Page 74 of The Stone Secret
“Look, Cameron. I’m sorry,” Levi said. “I’ve been thinking, and I’m going to back off.”
What the… “Really?”
He looked sincere. Sad almost. “Yeah, really.”
Dammit, now I couldn’t even be mad at him. “Thank you.”
“But I don’t want us to be strangers,” he continued. “I miss our friendship.”
I couldn’t give him even that level of intimacy. “You’re a tutor here, Levi. It’s hardly appropriate.”
“Yet you’re friends with the elites.”
“I’ll be one of them soon enough.” What was that in his eyes, a flash of doubt? Fear? “You don’t think I can do it, do you?” The spark of rage that had been dimming flared again. “You think I’m too weak.”
“No, Cameron. I’ve never thought of you as weak, but the elite test…It’s something else.”
“How can you know that? No one remembers those trials. They have their memory wiped.”
He looked away. “Yes. I suppose they do.”
“What the…What aren’t you telling me?”
He fixed me with a challenging glare. “I could ask you the same question.”
Fucksake. “I thought you were going to let it go.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dammit, Cameron. Dammit.” He exhaled. “Look. Fuck everything else. You want to be with the Mason boy, then so be it. But let me help you prepare for the elite trial.”
He knew…He knew what it would entail. “Why don’t you just tell me what you know?”
“I…I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
He grit his teeth. “Can’t. But I can help train you in preparation. Trust me.”
I’d trusted the old Levi with my life. We’d been a team against the monsters that roamed Old Town, but this Levi was someone else, with allegiances that could get me killed.
Insight into the elite trials would bring him into the elite circle, close to Serath and me…together. I couldn’t risk him noticing that there was something between us. But if I simply shut Levi down, it might make him suspicious.
“I’ll have to speak to the elite about it. Lionel has put them in charge of my training.”
“I can speak to them if you agree,” Levi said. “I’ve been meaning to speak to my cousin since I got here.” His mouth turned down in displeasure. “This is as good an excuse as any. Although my father warned me to steer clear. He’s still hurt by Serath’s rejection.”
Rejection? What the… “Your father told you Serath rejected him?”
Levi picked up his towel and dabbed at his face. “After my uncle and aunt were killed, my father offered Serath a home, but he ran away. My father searched for him for years and finally found that he’d been adopted by another gargoyle.”
Was he serious? “Do you hear yourself? A tiny boy ran away, and a grown-ass gargoyle, who had fuck knows how many contacts, couldn’t find him? Do you think that sounds realistic?”
He frowned. “Why are you getting so angry?”
“Because you’re so far up your father’s asshole all you can see is his shit.”
Levi’s jaw hardened. “You knownothingabout my father.”
“And you knownothingabout Serath!” I spun on my heel and out the door.
