“Sorry about the ambush.”
Lucy’s gaze traveled from the lake toward Ravi’s soft, lilting voice. She’d booked it to their training spot without thinking. Well, maybe some part of her wanted him to find her. The drive back to Eaton yesterday had been awkwardly silent as Lucy tried to process everything she’d learned.
Ravi dropped down next to her on the boulder. The breeze ruffled his sable-colored hair and Lucy sat on her hands so she didn’t smooth it back.
“I know you wouldn’t steal the test, Lucy.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “It’s hard to prove a negative.”
It was also hard to feel anything but defeated. After she’d hulked out at the school, Lucy’s rage slowly burned off. Assassin alchemists, deterioration of her mental faculties, ripping a locker from its hinges with an electromagnetic field she wasn’t supposed to possess … all of these things were more terrifying than being expelled. Objectively. But it was the possibility of being denied college—the chance to strike out on her own—that scared her most.
Taken together, Lucy was emptied out.
Ravi touched a hand to her cheek in a debatably more-than-friendly move. “What do you think happened?” he asked.
Without her permission, Lucy’s body leaned into his touch. His shield was up, so there were no ticklish tingles, only his warm, steady presence.
Sighing, Lucy covered his hand with hers, and gently removed it from her cheekbone. “I didn’t steal the exam,” she told him. “But I think it’s my fault.”
“How so?” His face was open, no judgment in his eyes, just the intensity that was quintessentially him.
“My ex-boyfriend. I’d been helping him with his homework a bit too much.” Lucy smoothed her palms against her thighs before daring a glance at him. Ravi’s expression remained unchanged. Clinging to the denim, she finished her confession. “I found out he’d been selling my work to other students. I put an end to it,” she hastened to add, “and said I wouldn’t do his work for him anymore. He must have stolen the key from me.”
“Cretin.”
Lucy shrugged in resignation. “I don’t have any proof, only a theory. And I was also in the wrong. Two wrongs don’t make a right, right?” She gurgled a faint laugh. It was a good thing Lucy had never told Claudia about Cole’s scheme, or she might be considered an accomplice.
“Do you think you could get him to confess?” Ravi asked.
She wiggled her fingers tauntingly in the air. “With my own form of electroshock therapy?”
He laughed. “By appealing to his sense of decency?”
Considering Lucy had already texted Cole multiple times and he’d ignored her? Unlikely. Cole wasn’t an evil mastermind, but he was selfish. And he didn’t take responsibility for his actions. It was part of why she’d fallen out of love with him, after all.
“You don’t think less of me?” she whispered. Despite Ravi’s secret-agent routine, his opinion had come to matter to Lucy. A lot.
His eyes pierced her as he said, “I think we all make mistakes when it comes to people we care about.”
Lucy shifted her body so that her knees met his. “You know, it’s funny,” she mused. “If I hadn’t been fighting with Cole, I might never have ended up at the hotel.” I might never have met you. Her gaze dropped to their legs. Ravi hadn’t tensed or moved away.
“How did you find your way to the Tesla Suite? I didn’t want to press you before,” he said.
“You mean you don’t know?” Lucy replied, and Ravi shook his head.
Static began to fizz between them as her thoughts whirled, and Lucy was the one who pulled away, facing forward to admire the lake.
If she told him the truth, he might know who had sent the photo. But she also might be compromising her parents somehow.
She felt Ravi’s posture stiffen beside her as he waited for her answer. She sighed again.
“Lucy?” he prompted.
“This is probably going to sound ridiculous,” she said, cutting him a sideways glance. “It started when Schrödinger—that’s my cat—knocked over a picture frame.”
The corner of Ravi’s mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Is the cat alive or dead?”
“Both. Zombie cat.” Lucy gave a small laugh and drew a circle on the craggy face of the rock. “Anyway, the glass cracked, damaging the photograph. I scanned it into my computer to see if I could use some math—maths—software to repair it.”
“Clever. Sounds like you,” Ravi said, and Lucy felt herself flush. “What was the photo of?”
“Me. Well, toothless me. Trust me, I look better with teeth.”
He laughed. “No career as a prizefighter for you?”
“Doubtful. Although, if I’m going to end up with brain damage, I might as well go a few rounds, I guess.”
“Don’t say that.”
At Ravi’s unexpectedly gruff tone, Lucy went quiet. It was the only logical deduction. She watched the rainbow of sails glide on the wind. Sailing away from her problems would be nice.
