Gypsy (The Cavy Files Book 1) (31 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dane is out of school all week, even though it’s the last one before break, and we’re about to give up on being able to talk to him when he shows up on Friday. It’s hard to tell whether the tension squeezing my stomach is from the vacation excitement tumbling around the halls or from nerves, because it’s about time for me to try to catch him on the way home.

Even so, I try my best to keep up normal patter with my new friends. Being grounded isn’t so different than my regular life, except that when Maya asks me to go to the away basketball game with her after school, I have to tell her no.

I do make plans with Maya, Jude, Savannah, Holly, and Peter for over break—something called a Secret Santa, where we give someone a gift for five days in a row, then there’s a white elephant gift exchange during a party at Maya’s house next weekend. It’s too embarrassing to confess my total ignorance as far as parties in front of everyone, so a mental note to ask one of them when we’re alone will have to suffice. Sooner than later, because of the gift part, and because I drew the name of a girl I barely know from the pile of paper scraps.

School lets out early, before lunch instead of at 3:10. Everyone else gets ready to head to Kaminsky’s before coming back to board the fan bus to the away game, and Maya pleads with me one final time.

“Come on, Norah! Your dad will never know if you go straight home, just text him in twenty minutes to check in and at least have a coffee with us.”

“No way. I can’t lie to his face. He was so upset before.”

“You have a lot to learn about being seventeen. That look, and the guilt, gets less effective after the first hundred times.” She heaves an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. Be good. I’ll call you later, and we can talk about the party.”

“Good because I have no idea where to buy a white elephant. Or any elephant.”

Maya erupts into giggles. “You’re hilarious!”

“I’m serious, Maya!”

“I know. That’s what’s so funny.”

“What’s so funny?” Jude ambles up to us, already dressed in his basketball warm-ups and looking better than fine. The black, form-fitting getup with the purple CA logo hugs the muscles in his arms and chest.

“Nothing, just Norah.”

“It’s true. I’m considering a career in comedy.”

“It’ll never work, gorgeous. You’re a born straight man.”

My heart races at his compliment. When I find the courage to meet his gaze, my whole body flushes with heat at the naked confirmation of how he feels.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you guys later!” Maya calls the last part over her shoulder as she dashes down the hall, grabbing Savannah by the arm and steering her around the corner.

“So, you’re not coming to the game?”

“Still grounded.” I smile up at him, enjoying his attention. Those maple-syrup eyes fill with admiration, but also something else. Something guarded.

The last thing my life needs is another complication, but it’s also nice to know that he really cares. That it doesn’t have anything to do with his father or curiosity or my being the new girl. He’s let me see below his surface, and I’ve done the same, and we like each other.

“I feel like this is excessive. You have a lot to learn about managing parents.”

My lips twist into a wry smile. “Maya said something similar.”

He clutches his chest, some of his ease returning. “Oh Christ, time for more guy time. I’m starting to think like Maya again.”

“I think it’s one of her talents. Brainwashing her minions.”

“That’s true.”

The pause that follows starts to get awkward. There’s obviously something left unspoken, words that elude me, and it makes me dance from foot to foot against my will.

“I’d better get going,” I say. “Part of the punishment is going straight home after school.” Our eyes meet, his golden brown gaze twisting me into knots. “Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll see you in a few days. For the white elephant thing.” My lips won’t stop making words, driven loose by my nervous energy.

“I’m looking forward to it.” He starts to leave, then jerks to a stop and comes back to my side, his expression excited. “Oh! I forgot to tell you. I talked to my dad, like you suggested, and he’s going to sign the paperwork for the scholarship request. He even had his accountant get me all the income information I need.”

“That’s fantastic, Jude! See, I knew he would want to help.” It’s the kind of good news that has been in short supply, and for a moment I close my eyes, reveling in the lightness of my heart. I kind of thought I’d never feel it again, never be purely happy in a moment, but the smile on his face makes my afternoon bright.

“You’re very smart, Norah. Among other things.”

He leaves me there for real then, my skin boiling hot because of the way his eyes clung to my face, how his tongue slipped over my name, but most of all, the promise in his words.

It takes me several minutes to breathe normally again and to unstick my feet from the linoleum where they’ve been glued by some supernatural force. The brisk air outside helps clear my head, which has been soaked in some kind of cotton candy—sweet, but too wispy grasp—and I remember that despite what I told Maya and Jude, I’m not going right home.

I’m going Dane Kim hunting.

Since the other day, I’ve been cutting through the Unitarian graveyard mornings and afternoons unless I’m walking with Maya, who still thinks it’s creepy. I grabbed a heavier coat on my way out the door this morning, still hopeful that he might be there.

I take a seat on a cold stone bench and wait. It faces a little garden of ferns and headstones, with a live oak on the other side, limbs reaching toward the earth. My mind wanders, tripping over stones and bending to turn a few over, but the answer to how to find Flicker isn’t underneath any of them. The possibilities of what they’re doing to her, making her do, march through my mind in an endless parade. Each is more horrible than the last.

According to Jeannie Marks—Gills—it’s the government that has her. Everything Jude’s father believes, all of the information we uncovered at Saint Catherine’s… it all leads to the same conclusion.

Which means
if
Dane Kim is watching us, and
if
he’s not an Older, he must be with them. If he’s the only way to get to Flicker, then Mole and Haint and the rest of them are right. We’re going to have to figure out a way to make him tell.

