Little Spark

23 - Promises and Ugly Footwear

I can't sleep. Since I got home six hours ago—greeted by a big-eyed, Clairvo kid who told me I smelled like dead people and shouldn't play in cemeteries with "yucky boys"— Candis has called six times. I've dodged every single one of them. I have too many of my own questions pecking away at my brain to handle the slew I know will come from her.

I roll over to look at the clock and see Reign's book on my nightstand. When I got home, Gigi had pulled it out of the garbage where I tossed it after learning of his involvement in the scare of Ruby's lifetime. I groan and throw my arm over my face as I'm sucked back into a mental highlight reel of the cemetery trip: crashing into him again and him catching me, him grabbing my hand to pull me through the gate; tripping and him catching me again; him taking my hand to pull me into The Crypt; coming to with his hand on my cheek and seeing genuine concern on his face even though he was the reason I passed out....

I look at the clock again. 12:17AM. Eleven hours and forty-three minutes from now, Reign will be at the bridge. I could pelt him with questions....

Or I could stay away from him like I should.

I sigh. How did I get into such a mess? Reign seemed sincere about telling me whatever I want to know. Can I trust him? Of course I can't; he's a Shadow. But what does that even mean? Who else is a Shadow? Did one particular Shadow kill my dad, or was it, like, a group attack? How do they even do their killing? He may not have all of these answers, but maybe he'll give me the ones he does have.... So do I go?

12:24AM. I close my eyes.

Eleven hours and thirty-six minutes to decide.

********************

In the inhibition-free haze between the end of dreams and reemergence into reality the following morning, I decide that yes, I'll go. There was a lot of truth in Reign's assertion that if he'd wanted to hurt me, I wouldn't have made it to the cemetery yesterday, and the fact that he didn't just snuff me out—he definitely had the opportunity—makes me think he genuinely wants to help me. Also, I note with a sleepy smile, obviously not in my right mind and in no condition to be making potentially life-threatening decisions, he's wicked hot and he smells good. Bliss likey.

I sit up with my eyes still closed and stretch my arms up over my bed.

"Morning sunshine."

My arm is extended and the orb is out of my palm in the direction of the sound before my brain can process the form and voice of the smallish redheaded person sitting in my window seat reading an Astrophysics textbook. The light hits her right in the face; her cheeks glow for a split second, and then she sneezes.

Clock check: 7:56AM.

"Candis? What are you—" I rub my eyes to make sure I'm not hallucinating. "It's not even eight o'clock yet—"

"Oh I've been here since six-thirty," she says, returning her attention to her book. "I wanted to be sure I caught you... your grandmother is an early riser like me. She let me in."

"But why are you here?"

"Well I figured your elusion of all my phone calls yesterday was merely the expression of a preference for conversing with me mulier mulieri about what you were doing outside a graveyard with Reign Patos." She clears her throat.

I groan. It is too freaking early for this. "I'm not even going to pretend I understood what you just said."

"Mulier mulieri: Latin for 'woman to woman'."

"Why are you speaking Lat—"

"Blizzy, your attempts to evade this discussion are a flagrant waste of your energy and my time. Let's please be grown-ups about this."