The Key to Fear - Kristin Cast Page 0,41

to him again in real life????????

Elodie clutched her shoulders. Embarrassment licked hot streaks against her neck. “No, sorry. You did throw me off a little. I didn’t—I just didn’t expect to see you.” She glanced down at her bunnies. The hopeless gray of the tile matched her mood. “I’ll go get changed.”

She headed for the stairs, pausing as Rhett said, “Where we’re going is pretty casual.”

Her mother clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “No place is that casual, Rhett, dear.”

Blood surged to Elodie’s cheeks.

Rhett scratched his smooth face, hiding his chuckle. “El, you, uh, might want to think about dumping those silly kid slippers while you’re up there.”

“My thought exactly.” Gwen melted into a barstool uncomfortably close to the young soldier. “You know, you are so good for my Elodie. So wise and mature. And going places.” She turned her ray of manipulation back on Elodie. “Don’t I always say that Rhett here is going places in his career?” Her eyelids fluttered as she glanced up at him. “And that’s really the most important thing.”

Every year Elodie watched the bots make cotton candy at the upcoming Key Corp Rose Festival. Rainbows of fabric from nothing but sugar. She’d learned early on that it had to be protected or it would dissolve in on itself, turning the fluffy cloud into a hard, crusted lump.

Elodie balled her hands into fists inside the sleeves of her sweatshirt, bits of her disintegrating with each comment. She understood cotton candy more than anyone could know.

Is that a yes??????

Elodie’s throat dried. She couldn’t do both things. She couldn’t talk about Mohawk and be with Rhett. There wasn’t enough space in her brain—in this house. She would crack and bleed her guilty feelings all over her mother’s new marble.

Fiiiiine. Don’t answer

Hope you’re knee deep in VR adventure.

(Maybe with Mr. Mohawk?)

“You know, El, just today I received a personal call from Director Holbrook asking me to take care of the Eos threat.” Rhett feigned casualness and rested his elbows against the island.

“And with how ill he is? Oh, you must really be in his favor!” Gwen swooned so aggressively, Elodie thought her mother might fall out of her chair and burst into the hundreds of pieces of plastic that made up her forty-year-old, newly adolescent appearance. And Elodie wouldn’t even offer to sweep it up. “You’re going to his funeral, yes, Rhett? This is what I’m thinking of wearing.” Gwen hopped out of the chair and struck a pose before her heeled feet touched the floor. “Although, our Elodie has implied that it is a titch too fancy for such an occasion.”

Elodie’s groan was swallowed by the black hole of her mother’s ego.

Rhett flashed his bleached smile. “You look stunning, Mrs. Benavidez. There’s no way you can be too fancy for this funeral. He’s the director, not a random nobody.”

“Oh, Rhett.” Gwen blushed, playfully clutching the strand of pearls against the dress’s high collar. “Ms. Benavidez, please.”

Elodie stiffened. “Mom! You’re married.”

Gwen waved dismissively. “Now, tell me. What do you think I should do with my hair?” She patted the blond waves piled on top of her head.

Elodie’s toes dug into the warm fluff of her slippers. “I’ll go up and change now.” A smile burned across her lips. “I’ll be back in a few.”

“We don’t need a narrated account of your comings and goings, Elodie, honestly.” Gwen tittered to her captive audience of one, more than to Elodie. “Just because your wedding is coming up doesn’t mean it’s all about you all the time.”

Pieces of Elodie seemed to flake away as she ascended the stairs. If she could’ve mustered the energy, she would have stomped her way up. But she was drained, too busy diverting fuel to make a new and tougher skin.

“Make sure you keep your eyes closed.” Rhett was almost giggling. “No peeking.”

Elodie’s chest swelled with anticipation. The knee-high sock she’d tied over her eyes at Rhett’s request inched its way down. She adjusted it until she was able to see the smallest sliver of pavement beneath her feet. Rhett had had her cover her eyes before the MAX had left the station. Since then, they’d switched trains, walked two blocks, and, from the lush green grass she currently trampled, they were now off-roading. She couldn’t be expected to stay blind the entire time. She would have tripped and fallen before they’d made it to the second train.

“I’m not peeking!” She was, of course, but she didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Especially after Rhett had witnessed the