Wonderfall (or, The Girl with the Rabbit Tattoo)

Chapter 29 | Surprise

The thought that Mia was on the other side of the door was enough to make my stomach churn. I tried to think about what I might say about why I didn't meet her. I tried not to think about the slap in the face I knew I deserved. For what seemed an eternity, I stood in the dark hallway. I pushed down on the lever, hopeful the right words would come.

The door didn't have to open all the way before I saw her look over her shoulder. Her expression was blank, though whether it was because she had been staring at a dark wall or thinking about what sort of mistake she was making by being in Wonder, I couldn't tell—it looked a lot like both. She offered me no friendly smile, made no move to dive over the table to kiss me, or pummel me, and I felt the knots tighten in my shoulders as I waited for something to happen. Then, in a flicker of emotion across her face, I saw what looked like a fleeting moment of worry or fear in her eyes. My heart ached; the wild girl of the boundless world looked like an animal in a cage.

"I can't believe you're here," I said, offering her a smile and trying to take the edge off her and the situation.

It took less than a second for Mia to look past me to the open door. "I shouldn't have come," she said, more to herself than to me by her tone, and without another moment's hesitation, she rounded the opposite side of the table on her way to the door, the hallway and her freedom beyond.

"Wait!" My chest constricted as my last chance to talk to her vanished with every step. "Don't go." I lunged across the table, barely catching her by the wrist, only then noticing the bandage wrapped down the full length of her forearm.

She stopped but didn't turn to me, staring at the floor between us. "You didn't come."

"I wanted to," I said, letting go of her arm. "I mean, I really wanted to. I didn't sleep at all that night. But I freaked out ... I almost died out there." I felt like a fool. The girl had a blank stare and whether she was judging me or I was judging myself, I felt pitiful and it started pissing me off. "I'm sorry."

Mia said nothing, but she didn't move either. I worried if given the chance, she might still bolt.

"I guess you made it pretty far though."

"Not really," she said, offering me a shrug and a tiny twist in my direction. "There's a river valley south of here. I set up camp there. Then Daisy showed up and told me I needed to come with her."

Her choice of words once again had me tilting my head and crossing my arms. From what Hayley said, it had been an invitation, not an order. "She told you to come back?"

"Sort of. She told me to come. I told her I'd rather stick my knife in her eye. Then she shot me, and then I had this weird dream that I walked all the way back here. When I woke up, I was in this room, talking to your girlfriend."

I wanted to laugh and could hardly contain my grin. The girl was fearless, even staring down a sentinel a foot taller than she was. I wanted to explain about the zombie drug—the same drug that Hayley and I had been shot with. But I raced to correct the biggest danger I saw in her comment—her apparent confusion about the other girl.

"Hayley's not my girlfriend, Mia. She was supposed to be, but that's a whole other story."

Her grin told me I said something she wanted to hear. Her brown eyes searched mine. Then she looked at the room and even the hallway beyond the door for answers she didn't have. "Is all this for real?"

"About you getting to stay in the city?"

"Yeah."

"I think it is."

"So, I can just live in New Fields, with a pretend family, and sleep in a bed, and drink all the phos I want—"

"And eat nothing but disgusting food," I interrupted.