Fallon was actually glad to be back at school on Monday morning. As much as school bored her, it was still better than hanging out at home where she was in a perpetual bad mood. Of course, in another three weeks she’d be trapped there for almost a month for the stupid winter break. At least she had the snow trip with Lucian to look forward to. Not even the thought of spending the whole weekend with Katie could ruin that trip for her.
And speaking of Miss Perfect, Fallon thought when she spotted Katie and Griffin heading their way. “Please tell me you took care of Katie’s parents.”
Lucian grinned. “All handled thanks to my superior black magic skills.”
“And exactly how did you handle it?”
Before Lucian could answer, Katie and Griffin were in front of them.
“Hey, Fallon,” Katie said with a huge smile. “Thanks so much for getting your mom to talk to my mom. It was really nice.”
Fallon glanced over at Lucian. “No problem.”
“It totally worked. My mom actually seems happy about me going on this trip if you can believe that.”
“That’s great.”
“Anyway, I better go so I’m not late to class. I’ll see you later, Fallon.”
“Later.”
While Griffin and Katie continued toward her first period class, Lucian smirked after them. “She didn’t say goodbye to me.”
“Maybe she doesn’t like you.”
“And I haven’t even done anything to her yet.”
This time last year if he’d said something like that, Fallon would’ve told him to leave his brother’s girlfriend alone. For Katie, she was willing to make an exception to that rule. Something about that girl rubbed her the wrong way, and it wasn’t just the religious thing. Nobody was that perky and happy all the time.
Nobody normal anyway, Fallon thought.
She and Lucian stopped for a kiss before they entered their first period class. Just before the second bell rang, Griffin strolled into the room. As Fallon watched him coming toward her, she wondered how and why he could be so interested in Katie. It couldn’t be for sex. If the girl was as religious as she said she was, there was no way she was putting out for him. Even if she was going against her beliefs and giving it to him, she couldn’t believe Griffin would put up with her annoying habits. Listening to that voice for more than a minute grated on Fallon’s nerves.
“What’s up?” Griffin asked as he dropped down beside her.
“Isn’t it just so neat that Katie’s parents said she could come on the trip with us?” Fallon did her best imitation of Katie’s hurried way of speaking. “I’ll bet you’re like totally excited.”
“Sounds like you’re jealous,” he teased, and Fallon snorted. “I mean it. Does Loosh know about your crush on me?”
“Does he know about your crush on me?”
Griffin leaned across the aisle. “You know he does,” he said and then winked at her before he pulled back.
Fallon cut her eyes to where Lucian sat. Though he was watching them, and probably listening to them, there wasn’t any anger in his black eyes. Despite the intensity of his gaze, she wasn’t afraid of him.
That’s good, Lucian said inside her head. You shouldn’t be afraid of me or your destiny.
My destiny?
“Welcome back, everyone,” Miss Timbers called. “I hope you all had a nice vacation, but it’s time to get back to work so get those thinking hats on. You’re going to need them.”
It turned out they needed their thinking hats for a pop quiz on something they hadn’t even learned yet. Even though Miss Timbers assured them she wasn’t going to grade them and only wanted to get an idea of their comprehension level, everyone still groaned when she made the announcement. Fallon skimmed over the equations and realized she didn’t have a clue how to solve any of them. The whole quiz might as well have been written in Greek.
The classroom telephone rang. When Miss Timbers turned her back to answer it, a few kids took the chance to sneak a look at each other’s papers. Fallon didn’t bother. If she really wanted to get the right answers, she could’ve used black magic to do it. Since Miss Timbers wasn’t grading them she didn’t see the point of wasting her effort on any kind of cheating.
Miss Timbers returned the phone to its cradle and turned to face the class once again. “Fallon Keyes, you’re to report to the office.”
While a couple of people made cracks about her being in trouble, Fallon traded frowns with Lucian. She couldn’t be in trouble for anything because she hadn’t done anything. Okay, so she’d been cheating on her school work since last year. Considering she used black magic to do it, no one could possibly know that. And she hadn’t even argued with any of the God Squad this year so it couldn’t have anything to do with them. The only person she could think of who might complain about her would be Ted Reese, but that didn’t make sense. Except for running in to him at the book store during Thanksgiving break, she hadn’t seen the guy in ages.
When she stepped out of the north hall, her cell phone vibrated against her hip to let her know she had a text message. She extracted the phone from her pocket and looked down at the new message from Lucian. Just as she tapped the phone to retrieve the message, someone grabbed her from behind. Her phone flew from her fingers as she was dragged into the bushes that lined the side of the building. It didn’t do her any good to fight against the hold on her. The harder she thrashed, the tighter the hold became.
“I’ll bet you thought blessing your house got rid of me.”
