Chapter 13 Raven
THIRTEEN
RAVEN
The air in New York was heavy—too heavy for being this high up. Summer had the city in a chokehold, and honestly, my anxiety wasn’t far behind.
I had left the balcony door open, hoping for a breeze, but all I got was the sound of sirens and the faint smell of street food drifting up from below. The penthouse looked golden in the evening light—too perfect, too still—and I couldn’t help pacing, phone in hand, waiting for the call to connect.
Then the screen flickered to life, with the group photo my best friends and I had taken before we all went to our own homes for the summer. And just like that, I wasn’t alone.
I pressed the answer button and Athena’s face appeared first, glowing in the soft light of a morning wherever she was in the world. Behind her, I could see pastel rooftops and laundry swaying like flags of freedom. Reina and Phoenix’s window popped up next, followed by Isla.
“Raven!” Reina beamed, signing at the same time for her sister Phoenix’s benefit. She was deaf and all of us had learned ASL when we met. “You look like you’re melting!”
“That’s because I am melting,” I groaned, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. “It’s ninety-five degrees, and even up here, the city smells like sweat.”
Isla laughed, adjusting her camera. “That’s a way to advertise New York City.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help smiling. Just hearing their voices felt like shade in the heat.
“Where are you?” Athena asked. “That doesn’t look like your usual background when we FaceTime.”
I grimaced. “What is my usual background? It’s not like we FaceTime a lot. This is only the second time since we graduated.”
“So,” Isla started, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Are we all ready for Paris? Only a month to go!”
A round of “yes” echoed around while I kept a firm but fake smile on my face.
“It will be wonderful,” Reina said, bouncing a little. My eyes locked on Phoenix who looked slightly pale, her excitement matching mine.
“Are you okay, Phoenix?” I signed, zeroing in on her. She was older than Reina, but the two were inseparable. If something were wrong, her sister would know. That’s the kind of connection siblings had—one Athena and I could only imagine.
A shadow passed across her features but she immediately schooled them and signed, “Yes, everything’s perfect.”
Reina let out a theatrical sigh. “Phoenix has been incredibly stubborn and refuses to admit something is bothering her.”
I frowned. Interesting.
“You know you can tell us anything, Phoenix,” Isla chimed in.
“We’re a non-judgmental bunch,” Athena added.
I nodded. “Exactly, we’re five musketeers.”
“All for one and one for all,” Reina confirmed.
Phoenix waved her hand, smiling, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes as she signed, “I appreciate it, but everything is just fine. Now, let’s discuss Paris.”
Isla nodded. “Very well. But if you change your mind, you know we’re always here.”
“Always,” I echoed as I paced around the kitchen island, the Italian marble tile warm under my bare feet.
Guilt tugged at me. It was hard not to feel hypocritical when I was also keeping secrets. But how could I possibly explain what had happened without mentioning the mayor’s murder at the hands of an Irish mobster? That wasn’t exactly a story you told over the phone.
Before I could even form a sentence to admit recent changes in my life, Athena asked, “Isla, that apartment you mentioned. Will all of us fit in it?”
“Yes,” Isla answered. “It has a bedroom for each of us, except—”
“Oh, here we go,” Reina muttered.
“It’s not a big deal,” Isla protested. “We just have to share one bathroom.” A round of gasps traveled through the screen, causing Isla to roll her eyes. “It’s not a big deal.”
Athena gasped. “Five girls and one bathroom is not a big deal? We’re going to kill each other.”
“Exactly!” Reina echoed the sentiment. “Can we maybe renovate?”
“We should be grateful,” I protested weakly, knowing that mere weeks ago, I wouldn’t have cared if there was no bathroom in that apartment. I’d happily make do.
The screen froze—or maybe it was just my friends—with their eyes fixed on me. A heartbeat passed, then another, before Athena finally said, “What’s up with you lately, Raven?”
I’d seen this coming. That was why I kept my presence in the group chat to a bare minimum. Athena had known me the longest and she could read me too well; my unease was as obvious to her as hers always was to me.
“You know you can tell us anything,” Isla said.
“No matter what, we’re always on your side,” Reina reiterated.
“Are you okay? That’s all that matters to us,” Phoenix signed slowly while I considered how much to tell them exactly.
“Please don’t tell us you’re not coming to Paris.” Athena’s voice was laced with worry. “We’ll tolerate anything and everything but that.”
