Page 61 of A Drop of Anguish
People buz about around us, all breaking their necks to see what’s going on and hear what we’re saying. I grab his upper arm—which is thick and firm, and I should not be thinking about that at all—and pull him to a corner, where we can talk more privately.
“I’ve gotten three notes since we came back. Ominous and… weird. All signed, ‘the jinn’.”
Jarron’s eyes darken. The magic filling the hall pulses and zings, making it harder to breathe.
“And then, I got a journal entry that had been ripped from Liz’s diary. It would have been pretty incriminating to Mr. Vandozer if it had been there before.”
The air around me turns icy.
“Jarron?” I whisper, but his eyes are not his any longer. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” I say, hoping to absolve the stress building in him as we speak.
“Not a big deal?” he repeats, his voice more echoey than usual. “Worst case, it means someone connected to the games is stalking you. Best case, someone in this school is taunting you. Neither option is okay with me. And if the journal entry is real…” He runs his fingers through his messy hair.“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this sooner.”
I release my breath and mutter, “sorry.”
“Okay. I need you to bring me those letters. I need to see them.”
I shift my weight from foot to foot. “Bring them—”
“To Elite Hall.”
It takes me a tad too long to respond. “You want me to come to Elite Hall?” I finally force out.
“There isn’t much choice,” he says slowly. “I need to examine them. Test them. We shouldn’t do that in public, and I can’t go into Minor Hall.”
I suddenly feel lightheaded. He’s all but confirmed my assumption that he means his room. We’d need to be somewhere private.
Emotions I’ve fought very hard to shove into little boxes begin to emerge.
He must read that fear on my face because then he says, “I suppose, if you don’t want to be alone with me, you could just give them to me and I’ll do it all myself and bring them back when I’m finished.”
“I—no, I can. I can come.” I blink rapidly. This is going to be awkward, and overwhelming and so many other things. But it’s Jarron. I want us to be friends.
So, this shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Right? Right. Not a big deal.
I’ll just conveniently forget the fact that he is losing control of his demon side. The demon that seems very interested in me for reasons I can’t fully understand because it didn’t choose me three years ago. It chose my sister.
I’ll also have to pretend that I don’t want to relive those intimate moments I shared with him in that room while we were still “together.” My cheeks heat even now. This is going to be tough.
“You’re sure? I understand that you’re afraid of me—”
“No. It’s not that,” I say quickly. “I’m not afraid of you.”
I’m wary. I’m confused. I’m hurt.
I’m terrified, but not of him, of my own lack of self-control.
He doesn’t seem to be convinced, but he doesn’t comment again. “So, this afternoon?”
And yet, somehow, it feels like the whole Earth has shifted beneath me as I answer, “Yes.”
28
I Don’t Want To Lose You
To my surprise, when I meet Jarron in Elite Hall, he turns the opposite direction than his bedroom. My heart sinks and swells at the same time.
