Chapter 11

Selene sat on her usual bench and studied for finals while Alex and Ellie kept watch beside her. In mid-December, there was snow on the ground, even in the foothills. But Svatura and Vyusher weren’t as affected by the elements, and Selene liked being outdoors.

Someone had been with her twenty-four hours a day for the last several weeks. They’d each taken a turn, except Griffin. No one had seen him since the night he’d walked out of Hugh and Lucy’s house.

Ellie had tried to reassure her that everything was okay, that Griffin was just figuring a few things out and needed some space. But Selene caught her worried frown. Even Alex seemed concerned.

During the time she’d been under surveillance, there hadn’t been any more attacks and she hadn’t had the nightmares, but she wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. She had too many questions about this entire situation. While Selene was happy that no one else had been hurt, she almost hoped something would happen just to give them a chance to figure it all out.

Ellie abruptly straightened in her seat, drawing Alex’s and Selene’s watchful gazes. “Something wrong?” Alex asked, placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder.

Ellie paused, then shook her head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I…I think I need a soda. Come with me?”

Alex frowned. “What about Selene?”

“We’ll only be gone a minute or two, and we’re not going far.” Ellie took Alex’s hand and pulled him to his feet.

Alex shrugged, a thoughtful frown tugged at his lips. “Sure…whatever. Be right back, Selene.”

Selene watched them walk away, momentarily curious at their odd interaction. Then she returned her attention to her books.

“I thought it would be a good idea if we had a talk,” a deep voice sounded behind her.

Selene froze. That was why Ellie had rushed off with Alex. She didn’t know if she wanted to hug her new friend—or strangle her. For once, she hadn’t sensed Griffin approach. He must not have been using his power.

“About what?” she asked, her serene voice masking her inner turmoil.

Griffin approached the bench and sat down beside her. “I thought we should talk about forgiveness.”

Selene met his gaze. “Forgiveness?”

Griffin let out a deep sigh. “Yes. To be honest, I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive your part in my family’s deaths.”

Selene looked down at her notes but couldn’t see the words. Pain stole her breath and tears blurred her vision as her worst fears were confirmed.

“But,” Griffin continued, “I think I understand your involvement. And I do appreciate your attempts to help Ellie and me. So I accept your apology.”

Selene paused. “My apology?” she asked, her voice cold.

Griffin shifted in his seat and gave a small smile. “Yes, for what you did to my family.”

Selene frowned. “Let me get this straight…you’re accepting an apology I haven’t offered yet?”

“It was implied,” Griffin said, seemingly oblivious to her irritation.

“You think I implied an apology for my behavior?” Selene asked.

“Of course. Isn’t that why you showed us what you did?”

Selene fumed. How could he be so dense? “Any apology, implied or otherwise, was for what my brother did,” she seethed through gritted teeth. “For the pain he caused you that I couldn’t stop. For what he made me do.”

“But what about your part?” Griffin’s jaw clenched as he stared at her.

Selene didn’t respond. She simply closed her books and packed up her belongings. She rose to her full height, putting years of princess-training into the movement, and turned to face him, head held high. “I’m incredibly grateful for your forgiveness. That being said, next time you accept an apology, be sure someone is actually making one.”

As he frowned up at her in bafflement, she paused and gave him a haughty once-over, disgusted with herself for misjudging him this badly. “Since you’re obviously still confused,” she continued. “Let me clarify something for you...I risked my life to protect you and your sister. I survived over a hundred-and-fifty years of mental and physical torture inflicted by my own flesh and blood and was forced to do unspeakable things against my will. So, here’s my apology…I am incredibly sorry for doing everything I possibly could to help you.”

Selene hitched her backpack over her shoulder and glared at the brown grass under her feet, unable to look at him anymore. “When you have reconsidered your words,” she said, her words quietly furious, “I’ll be ready to accept your apology.”

As Selene stalked away, she couldn’t help but overhear the conversation following her from the room.

“Sheesh, Griff,” Ellie said. “Could you have screwed that up worse?”

“Shouldn’t someone go after her?”

Concern? Why would he bother?

“Lila’s on it,” Ellie said. “Don’t worry. She’ll be able to calm her down.”

The rest she didn’t catch. Didn’t want to. Hearing all the horrible things he thought of her was worse than suspecting those things. Time to move on.

* * *

Thursday night, Selene was in the guest room where she’d been staying at Hugh and Lucy’s house. She sat cross-legged on the bed in her fuzzy penguin pj’s, her history books strewn about, as Ramsey slouched in the oversized armchair, quizzing her on dates and names and events. He was a bit intense, but she liked that about him. Plus, his being serious meant she didn’t have to try to lighten up around him.

They’d stalled in their studying and were debating what it would’ve been like to be a human trying to protect a family during the plague or the Great Depression.

“So you’re telling me that you would steal?” Selene asked.

“To save my family? Yes. There is nothing I wouldn’t do,” Ramsey replied. He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head.

“What if you got caught? Then you wouldn’t be there to provide for them.”

“If my choice was between my family definitely dying because they had no food or possibly dying if I got caught, I’d take my chances.”

“I think that if the time actually came, you’d find decisions like that harder to make than you imagine,” Selene said.

“Oh, I don’t think it’d be easy. I’m saying that my family comes first.” He paused a beat. “Did you know that I left my original family?”