Though she couldn’t be sure, Fallon thought the voice belonged to a female. There was a bit of softness lurking under the raspy voice, but she knew that could’ve been designed to throw her off. In the surrounding bushes, her phone vibrated once again, and she concentrated on calling Lucian to her.
“The son of Satan can’t protect you from what he can’t see. Look how much I’ve already accomplished right under his nose.”
Right under his nose?
So whoever was stalking her was someone who knew Lucian and probably someone who knew her. Fallon wracked her brain for ideas of who it could be. It had to be someone who knew black magic, which made the list pretty short.
“You’ll be dead long before you figure it out.”
“So will you. As soon as Sinister figures out who you are, he’s going to kill you.”
“I know, and I’m not ready to die yet. Until then, you and I will definitely meet again.”
Whoever was behind her suddenly shoved her forward with enough force to lift her from the ground. Fallon came back to the ground just as fast she’d left. Her less than graceful landing found her half sprawled in the bushes and half on the sidewalk that circled the north hall. She began to paw through the bushes in search of her cell phone. As she came up with it, someone cast a shadow over her. Fallon’s heart raced out of control as she whirled around. Despite the cross look on his face, she exhaled to see one of the campus security guys standing over her.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for my cell phone.”
“What are you doing out of class?”
“I was on my way to the office, I mean the bathroom, when--”
“Which one is it?”
Fallon frowned up at him. “What?”
“Were you on the way to the office or the bathroom?”
“The bathroom.”
“Then why did you say the office?”
Fallon heaved a sigh. “I’m just a little confused. I just fell flat on my face.”
The security guy softened his expression as he extended a hand toward her. “Let me help you up.”
When she stretched out her hand to accept his offering, she gasped at the sight of her wrist. Though still under her skin, the bones jutted out in an unnatural way that made her stomach turn.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt this bad?”
“I didn’t know.”
He placed his hands under her armpits and dragged her to her feet. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Fallon took inventory of herself. Other than being a little bit dirty, she was fine. The only complaint she had was her jagged wrist, which was beginning to shoot throbbing pains up her arm. Of course, she didn’t know if that was because it really hurt or if she thought it was supposed to hurt and her mind was creating the pain.
“I guess I’m okay.”
“We need to get you to the nurse.”
Fallon followed as he led the way to the office. Since classes were still in session, there weren’t many people out. Those who were out went the other way when they spotted the campus security guy. When they entered the office, they didn’t even stop at the main desk. The security officer marched her straight into the nurse’s office where only one cot was empty. The other two cots were being used by a guy with a wad of tissue compressed against his nose and a girl who didn’t look sick at all. Fallon just stood behind the security guard while he filled the nurse in on her injury. On hearing that her wrist looked broken, the nurse rushed to inspect it while the security guard slipped out of the office. No doubt to resume his ever so important work of making sure kids weren’t cutting class or sneaking smokes.
“I think we need to call your mom. What’s your name?”
“Fallon Keyes.”
“Take a seat on that empty cot while I pull your card.”
Fallon dropped down between Nosebleed Guy and Faker Girl.
Nosebleed Guy pulled his tissue wrap back to reveal the bruise on the bridge of his nose. “Broke your wrist?” he said, and she shrugged. “Totally wicked.”
Faker Girl turned her head toward them. “It’s not wicked. It looks way gross.”
“Does it hurt?” Nosebleed Guy asked.
“Of course it fucking hurts. It’s broken.”
Nosebleed Guy smiled at her. “What’s your name?”
“Fallon,” Lucian said.
Fallon furrowed her brow when she saw him and Griffin standing over her. “What are you doing here?”
“I got worried when you didn’t come back to class,” Lucian explained. “Why are you here? What happened?”
Fallon held up her right arm. “Fell and broke my wrist.”
Faker Girl wrinkled her nose, but she didn’t look away. Instead, she kept looking from Lucian to Griffin the way most people did the first time they saw the twins standing side by side.
The nurse came out of her office and stopped when she spotted the twins. “Are you two sick?”
Griffin nodded toward Fallon. “We’re here for her.”
“You can’t be here if you’re not sick. You need to get back to class,” the nurse advised and then looked at Fallon. “Your mom’s on the way.”
“Okay.”
The nurse frowned at the twins who didn’t move. “Didn’t you boys hear me? Go back to class.”
They traded glances and then began moving toward her. The nurse paled as she took stumbling steps backward to get away from the anger in their bottomless black eyes. Faker Girl gasped while Nosebleed Guy leaned in for a better look.
Fallon got to her feet. “Stop.”
When the twins paused and turned to look at her, she couldn’t help giggling.
“What’s funny?” they asked in unison.
“You two are. Instead of messing with her mind, you should just stop time.”
“Stop time?” Faker Girl repeated.
“Messing with her mind is more fun,” Griffin admitted.
“And more dangerous. You’re freaking everyone out. Just stop time so we don’t have to deal with them.”
