Page 16 of Xantera
“Hmm?”
“Is there a reason you’re asking me about this?”
Yes. I have a forbidden necklace in a drawer in my room and I heard a wicked male’s voice when it touched my chest and despite every instinct telling me to turn it into the authorities, a darker, deeper part of me wants to hang it around my neck and hear that voice again.
“No, not really. I was just wondering.”
For the first time since we were assigned as partners, I feel a nip of guilt for holding back on him. Every other time I’ve kept something to myself, it’s been because I don’t want to be rude by talking too much about myself, but now…
“I hope you have a good day,” I say before I can let myself dwell on it. Jumping up, I throw my cloak over my shoulders and pin my badge to my chest, refusing to let my eyes wander to my reflectionin the screen.I don’t know what I look likeseems to ring through me.
Otherpeople know what I look like, though. Malcolm himself looks at me, day in and day out from across the table, side by side when we clean the kitchen, hovering above me in the dark when he used to be inside me. I wonder what he sees.
“You as well,” Malcolm says slowly, almost cautiously. “I’ll see you tonight.”
I smile and find that the smile is easier than it’s ever been despite the secrets swirling in my chest. “See you tonight.”
Hopefully by then, I’ll be one step closer to finding out where that necklace came from.
And who is speaking to me through it.
After repeating “good morning” nearly a dozen times, I’m back in the locker room, saying hello to Gaia like usual, but this time with a weird mixture of hope and nerves writhing in my gut at what I’m about to ask her.
“Morning,” Gaia says back, peeling off her blood-spattered shirt. It must have been a long night. “Did you hear?”
I pull my eyes back to her face, off the red dots dried into the fabric. “That Diggory was found? Yes. I actually saw the sentries haul him off yesterday after my shift.”
“You did?” Her eyes pop wide open, hungry for the information.
“Yes.” I pause for a steadying breath. “And I need you to do something for me.”
For once, my friend seems at a loss for words. Her mouth hangs open, her hands frozen mid-movement. Among the Cardinal List of Rules isDon’t wish for more than necessary,and I’m obviouslybreaking it now. Along withDon’t ask unsolicited questions,of course.
For all my little jokes I’ve shared with Gaia over the years, for all the small tidbits of harmless gossip we’ve traded, I’ve never once asked her to do anything for me. Yet here I am, asking. My conversation with Malcolm went so well this morning that part of me believes she won’t even scold me for breaking such an ingrained rule.
But then Gaia sucks in a breath, her eyes narrowing, and her tone morphs into something a little more suspicious than ever before.
“What kind of favor?”
I seem to be speaking in a lot of whispers lately. Even still, I try to keep my words as casual as possible as I pull on my clean, blood-free scrubs.
“Oh, nothing huge—just find Diggory’s personal information.” I look down at the laces of my shoes. “Who his partner is. Where she lives. That kind of thing.”
“Guardians help me,” Gaia hisses out. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“Not today, unfortunately.”
“Only the information clerks would be privy to that kind of thing.”
My tone stays light when I say, “You have a good ear,” but Gaia’s face is darkening with every new word I speak.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can just go around snooping in files I don’t have access—” Gaia cuts herself off as one of the male healers across the room turns to head out the door. His eyes cut to us, his lips turned down in disapproval as if he thinks we’re arguing. Maybe we are. Gaia waits until he closes the door behind him before resuming in a lower voice. “It would be improper to dig.”
“But—”
“It would be improper to dig.”
The finality in her voice is striking. I let my shoulders deflate before the fight can claw its way out of my throat. I’ve crossed aline, and the fact that Gaia is reminding me of that rather than turning me in is a testament to her loyalty. Yet…
