Lucy refused to turn around, but, as she sent Claudia an AOK text, she began to think her dramatic exit might have been a pyrrhic victory.
There were still so many questions left unanswered.
For instance, could her father be connected to these so-called alchemists? And what was he really doing in Tokyo all this time?
Lucy found it hard to believe that if her dad had any inkling that piezoelectric materials would temper her seizures and other neurological symptoms he wouldn’t have tried it years ago. Her parents did everything they could to protect her—so much so it was often suffocating. If they’d known tourmaline would help manage her condition, surely they would have made Lucy a suit of armor from it.
She swallowed a lump rising in her throat.
The truth was so much more X-Files than Lucy could have imagined. Would her parents even believe her? She put the chances at slim to nil.
Lucy reached the student parking lot and unlocked Marie Curie, heaving herself on top as exhaustion rippled through her. Sloth-like, she began pedaling toward Claudia’s house to study for the American lit final.
She touched two fingers to her mouth in an attempt to extinguish phantom flames.
Don’t think about his lips.
To kiss or not to kiss was not the most crucial question at hand. Far more important was how the mysterious they Ravi worked for had tracked Lucy down after she fled the New Yorker Hotel? Why did they own it in the first place? How long had Ravi’s employers been waiting for someone to open the door to Tesla’s lab, and what were they hoping to find inside?
And, perhaps most pressingly, why had Tesla gone to such lengths to conceal it?
Lost in her maelstrom of thoughts, Lucy was knocking on Claudia’s front door before she knew it.
“Jess?”
The other girl smiled as she pulled it the rest of the way open.
“Hey, Lucy. The dictator is kicking me out so you two can study.”
“Oh–uh…” Lucy stuttered, trying to remember to be socially competent. “You don’t have to leave.”
Jess fidgeted her eyebrow ring. “It’s cool. I should be studying myself.” She flashed another smile. “Plus, I wouldn’t dream of interfering with best-friend time.”
She sounded totally sincere. “Thanks,” Lucy replied, uncertain whether it was a polite thing to say, but some alone time with her best friend was what she needed right now. Desperately. Only Claudia could anchor Lucy back into something resembling reality.
Pursing her lips, Jess said, “You okay?”
Lucy must look as blindsided as she felt. She didn’t get a chance to answer before Claudia came rushing down the stairs.
“Minnie! Here safe and sound, I see.” She laughed. True to form, Claudia hadn’t asked Lucy why she felt compelled to hike a trail this afternoon.
“Yeah.” Lucy forced a weak smile. She was safe. Sound was a completely separate matter.
Jess looked between them. “That’s my cue.” She squeezed Lucy on the shoulder. “Good luck with the studying,” she said, and guilt swelled inside Lucy at being glad to have her friend to herself.
“What about me?” Claudia teased her girlfriend. “Aren’t you going to wish me luck too?”
Jess stepped toward her, grinning mischievously, and drew Claudia in close. She planted a scorching hot kiss on her lips. “Will that do?”
“For now.”
Laughing, Jess shook her head. “Thank you, Supreme Leader. I’ll text you later.” Moving back toward the door, she said, “Bye, Lucy.”
Lucy responded with a small wave. As soon as the door closed behind Jess, she turned to her beaming bestie, commenting, “Things seem to be going well,” and her friend made a faraway Mmmm noise.
“How about you?” Claudia asked. “Fresh air clear your head?”
If only. Lucy couldn’t stop her face from creasing. In an instant, Claudia had thrown her arms around her in a fierce hug. Warm tingles washed over Lucy and she recognized them as Claudia’s energy: her love and concern.
Lucy stiffened. Ravi had described her ability to read other people’s emotions like it was a good thing. Hugging Claudia now, Lucy’s powers seemed like an invasion of privacy. Unethical. Wrong, even. She stiffened further.
“Oh, babe,” said her friend. “Let’s head upstairs.”
A virtual forest slid its shadowy branches across Lucy’s face as she entered Claudia’s bedroom and she had to remind herself she wasn’t back in her dreamscape. Lucy had helped Claudia to wire up the chandelier constructed from mesh, twisted bicycle spokes, and other found objects. When the single bulb glowed, it cast fairy-tale impressions on the seafoam-green walls.
Claudia plunked herself down on the bed. “Cole asked me to return this to you,” she said, scooping something up from the comforter.
A wink of metal. Like an SOS. The key to the science office lay in Claudia’s outstretched palm.
How could Lucy have misplaced it? Ugh. “Thanks,” she said.
“Wanna tell me why I’m playing messenger, doll face?”
“We broke up.” Lucy slid onto the bed next to her friend. She stared up at the weathered ballerina ornament Claudia had recently added to the scraggly aluminum branches, its legs frozen in a pirouette.
Claudia stroked Lucy’s cheek and another surge of happy, ticklish goosebumps prickled beneath her skin. Was it a violation if she already knew her best friend loved her?
Lucy licked her lips. “Cole and I have been drifting apart for a while now. I think it was inevitable.”
Claudia bobbed her head.
“Everyone knows long distance is the kiss of death, anyway,” she carried on. “I didn’t see the point in keeping up appearances for the last few weeks of school.” She blew a hair from her face. “The good news is that I’ll be totally focused on the sound and lighting at the prom—you and Jess can enjoy yourselves.”
A frown briefly gripped Claudia’s face; Lucy realized her mistake too late.
“Oh, Clauds. I didn’t mean long distance never works. I’m sure you and Jess will be fine. It’s only, well, Cole and I already had problems…” Lucy trailed off.
What were the seasick feelings she had picked up from him on Saturday? she wondered. She already knew about the test-selling scam. Maybe Cole’s own feelings for Lucy had been more conflicted than even he realized.
