tricks of time ― grayson hawthorne [the inheritance games]

012. PRETTY WHEN I CRY

Thea's words were replaying themselves over and over in my head.

The last girl who spent hour after hour in that house? She died.

The last girl who spent hour after hour in that house? She died.

The last girl who spent hour after hour in that house? She died.

I couldn't focus on my homework, and I looked down to find I'd been drawing light circles while I was lost in my thoughts. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something. Maybe multiple somethings.

I hear footsteps approaching my room, and I'm drawn out of my trance. Then I hear the shuffling stop, then re-appear again. I see a small hint of curly hair, and my heart starts beating again. It's only Xander.

"Leah?" I hear his voice far away.

"Xander?" I say. As soon as I do, he comes rushing in the bedroom.

"Watcha up too?"

I don't speak, just look down at my paper.

"Oh. Homework. Need help?"

I smile and laugh softly. "No. But I need help with something else."

He plops down on my bed, creating several creases in the previously ironed sheets, but he doesn't seem to care.

"Okay. I mean, I probably won't give you the answer you'd want, but uh, go ahead" he says a he chews at the inside of his cheek.

I decide to start at the beginning of everything. "I met a girl today. Thea."

Even before I can spit another sentence out, Xander holds his hand out, indicating for me to stop. I do.

"Okay, before you say anything else, Thea isn't a girl. She's a whirlwind wrapped in a hurricane wrapped in steel— and every girl in that school follows her lead, which means I'm persona non grata and have been for a year."

I furrow my brows. "What does persona non grata mean?"

He's fighting a smile. "It...wow."

My brows are still furrowed. "What?"

He shruggs. "No, nothing. I just didn't realize you were capable of not knowing something." I grin stupidly at him as he continues. "Basically to Thea, I'm the most unwelcome person. I'm unacceptable in her eyes."

I nod.

"So? What did she tell you?" Xander attempt to sound casual might have fooled me if I'd been looking at his face, but without the expression to sell it, I heard a telltale note underneath. He was worried. And if Xander was worried, I was practically sinking through quicksand.

Suddenly, I wished I hadn't brought Thea up.Causing Hawthorne drama was probably her goal.

"Leah?" His voice bring me back to the present, out of my head.

"Thea kept talking about this house," I said carefully. "About what it must belike for me to live here." It was true enough. "About all of you."

"Don't lie," Xander says loftily, "I know you're masking what matters."

He wanted the truth.

As I began to spoke, I felt like I was ripping a band-aid off. "Thea said there was a girl and that she died."

Xander freezes, his voice caught in his throat. "That— That's not my story to tell."

I nod, disappointed. "But...she wasn't just a girl. Not to Jameson. Or Grayson."