Thank god.
I made a beeline for the bed, tugging at the bottom of the T-shirt. A streak of blood smeared across the cotton. Between skidding across the front walk at my house and fighting off Millicent’s spirit, the cuts on my hand were bleeding again. As I turned back toward the bathroom to grab a towel, Lukas stepped inside and closed the door.
Exhaustion hit me as I sat on the edge of the bed waiting for him to finish. My eyes felt heavy, and I fought to stay awake.
The door hinges creaked, and I jumped. I wandered to the bathroom half-asleep.
Lukas walked out barefoot and shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. He rubbed a towel over his hair, sending streaks of water down his chest.
With nowhere else to look, I studied a bare patch on the stained carpet. “I need to grab a towel for my hand.”
“Let me see.” He stepped closer and took my wrist gently, his jeans brushing against my leg.
“It’s no big deal.” I tried to ignore the fact that I was standing in front of a beautiful boy, wearing his T-shirt.
“As long as you’re all right.” Lukas’ hand slid from my wrist as I stepped into the harsh light of the tiny bathroom.
I rinsed my hand and knotted a hand towel around it.
When I opened the door, Jared was standing there with a clean shirt balled up in his hands. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Lukas had looked without his shirt—imagining Jared that way now.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I searched for the bare spot on the carpet again, terrified he would know exactly what I was thinking if I looked at him.
He stepped aside and gave me enough room to pass.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said softly as he shut the door.
I stood in the dark, the air still carrying the weight of this unnamed thing between us.
I fell onto the bed next to Alara and listened to the running water echoing from the shower.
Don’t think about it.
Alara nudged me. “Kennedy?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for going after Priest back there. It took guts.”
The compliment caught me off guard. “Anyone would have done the same thing.”
“Not unless you’re one of us.” There was something about the way she said it that made it seem possible.
“Is it hard to be part of the Legion?”
Alara was quiet for a moment. “You have to give up a lot.”
“Like school and your friends—”
“Like my family.”
It wasn’t the response I expected. “I thought you grew up with your grandmother.”
“I moved in with her when I was ten. Before that I lived with my parents and my younger brother and sister, in Miami.”
“Why did you move in with her?” I was prying, but I sensed she wanted to talk. And I missed the nights Elle and I stayed up late sharing secrets.
“My parents knew one of us would be chosen to join the Legion before we were old enough to walk, and they knew it would be me or my sister, Maya. My grandmother wanted to pass her specialty on to a girl.” Alara stared at the ceiling.
“And she chose you?”
“Not exactly. She wanted to take one of us while we were young enough for our training to become second nature, but my parents kept stalling. Eventually, my grandmother forced them to pick a date. When the day finally arrived, we knew my grandmother was coming and that one of us would be leaving with her. Maya and I sat on this green velvet sofa in the foyer, holding hands. My mother had dressed us up in these stupid taffeta dresses like we were going to a party. The three of them were in my father’s office deciding who she was going to take. When they came back out, my mom was crying. My grandmother told her to choose.”
Alara swallowed hard. “But there was no choice. Maya was fragile. She never could’ve handled my grandmother or the Legion. It would have destroyed her. So I lied and told them I wanted to go. I practically begged.”
I tried to imagine the situation. Waiting to see if I would have to leave my mom. Volunteering to be the one. “Your parents must have missed you so much.”
“They gave me away like a puppy. Now my father thinks he can just tell me to quit and summon me home like what I’m doing isn’t important?”
I thought about my dad standing next to his car, staring at me through the kitchen window. Knowing he was never coming back. Did he see how confused I looked as he drove away? Did he care?
Being given away didn’t seem that different from being left behind. I understood how it felt to be broken when everyone around you was whole.
“I’m sorry.”
Alara took a deep breath. “I’m not. My sister wasn’t cut out for this. I am.”
“What you did for her was still really brave.”