I decided his paranoia was a good thing, considering that nobody knew when or if Marrow was coming back. “Well, okay, but I might hit you up for a candy bar or two every now and again,” I said, grinning.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Don’t usually sell to students.” He paused. “But I suppose I can make an exception for you.”
The grin slid from my face as I remembered the files in his storeroom. “What about Rosemary?”
Culpepper shifted his gaze to the window, looking as if I’d slapped him. “She was an exception, too. Always so nice to me she was. So sad when she left that way.” He faced me again, moisture in his eyes. “I’m glad you stopped her killer.”
Unsure what to say, I nodded. When I left a moment later, I couldn’t help thinking how strange it was that Culpepper turned out to be one of the good guys. I’d misjudged a lot of people it seemed. I vowed to work on that. I needed to stop jumping to conclusions and give people a chance no matter what. Who knew, maybe even Ms. Hardwick would turn out to be okay.
I checked the clock over the nurse’s station as I passed and saw it was noon, which meant Selene and Eli were probably at lunch. Nurse Philpot had told me I was excused from classes for the rest of the week, but I wanted to see them.
When I walked into the cafeteria, everybody fell silent. I froze. I hadn’t expected this kind of reception. I spotted Selene sitting at our usual table. Even from a distance, I could see the line of stitches running down one side of her face from the worst of the cuts the black phoenix had made. To my surprise, Eli was sitting with her.
I never knew who started it, but someone clapped, slowly at first and then with more enthusiasm. An embarrassed flush came over me as most everybody joined in. Next thing I knew Melanie Remillard was there, giving me a huge hug. She cried so hard she left wet marks on my shirt.
The applause didn’t last long, but more than a few people told me how glad they were that I’d stopped the Red Warlock.
When I finally reached the table, Selene stood up and hugged me. “Don’t feel weird,” she said. “Everybody’s been congratulating me and Eli, too.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.”
As she let go, I said, “Are you okay?” The stitches weren’t large, but the sight of them made my skin prickle with alarm. I wasn’t used to her looking anything besides perfect. She was still beautiful, but different now.
Selene raised a hand to her face and touched the red puffy skin beneath one stitch. She smiled. “I’m fine. The doctor says it might leave a scar, but I’m okay with that.” Her easy acceptance of it surprised me.
Before I could question her further, Eli pulled me in for a hug, enveloping me with his arms and dwarfing me with his body. “We did it,” he whispered against my ear. His breath made me shiver. He took his time letting go, and I knew in that moment the kiss hadn’t been a dream. He cared about me; we were something more than friends. Dream-seers.
I wanted to be happy about it, but I was afraid to read too much into it. Thoughts of Paul kept crowding my mind, provoking that ache in my heart.
As he stepped away from me, I saw Lance watching us from across the cafeteria. No, that wasn’t right. He was watching Selene, not me, his gaze locked onto her like a missile-targeting system. He looked pissed off, but somehow I didn’t get the impression the anger was directed at her.
Across from Lance, Katarina was watching us, too. Her face looked red from crying.
“You hungry?” said Eli. “I can go through the line for you.”
“Um, okay.” I wasn’t in the mood to eat, but I wanted to talk to Selene alone.
I sat down as Eli left and said, “So what’s the deal?”
“They broke up, or are on a break or something,” said Selene.
I blinked, surprised she’d known exactly what I was referring to. It was a testament to how well she knew me. “Why?”
“Because of what Paul did to you. I think Eli was worried Katarina was manipulating him.”
“Do you think she was?” I’d suspected it before, but I didn’t want to offend Selene by assuming all sirens acted that way.
“Not like Paul was.” Selene’s expression darkened. “Most sirens can’t help themselves when it comes to manipulating. It’s our nature. And it’s expected, too, you know? That’s why I keep saying we’ve got to change the system and stop treating sirens like sex objects.” She slapped the table in emphasis.
I grinned at her enthusiasm and the underlying confidence I sensed behind it. That surety hadn’t been there before. I was thankful for the distraction from thinking about Paul. Only, I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for Katarina. Selene was right. She hadn’t done anything like what Paul had done, and I thought her feelings for Eli were probably genuine. She had no reason to use him, after all.
Eli returned a moment later with my tray.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem.”
We ate in silence for a couple of moments.
After a while, Eli leaned across the table toward me and said, “You know. There’s really something to this dream-seer stuff. I was thinking we should start our own private investigation service. We could take on student clients for now and maybe teachers and staff later. I bet between the dreams and our natural investigative instincts, we could do a lot of good.”
I frowned at him. “We can’t just point the dreams at whatever mystery we’re trying to solve and figure it out.”