Tell Me What You Hate About Me

51: Final Exam, Part 2

I was no stranger to having to make everything up as I went. It was how I operated my whole life, but up until now, I felt like there was always some way that someone else would fix the mess that I had made. That certainly wasn't the case anymore.

Of course, I had Dominic in my corner (and he didn't have much of a choice but to stick with me since we were connected cosmically), but he couldn't fix our Rainier problem. Only I had the talisman in my hand, and only I could get us out of our final exam.

I put my hand over the talisman in my back pocket. My secret was out, and I really didn't think closing Pandora's box was a possibility. I also didn't pay much attention the day we learned that reference in school, though, so maybe I had it all wrong.

With the sunshine back out again, the silence outside was replaced with the confused voices of everyone who wanted a valid excuse to get out of their final, and even though I still had a few hours before my ASL one was set to begin, I was going to get that exam rescheduled or canceled for the class. Even though I was pretty sure everyone found me annoying, it was the least I could do for them.

Merry Nightmare Before Christmas or whatever.

Everything was fine. Everything was in my control. And I hadn't killed anyone yet, had I?

I nodded in agreement with my own thought.

"Lindsay, would you please just tell me that you're thinking of a course of action right now?" Dominic whispered from beside me.

"I am, I am. Calm down," I said. "This is definitely the highest stakes I've ever had to deal with, since I'm about to get kicked out of school, so I'm really doing my be—"

"I thought your best friend getting kidnapped would rank higher on the pressing situations list."

I shook my head. "I knew he was gonna be fine. This time, I'm slightly less sure that everyone is gonna be okay."

"That's reassuring."

I knew it wasn't at all, but what did he expect from me?

As the voices from outside migrated back into the building—Dr. Rainier's most certainly among them—I wasn't sure why I didn't take the opportunity to run away from the situation. Getting out and pretending I was never there in the first place would have been a great plan, but it was too late for that now.

Instead, I had to face the music, the consequences of my own actions.

Gross.

I wasn't sure how many times I could count on the talisman's magic to help me out, but one last time before the semester ended and final grades were in sounded really great.

I shut my eyes. Hey Talisman, it's your girl again. This time, I'm thinking that maybe an earthquake or avalanche or even a small gas leak, if you're feeling generous.

"I know that look on your face, Lindsay. We can't pick the path of greatest destruction again—"

I opened my eyes and shot Dominic a glare. "I can pick whichever path I want."

"Well, I sure as hell know that, but that's not the point. Would you just focus on—"

This time, Dr. Rainier entering the room was the interruption to Dominic's admonishment of me.

"Shit," he muttered, and I tightened my grip on the talisman.

Okay, it's probably for the best if you don't do anything I suggested before since I'm pretty sure Dominic is your way of talking back to me. It really makes sense, especially if Dr. Reed's idea was right that it belonged to his ancestors once upon a time—