“Guilty as charged,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“Got infected when my parents were killed by werewolves, swore I’d use my powers to protect the world from demons … yada, yada, yada … It’s really a story for another time.”
“Oh, come on, you can’t do that to me.”
“Yes, I can, because we’re here.” I followed his pointing finger toward the lit-up bus in front of the rec center. Students filled the bus, and Principal Conway paced out in front of it with his cell phone pressed to his ear.
“I guess I gotta go,” I said. “Thanks for the … um … adventure?”
“I’m glad you were up to it.” He grinned at me, all dimply and warm. “Actually, I’m glad you got partnered with me. I’m not sure what I would have done if any other student from your school had been with me today. It kind of feels like fate, don’t you think?”
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess it does.”
I pulled on the door handle and pushed on the door. I was about to jump out when Talbot said, “Grace?”
“Yeah?” I looked back at him.
He held something silver and sparkly in his hand. At first I thought he was giving me a present—which would have been weird, but sweet—but then he said, “April’s bracelet. She dropped it at the club.”
“Oh.” I took the bracelet from his warm fingers. A narrow slip of paper was wrapped around it.
I looked up into Talbot’s glinting emerald eyes.
“That’s for you,” he said. “Call me if you need anything. Anything at all.”
“Okay,” I said, and got out of the van.
“Tell April I said hi,” Talbot said before I shut the door.
I shoved the slip of paper in my pocket and trucked toward the bus in the dark, wondering how best to explain my lateness when another person fell in right beside me.
“Dude, took you long enough to get back here,” Chris said. He had half a sub sandwich in his hand, and his pockets jangled with what sounded like coins as he walked.
“Where have you two been?” Principal Conway asked when he saw us approaching. “We were scheduled to leave twenty minutes ago. I was beginning to worry that you weren’t out in one of the vans at all.”
“Sorry, Tom,” Chris said to his dad. “I got all hypoglycemic, so I made our driver pull over so I could get something to eat. I don’t think this volunteer stuff is good for my health.”
“Nice try,” Principal Conway said, and led his son up the steps of the bus. “Next time, answer your phone when I call.”
I stopped on the top step of the bus and looked back at the parking lot. Talbot flashed the lights of his van and then drove away.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A Normal Life
ON THE BUS
“Holy crap!” April slid her silver cuff bracelet onto her wrist. “Number one: I can’t believe Talbot found my bracelet at the club—it’s supposed to be the feature item in my new fall collection, but there’s no way I was going to go back there looking for it. Number two: I cannot believe he’s your driver. Number three: I can’t believe you guys stopped a freaking mugging together. And number four: The fact that he’s an Ur—”
“Shhh!” I tried to throw my hands over her mouth. We sat alone at the back of the bus, but her voice had risen in volume with each number on her list of things she couldn’t believe. I suddenly wondered if I’d done the right thing by telling her the truth.