“Hey, stranger.”

I jerk around to see the boy himself, his breath puffing white clouds in the cold December afternoon. It’s as if I conjured him, and every muscle in my body tenses.

“Hey, Dane,” I manage, ignoring the way he sounds as though he’s missed talking to me.

I can’t let the way he makes me feel put me at ease. The Cavies are depending on me. Flicker is depending on me.

“Can I sit?”

“It’s not my graveyard. I doubt these people care anymore.”

“I guess that’s a fair assessment.” He flashes a dimpled smile and sits at my side, too close for comfort but at least his hands are in the pockets of his coat.

Then I remember my gift doesn’t affect him. It still seems as though it could be a simple oddity, even given his potential affiliation, but it could be that the Philosopher—or someone like him—has developed some sort of antivenom.

Maybe we’re being dumb, to think we could ever have an advantage.

It’s strange, but the silence that follows doesn’t make me nervous. I don’t fidget or sweat, and it’s almost as though we’ve been sharing company for years instead of weeks. The whole time, my brain toys with how to broach such a bizarre-sounding subject without him simply insisting I’m off my rocker.

“Why aren’t you with the others at Kaminsky’s? Doesn’t your boyfriend play basketball?”

I start to protest, but the gentle teasing in his smile makes me stop and offer one in return. “I’m kind of on probation with my father.”

“Oh, I doubt that’s true. He’s got to be pretty excited about a second chance to get to know you.”

A lump lodges in my throat, surprising me. It’s not fair that I can’t enjoy my own second chance. I have to deal with all this other stuff. Things I have no interest in, like governments and secret societies of homeless Cavies. “I think he is. I just don’t think I’m very good at being his daughter.”

Dane’s dark, bottomless eyes take in the tears shining in mine. A finger extends, soft as it wipes free the drop perched on my lashes. Even though it’s Dane, even though he’s a liar, it’s a relief to let someone touch me without being terrified of what I’ll see.

“Give yourself a break, kid. It’s only been a couple of weeks.”

It’s tempting to forget who he is, to lean on him because he’s here and there’s something oddly comforting about his quiet, strong presence. But I can’t. Time to suck it up. “I know. I mean, I guess parents aren’t easy even if you grew up with them. What are yours like?”

“My parents?” He looks away, toward the cold gray headstones. His fingers pull his coat tighter. “They’re not bad, a little overbearing and pushy. High expectations. Your stereotypical Asian couple with one son.”

He could be lying, but I don’t see why it matters. It sounds true.

Of course, he
is
some sort of a spy. Maybe he lies because he has to, or because he doesn’t know how to stop.

“Is that why you’re so reluctant to let anyone get to know you? You’re afraid we’ll all distract you from your noble quest of academic perfection?” I try a smile, but it feels wobbly and doesn’t stick. “Or maybe you have another reason for keeping your distance.”

“And what would that be?” He goes from being curious, sweet even, to donning a careful, cool mask.

Like he’s playing a game.

I take a deep breath, then plunge into the deep end of the pool. “Maybe you have a secret. A bad one, like you know when a bomb is going to go off, but instead of telling everyone you’re going to just save yourself.”

He tries for chill, but every muscle in his body tenses. “Wow, that’s dramatic.”

“Okay, fine. Like you’ve hacked into the school database and know when every pop quiz is planned for next semester, but you’re not telling anyone.”

“Better.” His serious gaze wanders back to meet mine. There’s forced amusement there, but behind it, frustration. As though he’s staring at a chessboard with no idea where to move next. “It’s my default when I’m nervous. I’m kind of shy, but it can come off as snobby. I’m working on it.”

“Hmm.” This time, I hear the lie. I feel it like actual wool being pulled over my eyes, but sense there’s little point in pushing. I have no proof of anything, and the guy could be a trained government agent. He’s not going to be the one to blink first.

I jerk when his warm hand lands on top of mine, curling around my fingers. An electric shock shudders through me at the contact, one strong enough that he must feel it, too, but he doesn’t turn me loose.

“Not everyone’s against you, Norah.”

“What? I don’t think anyone’s against me.” I get up, unsettled by his touch and his words, the soft way that he’s attempting to reestablish our rapport. It’s enough to make me forget that I’m supposed to be getting information from him. “I have to go.”

I’m halfway to the King Street gate before he calls after me. “Maybe my secret isn’t bad, Norah Jane. Maybe you’re running from the wrong people.”

The words stop my feet, my heart. When I turn, the uncertainty twisted on his handsome features breaks sweat out on my palms. It makes me forget, for a brief second, that his secret
is
what I think.

For some reason, that thought throws a bucket of sadness over me, until it drips from the ends of my hair onto my shoulders, until it covers me from head to toe. “I’m not running, Dane. I’ll never do that.”

We stare at each other, locked in a battle of wills. Standing on the board of a game I’ve never played and don’t understand, I’m afraid to move at all.

I have a gut feeling, a sure one, he won’t be the first to go. There’s no way to play my hand without giving something away, so instead, I fold.

My cabin fever reaches unimagined heights less than twenty-four hours later, and my father agrees to let the local Cavies come over on Sunday afternoon. Everyone accepts except Reaper, who has plans of her own to try to pull information out of Dane.