Ash (38 page)

I wanted to ping her and get answers, but I stopped myself. She was in the hospital recovering. I could wait another day. Besides Zane said he’d look into in. My dad was right. I needed to sleep. I grabbed some clean clothes from my dresser when I heard a rap at my window.

I turned toward the sound. Someone was outside. It was too dark to see more than a shape, but that was enough. Fear gripped me, but I forced myself to relax. Intruders wouldn’t knock. I had just left Zane, maybe he’d come to tell me something. To be safe, I reached into the pair of pants I’d worn when I’d first met the Revenants. The glass I grabbed from the subway car was still there. I picked it up and paused. “Who’s there?” I said.

“Dax, it’s just me,” a frantic voice whispered.

The glare made it hard to see, but I could make out a shock of familiar coppery hair. I put down the glass and flipped off my bedside light to cut the reflection before sliding the window open.

I had to be seeing things.

“Theron?” I whispered.

“Hi, Dax,” he said giving me a sheepish smile as he stood balanced on the trellis.

I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it, for once absolutely stunned into silence. Theron. Was outside my window. In the middle of the night. I took a step back, finally settling on the obvious suggestion. “Come in before someone sees you.”

I moved out of the way as he hoisted himself over the window frame and into my room. The space was small to start. With Theron standing next to me it suddenly felt tiny. I was basically pressed up against my bed with the boy I’d been dreaming about for as long as I could remember. “What… what… are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I’m sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to; I just had to know how you were. You didn’t answer my ping. And I heard there was a breakout, and after our conversation the other day, I thought you might have been there,” he said barely pausing for air. “Madden’s in the hospital. I needed to know you weren’t hurt too.”

The look of concern on his face was overwhelming. “I’m fine, honest.”

“But you were there, weren’t you?”

I nodded. “I went with Oena. We got Link out. He’s safe.”

“Dax, what if you’d been caught?” he asked. “You have so many people who care about you…” His voice caught.

“But I wasn’t.”

His eyes searched mine. “I couldn’t stop picturing you hurt. I didn’t know what to do.” I had never seen him look so intense.

“So you came all the way to the Yellow ring after curfew just to see if I was okay?”

“Yeah, it was stupid. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

I could barely hear the rest of what he was saying, my heart and mind and lungs were all working on overdrive.
The moonlight streamed through the window, turning his face into a complex series of valleys and planes.
I caught his eyes and everything seemed to stop.
“It wasn’t stupid,” I said
and for a brief second my nerves were gone. I reached up and pulled him toward me, closing my eyes as his lips touched mine.

I was kissing Theron. I was kissing Theron!
I was kissing Theron?
A moment of panic set in. What if he had only come here as a friend? What if he didn’t want to kiss me? What if I had just made a huge fool of myself? I quickly stepped aside, afraid to look at him.

I was about to apologize, when he gently lifted my chin back toward him. Theron’s gaze was so strong I couldn’t turn away. I didn’t want to. It was like there was a magnetic pull drawing us together. Then Theron leaned down and kissed me. His lips, his tongue, hungrily exploring mine. He circled his arms around my waist, drawing me closer. I relaxed into him, like we were two pieces fitting together. For the next minute I think I left my body.

We were interrupted by the squeak of someone on the stairs. My dad, coming up to bed. I froze and Theron pulled away. I held a finger up to my lips and listened as my parents’ bedroom door opened, then closed shut.

“Dax,” he began.

“You should go,” I said, panicked that my father would stop in to say goodnight.

Theron started to speak, then paused, nodding instead. He took a step back, grasping the windowsill with one hand. His face was full of emotions. “I hope, I mean—”

I closed the distance between us before he could say anything else, and gave him a quick kiss. “You really need to go,” I said, looking back at my door.

“Okay,” he said. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, alright?” he said.

I nodded. There was so much I wanted to say. More than anything, I wanted to tell him what Madden said about our destinies. If it was true, Theron and I might actually have a real chance at a future together. But I couldn’t say anything—not yet.

The next thing I knew he was climbing out of the window and down the trellis. He looked back up at me and our eyes locked one last time. He flashed a final smile at me before darting across the street.

I stood at the window long after he’d gone, grinning into the darkness. Who knew what my future held, but at this very minute, I didn’t care. Link was safe. The Revenants had my back. And Theron Oliver had snuck into my room and given me my very first kiss.

O
nce I made the decision to give in to my blackmailer, my betrayal was surprisingly simple. Sol hacked the system and located Worthington’s code within minutes. As an extra precaution he set up a new account for me to send the information through that was filtered through layers of encryptions and codes and false documentation that ultimately would keep my name out of it. The Revenants had given me a thirty-six-hour window to get them what they wanted. I waited to send the code until the very last moment, partly because I was hoping a better option would present itself and partly because I wanted to make things as difficult for them as possible. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the ping I got back upon delivery, but it still had me steaming.

“Now was that so hard? Stay tuned for further instruction.”

Of course they were going to demand more. They had me under their thumb now, we both knew that. I just had to come up with a solution to fix everything before things got too out of control. The problem was that nothing was coming to mind. Not in the hospital, and not at home.

