Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Go on the lam?” I echo. “Seriously? That’s your plan?”
“Until Brier is defeated, yes,” Leo replies. “What other choice do we have?”
“On the lam, where?” My eyes cut back and forth between the two men. “Nàdar or here?”
Rime, mister-oh-so-logical, shrugs and takes a seat at the table. “Anywhere he can’t find us. We’re stuck in the Subworld until the equinox, so here is where we would start.”
Topaz comes out of the kitchen, crunching an apple, and disappears down the hall without so much as a glance our way.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to reverse it,” Leo says, no doubt trying to reassure me. Maybe himself, too. “And it won’t be an issue.”
“So, how was church?” Rime asks, before he chomps into his sandwich like an alligator. I guess the so-called plan isn’t up for discussion.
Leo helps himself to a tortilla chip. “Informative.”
“So the granny lady knew about Browne’s Hill?”
“She did.” Leo relates Jean’s theory that the crossroads might have been a forge, while I hold my breath and study the crumbs on the table, acutely aware of what he isn’t relating: that Jean saw through his glamour, that she knows about Nàdar, and that she thought I might be pregnant with a halfling.
“Jean said there were reports of demonic activity at the forge,” he tells Rime. “So she suspects Stone built his seminary there to counteract it.”
“So the forge is on campus?”
Leo nods. “Most likely the chapel.”
Rime sits up and drops his sandwich. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go have a look around.”
“We will,” Leo assures him. “But we need all three psychics. Robin and I already checked it out once and couldn’t find anything.”
“Then tomorrow.”
They both look at me.
“I can go in the late afternoon,” I offer.
Rime takes his phone out of his back pocket. “I’ll send a message to Aaron and Avery.” He taps at the screen, scowls, wipes his greasy fingers on his shirt, then tries again. “How do I send one message to two people?”
I get up to show him, but suspiciously, Leo beats me to it.
Finished, Rime sets the phone aside, guzzles some water and asks me, point blank, “Where can I get a gun?”
My whole body locks up. “Gun?”
Leo stiffens too, and lays a firm hand on my knee.
I breathe, “You can’t be serious.”
Rime leans over his plate like he’s sharing state secrets. “We need to be prepared. Who knows what weapons Brier’s team has.”
“But… but a gun?” I turn pleading eyes to Leo.
His jaw ticks as he considers it. “Rime’s right. If they have a gun and we don’t…”
Oh my god.
“Betts—”
I cut him off with a glare, then cast the same alarmed look at Rime. “Do you all even have guns in Nàdar? Do you know how to use them?” I sound a little hysterical, but for fuck’s sake, we’re talking about firearms here.
Both guys admit their ignorance.
“I don’t know what the laws are in North Carolina,” I say. “But I don’t think you can just walk into Walmart, slap down some cash, and walk out with a rifle.”
“They have guns at Walmart?” Rime asks, interest piqued.
“Yes.” As crazy as that sounds. I think I’ll pop in and pick up some shampoo, a box of Mike I think you’re incredible.”
He means it; I can feel it. Desire and admiration, guilt and regret. The same conflicting emotions I harnessed from him in my dorm room a mere month ago. The same anguish and confusion.
But now I know why.
I reach up to brush the hair off his forehead as I study the gold in his deep-set eyes. When his breath hitches, my gaze drops from his eyes to his mouth.
No, not there!
“Leo,” growls a voice, low and harsh with warning.
Our heads snap to the doorway to find Rime, an empty glass in one hand and the Tostitos bag dangling from the other. He narrows his blue eyes and clenches his jaw.
Heart hammering and heat creeping up my neck, I back away from Leo who stands rooted to the floor, glaring right back at his so-called friend. Rebelliousness waves off him, vibrating through me like a battle cry, while staticky frustration and white-hot indignation ripple off Rime.
He pushes past us, slams the chip bag onto the counter, and clunks his glass into the sink. Then he storms out, pointing a threatening finger at Leo before disappearing from view.
“It’s time for Betts to go home,” he orders from the living room. “We’ve got shit to do.”
Stung, I turn to Leo.
He drags a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to go.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. I feel unwanted. In the way. “It’s okay. I’ve got homework to do.”
I cut around him and into the living room where Rime lounges casually on the couch, smiling like he didn’t just ambush us and turn a bag of Tostitos into cornmeal.
“Tomorrow after your class?” he asks me.
I swipe my keys off the coffee table and follow Leo to the door. “Uh, yeah. Just let me know.”
I stare out the passenger window of Leo’s car, guilt and defiance tearing my heart in two. “So that’s why he’s been so sweet to me. To keep me away from you.”
I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to figure it out.
The morning Rime met me, he made his concerns clear: Leo was wasting precious time dallying with me, going on hikes and snuggling in the library when he should’ve been searching for the weapon.
He was getting too close to a Subworlder.
Too emotionally involved. It’s an issue of loyalty, he said. Nàdar or her?
Leo answers me with a sigh, betraying his aggravation, “He wants you to help us, but he doesn’t want you within fifty feet of me.”
“Because I’m a complication.”
“Yeah, although I’m pretty sure he genuinely likes you.”
That makes it hurt less. But only a little.
“He’s conflicted,” Leo explains. “He’d rather you not be worth worrying about.”
Does that mean Rime was acting out of goodwill, coming to my rescue and partnering up with me when I didn’t want to talk to Leo?
Or was he simply inserting himself between us, like a wedge, to keep us apart?
And that kiss at Bingo—what the fuck was that?
Why would he try to incite Leo’s jealousy? Unless—
“That was a test,” I gasp out. “When he kissed me at Bingo.”
Leo takes his eyes off the road, just long enough to blink at me and chew his lip.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I think you’re right.
” He props an elbow on the door and tips his head into his hand, sighing in what sounds dangerously like defeat.
“He’s been testing me, and I’ve been failing. Every single time.”
Maybe, but not anymore. Not on my watch. I volunteered for this weapon hunt because I wanted to help. I have no desire to be a distraction or a hindrance. I won’t be a thorn in anyone’s side.
And I won’t be the source of Leo’s torment.
He pulls up close to the dorms and puts the car in park. I meet his eyes and stifle a groan. Shit, this is going to be so hard.
“Betts—”
“I’ll meet you guys at the chapel at four-thirty tomorrow.” My shaky hands fumble with the seatbelt. “Unless I hear from you otherwise.”
“Betts—”
I hurl myself against the car door, nearly tumbling out onto the pavement when it opens with ease. “Thanks for the ride,” I breathlessly call out, slamming the door closed and rushing for Newberry’s side entrance.
A long minute later, when I’ve reached the top of the steps, I dare a peek over my shoulder. Leo’s car hasn’t moved. Nor has Leo.
Thank god, from here, I can’t see his eyes.