Chapter 19
The Girls Are Fighting (Again)
TIA
I wake up to thirty texts from Harper and three missed calls, and I block her number.
It’s surprisingly easy to avoid someone you live with. I learn this quickly, requesting time off from the labs to train, making sure to change up my mealtimes, rarely spending time at home.
I’m eating lunch when Niko sits across from me at the company cafeteria. ‘Tia, when’s the last time you saw Harper?’
I clear my throat and twirl a fork of wanton mee. ‘Three days ago, why?’
‘Neither of you have been showing up for labs. What happened? Did you guys argue? I thought you were on speaking terms, at least.’
They don’t know we dated, but I can’t bring myself to be upset when our relationship had barely lasted a week.
I set my fork down. Tears burn the back of my eyes, and my mind’s eye flashes with a memory of Harper extended out of a window, her gaze cold as she watched me fall.
She hadn’t cared. And then she saved me, and I’d never felt so gutted to be proven right.
Under gravity’s brutal pull, with the wind whipping through my hair, I hadn’t known which one I’d preferred: to be saved by Raven, or have Harper watch me fall.
But in the end it was Harper who watched me fall, and Raven who almost didn’t save me.
The worst of both worlds. ‘Everything’s fine. ’
Niko frowns and slips their hand over mine. ‘Teacup, no, what happened? Why are you crying, what did she say to you? Do you want me to speak to her?’
I don’t trust my voice, but I shake my head.
Niko ducks their head to meet my gaze. ‘Do you want to talk to her, maybe? I need to make sure she’s all right as well, but she hasn’t left her room.’
‘I’ll speak to her.’ I put my plate away, my appetite evaporated. Avoiding Harper has helped me pretend that night hadn’t existed, but I can’t keep the charade up forever.
When I get to the penthouse, there’s someone unfamiliar in the kitchen. A girl approximately my height, with a sharp-cut face and long black waves down her back, humming discordantly as she slaps peanut butter on bread.
She turns to me as the lift doors slide shut, and freezes. ‘Oh shit, you’re Lune, aren’t you?’
I blink. ‘And you are?’
‘Oh! Um.’ The girl wipes her hands on her jeans and holds out a hand with chipped olive-green nails. ‘Maria.’
Maria. A memory of the name on Harper’s phone flashes through my mind, and I shake her hand. ‘You’re Harper’s friend, right? Is she home?’
Maria laughs. ‘We’re a bit more than friends. And, yeah, she’s in bed now. I can check if she’s okay for visitors.’
A bit more than friends, huh? Part of me craves to know how Harper has been, to make sure she’s fine. Even if I don’t want to be reminded of what we’ve done, my affection for her is months in development. I can’t excise that from myself so quickly.
But Maria’s standing here with a grin eerily reminiscent of Harper’s, and I wonder if Harper got it from her, if there’d been some point in the past where Maria had smiled that exact way at Harper and Harper had traced that smile, studied it carefully and loved it so much that she uses it even now, so Maria exists in every moment of Harper’s happiness.
I swallow. ‘It’s fine. I’m just going to go.’
RAVEN
This last week has been hell.
Having my identity blown by Tia means I didn’t even have to think twice about deciding to stay on as Fox leader-in-training, but it’d taken two days of grovelling for the Elders to accept me again.
Even then, it feels like when I first began training as a Fox leader.
I watch them discuss between themselves without sharing information with me, and I’m sent off on basic tasks, like accompanying magic-less Foxes home at night.
I’m not even allowed to lead heists – I spent the last one tagging after Maria like a kicked puppy, waiting in the vehicle as back-up as she broke into an office building to steal moonstone shipment schedules and data.
The Elders hinted that I’d get to lead the next heist, at least, but it hurt.
My ego as a Fox leader has always been ironclad, bolstered by my confidence in my abilities, and the Elders’ validation.
