The Rush (The Siren Series) - By Rachel Higginson Page 0,122

at me with an unreadable expression. He didn’t hold my gaze though, fury twisted his features and before we were to the staircase Honor and I could hear them arguing heatedly.

Honor’s room was a princess palace. Decorated in all white and soft pink, there was an enormous canopy bed fit for royalty with matching dressers, vanity and night stands. A huge dollhouse took up one entire wall, extending even higher than Honor could reach and another wall displayed floor to ceiling bookcases with a moving ladder connected to the ceiling. Smith seriously spoiled his little girl.

But she was so lucky to have her father.

Fate balanced life out for her in this way. Because as lucky as she was to have Smith,

she was equally unlucky to have our mother.

So what did Fate give me? Where was my equalizer?

Or maybe I didn’t get one. Maybe life stepped in and decided a balance wouldn’t have done any good. I would be this same rotten, black-hearted witch with or without a representative from the good side.

“Is it because Tyler asked me out?” she whispered when the door closed behind us. The earrings were forgotten in the wake of the crestfallen expression painting her face.

“No, absolutely not,” I rushed to pull her into a hug. “They don’t agree, that’s all. It has nothing to do with you. I promise.”

“But it does have something to do with me,” she whimpered.

“No, it doesn’t, sweet pea. Your father loves you very much is all and he just wants to protect you. And mom…. Mom doesn’t always know what’s best for you, Honor. She sometimes…. sometimes she wants bad things for you.”

This was the most honest I’d ever been with my little sister. She was too young to see the evil creature that was Ava Pierce, and I didn’t want her to end up resenting me or Smith because I pushed her too hard. And now I wondered if I had made a mistake when she looked up at me with shimmering eyes and a deflated expression.

“Does she want bad things for you too?” Honor whispered, the horror in her face making her green eyes shine with tears.

I was momentarily stunned. Maybe Honor was more perceptive than I gave her credit for. Not really knowing how to respond, I just hugged her tighter and said, “Hey, don’t worry about me, Ok? I’m just fine. It’s you we have to worry about. With these newly pierced ears Tyler’s not the only boy we’re going to have to worry about.”

I regretted the words as soon as they left my lips.

“Ivy?” Honor asked in such a small voice that I closed my eyes against the sudden anxiety I felt for her. “Tyler’s not the only boy. Lots of boys asked me to the dance, but Tyler’s the only one I liked enough to think about going with.”

“Oh, really?” I closed my eyes tighter, but this time against tears. I hated that she would have to go through this mostly alone, and without any idea of why this was happening to her.

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” she asked truly perplexed.

“Was it a lot of boys?”

“All the boys…. In my class and in seventh grade,” she confessed in that worried tone again. “But I didn’t tell daddy that.”

Oh no. I could not let her get away with that. I walked her over to her big bed and sat down with her so that I could face her. “Hon, don’t keep that kind of stuff from your dad, Ok? I know it might seem embarrassing, or…. it might be hard to tell him that kind of stuff, but he really does want what’s best for you. He won’t get mad at you; it’s not anything you did wrong, Ok? He can probably help you, make it easier for you.”

She nodded along, seeming to understand how important it was to be honest with Smith by my freaked out tone.

“Ivy, is something happening to me?” she whispered in that frightened little voice again.

“Honey, no! Why would you think that?”

“Because…. because it’s not just the boys. It’s the girls too,” she admitted and then looked away.

“What about the girls?” Suddenly there was ice in my veins. I remembered what middle school was like for me away from Sloane and Exie, completely on my own. It was awful. Girls were cruel, and the boys were relentless.

“They stopped being nice to me,” she croaked. Her chin trembled and then a tiny little tear slipped from the corner of her eye