tricks of time ― grayson hawthorne [the inheritance games]

022. STARRY EYES, STARRY SKIES

"Leah!"

Grayson's sudden words cause me to finally look towards him, the Hawthorne boy jumping to his feet. Grayson's words had me smiling, something that was forbidden for me to do in his vicinity just days ago. "I must admit, you're taking this 'friend' thing very seriously. I can't even believe it's you sometimes. But no, Grayson, I'm not having another sleepover. I think two was good enough."

He gives me a blank stare, but it's lighter than his usual one. "I wasn't going to ask you that, Leah. I was, however, going to ask if you wanted to go up to Hawthorne Houses' Observatory."

My mouth drops open. I'm surprised I'm not drooling right now. "Observatory," I say, deadpanned. He nods. I blink slowly, taking it in. "You're telling me...Hawthorne House, had an Observatory, this whole time, and nobody bothered to show me?"

He nods. "Yes, well, most of us weren't very fond of you back then."

I roll my eyes. "Well, same runs for you." He scowls at my words. "But really, Grayson, we've been friends for 9 days, and although we haven't spent much time together, you never thought to tell me about this?"

He doesn't answer my question, but asks me one instead. "Well, are you coming or not?"

I jump out of my chair and I rush up to his side. "Of course I'm coming, are you shitting me!?"

We meet Nash and Leslie halfway through the corridor. They look startled when they see us dashing down the corridor.

"You gonna tell me where you're headed in such a hurry?" Nash asked Grayson.

"We're going to the Observatory," I answer for him. Nash cocked an eyebrow at me. "Got any idea where the solarium is?" I realized belatedly that I didn't.

"I know where it is," Grayson says stiffly.

Nash looks at us lazily. "Observatories are overrated."

I shrug. "I like 'em."

"Tell me, kid, what do you usually do on your birthday?"

That came out of nowhere. I felt like that had to be a trick question, but I answered anyway. "Eat cake?"

He nods disapprovingly. "Well, you see, every year on our birthdays..." Nash stared off into the distance. "The old man would call us into his study and say the same three words. Invest. Cultivate. Create. He gave us forty thousand dollars to do whatever we wanted. Can you imagine dropping forty thousand dollars in the hand of an eight year old?" Nash snorted.

"We got to pick one project to cultivate  for  the  year- No expenses were spared. Whatever you wanted, the next day, the construction crew would be here the next morning at 6 am sharp ready to start building."

"That's amazing," I said, thinking about all the trophies I'd seen in Tobias Hawthorne's office. I sneak a look at Grayson, who didn't look very amazed nor interested in conversation. "But what does any of this have to do with the Observatory?"

He smiles and nods. "I'm getting to that. So, one year, on Grayson's 11th birthday, he asked for an Observatory. 3 weeks later, it was built. Nobody ever goes up there, of course, except for him, but- it's there."

I shift my eyes from Nash back up to Grayson, who refuses to meet my gaze. "Well, I won't keep y'all any longer," Nash stated, sensing the rising tension in the air as he and Leslie brush past us.

There was an awkward silence between the two of us until I broke it. "So, you gonna show me this Observatory, or not?"

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