“Don’t sweat it, Minnie,” Claudia assured her. “I know what you meant.” She rolled onto her back. “Jess and I haven’t talked about it yet. Things are still so new, you know? Although my parents would be thrilled if I had a reason to visit Eaton more often next year.” She hooked Lucy’s pinky with her own. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I’m always up for a good ol’ tar and feathering in the town square if Cole’s done you wrong.”
Lucy snort-laughed. “Same goes for Jess. But no, the breakup was my idea.”
“If you’re okay, I’m okay.”
Lucy covered Claudia’s hand with her own, a lifetime of memories flooding through her. Claudia was the sister she’d always wanted. When she was younger, Lucy had been jealous of Claudia’s rambunctious household since there were no siblings or cousins to keep her company. Both of Lucy’s parents were only children and her grandparents had all died long before she was born. But Claudia was enough.
Her pulse jackhammered knowing she would soon be so far away.
Claudia yelped as electricity crackled between them. Lucy snatched her hand back, scouring Claudia’s skin for any burn marks.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry,” she stammered.
“Hey, hey. I’m fine.” Claudia patted Lucy’s arm. “Just static. Nobody died.”
Lucy grit her teeth together. The first thing she would demand Ravi teach her tomorrow was how to show affection without supercharging the people she loved. He might have come to Eaton to train her, but that didn’t mean he was calling all the shots.
She looked her friend up and down, fighting back tears. There was so much Lucy wanted to tell her. But Ravi’s warning echoed in her mind, and she didn’t want Claudia on his employers’ radar.
Instinctively, Lucy felt for the tourmaline in her pocket. As she flipped it between her fingers, relief spread through her chest, a sensation she now recognized as her electrical field coupling with the stone’s. Her breathing returned to normal.
“What’s that?” Claudia jerked her chin at the stone.
Lucy handed it over. “Tourmaline.”
Rubbing her hands together, Claudia said, “Preeeeecious.” Her Gollum impersonation was eerily spot-on, and Lucy laughed. Her bestie raised the stone up to the light, its edges shimmering in the woodland shadows.
“It’s something new I’m trying,” Lucy offered, “to keep my seizure symptoms at bay.”
Claudia cocked an eyebrow.
“It’s supposed to relax me if I’m starting to feel stressed … or something.”
“Mercury must be in retrograde or the end times are coming if empirical method–only Lucy Phelps is trying out alternative healing.”
Coming from anyone else, Lucy would have been offended. Since it was Claudia, she snorted. Her friend was right. Lucy was beginning to believe in a lot of things she wouldn’t have a month ago.
“Where’d you get it?” Claudia asked.
“Ravi gave it to me.” Gulp. Why had she let that slip out?
“Ravi?” She traced the diamond ridges of the tourmaline. “The new teaching assistant?”
Lucy’s flush was all the confirmation her best friend needed. She wanted to protest that he wasn’t really a teaching assistant, she wasn’t really breaking any rules, and he’d given her the stone for a very scientific reason. Mind-blowing kiss notwithstanding, there was nothing going on between them.
“Riiiiight,” Claudia said. “He’s cute, I suppose. If you swing that way.”
“Mrs. Brandon asked him to supervise my independent study. That’s all,” Lucy replied defensively. “He read up about my condition. He suggested I try it.”
Claudia splayed on her front, propping herself up on her elbows, and her expression turned serious.
“If you talked to him about your medical stuff, you must really trust him.”
The insight gave Lucy pause. Claudia knew better than anyone how much she hated drawing attention to her condition. How much Lucy hated pity. And yet, Lucy had felt comfortable enough to confide in him that day in Central Park.
“Maybe I do,” Lucy admitted. But it still burned her that Ravi had allowed her to ramble on about her epilepsy that day when he knew it was a lie. Why couldn’t he have just come clean with her then?
Claudia watched Lucy, eyes intent. “Is Ravi the reason for the demise of Cole?”
“You make it sound like the Desolation of Smaug.”
“Aha! I knew you’d appreciate Tolkien eventually.”
“Pshaw. Give me the USS Enterprise over the Shire any day.”
“I like my Shire,” her friend retorted. “But seriously. I get it. I’ve succumbed to the allure of a college girl myself.” Lucy jabbed her playfully in response. “Would it get you more psyched for prom to learn Ravi has signed up for chaperone duty?” Claudia said.
Lucy’s heart did skip a beat. Stupid heart. Ravi had probably been instructed to attend the prom to keep an eye on her.
“I’ll be there to man the battle stations, Clauds. But that’s it.”
“Nuh-uh. No way. I’m not letting you skulk in the background, Luce.” She narrowed her eyes. Damn, Claudia knew her too well. “You can be my date.”
“Isn’t Jess your date?”
The corner of Claudia’s mouth hooked up in a crafty grin.
“We’ll make it a threesome. Eaton High won’t know what hit it.”
Laughter wracked Lucy’s body and she thanked the nonexistent gods above once more that Claudia’s family had moved in next door.
“I mean it,” Claudia protested.
“I know you do.”
“Jess found this costume shop on Etsy that makes replica flapper costumes, tassels and all. Who doesn’t love tassels? There’s still time to order another one.”
“That’s really sweet, but—”
“I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Lucy sighed. Resistance was futile. “If you’re sure Jess won’t mind a third wheel.”
Claudia waved dismissively. “And you know what?” she said, pinching the tourmaline between her fingers. “I could make this into a pendant. It would look totally ’20s.”
Gratitude suffused Lucy and the breath rushed from her.
“You’re the best, Clauds,” she said, hoarse. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Claudia beamed a cherubic smile.
“Then it’s a good thing you’ll never have to find out.”