Feeling rather melancholy, I thought back to the time before Henry. When I’d still been like Mia and immune to boys. What had happened to me? It was pathetic, the way I’d spent last night staring at my cell phone and biting my nails, hoping that Henry would call me. Which he hadn’t.
He didn’t call even though I was in possession of a snuffbox worth $25,000. I’d had quite a shock when I Googled “rococo,” “snuffbox,” and “Morgan Collection.” Milo had stolen a little treasure. A tiny little treasure, now lying in the top drawer of my bedside table along with Charles’s trapper’s cap. I really didn’t want to give Milo away, but I could hardly keep the snuffbox. For that reason alone, I’d have been glad if Henry had phoned.
And I’d have liked him to explain about B. Although what was there to explain? It made things no better that the woman he fooled around with in that whirlpool by night was his father’s girlfriend. If you stopped to think about it, that made things worse.
Why did he send me a text if he didn’t want to talk to me? I had reached for my cell phone about seventy times to ask him that very question, but then I didn’t call him after all. It was bad enough that he’d opened his front door to find me standing outside. I wasn’t the sort of girl to stalk her ex-boyfriend, to keep on phoning him, and refuse to accept that it was all over.… No, I was only the sort to stare at her cell phone and cry nonstop.
Oh God, and that made me perfect for Persephone’s Broken Hearts Club.
“Maybe Grayson will join too,” said Persephone.
“Grayson?”
“Yes, boys can have broken hearts as well!”
“But…” Oh, nothing was going to come of all this. I snatched Persephone’s phone from her hand and looked for Secrecy’s blog. And when I’d read it, I felt, if anything, worse. “See you in chemistry,” I whispered to Persephone, and made for the lockers to find Grayson.
He was just taking out his books when I arrived, out of breath.
“Grayson, honestly! You acted injured all day because I hadn’t told you about Henry and me, but you didn’t feel you ought to tell me that it’s over between you and Emily as well, right?” I asked. Or rather I gasped, but it made no difference. Grayson understood me, all the same.
“Henry and you kept it from me for over a week,” he retorted. “Emily and I didn’t break up until Saturday evening. After dinner.”
“Then you had the whole of Sunday to tell me about it, instead of just looking at me in that injured way.”
“I was looking worried, not injured. Anyway, I was hardly at home. I didn’t have time to tell you.”
“It wouldn’t have taken long. A sentence would have done it. Oh, and by the way, Emily has dumped me. Or you could have told me last night.…”
I closed my mouth.
Could I seriously be cross with Grayson? The way he looked after Mia was so sweet. When I’d looked to the right in the dream corridor last night, I’d seen him sitting outside Mia’s dream door. I was so touched, I almost went over to hug him. Not that he could really have done anything about an intruder, but it’s the thought that counts. And he’d been so nice, sitting there trying to look dangerous.
I was still hesitating over telling Mia the whole story, because fundamentally there was no real proof that her sleepwalking didn’t have a natural cause. Particularly as I was still inclined to believe Anabel when she’d said she had nothing to do with it. Which was probably stupid of me, because Anabel must be involved all the same.
But however that might be, this time I’d slept in Mia’s bed with her, if only so that she wouldn’t have to activate the alarm device again. Surprisingly, she’d been perfectly happy about that idea; she thought walking in her sleep was creepy, and her bed was broad enough for two. She had insisted on tying our ankles together with her jump rope, so that if she got out of bed I’d be sure to be woken. Or dragged along after her. But nothing had happened. Mia had slept well and deeply, no one suspicious had come to her door, and I was feeling much better today because of that. Back when I walked in my sleep myself, it had stopped just as suddenly as it began, and with luck it would be the same for Mia. Until then we’d just have to make sure she was tied to something and couldn’t harm herself.…
“Why have you stopped telling me off?” Grayson was still looking down at me with a frown. “Should I be worried? Anyway, Emily didn’t dump me; it was the other way around. Just saying.”
“Oh yes?” Now I couldn’t help laughing. “That’s not the way Secrecy describes it. And how about the sign for infinity you gave Emily, anyway?”
“It’s only a figure eight lying on its side,” said Grayson drily.
“I see. All the same, Persephone would welcome you to our Broken Hearts Club.” I went over to my own locker to get out my chemistry textbook.
“Such an honor,” said Grayson. “But you’d better ask Henry.”