My shoulders slumped. The truth was that I couldn’t see a way I could possibly make it to Paris now that I was married to Aiden. It was clear he had certain ideas about this marriage, and that didn’t encompass spending months apart.
“Everything’s fine,” I finally said, deciding it was best to keep the details to myself. The last thing I wanted was to pull them into this mess and inadvertently expose them to danger. “My mom wants to move again before I leave for Paris.”
Understanding flashed in their eyes. They knew how much I despised moving and longed for a place to call home. The boarding school was that place for me—a single, immovable anchor that was gone now that I graduated.
“She cannot possibly still think that your father is looking for her?” Athena muttered.
I shrugged.
“Did she ever share his name?” Reina asked. “The way she behaves, you’d think he’s the devil.”
“We sure are a unique group,” Phoenix signed, pointing out the obvious.
“Unique is one word for it,” I signed and voiced simultaneously while smiling. “I’m just glad we fit together, however weirdly.”
Smiling faces filled the screen and I couldn’t help but feel incredibly lucky to have friends like these. For a moment, the distance and the time zones didn’t matter. It was just the five of us again, dreaming like we always did.
I looked past the screen, out at the skyline. The tall glass buildings glowed in the sunset, and I imagined trading this view for the Eiffel Tower and narrow streets, morning croissants, and all of us bumping elbows in a tiny Paris kitchen.
I felt torn. My feelings for Aiden were growing, but they couldn’t quell the longing and dreams of studying in Paris.
I wanted to fully embrace the college years with my friends.
We’d been talking about it for so long, and in a silly, perhaps immature way, I resented the thought of giving it all up.
The screen flickered for a moment, freezing my friends’ smiles in time while a storm raged inside me. When the signal returned, only Athena remained.
“I guess we lost everyone, huh?” I said softly.
“It’s just as well,” she shot back. “Because I want to talk to you… alone.”
I winced inwardly.
“What’s up?” I asked, forcing a neutral expression. Athena could be a force to reckon with when she wanted to be.
“You tell me,” she stated matter-of-factly, her expression that of a wannabe mother. “And don’t give me some BS. I want the truth.”
I worried the full truth might get her into the same kind of trouble as it got me.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure where to start,” I admitted.
She smiled. “That’s easy. At the beginning.”
I sighed, a swirl of emotions twisting inside me. All this would be so much easier if I didn’t like Aiden.
“I cannot say some words,” I started slowly, shooting her a meaningful look. “So you’re going to have to read between the lines.”
Her brow arched. “Okay, I’m all ears.”
“I saw something I shouldn’t have, and it put me into a pickle.”
“What kind of pickle?”
“Well, I would have said not the good kind, but I really like this guy.”
Athena’s brows furrowed. “I’m not following.”
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
“This guy was doing something… bad, and I saw it.” Her eyes widened, and I could tell her imagination was already running wild. “Anyway, he found me, and we’ve been…” I hesitated, the word “married” lodged in my throat. “Seeing each other.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered, her eyes just about to bulge out of her skull. “Are you having sex with him?”
I grimaced. “That’s the one thing you took from everything I just told you?”
“Sorry.” She smiled sheepishly, then asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, “Is he the good kind of bad boy?”
Despite the seriousness of it all, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“So morally gray,” I responded dreamily. Something was definitely wrong with both of us.
A high, theatrical note pierced the room behind Athena and she groaned, rolling her eyes. “It’s my mother. She’s been driving me absolutely nuts.”
“At least she’s singing, not drinking,” I muttered. “That’s okay, go handle your mother and her opera show. I’ll talk to you later.”
We exchanged quick goodbyes and the line went dead, leaving a faint echo of her mother’s warbling in the background.
Restlessness and anxiety clung to me like a second skin, refusing to let go. I forced myself to pause, staring out at the horizon as if the fading light and distant hum of the city could somehow steady the storm inside me.
I didn’t know how long I stood there when the soft click of the door behind me made me jump. I whirled around, finding Aiden casually leaning against the doorframe with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Evening, wife,” he said simply. The man was captivating, an enigma, but also the source of my indecision. Something I’d wanted my entire life was suddenly less important and I worried he was the one to blame for it.
He pushed off the doorframe and closed the distance between us, holding out a small envelope, and all my thoughts evaporated.
“What’s this?” I asked excitedly.
“Open it,” he said, his voice calm.
I ripped the envelope open and read a handwritten note inside.