How did he find me? Was it the grocery store mishap? The flurry of Magic usages I did over the last couple weeks? Or was I just not good enough with covering my tracks?
I wrack my brain for what his name could be. Someone Karl might’ve mentioned as being good. Or Kellan. Lon—no—Larry? No. Lee. That’s it. Lee Acacia. An Elf named Lee Acacia was considered to be royalty when it came to tracking difficult quarries. He was one of the guys who made the most progress with the Elders.
Lee Acacia is sitting in my diner. Eating Will’s pancakes. Watching me. And sending text messages.
“Yo. Space cadet.”
I nearly jump out of my skin. But it’s only Will, taking a break from the kitchen.
“You look like you’re a million miles away,” he says to me.
“Just thinking about whether or not I’ll get into college.” It’s not a lie. I’d been fixated on that before the Elf walked into the diner.
“Why wouldn’t you? You’re brilliant. They’d be daft to not accept you.”
Bless his heart. “You’re biased.”
He leans his hip against the counter and grins. “Nah. I’m nothing if not a brutal realist.”
The Tracker’s cell phone rings. I jerk at the sound.
“I know we’re supposed to go bowling tonight, and you’ve got your tricked out trainers, ready to lift you out of the gutter, straight on the path to victory, but I was wondering if we could just go home instead. I’m knackered,” Will is saying.
Yes, yes, go home. Lock the doors behind us. I nod vigorously. “I’m beat, too.”
The Tracker appears annoyed. He’s talking quietly, and I can’t hear his words, but I see his face. He’s angry and clearly arguing with whoever is on the other end of the line.
“I DVRed a hockey game.” Will tosses a straw wrapper at me.
“You’re so Americanized,” I murmur, but my attention remains riveted at the end of the counter.
Lee Acacia is now in that weird defeated yet pissed off stage. He’s shaking his head, drumming his fingers against the counter, rattling his cup and silverware balancing on the edge of his plate.
Will leans down and says quietly, “Want to explain why you’ve been ogling that bloke?”
He can’t think . . . No. I visibly shudder and tell him the truth. “He’s been staring at me. It’s kind of creepy.”
Will straightens and then, without warning, heads down to where the Tracker is sitting. “Can I get you anything else?” he asks. “Dunno if you noticed or not, but we’re closing in five.”
The Elf rips the phone away from his ear, apparently startled to find Will hulking over him. Only one other couple is left in the diner, but they’re digging out their money. Paul is in his office, probably searching the Internet for motocross videos. “Uh . . .”
Will is apparently enough to scare the Elf away, at least for tonight. After the last person leaves, I drop into a chair, my hands trembling.
Howhowhow did he find me?
“Is that your ex?” Will asks after a long moment.
“What? EW! No!”
“Alright then. Want to tell me why he has you in knots?”
We used to not push each other much. Lately, living together, especially since the alcohol-poisoning incident . . . we push all the time. The deeper our friendship gets, the more we care. The less we’re able to ignore. “Will, I—” I shake my head. I can’t put him at risk. I can’t.
“Don’t shut me out. Something is going on, and I’ve been a prick for too long, letting you get away with it. Whatever it is, you know you can trust me to help, right?”
They’d come and take him away, if they found out he knew. Annar would swallow him whole or erase his memory, and I don’t know if I could stand Will Dane being punished because he made the mistake of caring for me. I’ve hurt too many people I love already.
“Zoe.” He grabs my hands. He’s so steady. “I hope you’re not thinking I’m going to judge you. Or . . . I don’t know. Stop talking to you. Or caring. Or do anything other than be your best friend. No matter what it is, let me in. Let me help you.”
I should wait until he goes to sleep tonight and leave. He’d be safe then. Cameron, too. I’d miss them, but I could do it. I let the two most important people in my life go, the ones that I love more than my own life. I can let the Dane boys go, too, if it meant they’d be okay, especially now that Annar’s come sniffing around.
He sighs and lets my hands go. “What can I do to convince you to trust me?”
He shouldn’t trust me. “I do, it’s just . . .”
“Just what?”
The truth. “I’m scared.”
“Of me?”
I shake my head. No. Never him.
“Of . . .?”
More truth. “Hurting you.”
His eyes widen before he laughs. “You’re kidding, right? You weigh, what, a hundred—”
I cut him off. “There’s stuff about me that you don’t know. Stuff that could possibly change how you see me.”
“Impossible.”
“And yet true.”