“Well, that was interesting,” Paul said.
Eli shot a glare at him. “Not here. Come on.” He turned on one heel and then led the way back up the aisle to the balcony door. I followed after him with Paul coming behind me and Selene bringing up the rear. When we reached the bottom floor, Eli double-checked the hallway before stepping out.
Then the four of us made our way to Room 013 of the library. We only had twenty minutes before curfew, but that was enough time to hash out our next steps.
To no one’s surprise, Eli’s first words were “We check out Miss Norton first thing tomorrow.”
“How do you want to do it?” Selene said from her usual seat on Buster. The chair had practically peeled its wheels the moment she had stepped inside. Now it was contentedly rocking side to side. How Selene could stand it without getting sick was anybody’s guess.
“We’ll hit her classroom during lunch,” said Eli. “Tra…” He paused and cleared his throat. “Travis Kelly has her fourth period and he says she’s always late. That should give us plenty of time.”
I flinched at the anger in Eli’s voice when he’d said Travis’s name. It was enough to tell me that Travis was one of the witchkinds that didn’t approve of Eli being a Conductor.
“Who’s going to do it?” asked Paul.
“Dusty and I will,” Eli said with no hesitation. “She and I work best together.”
I blinked. “We do? Since when?”
Eli scowled. “Now’s not the time for jokes.”
I smiled back at him, although I wasn’t entirely sure I’d been joking. We did work great together a lot of the time, but not always.
“We also need to check out her office,” said Selene.
Eli nodded. “That one will be trickier. We should wait until tomorrow night, but we can’t afford the time. But Dusty and I can ditch alchemy tomorrow to do it. Mrs. Ashbury is the least likely to raise a fuss about our absence. She only cares about misbehavior inside her classroom. And there’s a broom cupboard right across from Miss Norton’s office. We can hide in there until the bell rings and then break in. With the moonwort key, it’ll be a piece of cake.”
I tapped my foot. “Now hang on just a minute. Who says I’m willing to ditch alchemy? It’s my worst subject.” In truth I didn’t mind missing it—actually, the idea thrilled me—but I did mind Eli assuming I would do whatever he wanted. He normally wasn’t so tyrannical. I had a feeling most of it was because he wanted to make sure I didn’t volunteer for me and Paul to do it.
Eli arched an eyebrow. “Would you rather sit it out?”
Darn him. He knew me so well. “No, of course not.”
Eli clapped his hands. “Good, then, it’s settled.” He glanced at his watch. “We better hurry up if we don’t want to break curfew.”
We all headed for the door. Buster made a pathetic little noise with his chair wheels as Selene patted him good-bye.
Once in the hallway, Paul turned toward me and touched my shoulder. “Be careful tomorrow. And I’ll see you later.”
He let his fingers trail down my arm as he stepped back. Then he turned and walked away.
Selene, no doubt as aware of Eli’s brooding look as I was, quickly said, “We better hurry.” She took hold of my hand and started pulling me down the hallway after her. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Eli.”
“Wait, Dusty,” Eli said before we’d gone two steps. “Can you stay for a second?”
“There’s really not time, Eli,” Selene said over her shoulder.
“Please.”
I stopped and pulled out of Selene’s grasp. “I’ll catch up.” She considered arguing for a second, but then nodded once and hurried on, leaving me alone with Eli.
I turned and faced him, my heartbeat already picking up. “What is it?”
Eli ran his hands through his hair, not meeting my gaze. “I … I just need you to promise me something.”
I didn’t respond, but waited for him to go on.
“Just promise me that no matter what happens you won’t get back together with Paul,” he said in a single breath.
Really? Of all the things he could say that was it? I closed my eyes, disappointment and frustration clouding my good judgment. I opened them again and said, “I can’t promise you that. Everybody deserves a second chance. Even Paul.” I wasn’t being spiteful, although I had no plans of getting back together with him. I really did mean it. If more people believed in second chances and forgiveness, then the massacre of my kind all those years ago might never have happened.
Eli stared at me, his expression masked. I expected him to be angry—I half wanted him to be angry—but he looked only cold, a human ice sculpture. I waited a couple of seconds for him to say something, but he didn’t.
I sighed and wrapped my arms around my sides. “And at least he shows some interest in me, even if there is an ulterior motive behind it. It’s better than nothing.”
Eli flinched, my words hitting the mark. He shook his head, exhaling. “I’m sorry, Dusty.”
And there it was again—a nonsensical apology. I’d finally had enough. “You know, I don’t get you at all. One minute you’re kissing me and touching me like you want something more, and the next you’re all whoops, just kidding.” I raised my hands in emphasis. “And now this stuff with Paul. I mean, why do you even care if I get back with him? It’s not like we’re together.”