him for the last twenty-four hours that we weren’t friends, kisses notwithstanding. So I shouldn’t be shocked and dismayed that he left with the two people who actually are his friends.… With the one person he’s always wanted, as long as I’ve known him.
Father clears his throat and crosses his legs idly. “Are you in over your head, Basilton?”
No one ever calls me Tyrannus. My mother insisted on it because it’s a family name, but my father hates it.
“No,” I say.
“Is this part of some mad scheme of your aunt’s?” He sounds bored. He picks at his trouser leg, pulling the crease straight.
“No,” I say blandly. “It’s a school project, actually. I thought I’d play nice for once, see where it gets me.”
He raises an eyebrow. It’s so quiet in the library, I can hear his watch tick.
“Because it would be a bad time to make a move,” he says, “independently. The Families have their own plan.”
“With a role for me?”
“Not yet. I’d like you to finish school first. I’d like you to recover. I was talking to your mother—she thought you might like to speak to someone … About your situation.”
He calls Daphne my mother. I don’t mind.
“A doctor?” I say.
“More of a counsellor.”
“A psychologist?” That didn’t come out bored. I settle my face. Clear my throat. “Father,” I say more calmly, “I can’t imagine what part of my situation could be discussed with a Normal therapist.”
“Your mother … She mentioned that you’re already accustomed to speaking about your condition carefully. You could avoid specifics.”
“I’m fine,” I say.
“Your mother—”
“I’ll consider it.”
He stands. Gracefully. Shoots his cuffs. “Dinner will be ready soon,” he says. “You should change.”
“Of course, Father.”
* * *
Daphne bought me a grey suit for the holidays—but I’m stuck in grey every day at school, and I’m already grey enough. So I put on a dark green one that I picked out myself. Greenish black with a bit of silver. I’m just knotting a blood-pink tie when Mordelia opens my bedroom door.
“Knock,” I say to her in the mirror.
“Your—”
“Leave. And knock. I’m ignoring you until you do.”
She groans and leaves, slamming the bedroom door behind her, then bangs on it. I’d despair if she were a Pitch. She doesn’t behave as if she has an ounce of Grimm in her either; my stepmother’s blood is thin as gruel.
“Come in,” I say.
Mordelia opens the door and leans in. “Your friend’s back.”
I turn from the mirror. “What?”
“The Chosen One.”
“Simon?”
She nods. I push past her out the door, muttering, “Don’t call him that,” then run down the stairs. If he’s here, something must be wrong. Maybe they were attacked on the road.… I slow down when I get to the dining room.
Simon is standing in the foyer, covered in snow and muck. Again.
I put my hands in my pocket. “Déjà vu, Snow.”
He runs his hand through his hair, smearing it with mud. “There’s still no good way to get from the road to your house.”
“And you still can’t remember a basic weatherization spell. Where are the girls?”
“Halfway to London by now.”
“Why aren’t you with them?”
He shrugs.
I walk down the last steps into the foyer and take out my wand.
He holds up his hand. “I’d prefer to just take a shower and change, if you don’t mind.”
“Why’d you come back?” I say—softly, just in case Mordelia is lurking around.
“I can leave if I’m not welcome.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I thought you’d be happy that I came back.”
I step closer to him, and my voice drops to a menace. “Why? So we can tumble around and kiss and pretend to be happy boyfriends?”
He shakes his head, like he’s at his limit, then rolls his eyes mightily. “Yeah … I guess so. Yes. Let’s do that, okay?”
I fold my arms. “Take off your shoes. I’ll find you something to wear. You’ll make us late to dinner.”
* * *
Simon looks stunning in a grey suit.
SIMON
I came back because I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t.
Baz might just pretend that nothing had ever happened between us. He’d make me feel like I dreamt this whole thing—like I was a maniac and a moron for believing he’d ever felt something for me.
I was already feeling like a maniac and a moron in the car with Penny and Agatha.
Agatha was on a rant. Which almost never happens. (It usually only happens when we’re stranded or kidnapped or stuck at the bottom of a well that’s rapidly filling with water.) But she was clearly fed up