Everything in the office went still. Fallon glanced back at Faker Girl and Nosebleed Guy. The look of fear on Faker Girl’s frozen face made Fallon laugh again. It was the same look on the nurse’s petrified face.
“That’s better,” Fallon said.
“What happened to you?” Lucian demanded.
Fallon resumed her place on the cot before she recounted the story of her attack. By the time she finished, the room was filled with stifling heat.
“Someone definitely has a death wish,” Lucian fumed.
“But who?” Griffin asked.
“I don’t know, but as soon as I figure it out you guys will be the first to know,” Fallon assured him.
“Yeah, and until you do we’re not letting you out of our sight,” Lucian announced.
“You know that’s not going to work,” Fallon said.
“I don’t care. I’m not taking chances with your life.”
“Loosh is right,” Griffin agreed. “We can’t let anything happen to you.”
“I don’t want anything to happen either, but there’s no way I’m letting you two suffocate me,” Fallon informed them. “And as much as I’d love to spend every waking moment with the two of you, my mom will never go for that.”
The twins grinned at her.
“Fine, we’ll give you a little bit of breathing room,” Lucian said.
“But not much,” Griffin added.
“Great, you can start now,” Fallon suggested.
Lucian raised his right eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“You can go back to class.”
“I’ll fix your wrist and we’ll all go back to class.”
“We can’t. The nurse already called my mom, and like a thousand people saw my broken wrist.”
“A thousand?” Griffin repeated.
“Just go back to class, and I’ll call you when I get out of the doctor’s office.”
“Do you promise you’ll call the minute you’re on the way home?” Lucian asked.
Fallon smiled up at him. “Yes, Sin.”
Lucian leaned down to kiss her while Griffin hung back watching them. Something about the way he looked at her made her think he might kiss her too. When he kept his distance, she decided she was just imagining things.
A few hours after her mom picked her up from school and toted her to the emergency room, they still sat in the waiting room. Considering they’d come to the same hospital where her mom worked, Fallon thought they’d get better service. Instead, they waited their turn just like everyone else. By then, the pain in her wrist was bearable as long as she didn’t move it. Even the slightest movement was enough to bring tears to her eyes. More than once, she wished she’d just let Lucian fix it when she had the chance.
Finally, the nurse called her name. Just when she thought the wait was over, the nurse put her in an empty cubicle and told her the doctor would be right in. Then she pulled the curtain around them and left and they were back to waiting again. As they waited, Fallon listened to the labored breathing of someone on her left and the moaning and groaning of someone on her right. It was enough to make her wish she was deaf. After another eternal wait, the doctor pulled back the curtain.
“I’m Dr. Cruz. What seems to be the problem?”
“We think her wrist is broken,” Gwen answered.
“Which one?”
“The right one,” Fallon said.
Dr. Cruz reached for her arm. “Let’s have a look.”
Fallon winced as he lifted her wrist and began manipulating it as though he wanted to cause her pain. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath.
“I think you’re right. Of course, we’ll need an x-ray to confirm the extent of the bone damage. I’ll have a nurse take you to x-ray. Once the films are done, we’ll go from there.”
Just great, Fallon thought. Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it from her purse.
“You can’t use your phone in here,” Dr. Cruz informed her and pointed to the sign on the wall that said the same thing.
Fallon glared at him as she dropped the phone back in her purse.
“All right then,” Dr. Cruz said. “I’ll get that nurse in here shortly.”
“Right,” Fallon muttered.
The moment he disappeared, she fished her phone from her purse.
“You heard the doctor,” Gwen said. “You can’t use your phone in here.”
“I’m just going to text Lucian and let him know I’m still here.”
“You’re going to text him with one hand?”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“If you want to give me your phone I can call him while you’re getting your x-ray done.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just wait.”
The last thing she needed was for Lucian to see her number on his phone and think it was her calling and say something dumb. Knowing her mom, she’d also take that opportunity to go through all her text messages.
When the nurse came to take her to x-ray, she made Fallon ride in a wheelchair. It didn’t do her any good to point out that nothing was wrong with her legs. There was some kind of hospital policy about all patients being transported in wheelchairs. Before she took the x-ray, the tech draped a heavy gray apron around her and explained that would protect her ovaries from the radiation. Since she wasn’t interested in having a baby ever, Fallon could’ve cared less about protecting her ovaries, but she kept that information to herself. For the next few minutes, the tech tortured her by contorting her obviously broken wrist into even more unnatural positions. Her repeated apologies didn’t make Fallon want to forgive her.
Once torture time was over, it was back to her cubicle. Not long after she’d hopped back in bed, Dr. Cruz returned with the films and slapped them up on the light box on the wall. Then he proceeded to point out the nice clean break of her radius bone.
