I needed to tell someone what had happened. I’d chosen him because I felt like I owed it to him—like the universe, or maybe his grandfather, owed it to him. And now Xander was seeming an awful lot like someone who didn’t want closure.
Someone who didn’t need it.
“So where did you end up?” I asked.
Xander leaned forward and triggered the catapult. The metal ball sailed into a funnel, spiraled down a series of ramps, and hit a lever, dumping a bucket of water, releasing a balloon…
Eventually, the entire machine parted, revealing the wall behind it. That wall was covered with pictures—photographs of men with brown skin. The placards beneath the photographs informed me that every one of them had the last name Alexander.
I thought about the game we’d spent the past weeks playing. Sheffield Grayson. Jake Nash. Was this the detour that the old man had expected Xander to take?
“Do you want to know what I found?” I asked Xander.
“Sure,” he said gamely. “But before I forget: two things.” He held up his middle and index fingers. “First, this is Thea’s phone number.” He handed me a scrap of paper with the number scrawled across it. “I’m supposed to call her and let her know you’re alive.”
I frowned. “So why give me her number?” I asked.
“Because,” Xander replied, “when it comes to Thea, forewarned is forearmed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What’s the second thing?” I asked suspiciously.
Xander pressed a button, and the wall slid to reveal a second workshop. “Voilà!”
My eyes widened as I took in the contents of that workshop. “Is that…”
“Life-sized re-creations of the three most lovable droids in the Star Wars universe.” Xander grinned. “For Max.”
CHAPTER 88
You beautiful beaches.” Max was beyond pleased with Xander’s offering—enough so that it took her a moment to shoot me a reproving look. “I feel obliged to warn you, you’re looking a little pale, and the great Dr. Liu is not going to be pleased.”
I took that to mean that my doctor would have been really displeased to know what I’d actually been up to in the last twelve hours. “Thank you.” I waited until Max looked at me before I continued. “For bringing your mom here.”
I knew enough about my best friend to know that it hadn’t been an easy call to make.
“Yeah, well…” Max shrugged. “Thank you. For getting blown up.”
For giving you a reason to call—and giving her a reason to pick up. “Do you think you’ll be headed home soon?”
I didn’t want Max to leave, but at the same time, my best friend had her own life to live, and I couldn’t help thinking that she’d be safer doing that far away from Hawthorne House. Away from me, from the Hawthorne family, from everything I’d inherited along with Tobias Hawthorne’s billions.
Poison tree and all.
When Thea called, I almost didn’t pick up. That was why Xander had given me her number. And yet…
“Hello?” I said darkly.
There was a moment of hesitation, and then: “I did some digging and found out who vandalized your locker. It was a freshman. You want the name?”
Silly me. I’d been expecting an apology. “No.” I was tempted to leave it there, but I couldn’t. “Is Rebecca okay?”
“She’s shaken, but fine.” Thea’s voice was soft, but she spoiled the effect by scoffing audibly. “Fine enough to yell at me for putting you in danger.”
“Yeah, well…” I shrugged, even though Thea couldn’t see me. “Rebecca’s one to talk.” That I could joke about this was a true testament to how far Rebecca and I had come.
“I had a choice.” Thea’s voice shook. She was diabolical and complicated and about a thousand other things, but she wasn’t evil. She’d been worried about me. “I had to choose her. Can you understand that, Avery?” Thea didn’t wait for my answer. “For me, it’s always going to be Rebecca. She doesn’t believe that, but no matter how long it takes, I’m going to keep choosing her.”
I had never understood what it felt like for one person to be your everything, to look at that person and know. I’d never believed myself capable of that. I hadn’t wanted to be capable of it.
When Thea and I hung up the phone, I went to see Grayson.
CHAPTER 89
I told Grayson what had happened to his father. I didn’t tell him about Eve. The entire time, his face was like stone. “You look like you want to hit something,” I told him.