I took five full days off of school to recover. My father even cut his hours short to be there with me for most of it. It was just him, Nora, and me. He didn’t even allow visitors, he just wanted me to get better. It was the most time we’d spent together, really together—not at some briefing or formal event—since I was a small child. As much as I was horrified by everything that had happened over the last week, I was thankful for the time it gave me with my dad. I would hold on to that once the truth came out.

As much as I wanted to hide in my room for another week, I knew it wasn’t feasible. People were getting antsy for my return. I’d collected a garden’s worth of get-well foliage. The media had set up shop in our front lawn, despite my father’s ongoing threats and more than one broken hovercam. Lavender and Portia pinged me constantly, and I had a nonstop influx of messages from my classmates. Even Bas got in on the action, sending me notes and coming to the door armed with five-dozen violets. I had Nora send him packing. Now that I was New City’s favorite victimized hero, I suppose it was only natural that he would want to share the spotlight. But I was having none of it. I wasn’t even seeing my best friends, I certainly wasn’t seeing my obnoxious ex. It was strange to think about. Had my entire life not been a lie, I would have been pleased with all the attention.

The only other message that I really cared about came from Dax saying that she needed to talk to me. It wasn’t a conversation I was looking forward to having, but I knew it was inevitable. So on the morning I returned to school, I told her to meet me after final period in Ms. Almodovar’s classroom.

That morning, my father insisted on driving me to school even though I was perfectly fine to walk. I knew he was concerned about the media frenzy surrounding me, but there wasn’t much either of us could do about that. Reporters and hovercams weren’t allowed on school grounds, but that didn’t mean I could avoid my classmate’s scrutiny. I knew there were some who would share a snap of me within moments of my arrival.

With that in mind, I made sure to march, albeit with a slight limp, out of my father’s car and onto the courtyard with my head held high. As far as everyone, well, almost everyone, was concerned, I was still the future minister, and that’s how it needed to stay.

I made it barely five feet when I was bombarded by that irritating Ash. Laira, I corrected myself.

“Oh Madden. You’re finally back. We were all so worried. How are you feeling? Can I help you?” she asked. She didn’t wait for my response, instead barreling along. “I have all of the notes you missed from class if you want to borrow them. Just let me know. I’m happy to help.” She got close. Too close. She clearly didn’t know a thing about personal space. In fact, I thought she was actually going to try to hug me until Portia showed up.

“Don’t you have a street to cross?” Portia snapped, pushing past her to stand by my side. “Why don’t you go try
not
to get run over? Or do, it doesn’t really matter.”

“Portia,” I warned.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” she said, clasping my hand in hers. “I haven’t seen you in almost a week, and I’m supposed to let some
Ash
get to you first. I don’t think so.”

Lavendar joined us from the other side. “Hey, don’t forget about me.” She gave me a squeeze on the shoulders. “Give me that,” she said taking my purse. “You don’t need to carry anything today.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“Don’t be silly. That’s what friends are for,” she said, and her eyes got a little misty. “When I heard you got shot, Madden. I mean, thinking about losing you. I...” Her words got caught in her throat.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m still here.” My eyes started to water too. I’d known Lavendar since we were three. She was the one who was there when Link ended things, the one who convinced me everything would be okay, the one who listened to me rehearse my first public speech dozens of times. She wouldn’t lose me, but chances were when she found out what ring I really belonged too, I’d lose her.

“Welcome back, Madden,” Theron said, joining us to complete the circle. A crowd of students hung back, whispering and staring at me. Theron cocked his head, sizing up the teary moment in a glance. He gave a loud groan. “You guys, seriously, don’t make Madden cry. You know it makes it look like I’m not doing my job.” He mock whispered. “Plus we’ve got an audience.”

I smiled as he leaned down to hug me, but was really just trying not to heave. I had forgotten what my lie meant for Theron. His destiny was to make the future minister laugh. Had he missed his moment because of me? How many others would be affected because my destiny was swapped with Dax’s?

I couldn’t dwell on it too long. I was bombarded with well wishes from throngs of classmates who were now permeating our circle.

“Do you need space? I can get you space,” Portia said.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “Class is only a couple of minutes away.” And seeing the look of concern in everyone’s eyes was nice. If my conversation with Dax later went the wrong way, it could be the last time I ever felt it.

“Well, we have you covered if you need anything,” Lavendar assured me. She linked one of her elbows with mine and Portia did the same with the other. Crossing the courtyard was near impossible. Everyone was trying to talk to me at once. A kind word here. A sympathetic pat there. I’d never heard the courtyard so alive with voices. Sol sat at his usual place on the wall ledge, there but on the periphery. I thought about calling him over, introducing him as the Ash who saved me, but I knew better than to try and mix our worlds. My friends wouldn’t understand and it would just make Sol uncomfortable. And soon enough a friendship with me would prove toxic. I’d call a formal event before the truth came out. I’d even ask Minister Worthington to preside, that way if… when… my status was revoked, it wouldn’t affect him. Sol wasn’t looking at me, he was staring at his plexi, but I couldn’t help but smile when he peeked up to glance my way.