“Hey,” Adrian said as I closed the door.
“Hey,” I said back.
We sat in semiawkward silence for another two seconds before Adrian pulled onto the road.
“How was your afternoon?” he tried again.
“Good. Got my homework done. Learned that Trish is a closet genius and dreams of going to Oxford. Had a cola. The usual.”
He looked at me sideways. “Trish wants to go to Oxford?”
“Yep. Apparently all her brothers are really smart, too.”
Adrian looked mildly surprised. “They always seemed kind of big and dumb to me. Of course, that was during my I-hate-humans phase, so I didn’t think very highly of anyone.”
I stared at him. “You had an I-hate-humans phase?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Just because I am what I am doesn’t mean I didn’t go through puberty like everyone else. I was a very angry adolescent.”
“Why was that?”
He cleared his throat. “That’s when I was told we’re not allowed to get attached to humans.”
“Aah,” I said, blushing for some reason. “That must’ve sucked.”
He smiled, and it was a little bitter. “It wasn’t a great time for me. I wanted friends, but it wasn’t allowed. Hating people made it easier to keep my distance. It finally made sense why I moved around so much when I was younger.” He shrugged, but I could tell he was agitated. “I have to interact with regular, everyday people, but Mariana and Dominic don’t. They’ve already forgotten how hard it is to be around humans, but constantly maintain distance from them.”
My face crumpled up sadly as I looked at him. “So you never, like, spent the night at someone’s house?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
That was awful. I mean, I’d had a sad childhood, in a way, but my parents had been awesome. They were smart and funny and wonderful and they’d always made sure I knew they loved me. Adrian’s childhood sounded more like prison.
“How do I factor in, then, if you’re not allowed to have human friends? We’re alone together all the time.”
“You are a loophole,” he said, pulling through the gates that led to his house. “We endangered you, so we protect you in whatever fashion is necessary. Being around you, being alone with you, is vital to your safety. We had to let you in on it, because sooner or later you would’ve realized I was not who I said I was, or around you for the reasons you thought. We could have used our Jedi mind tricks to make you less suspicious, but that’s another rule—only use Jedi powers in an emergency.” He shook his head, lips set in a tight line. “I get ‘permission’ to be around you, to appear to be in love with you, but I’m forbidden from growing attached. And the penalties for disobedience are high.”
“How high?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He gave me a look that clearly said I didn’t really want to know.
We wound around the final curve in the road and parked. For a moment, he didn’t move, just stared out the windshield at his house.
“Adrian,” I said, staring down at a hole in the knee of my jeans. “When this is all over—are you going to make me forget?”
“No, I won’t.” But he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
I peered at him closely. “Is someone else going to make me forget?”
He looked down for a moment, then back up at me. “Probably.”
My heart surged in my chest. “And what if I refuse?”
He couldn’t meet my eyes. “We don’t operate under a democracy. If the Council orders your memories wiped, someone will do it. It’s just a matter of who.”
Part of me wanted to ask What if we said no? But I didn’t. The more time I spent around Adrian’s family, the more I realized I was a sort of glorified pet, not a guest. I could live my life fairly normally, but when push came to shove, I didn’t have any rights, as far as they were concerned.
Adrian breathed in, let it go, and got out of the truck before I could ask more. I followed him clumsily; trying to process and walk at the same time. As soon as we were through the front door, I heard a soft whooshing sound and looked up at the curving marble staircase to see Lucian sliding down the banister, face-first. Just when I thought he’d crash, he pushed himself up, hopped off the pedestal at the end, and jumped onto Adrian, who caught him effortlessly, and without any show of surprise. Lucian scrambled, squirrel-like, until he was sitting on Adrian’s shoulders, his chin resting on Adrian’s head as his arms dangled in their usual lifeless fashion.
“Hey, nutcase,” Adrian said, looking up.
“Hello,” Lucian replied.
“What’s for dinner?”
“Chicken.” He overexaggerated the syllables so that it sounded like “ch-ihh-cken.”
“Did you take your medicine?” Adrian asked seriously.
Lucian nodded.