Lili Crow - Wayfarer

They stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. The milkshake machine began to whirr, and its racket filled up all the empty space just like the breathing of a sealed train.

When it stopped, Avery was smiling. “I used to really torment you, especially at lunch.”

That’s one word for it. Harassment ’s another. She settled for saying something non-combative. “Yeah.”

“I liked you.”

“You did not .” Hotly, as if he’d called her a name again.

“You really don’t know about guys, do you? Of course I liked you. But you wouldn’t look at me unless I was teasing you.” He picked up a menu, started rolling it into a cone. His fingers were supple, with square nails—charmer’s hands. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Figured it out yet?”

“Not really. You’re complex.” His grin came out, sun peeking from behind a cloud. “But I’m gonna keep trying. If you’ll let me.”

“Why?”

“Jeez, if I have to explain that to you—”

“Maybe I’m stupe-Twisted. Or maybe I just want to hear you say it.” Her mouth was working independently of the rest of her, and for a second she was sure he was going to slide out of the booth and leave.

Instead, he just laughed. It was, she decided, a nice sound. Honest. Kind, sort of like Cami’s laughter. As if she was included, instead of being laughed at . When had that changed? Away at prep school?

“You’re a lot smarter than you want anyone to think, Ell. I like that about you.”

“Keep talking.” The girl who was in charge of her mouth now sounded almost cocky. She sounded like she could handle anything. “Especially if there’s anything else you like.”

She sounded like the sort of girl who could hang out with Avery Fletcher, or maybe even scratch up enough credits to escape the Strep for good.

“There’s a lot of things I like.” He leaned back against the booth, relaxing, and Ellie’s shoulders dropped a little. “I’m going to keep some of them to myself for a rainy day, though. Hey, so your stepmom won the bid for my welcome back party. Nice of her.”

“Yeah, well.” How could she put it? “Just . . . be careful. She’s not . . .” Caution warred with the urge to warn him. If Laurissa had a plan, odds were it was something Avery would want no part of.

The Strep had adults fooled. Except maybe Mother Hel, but she seemed content to leave everything alone now. Even Cami and Ruby had no idea how bad it was, how bad it could get . They were lucky, even Cami with her mostly vanished stutter and fully vanished scars. The lucky golden ones always made it through.

Where did that leave her? Beaten down, threadbare, busted, and trying to plan an escape. Fletcher was probably safe, he was one of the goldens. He had a whole family, a whole charm-clan, to back him up if he got in serious trouble.

He waited, but when she couldn’t find the rest of the words he just nodded. “Okay. I hear you. You want a burger?”

Do you really hear me? She studied his face, wondering if there was something below the surface. Wondering if he was playing some sort of game, or . . . what? Was there anything else he could be doing?

Who knows? Be careful.

She looked away, out the window, as if checking the parking lot. Giving herself a chance to collect her thoughts. When she looked back, he hadn’t moved. “We can share,” she offered, finally. “If you want to.”

“Deal.” His smile widened, and something inside Ellie’s chest loosened a fraction, then a little more. “Next time I’ll take you somewhere nicer.”

I’m not sure there’s going to be a next time . He was her ride home, so she agreed with him anyway. “Okay.” Ellie finally relaxed, settling back against tacky navy-blue vinyl. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth without knowing what was going to come out next, and the words shaped themselves on her tongue like an auditory charm. “So tell me about boarding school.”

SHE WAS LATE, OF COURSE. BUT THE STONE HOUSE WAS empty. Avery dropped her off around the corner, and Ellie thought that maybe he might have tried to kiss her cheek or something. But in the end, he just grabbed her hand and squeezed for a second before letting go, his cheeks turning scarlet. When do you want to see me again?

Day after tomorrow , she’d managed to say, and scrambled out of the car before he could change his mind.

Now she leaned against the front door, smelling stone and floor wax and the burnt-cedar residue of Laurissa’s constant anger, and tried to breathe.

Think logically. Is she out looking for me?

No, chances were the Strep was out shopping, or sweet-talking a client, or getting her work— Ellie’s work—shown in a boutique. Ellie’s footsteps echoed as she made her way to the kitchen, checking the chalkboard by the garden door.

Sure enough, there was a list of chores. With Antonia gone, Ellie was responsible for dinner, too. Was Rita hanging around somewhere?

It didn’t matter. There was enough on the board to keep her busy until the Strep came back. Waxing the kitchen floor, reorganizing the charm indices in the library, entering the month’s income into the Strep’s ledgers, dusting the Strep’s vanity—now there was a double entendre of a task, Ellie thought, and her lonely little giggle fell into the kitchen hush with a thud—and arranging a menu. What kind of menu, and for what? The party, the rest of the week without Antonia, what ? Probably both, but if she guessed wrong . . .

The party.

Nagging doubt just wouldn’t go away. Working on a charm for Avery, Rita said. And Antonia’s look of warning. Miz Toni had a little Potential, just enough to keep a pot from bubbling over. Or had Toni simply been frowning because of something else?

It could, Ellie supposed, be a perfectly innocent gift. Even a traditional one, from a Sigiled charmer to a clan she wanted warm relations or even alliance with. The Fletchers were a middle-sized charm-clan, but very respectable, and they took in only the best from outside their kin. They had always steered clear of Laurissa, or maybe it was just because their areas of specialty were less fashion and more medical—they had a lot of charmstitchers for humans and veterinary stitchers for pets and livestock; their Arcadia Clinic near the core was a charitable concern tending to the nonhuman, the jacks, and, some whispered, to Twists as well.

On the other hand, the Fletchers were allied with the Graingers, and Hebe Grainger and Laurissa had a not-quite-friendly couturier rivalry going on. Hebe had stolen a couple of Laurissa’s clients during last year’s Spring Week, and Laurissa had retaliated by spreading a dirty rumor about some of Grainger’s fabrics. Ellie could have told her that wasn’t a good idea, because the Graingers had married or apprenticed into all the big fashion charm-clans, including the two who had connections overWaste. But the Strep wouldn’t have listened, so why bother?

Anyway, if the Strep planned to present Rita at the party and launch her into New Haven society even if the girl wasn’t a charmer, well, that was a message too. She’d be advertising her intention to start building her own clan, or looking to buy inclusion into one that maybe had a mudge—a kin-member with no Potential—to spare, to make an alliance with. A mother-in-law was technically clan-kin, and could leverage that for closer connections because she’d be invited to plenty of clan occasions.

It could be perfectly innocent.

Yeah, right. The Strep’s real good at innocent.