Lily put her hand on Tristan’s arm. “It’s okay, Tristan. I have a feeling he just wants to apologize.” She turned to Scot and met his eyes. “Don’t you, Scot?”
“Yeah,” Scot said, swallowing hard. “I didn’t know a little vodka would do that to you. I just wanted to—” He broke off suddenly, looking at Lily desperately.
“You wanted to get me drunk and take advantage of me,” Lily said plainly. He grimaced like he was in pain, shifting from foot to foot. “Here’s the thing, Scot. We’re not going to be friends. We’re not going to hang out. And if I ever hear even a whisper that you’ve tried that crap on some other girl, I’m going to come after you. Get it?”
Scot nodded slowly, his face frozen.
“Good.” Lily turned and continued on to her class.
“I think you made him pee a little,” Tristan said.
“He’s lucky I didn’t—” Lily stopped herself. Didn’t what? Have him thrown in a dungeon? Hanged? Lily’s insides chilled at how easily her thoughts had turned draconian. She remembered when she first met Alaric—how he’d made her meet his gaze and how he’d known without a doubt that she wasn’t Lillian. He’d said there was no death in her eyes. Lily wondered what he would find inside them now. She looked at Tristan, laughed nervously, and pretended to brush it off. “I should have kicked Scot in the ding-ding.”
Tristan smiled, relaxing a little, but the tense set of his mouth told her that he hadn’t totally let it go, either.
“That’s quite a scar he’s got,” Lily said quietly as they settled into their lab table.
“I hit him harder than I meant to,” Tristan replied, his tone heavy with regret. “I was so angry, and not just because of what he did to you, but because you were right. I left you with him at that party so I could cheat on you. I wanted to blame him for what I did.”
“Sorry I got you arrested.” Lily smiled at him, thinking how much he’d grown up since she’d left.
“No, that’s on me, not you.” Tristan sighed. “His parents were right to press charges. I sent him to the hospital.”
“So you’ve forgiven me?” she whispered as Mr. Carnello swept into the room to start class.
“Of course,” Tristan whispered back. “I forgave you the second you got back, but I had to make you suffer a little.”
After school Rowan allowed only a short homework break for the other mechanics before diving into their training, starting with teaching them about burns and how to heal them.
“What’s the big deal with burns, anyway?” Una said, frazzled. Lily could tell that she’d been standing over the hot cauldron inhaling fumes for a bit too long.
“Lily, would you show them?” Rowan said.
Lily walked to the fireplace and stuck her hand in the flames. Una pushed Lily back reflexively.
“Are you crazy?” Una scolded angrily.
“It’s okay, Una,” Lily replied. “Look.” She held up her hand to show that it was uninjured. “The best way for a witch to gather energy is for her to go into the flames.”
“It’s called firewalking,” Rowan said, breaking the tense silence. “It’s extremely dangerous and very few survive it. Even those who can survive it, like Lily, are often injured.”
“But in order to generate enough energy to get Rowan back to his world, you’ll have to burn me,” Lily finished quietly.
It took a moment for someone to respond. Tristan crossed to Rowan and shoved him to the floor. “You bastard,” he said, standing over Rowan.
“Tristan,” Lily began, taking a step forward to intervene.
“No, Lily. I thought Rowan was doing this big noble thing by going home, but you didn’t say anything about us having to burn you to get him there,” Tristan shouted.
“Yeah, I have to agree with Tristan on this,” Breakfast said hesitantly. “I mean—what do we do? Tie you to a stake?”