All this has done is remind me that there is, actually, a little bit of squishy interior if you dig into me deeply and tortuously enough.
But I’m Raven again, at least.
I’m also, apparently, extremely desperate for my (ex?)-girlfriend’s attention.
Seizing the mall was as easy as walking in during the morning work rush, kicking the door to the security room down and activating every emergency shutter.
Now a tied-up security guard sits in the corner of the room, watching, as I rip open a bag of crisps and wait.
He’d been a lot more annoyed when I’d broken in, but he seems to have realized he’s perfectly safe and can technically take a break from work.
I’ve even encouraged him to nap, but he declined the offer.
‘No hard feelings,’ I assure him as I plunge my hand into the bag and slip a crisp under my mask. ‘Just need to contact Lune.’
The security guard sighs. ‘Can’t you do something better than take over a mall? Call her?’
I give him a crisp to shut him up.
On the CCTV, a lone figure bursts through the doors – my public message must have finally reached the Sentinels, and I watch Lune stalk through the mall, checking on people and heading up the elevators for the security room.
My heart pounds in my ears. Damn it. I’ve practised this. It’ll be fine.
I dust myself off and untie the guard. ‘Leave. I need to speak to her alone.’
The security guard winces as he massages his wrists. ‘Why should I listen to you?’
I pass him the bag of crisps and a bunch of spare cash from my back pocket, and he leaves without another word.
Two minutes later, the door swings open, and Lune stands in the doorway.
It’s been only a few days since we last saw each other, but I still soak in her presence, try to extract as much information as I can to see if Tia’s okay. All I’m met with is my reflection in Lune’s helmet.
Lune steps into the room and closes the door behind her. ‘How do you want to do this, Raven?’
‘Speak to me. Please. There has to be some way we can make this work.’
‘There’s nothing to speak about. Get out of this mall before I make you.’
‘Tia.’ I take off my mask, and hear Lune’s sharp intake of breath the moment I stand before her – not as Raven, but as Harper. ‘There, I’m a civilian now. You can’t do anything to me.’
Lune’s hand rests on the hilt of her sword. For a second, I really think she might draw it, until she retracts her visor with her other hand, and Tia stands in place, her expression cold.
But her eyes are rimmed red and swollen with sadness. ‘I can’t do this.’
Something in my chest breaks a little. ‘Can’t do what?’
‘This.’ Tia throws her free hand up in my direction, then gestures wildly to the security room. ‘Everything. You committing crimes just to see me, you and that mask in your hand, you and Maria—’
‘Wait, Maria?’ Since when was she involved? ‘She’s just a friend, trust me.’
Tia lets out a harsh bark of a laugh and storms the distance between us to jab a finger into my chest. ‘Don’t ask for my trust when you’ve been lying to me from the day we met.’
I take her fury stoically, even if I’m backed into a table and its edge digs into my thighs.
Once again, it strikes me how out of character this is: Tia’s icy front devolved into a teary anger that I never thought she possessed.
It’s disarming at best, and terrifying at worst, to know I’ve brought that out of her.
‘How did you expect me to tell you? You’re a Sentinel, not a civilian who could have got away with knowing. Do you remember when you said you’d cut me off just for being associated with Raven? Do you know how much that hurt me? You wouldn’t date me if you knew who I was—’
‘I said that, didn’t I?’ Tia’s hands fall by her side, and she takes a step back. Her lashes are wet. ‘I wouldn’t, and I won’t.’
I can’t breathe. ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘It doesn’t matter. The stakes are way too high for us both. You know, I can’t bear to report you to the Sentinels yet.’ She activates her helmet again and heads for the door. ‘But keep doing this, and I’m going to change my mind.’
I catch Lune’s wrist. ‘Bunny, please. You know I’d never hurt you.’
She whips round, tugging her arm free. ‘You already did. Now go home, or I’m telling Niko and Kiran who you are.’
She leaves me in the cramped security room, alone and in pieces.