her plan all along—to get me curious and manipulate me into seeing her. Then again, what if I was just being paranoid? Still, Zara had more than proven she could be devious.
As my mind raced, so did my heart—sadness, anger, and frustration all vying for first place.
With a groan, I sat up straight. For the next half hour I tried to meditate—on the couch, the wingback chair, the floor—but my thoughts constantly wandered. I managed to slow my breathing and heart rate somewhat, but after a while, I gave up.
I needed advice—someone to talk it over with. I could’ve gone to Dot, Charlie, any of my guys. Even Uncle Luce would have been more than happy to give me his sympathetic ear.
But I needed to feel in control of how much I discussed this, how much time and energy I chose to give it. All of them would push me to talk more, would bring it up the next day, would look at me with cautious worry in their eyes.
So I called Harvey.
At the second ring, I realized it was around four in the morning in Australia, but just as I was about to hang up, he answered.
“Hey, Eve.” He didn’t sound tired or groggy at all.
“Oh, hey, Harvey. I didn’t wake you? Sorry.”
He chuckled. “No. I couldn’t sleep. Been up drawing for a few hours now. What’s up? How are you?”
He sounded relaxed, and I could hear music playing softly in the background. I could picture him sitting at his desk with the drawing pad, a lamp illuminating his work while the rest of the room was cast in darkness.
“What’re you drawing? Is it for your course? How’s that going?”
He told me about his studies and the friends he’d made but didn’t tell me what he was working on. He’d always been very secretive about unfinished projects. We talked about my science subjects too, about our families and the crazy stuff happening all over the world. He indulged me for a while, then pushed. “What’s going on, Eve?”
“Maybe I just really wanted to catch up. We did promise to stay in touch.”
“Eve. What’s going on?” His voice was still warm, but it held a hint of firmness this time.
I sighed. I did call him to ask for help with the Zara situation, so why was I avoiding it? “Fine. I need your advice.”
“About?”
“Zara.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing? I don’t know. She’s been locked in a cell since they dragged her back here. It’s just . . .”
“Dude! Spit it out.”
I rolled my eyes—at myself. Why was this so hard? “She reached out to me, kind of. Through Alec’s ex Dana.”
“Alec . . . he’s the tall, scary one? With the pain thing?”
“Yeah, that asshole.”
“He has an ex? Like, some chick was ballsy enough to touch him long enough to sleep with him?”
“Harvey! I don’t need reminders of that, thanks!”
“Hey, you’re the one who brought it up. Clearly as a distraction tactic from talking about what you actually want to talk about. What did Zara want?”
“Why do you have to be right about everything?”
“It’s what I do—I draw and I speak the truth. Zara?”
“She wants to see me. Dana has a blocking ability, and because Zara’s electric ability is so unstable, Dana is on guard duty with her a lot. She just came over to tell me that Zara won’t shut up about me and keeps begging to see me. I don’t know what to do.”
“Do you want to see her?”
“No. I hate her.” I paused, a little taken aback by how intense those words sounded coming out of my mouth. I’d never said I hated Zara, but maybe that was the feeling I’d been stuffing down. Or maybe suppressing all my thoughts and feelings about this had made them fester and turn into hate. Did I really want to be capable of hating another person? Harvey just sat silently on the line, waiting patiently for me to continue.
“I . . . I don’t know, Harvey. I don’t want anything to do with her, but it all feels so unresolved.”
“You say you don’t want to see her, but you’re calling me for advice on what to do. Dig deeper, Eve. Use that logical mind of yours. Give me the reasons not to go and then the reasons why you should.”
“I don’t want to see her. The thought of speaking to her makes my stomach turn. She betrayed me. She keeps asking for me, and I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of