of sandwich. She went quiet and I glanced at her. She looked hurt.
“Them, Ryanne. I said them. Not you. But really, shouldn’t I be careful with ladling out trust?” I asked.
“No, no ye shouldn’t. In fact, ye hardly know me. Ye probably shouldn’t trust me either, as I might be scheming to get ye in me bed and get pregnant with yer child,” she said, wrapping up the sub remnants a bit violently. She stood up, grabbed her book bag and tray, and headed to the garbage.
“Ryanne, I said it didn’t include you.” I scrambled, gathering my own stuff. She was halfway across the room as I attempted to catch up without dropping my things everywhere. By the time I got rid of my garbage, she was out of the room. I jetted through the process, completely failing the Vermont code of recycling, and shot out into the hall, looking around for her. She was standing by the wall, just outside the lunch spot, waiting.
“Did you hear me? I said it didn’t include you,” I said again as I approached. She looked up, eyes watery.
“And did ye hear me? I said, ye shouldn’t trust me on account my intentions are less than grand,” she said. A couple of kids walking by looked over curiously at our little drama.
I started to brush off her ridiculous comment, but something about her posture stopped me. She was serious.
“What?” was the best I could come up.
“Declan, why do ye think I’m here? At Arcane?” she asked.
“To go to college and learn witch stuff,” I said.
“No, ye moron,” she said gently. “I could go to college in Ireland if I really wanted to and I already know more o’ the Craft than this school could teach me, yer aunt not withstanding. Declan, I was sent here to find you… to lure you back to Ireland. We knew you were strong before, back when ye stood toe-to-to with me sisters, but after last night? Well, nobody dreamed any single witch could command so much, let alone a male. The leader of me circle has as much as commanded me to seduce ya.”
“That’s crazy. She wants you to get pregnant?” I asked, trying to picture her giving up her freedom for a child she didn’t even want.
She wiped her eyes, blinked a couple of times, and took a deep breath. “Let’s walk to class.”
We headed out of the Davis Center and across campus. After a few minutes, she spoke again. “I was excited for this trip. Getting time here in America without the chaos of a tour. Don’t get me wrong, I luv touring, but to stay in one spot for five months and make friends, take classes and the like, well that was a gift from the goddess. And ye seemed an okay sort of lad, so it wouldn’t be horrible like to see if I could work me wiles on ye.”
I looked at her, both eyebrows up. “Don’t be giving me that look. Ye know what I mean. I only met ye the couple of times, so ye could have been a great tool or complete moron, now couldn’t ye?”
“You just called me a moron a moment ago,” I pointed out.
“But not a complete one. Anyway, when I got here last week, I thought I had all the time ye see, at least several months. And I like Britta, even if her sister is a savage twit who’s shagging her way through every bob in Arcane. And you turned out to be a surprise. I mean, I knew ye had a thing for standing up for the lasses, but then yer protecting little kids and fighting werewolves and ye had to go and show off yer power last night and now it’s all bollixed up.”
“I’m not following. I mean, I get that you liked coming here and maybe Britta isn’t as awful as Erika, but what does the big dirt lizard and the rest of it have to do with anything?”
“Because, ye great fool, ye did things that made me like ye and I wasn’t supposed to like ye, just seduce ye. And for showing off, ye’ve gone and made a mad race of it.”
“A race of what,” I said, trying not to dwell on the part where the really, really pretty Irish girl said she liked me. I have a girlfriend, I have a girlfriend.
“Do ye think I’m the only one whose people are interested in ye? Do ye think that maybe the other