the door and plunked down on my bed.
She looked over at me. “Where were you? And don’t say your mom’s. I know better.”
I took a deep breath. “No. I wasn’t there. Sorry I lied.” I glanced at the floor. “I have something to tell you. I didn’t want to get into it over the communicator, so I just said that.”
She nodded. “Okay, shoot. What’s up?” She finished dressing for bed and then sat across from me.
I took another deep breath and dove in. I told her about the Council’s trial repopulation test, about my father being Narcolym, and about how I’d hidden my identity. I told her everything, baring my soul, right down to the last minutes I’d spent with Reese. By the time the room fell silent, after I’d spilled everything, her mouth hung agape. Her eyes stared through me—not seeing me.
“Lane?” I snapped my fingers in front of her face. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Oh. My. God.” She jumped up and stared at me. “You’re serious. I knew it!”
I squinted. “What do you mean, you ‘knew it’?”
“I just did. After your change, somehow I sensed something was off about you, but I couldn’t place it. And your power, it’s way stronger than ours.” She smiled. “I mean, I could never have put this crazy scenario together, but somehow, I’d been trying to figure out what was going on.”
I tilted my head. “You’re not freaked about me being half Narco?” I studied her. She seemed to be taking it well—extremely well—compared to Jace.
She waved her hand through the air. “It’s not like you chose this. But regardless, this is something that’s a part of you. And besides, the only reason I don’t want to bond with a Narco is because I’m in love with Devon. That whole rebel thing is Jace’s deal.” Her eyes became wide. “Oh, Jace. What—”
“He kind of walked in on Reese and me today.” I bowed my head. I’d skimmed over the details of that part. “We were making up, sort of, and Jace saw.” I looked up quickly and watched Lana’s face fall.
“Oh.” She kept her mouth a perfect “O.” Then she sat down next to me. “You should have told me sooner. I could have talked with him. Crap, I should’ve never told him it was a go with you.” She slapped her forehead.
“Lane, it’s not your responsibly to handle Jace. It’s mine. And I messed up big time.”
“We can fix this. I know my brother. He’s definitely stewing right now, but we can make him understand what happened. And I know he’ll get past the half Narco thing. We can—”
“Leave him alone for a while?”
She lowered her eyes. “Yeah, probably a good idea.”
“Thank you, Lane.” I took her hand. “I know you want to fix this for me, but just having you accept it, that’s more than enough.” I shook my head lightly. “I was scared of losing you, or of endangering you.”
“No way. I love you no matter what. And I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” She winked and wrapped her arm around me. “Now tell me about Reese. I can’t believe it’s him. He was such a hothead.”
“You have no idea.”
Lana and I talked about Reese and Devon, strategically avoiding the Jace topic. I think she knew it was too painful. I felt bad. This was her brother. But she said she didn’t feel torn. She could love us both and hope that soon things would get patched up. It was the first time our group was ever divided.
I lay in my bed that night, trying not to think. But there were too many worries swimming around in my head. Although I felt better after unloading to Lana, I realized I should have told her long ago. I couldn’t help wondering if the same went for Jace. Had I told him the truth about me before, the events of today wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe they would have, only sooner.
I closed my eyes, trying not to picture Jace’s expression after he found out what I was. But that image was permanently etched in my mind.
Chapter Twenty-One
THE NEXT DAY, LANA agreed that I should get away from the Academy. I wasn’t ready to bump into Jace. I felt he needed the extra time to settle down before we had to face each other in class.
Reese and I decided to go to our place. The falls. We had catching up to do, and he also wanted to test