“You’re lucky. We’ll be able to fix this with a cast, and you probably won’t need any surgery.”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
Dr. Cruz laughed. “I guess breaking your wrist isn’t lucky, but I meant you’re lucky it can be fixed so easily. All we need to do now is reduce this wrist and get you fitted for a cast.”
“Reduce it?”
“That just means I’m going to align the bones so they’ll heal properly in the cast.”
Fallon’s eyes widened. “Will that hurt?”
“No, I’ll give you something to take the edge off and then we’ll get this cast done up in no time.”
Even though Fallon didn’t totally believe him, he was right. The nurse came back to give her an IV. Once it was in, she inserted something in there that filled Fallon’s veins with the same kind of warmth Lucian’s touch spread over her skin. Moments later, she felt more relaxed than she’d ever felt in her life. She appreciated not being able to feel any more pain, but she wasn’t crazy about not having total control of her mind and body. While she contemplated this, Dr. Cruz went to work. He had her wrist set and the cast on in no time at all. When it was over, Fallon held her arm in the air and giggled as she admired his handiwork. She was still giggling when he spelled out the cast care for her mom. After he was gone, the nurse came in to have her mom sign some papers and then she was free to go.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Fallon said as she jumped off the bed.
“I guess I don’t need to ask if you’re ready to leave,” Gwen said with a smile.
“Been ready since we got here.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
“We can pick something up on the way home if you want.”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
As soon as they were in the car, Fallon fished her cell phone from her purse and scrolled through it for Lucian’s number. He answered before the first ring ended.
“Are you just now leaving?”
“Yeah, me and my new cast are blowing this joint.”
“Are you okay? You sound high.”
“I am a little. It’s from the pain medicine, but it’s wearing off.”
“Are you in pain now?”
“No, it’s okay. The doctor gave me some medicine that we have to get from the pharmacy.”
“Do you have to miss any school?”
“Just today.”
“So you want me to pick you up tomorrow then?”
“Totally; I think the doctor said the only thing I can’t do is P.E.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, I was kind of out of it from the pain meds he gave me so he could set my wrist and put the cast on.”
“And you’re sure you’re okay now?”
“I’m sure.”
“Good,” he said softly, and her heart skipped a beat. “Griff and I have been really worried about you.”
“Why does he care?”
“You know why.”
Fallon did know why, but she wasn’t ready to deal with it right now. She tried to convince herself it wasn’t the right time to worry about it because her head was still too foggy from the pain medication, but she knew better. Deep down she knew the truth about why Griffin was worried. It was the same truth Lucian knew and for some odd reason was so accepting of, and it was a truth she wasn’t ready to face yet.
At lunch time the next afternoon, Fallon stretched her arm across the picnic table so her friends could take turns signing her cast.
“I still can’t believe you broke your wrist,” Daphne said.
“I’ve never broken any bones,” Ava added.
“Me either until this one,” Fallon said.
“We should have a slumber party,” Daphne decided.
Fallon laughed. “Because I broke my wrist?”
“That’s kind of sick, Daph,” Ava joked.
“It’s not a party to celebrate,” Daphne said. “It’ll just be an excuse for us to hang out. We haven’t done a sleepover in forever.”
From the pointed way Daphne looked at Lucian when she spoke, Fallon knew what she was really saying. Ever since he’d come home, she’d spent most of her time with him and little with her friends. Even though she never pictured herself as one of those girls that would be so into a guy she’d forget about her friends, this was different. Most girls didn’t have their boyfriends disappear out of their lives for three months and then suddenly come back.
“You can come too, Katie,” Daphne offered, and Fallon hoped her thoughts weren’t showing on her face.
The last thing she wanted to do was spend more time with Katie. It was bad enough she finally got brave enough to eat lunch with them every day. And it was even worse that in just a few weeks the four of them would be spending the whole weekend together in the mountains. Fallon didn’t want to have a sleepover with her too. She’d probably want to play stupid board games and spend the whole night talking about how great Griffin was. While she shuddered at the thought, Griffin watched her with an unreadable look glittering in his black eyes.
“I’d have to ask my mom, but she’ll probably let me if Fallon goes,” Katie said. “And she’ll probably want to talk to your mom too.”
“No problem,” Daphne assured her. “Give me your cell phone number, and I’ll call you now. Then you can save it in your contacts and have your mom call when she’s ready.”
“What about me and Blair?” Laurel demanded while Daphne and Katie exchanged numbers. “Don’t we get to come to your party too?”
Daphne glanced over at Fallon. “I guess you can if you want. I just didn’t think you’d be into it.”
Laurel smiled at her. “It’ll be fun. Like you said, it has been forever since we all hung out.”
With good reason, Fallon thought.
This party was turning into her worst nightmare. First Katie and her sticky sweetness were invited. Now Laurel and Blair, two of her least favorite people in their group, were inviting themselves. All they needed now was for Wendy and Angelica to join them and the party would be complete!