How does he know where I am? I don’t even know exactly where I am. But then again Nolan is pretty much a genius. If he could find out what Aidan did, then finding out where I am was probably a piece of cake.
And luckily I did invite him to come here. Not just in the message I left him but pretty much every day since I arrived here, I’ve been silently begging him to join me.
He must not be mad at me. You don’t go on a quest to rescue someone you’re angry with.
Suddenly I feel like a princess in a fairy tale, waiting for her prince to storm the castle and rescue her. But unlike Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel or Cinderella, I’m not content to sit around waiting. I have to do something.
I practically bounce to my feet, the tile cracking beneath me. I start packing, turning the messy pile of clothes on the floor into a messy pile of clothes in my duffle bag. I plug in my phone so it can actually finish charging. I go across the hall and grab my toothbrush and toothpaste from the bathroom. I lift the stuffed owl from the floor and hold it, staring into its blank, glassy eyes. Once I get back to Ridgemont, I’ll be able to focus all of my energy on pulling Anna toward me and helping her move on.
“I’ll name you Dr. Hoo, the sequel,” I whisper as I stuff the toy into my already overstuffed bag.
It’s not stealing. It was meant to be mine all along.
Once my duffle is completely packed, I sit on the edge of the bed, listening for the sound of a car entering the courtyard below. Nolan drives his grandfather’s old enormous beat-up navy blue Chrysler. It practically moans every time he accelerates and shudders when it shifts into park. I’ll definitely be able to hear him coming.
I’ll run out the door before Aidan can stop me. A great escape. And unlike Lucio, I don’t care if I never get invited back.
Nolan could be more than halfway here by now. Sit tight. I doubt anyone in the whole world has ever sat as tight as I’m sitting right now. My legs are crossed and my arms are folded, and it feels like every single muscle in my body is clenched in anticipation, ready to spring into action the instant Nolan arrives, to run out the door so quickly that Aidan won’t be able to stop me. I uncurl myself long enough to look down at my phone and read the last two sentences of Nolan’s e-mail one more time.
We’ll figure this out together. There has to be a way to undo what Aidan did.
Does that mean he loves me too?
Fury
“I don’t think you should come with me.”
We’re standing outside the coffee shop. My eyes narrow reflexively. I force myself to behave as though Nolan’s words don’t make my blood boil. “Why not?” I play with the hem of my sweatshirt. I can’t wait until this facade is over and I can go back to dressing in my own clothes again. These mass-produced clothes are functional, but they have no history, not like the vintage clothes I usually favor. The threads in this shirt, these jeans, these shoes might have been stitched just a few days before I bought them. They have no history.
“Because she’s never met you, and because I don’t know what kind of shape she’s going to be in when I find her. And because. . . .”
He trails off, but his meaning is clear: because I don’t want to show up with another girl when I’m trying to rescue the girl I really want to be with.
Teenagers are infuriating.
“Nolan,” I begin, pretending the strain in my voice is because it’s cold out here rather than the true reason: I’m shaking with fury, “I really think I should come with you. You don’t know what it’s going to be like when you get there. You don’t know how Aidan is going to react to seeing you.”
Now it’s Nolan’s eyes that narrow. “I never told you his name.”
“What?”
“I never told you Sunshine’s mentor’s name.”
Inwardly I curse. How could I make such an amateur mistake?
“Helena,” Nolan prompts, “How did you know his name?”
I try to look nonchalant. “It must have been in one of the professor’s files.”
Nolan shakes his head. “Even if Aidan was mentioned in the professor’s files, there couldn’t have been anything linking him to Sunshine. You couldn’t know he was Sunshine’s mentor.”
I don’t answer.
“Helena,” Nolan says finally. “Who are you?”
No point in pretending anymore. The boy is a protector, after all. I wouldn’t have been able to go on fooling him forever: protectors excel at putting the pieces of a puzzle together.
I stand up straight instead of slouching. I hook my curls behind my ears instead of letting them fall across my face. No more pretending to be less than half my age.
“I think you know who I am, Nolan.” I use my real voice, so much deeper and more powerful than the one I put on for his benefit. The boy takes a step back. “Or anyway, I think you have a guess as to what I am.” Nolan shakes his head in disbelief. “But why are you here with me instead of down there with them?”