21 | Heart Strings

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NO ONE REALLY SLEPT THAT NIGHT. Raina certainly hadn't.

They'd arrived back at Arrowsmith from a wholly silent car drive, wherein, surprisingly, no one bothered to attack Anakin, or Alexei or whatever his name was, with questions. They'd all sat in their own silence, thinking over the day's events. Raina had sat sandwiched between Anakin and Juliet, the former's elbow constantly bumping into her and startling her from her thoughts.

Once they'd arrived, Amelie had gone in the opposite direction, to Cyan Hall, to speak with Karsyn, to give him back his keys. Apparently, in the past hours, Amelie and Karsyn had evolved from actively not talking about the sex they had to lending each other cars. Raina had half the heart the follow her and knock on Karsyn Arsov's door and insist he go after his sister.

Raina had never seen Freya look like that.

She'd seen her cry, of course. They'd watched Titanic together many times, after all. And sometimes, she'd come back to Ebony House after a stint with Julian, blinking back hot, annoyed tears.

But the look she'd worn in the warehouse had been the look of someone collapsing beneath the world's weight, and it wasn't something she expected of Freya, who was always, always unbreakable.

Raina was the one who cried, who broke often. And sometimes, when she was tearfully resenting her brother, or bemoaning her Seth situation, she'd hear Freya's snarky comments of comfort and wonder how exactly that girl never snapped like she did.

A blanket of silence covered the three of them as they, like ghosts, deposited themselves into the downstairs sitting room of the house. Juliet curled upon the white leather armchair while Maye sat, head thrown back, alone on the couch. No one spoke. Raina sat cross-legged on the fuzzy rug and turned on the telly installed over the empty, decorative fireplace. She left it on Netflix, letting Teen Wolf play if only to fill the silence, but no one was watching.

Raina was thinking about Anakin. He too had been silent, frowning out the Porsche's window.

He had ruefully allowed her to come with him earlier.

She'd almost changed her mind when the cab appeared outside the stadium.

Raina had never been in a cab. She doubted any of the actual English students at her school had ever been in one either.

But Anakin had climbed into the black cab without a second thought, leaving Raina outside, scowling at the seats, wondering at how many germs there were.

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