“What about you?” he answers.
“I’m the one who caused this problem. I’m the one who went after Cole for no rhyme or reason that I can figure out. You said he’ll be expelled if he comes after me. But what about what I did? What’s going to happen to me?”
22
Family Is My
Favorite F-Word
“Nothing,” Jaxon grinds out. “Nothing is going to happen to you. This isn’t your fault.”
“We don’t know that,” I answer him, pulling out of his arms. “We don’t have a clue why I attacked Cole.”
“You’re right, we don’t,” Uncle Finn says. “And nobody is doing anything until we figure out what’s going on with you.”
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and squeezes reassuringly. “I’m not in the habit of kicking students out who are struggling with their powers, Grace. Or who make bad choices with their power for the right reasons. That’s why Flint is still here, even after everything that happened last semester. Jaxon, too. And it’s also why Katmere has the best healers around. So that when mistakes happen, we can fix them.”
“We don’t know this was a mistake—”
“Did you want to hurt Cole when you left your dorm room?”
“No.”
“Did you make a plan to hurt or kill him during the time you were gone?”
“Of course not.” I pause, rethink it. “I mean, I certainly don’t remember doing something like that.”
“Okay, then. I’m going to operate under the assumption that what happened with Cole last night was some kind of slipup with your new powers. And we’re going to treat it as such. I already called a couple of the gargoyle experts who consulted about your case earlier, hoping they could give me some advice about your missing memories. But now that this is going on, I’ll see if I can talk one of them into coming to Katmere this week to work with you.” He gives me a reassuring smile. “I promise you, we’ll get to the bottom of this, Grace.”
My eyes burn a little at this new proof that Uncle Finn has had my back all along, that he’s been moving so many pieces around in the background, trying to figure out the best way to help me.
It’s not quite like having my parents back—nothing will ever feel like that again. But it’s something good in the middle of all this mess. And it’s a lot better than the lost and lonely feeling I had when I first got to Katmere four and a half months ago.
“Thank you,” I murmur when I can finally squeeze the words past the giant lump in my throat. “All of you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Yeah, well, that’s a good thing, considering you’re stuck with us,” Macy says, moving in for a hug just as the chimes ring, signaling the first class of the day.
“I’ll take you,” I answer, hugging her back.
“All right, all right,” Uncle Finn says, and I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure he sounds like his throat is a little tight, too. “Get to class. And for the love of Salem, all of you try to stay out of trouble.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Jaxon murmurs in my ear as he walks me through the door into the hall. We’re going out the normal exit this time, not the secret passage.
“The fun is I don’t wake up covered in werewolf blood ever again,” I answer him and shudder. “Which is pretty much a win-win for everyone, don’t you think?”
“I think you forget that you’re talking to a vampire,” he teases, and his mouth is still close enough to my ear to cause all kinds of shivers in all kinds of places. I lean in to him, and for a beat, we both just enjoy the way it feels to rest against each other, the hardness of his body cradled by the softness of mine.
But then he shifts a little, leaning down as if to kiss me, and I freeze up all over again. Again I try to hide it, but Jaxon notices—of course he does. Not for the first time, I wonder how long it’s going to take my gargoyle side to accept a vampire for a mate. Or why my gargoyle side even has an issue with vampires in the first place.
I don’t try to make an excuse this time. Instead, I just smile sadly at him and mouth, I’m sorry. He doesn’t answer, just shakes his head in a “don’t worry about it” kind of way. I can see that it hurts him, though, even as he shifts to drop a kiss on my forehead.
“Can I walk you to class?” he asks as he pulls back.
“Of course.” I wrap an arm around his waist and squeeze him extra tight before looking around for Macy’s hot-pink hair as we fold into the crowds. I don’t want her to feel left out.