The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [79]
Fantasy, a shining goddess,
She controls the tides.
Fantasy, a brilliant goddess.
She controls our lives.
Fantasy, a golden goddess —
In her hands is the light.
Fantasy, a silver goddess —
In her hands is the night.
Sarah got up and tucked the card into her desk. Next time she saw Christopher she would tell him the truth — about her family, and about all the laws she was breaking. She would tell him the truth, and he would be able to leave her alone without getting hurt.
CHAPTER 7
SARAH, IS SOMETHING WRONG? Nissa asked the next day during sculpture. “Christopher told me you were avoiding him yesterday afternoon … he was sure he had done something to offend you.”
Christopher? Offend? She doubted he was capable of such a thing.
Sarah grasped at, and then lost, a handy lie. “Look, I … it’s nothing really, okay?” Sarah said awkwardly. “I can’t really explain.”
“That’s fine.” Nissa’s voice was soft, understanding. “If it’s none of my business, I’m not going to be a pain. But don’t just ditch Christopher — he’s a nice guy, and he deserves an explanation if you’re not interested.”
By the time Sarah saw Christopher at lunch, her resolve to break off the friendship had wavered. He greeted her with a smile and a hello, not asking about her efforts to ignore him the day before.
“Hey I’m sorry about yesterday —”
“No big deal,” Christopher answered easily. “I was kind of worried about you, but … well, if you’re talking to me again today, it can’t have been anything too awful.”
“I’m sorry anyway” But his light words and easy confidence made Sarah smile again. “Christopher —”
“Look, we’ve got to duck out soon to meet with our partners about that history project,” Nissa apologized before Sarah could finish her sentence. “Are you sure you aren’t going to the Halloween dance this weekend, Sarah? It’ll be a lot of fun.”
Sarah shook her head. Dominique would throw a fit if she missed the holiday celebrations. “I really can’t.” She debated asking them to meet up with her after the project, somewhere private where she could tell them and be done with it, but they were already on their way out before she could make up her mind.
Christopher touched Sarah’s shoulder as he walked by, a casual gesture that nevertheless made her flinch; physical contact with a vampire made her skin crawl, no matter how weak he was. If he noticed the withdrawal, Christopher did not react to it.
“Catch you later.”
“Yeah.”
A test kept them from talking in that afternoon’s calculus class, but Christopher caught Sarah afterward.
“How’d it go?”
The vampire rolled his eyes skyward. “Math is not my thing.” Changing the subject, he said, “I’ve got to run to a drama club meeting, so I can’t talk long now, but … well, since you can’t go to the dance, I was wondering if you might want to go for lunch on Saturday.”
“I don’t know.” She did know, actually, and the answer was “Absolutely not.” Spending time with vampires at school, where she had little else to do, was one thing; spending time with them otherwise, when she could be training or hunting, was twisting the laws further than even she could rationalize.
“Give me a call sometime, okay?” He jotted down his phone number on a piece of scrap paper, and then hurried away to his meeting.
Sarah skimmed the paper after Christopher left, and tucked it into her pocket.
Nine o’clock that evening found Sarah on the phone, trying without success to get through to Christopher or Nissa. Nissa was right — they both deserved more than to get a simple brush-off. She had decided to call, arrange a time when they could talk, and tell them everything.
Beep … beep … beep …
The sickly B-flat of the busy signal sliced through her yet again, as it had every time she had heard it over the last two hours.
She hung up the phone with a sigh, and pulled out the local yellow pages to find the Ravenas’ address. Her mind was made up, and she