Resonant

Chapter 8

Zale

Instead of leaving with the other students, Astrea watched them go with a small smile that grew wide once we were alone. She leaned against the desk closest to my own and said, "I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I know you weren't super excited about being the advisor for the alliance club, so I thought maybe we could bring on a co-advisor," she said, seeming really excited about it.

"No." Bringing in another teacher would only make this more of a social engagement than it already had to be. Better not to.

"But why? You haven't even heard who I think we should ask."

I noted her use of the word "we" and, after a second of consideration, decided to ignore it. "We don't need a co-advisor. The year only has a couple months left and you haven't even had any meetings yet. Or found other members, unless I'm mistaken. So, I don't think there's enough work here to justify bringing someone else in."

She pouted. "Okay, fair point. But what about next year?"

I froze. How had I not thought about this? I wasn't going to be here next year, which meant these next couple of months might be the only time I had to get to know my sister. When would I see her again after this?

"Mr. Knightley? Are you okay?"

"Zale," I corrected automatically. "Remember?"

"I still think it's a little weird to call you by your first name," she replied. "No offense."

My stomach twisted with nerves and my mind raced, trying to figure out the best time to tell Astrea I was her brother. I couldn't just drop this on her... although it looked like she was in a pretty good mood right now. But no. She probably had homework or something. I couldn't distract her from her studies.

Or maybe I was just a coward.

"Astrea?"

She caught my serious tone and her big smile wilted. I was a distraction already. "What's wrong?"

"Could you take my key and lock the door? I don't want you to feel trapped, but I wanted to talk about something with you and it would be best if we weren't interrupted."

Now she was actively frowning, but she took the key I held out with wide eyes and did as I asked. When she came back, she stood awkwardly in front of my desk with her hands crossed over her chest with the key clenched in one fist. Not a great start.

Trying to ease her into the conversation was probably not worth the effort, since any delicate words would surely be overshadowed by the magnitude of what I had to say to her. So rather than mincing words, I came out and said it. "I'm your brother. Well, your half-brother."

She bit her lip, but didn't otherwise betray any emotion. "How do you know?"

"Euripides requested that I look after you." And as much as I loathed to say it, I added, "He's my biological father, too."

"Huh."

That was all she said.

Until a long moment passed and she added, "I bet he wanted you to spy on me for him."

I shrugged. "I really don't care what he wants."

It was true he had sent me a few letters since Astrea came to the school, but I had ignored them. I wasn't watching out for Astrea as a favor to him. I did it for her.

My response made Astrea smile. "Okay, then. Was that all you wanted to talk about?"

I was so surprised by how casually she had taken this that I completely forgot I wanted to tell her this was my last semester at Ashen Oak. "Yeah."