Selene tapped her pencil on her notebook. “No. I’m still learning all your backgrounds. Except Ellie and Griffin, of course. I know all about them.” She tilted her head. “What happened?”

His mouth twisted in a small, bitter grimace. “You have to ask? I’m a firestarter.”

She raised her eyebrows. “But you have so much control over it,” she observed.

Ramsey tipped forward and leaned his elbows on his knees, his green eyes serious. “That’s only recently, and with a lot of help from Ellie and Lila.”

“Who’d you inherit your gift from?”

“Through my mother’s side, but it skipped her generation. I think she assumed it would skip us as well. I was only six when things started happening.”

“Stuff would suddenly go up in flames when you were around?”

He grimaced. “Yeah. Luckily, we lived on the frontier. We were pretty isolated, which made it fairly easy to hide. When I was eight, my mother explained to me what was going on. Although she didn’t tell me everything at the time.”

“What happened?”

Ramsey’s mouth compressed in a thin line and shadows filled his eyes. Selene reached forward to lay her hand over his. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Ramsey cleared his throat. “Two things happened around the same time. First, when I was ten, my mom discovered she was going to have a baby, and not long after that I discovered my grandfather’s diary. I’d inherited my power through him, and it turned out that he killed my grandmother. By accident, of course. He couldn’t control his power and it got away from him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Selene murmured.

Ramsey glanced away and gave a terse nod. “Thanks. Anyway, I knew I had to protect my family from that, especially my new baby brother or sister—I had to protect them from me. So I left.”

“When you were only ten?”

Ramsey gave her a pointed stare. “You were only ten when your brother turned your world upside down, and he was only ten when he became King of the Vyusher. I did okay.”

Selene pictured how difficult Ramsey’s life must’ve been. At least she’d had food and a roof over her head. Ramsey not only had to fend for himself, but he’d also had to wrestle with a power that was usually a death sentence. It was a miracle he’d survived at all.

“When did Lucy find you?”

“Ha. You’ve heard of that little trick of hers, huh?” Ramsey chuckled.

Selene smiled. Lucy’s intuition allowed her to sort of collect people with powers, forming their hodgepodge—but now tight-knit—family. “She’s used it on me, according to Ellie.”

He shook his head, his eyes lighting up fondly. “Lucy didn’t find me until 1952. I’d been on my own for close to seventy years at that point. And, somehow, I managed not to kill my new family for almost another seventy. But my power was growing, getting worse. If Ellie hadn’t come along, I would’ve had to leave them, too.”

“Hey! I heard my name. Not speaking ill of me, I hope,” Ellie said as she walked into Selene’s room.

She was soon followed by Lila, who’s gaze zeroed in on Ramsey’s and Selene’s clasped hands. She hid her expression quickly, but Selene still caught a cascade of emotions that flashed through her eyes before she flicked a speculative glance between the two.

“Never,” Selene answered Ellie as she sat back, letting go of Ramsey’s hand. “We wouldn’t dare. That dragon trick is just too intimidating.”

“Wait a minute…” Ellie pressed her palm to Selene’s forehead. “Was that humor? Are you sure you feel all right?”

Selene grinned. “I feel fine.”

“Great! Then you have no excuse. We’re going dancing tonight!” Ellie matched Selene’s smile with one of her own.

Selene held her hands up in front of her. “No way! Count me out. I’m already in my pj’s.”

“Oh, come on, Selene,” Lila implored, hopping on the bed beside her. “It’ll be fun. Even Ramsey will go.”

“I think I can speak for myself,” Ramsey murmured, and she wrinkled her nose at him.

Selene gave Lila silent props. From watching Lila interact with Ramsey, most people wouldn’t figure out that she was in love with him.

“I’m really not in the mood for dancing tonight,” Selene insisted. “And I’m studying for finals.”

“Well, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Ellie retorted with a mischievous grin. She started to gather up Selene’s books.

Selene raised an eyebrow and snatched her notebook out of Ellie’s hands. “How’s that?”

Ellie angled her head. “You know, since you’ve been around our family, I believe your true personality has been coming out. You’re not as quiet as you’d have people believe.”

Selene merely shrugged. “I thought I’d explained that side of me was learned. Nurture versus nature so to speak.”

“Well, I like this sassy side of you,” Ellie declared.

“Hmmm…jury is still out for me,” Selene replied. “And I’m guessing that after our last meeting, your brother definitely isn’t fond of it.” She absently flipped the pages of her notebook.

“You might find that Griffin isn’t as upset as you think,” Ellie said. “Anyway, Lucy, Hugh, Charlotte, and Dexter are all going out to dinner tonight. And the rest of us are going dancing. You can’t be on your own, so you’re going dancing.”

“I’ve seen what girls wear when they go out to the clubs,” Selene said. “I don’t have anything suitable.”

“You and I are about the same size,” Ellie answered immediately. “So that excuse won’t work, either.”

Adelaide appeared in the doorway. “As far as I can tell, you’ve done nothing but study since you came here. It’s time you had a little fun in your life.”

“Yeah,” Nate added as he snuggled his arm around Adelaide’s waist. “You deserve to boogie.” He busted a quick move that was somewhere between a twerk and a chicken dance, causing them all to either roll their eyes or laugh out loud.

“Okay…” Selene threw up her hands. “I surrender. Dress me up, slap some makeup on me, and let’s get this party started.”