Sweet Shadows
Page 39

But the moment I’m out of sight, my facade shatters. I duck into the nearest alcove and lean my back against the brick wall, not caring what the rough surface will do to my silk top. I cover my face with my hands and it all just comes out.
The emotion surprises me. I thought I had kept my feelings for Kyle superficial. I knew I liked him, but I never really let it go deeper than that. Ours was more of a business relationship—popular girl with bright future plus popular boy with (potentially) equally bright future. A perfect match.
Or so I thought.
Clearly my attachment ran deeper than I let myself believe. I never thought Kyle could make me cry.
When I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders, I jerk back, afraid it’s Kyle coming after me and seeing me in this state. My head knocks against the brick.
“Ow,” I exclaim.
The sympathetic look on Grace’s face only makes me sob harder.
“He’s a jerk,” she says.
Her arms wrap around me and I let her hug me tight. I don’t usually break down—as in never—but it’s like all the stresses and new pressures of the past couple of weeks have built up and Kyle’s betrayal is just the final straw. Everything burst, and now it’s leaking out onto Grace’s tee.
For some reason, her support calms me. I let myself be comforted in a way I never have before. My parents don’t hug. Kyle’s hugs always seemed to have ulterior motives. Grace only wants me to feel better, only wants to ease my pain. And it works.
“I’m sorry,” I say, sniffing. “I’m not usually such a mess.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” she insists. “Some boys are a waste of breath and bone.”
“It’s not just Kyle,” I whisper against her shoulder. Though that is more of it than I’d like to admit. “It’s everything. It’s school and my parents and our destiny. I’m trying so hard to be the perfect daughter, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect monster huntress. I’m not sure I can do it all.”
Grace leans back and lifts my chin up. With her silver eyes staring straight into mine, she says, “No one is asking you to be perfect.”
I wish that were true. I wish I didn’t know my parents and teachers expect just that. I wish I didn’t expect perfection myself. But it does make me feel a little better to hear Grace say it.
I think about what she said earlier, about living up to the sacrifice our ancestors made for us. That makes me feel better too. More focused, more driven.
“Thank you,” I say, recovering some semblance of control over my emotions. I wipe the tears from beneath my eyes. “I feel all right now.”
“Good.” She gives me an enthusiastic grin. “Now what do you say we text Gretchen and schedule a rendezvous? We’re having no luck. There must be another way to find a missing oracle than to grid search the entire city.”
“Sounds good,” I say.
As Grace and I walk to my car, I straighten my spine. I have a lot of expectations to live up to, most of all my own. My mother may not be perfect, but she has taught me to hold my head high.
CHAPTER 15
GRETCHEN
We’ve searched half the city, Gretchen,” Nick says as we walk back toward my car. “You’re going to have to face the fact that either the oracle is gone or—”
“She doesn’t want to be found,” I finish. “I can’t believe she’d vanish willingly and leave me without a source for answers. She must know the Gorgons have been taken. She’s our only chance. My only connection to the mythological world.”
Nick grins at me over Moira’s roof. “Not your only connection.”
I scowl at him. “You know what I mean.”
“I know,” he says as we climb into the car. “I wish I could help more with this. Maybe it’s part of her plan. Maybe she wants you to figure the next step out on your own.”
“Then maybe she should have left better clues.”
I shift Moira into gear and head toward the bakery where Grace suggested we meet. It’s far enough from their homes that I feel comfortable getting together.
There is a double danger each time we meet. Not only might the monsters track us home again, but the girls’ friends and families might see us. That’s not a worry for me. The guy in the passenger seat is the closest thing to a friend I’ve got, and I’m not even sure I’d call him that. He’s been nothing but helpful since that night I forced him into my car. Maybe it’s time to cut him some slack. But for Grace and Greer, being spotted together by their nearest and dearest is a real danger. Their lives could be turned upside down—well, more upside down—if people found out the truth.
Nick points out a parking spot about two blocks from the bakery. In this neighborhood I’ll be lucky to find another spot, period. I take it.
As we start up the hill toward the bakery, side by side, I’m amazed at how comfortable I am with Nick. In just a few short days, he’s gone from a boy who confused and irritated me to one I thought had betrayed me and my sisters in the worst way to one whom I trust with the most precious of my secrets. With my sister’s lives—and mine.
“What?” he asks.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” he says. “You’ve got a look.”
I laugh. “A look?”
“Yeah.” He stops, and I stop to face him.