?”
“A part of me did. But a part of me knew you’d fight for him. I know you have feelings for him.” He gives a wild-eyed stare. “I don’t know why, but you do. I also know he’d do anything to save his Sector ass from losing a moment in your presence.” He opens his arms as he takes a step back. “The two of you are the dream team, Skyla. If you both fight to keep him around, that pendant will be on your neck before you know it.”
My heart thumps wild in my chest.
Dear God, Logan is right. Both Marshall and I would do anything to keep him on the planet.
“I’ll catch you later.” He reels me in and offers a quick peck on my cheek. “Will you come by tonight? I’ve decided to tell the family, and I want you there by my side.”
“Of course, I will.” I pull Logan into a death grip of a hug. “I’ll always be by your side.” And I’ll move heaven and earth to make sure that very thing is possible. “So, that’s really it? All there is to the story?” It’s hard to meet his gaze because deep down I know it’s not.
“I was ticked at Dudley.” He picks up my chin gently with his finger. “I wanted him gone, and at the same time it occurred to me I could use him to help you get the pendant. I promise you everything I have ever done since the day I met you was because I wanted to protect you. I love you so damn much I would cash in every chip in my arsenal to make sure you’re safe.” He strokes my cheek with his finger. “I already know you’ll be loved. I just wish it were by me.”
Logan takes off, and I watch as he disappears toward the parking lot. He’s not going to fifth. He’s simply leaving.
I wish Logan wasn’t giving up so easily. Logan can still love me. We just need to find a way to circumvent my mother.
During cheer, Chloe mocks me with a series of in-my-face howls and insists on shoving me around because I can’t keep the routine straight.
“Cool it, would you?” Giselle inserts herself between the two of us.
Dark clouds rage up above, percolating to create the perfect storm.
“That’s OK, Emerson.” I shove Giselle out of the way as I get into Chloe’s face like she’s been in mine the past solid hour. “I love the way an oncoming storm perfumes the air. The light scent of ozone intoxicates me. It’s as if it’s saying, I’ve already won. Like it’s claiming victory before it ever sets foot on the ground.”
“What the fuck are you babbling about, Messenger?” Chloe sprays me with her incessant brand of hatred.
“I’m talking about you and me.” I tilt my head, brimming with a satisfied smile. “I’ve already won over the boy you love, the sword of the Master is mine—I’ve got the war in the bag, and, oh yeah, I get to live to be a college freshman. Have you considered my offer?”
“Yes.” Chloe blinks into me as if she’s really changed her mind. “And I’m going to laugh all the way to hell, chanting your name like a chorus for all eternity. I bet I can even incite a few demons against you.”
Shit. She’s so right.
Ms. Richards blows the whistle, and the team disbands.
“I’m working a shift at the Gas Lab,” Chloe snipes. “I have you down six to closing.”
“In your dreams. I’d rather lose my inheritance than belly up with you at the bar.”
“You will.” She gives a simple shrug before trotting off to the gym.
“What was that about?” Giselle hammers out the words in the same monotone, I-really-don’t-give-a-shit sort of way that only Emerson could.
“Chloe’s just being Chloe.”
“Logan says you’re coming to dinner tonight. I’ll see you then,” she whispers before spinning around and waving wildly at someone. “Ellis!” She turns into me just enough. “He knows who I am. He says he’ll protect me and be my boyfriend and everything.”
Crap. Ellis makes a lousy boyfriend, real or imagined.
Giselle takes off before I can stop her.
God
. Ellis isn’t going to survive what Gage will do to him if he lays one hand on his sister.
I head toward the gym only to find Emily and Brielle going at it in a heated spat on the field.
“Hey!” I jog over in the event I need to pry them apart. It looks like Drake and his womanizing ways are finally causing a stress apocalypse that’s ready to erupt. “Let’s get out of here,” I say, plucking Brielle away from the impending carnage.
“Look, Brielle”—Emily steps back into the line of fire—“nobody set out to hurt you. People move on—relationships end. It’s just something you’re going to have to get over.”
“Get over what?” I snap into Emily. “The fact you
stole
her boyfriend?”
“Nobody stole her boyfriend, Skyla. Guys who are in love don’t cheat.”
“Oh, he’ll cheat on you Em.” I pull Brielle in toward me. “Trust me, he’s hardwired that way.”
“I’d kick your ass if I could, Messenger.” Em glares into me before taking off toward the gym. “I’ll put you down for a beating nine months from now.” She speeds off into the paper white fog until she evaporates into nothing.
“Nine months?” I gasp at the implications. “No.” I shake my head at Brielle in denial.
“Yes,” she barks back before launching into me with the world’s most violent hug. Her chest palpitates and quivers as she breaks down into an all-out sob.
“Oh, Brielle, I’m so sorry.”
She claws at my back with her grief until she’s choking me, her hot tears staining the front of my T-shirt.
I’m so pissed at that monkey of a stepbrother. I can’t wait to rip him a new one.
How could he mess with two girls at once?
Logan and Gage superimpose themselves in my mind, and I take in a breath.
How can I accuse him of anything when I’ve essentially done the same?
“I feel like such a fool.” She pulls back and wipes the snot out of her nose with the bottom of her shirt. “I told him I loved him and everything.”
“That’s because you
do
love him. And you’re not a fool. He’s the idiot. Believe me, his DNA can attest to that.” I bring my fingers to my mouth. “Except for Beau. He’s all you. I can tell.”