“How did the photo lead you to the Tesla Suite?” Ravi asked. His expression was curious, and something else. Something like fear.
Lucy swallowed. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she also needed to protect her parents. She picked her words very carefully.
“Steganography,” she replied. “I discovered a binary sequence encoded in the yellow channel of the photo. It contained the address for the New Yorker Hotel, Room 3327.”
Ravi pushed to his feet and began to pace. Lucy decided to leave out the part about it being addressed to her father’s company—and the alchemist’s motto that had been written on the back.
“My dad’s not an Archimedean, is he?” she asked.
“Not to my knowledge, no.” His tone was brusque. “Do you know when the photo was sent?”
She shrugged. “It’s been in my house for as long as I can remember.” From everything Professor T had told Lucy about the Order of Sophia, if they knew about her existence, they would have darkened her door long ago.
But if it hadn’t been either of the Orders, who else could have sent it?
“Have you told your parents what you found?” Ravi asked, quizzing Lucy the way she imagined the professor would.
“No. My dad’s been away on business, and my mom—I didn’t want to worry her with my new symptoms.” Or wind up under house arrest.
“Good, good,” Ravi said, mostly to himself.
“I’ll have to tell them the truth at some point, though,” Lucy said, and she realized she actually meant it.
Ravi stopped, pivoting towards Lucy, lips flat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“They’re my parents.”
“I know.” A shadow crossed his face. “But it’s not safe. Not yet.” He closed the space between them. “If you could bring me the photograph, I can do further analysis.”
Lucy gulped. “Sure.” But then Ravi would know she wasn’t being entirely straight with him. She would have to find a way to stall.
“In the meantime,” he implored, “please don’t go anywhere without your mobile.”
She liked the way he said “mobile” instead of “cell phone.” Still, she asked, “Why not?”
“So I know where you are.” Ravi raked a hand through his hair, and Lucy’s rage began to simmer again.
“How would you know that?” she demanded.
“I installed a GPS app in your phone,” he replied sheepishly—but not nearly sheepishly enough.
“For my protection, right?” Lucy leapt to her feet, getting in his face. “That’s how you just happened to bump into me in Central Park!” Exactly like her parents! Hiss. Her rage approached a boil. “I am so tired of other people deciding who and what to protect me from!” The full-throttle freak-out she’d restrained last night came roaring to life.
“You do need to be protected from the Order of Sophia, Lucy.” Ravi gripped her shoulders, both of them breathing hard. “You still don’t understand.”
“I understand you’re a bona fide stalker,” she said. “You put me in virtual handcuffs!”
Instantly, he released her. He stepped back.
“I’m sorry, Lucinda. Truly I am, but—”
“But what, Ravi?”
From low in his throat, he told her, “The Sophists murdered my parents.”
Lucy blinked. “Oh, Ravi. I…” She placed a hand on his shoulder and pain came off him in waves. His shield was cracking. She felt it bleeding through his natural frequency. Pain like Lucy had never experienced.
“Why didn’t Professor T say anything?” she said in a hush.
“It’s my story to tell.” Ravi squinted into the mid-distance. “They’re ruthless. Powerful. Connected.” Far beyond what Lucy could have conceived.
The Order of Sophia was behind the fire in his parents’ lab. It made sense. They wanted to stop the research into the lightning gene. They’d been prepared to kill people to achieve their aims. And they’d gotten away with it.
“If something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” he told her.
Softly, she said, “I’m not your responsibility, Ravi.”
He exhaled a hard breath. “I don’t want to lose anyone else I care about.” His gaze skimmed her face, lingering on her lips, then dropped to the ground.
She was still angry about him tracking her without permission, but the fact that he was putting himself in the cross hairs of the people who killed his family for her sake …
“I care about you too,” Lucy admitted.
The pain emanating from Ravi dissipated but he said nothing. He’d probably already said too much. The wind rustled the leaves. His breathing steadied.
Lucy spoke first. “The mugger in Central Park—you think that was them?” There was a quaver to her question.
He lifted his eyes, and she pretended not to notice that they were watery.
“I don’t know,” Ravi said. He frowned. “It doesn’t seem like their MO.”
“They’re more ‘annihilate first, ask questions later’?” Lucy said, keeping her voice breezy.
“That’s not funny.”
Maybe not. But if she didn’t laugh, she would cry. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Ravi, I lied to you about what was stolen from my bag,” Lucy said, deciding she owed him at least this much honesty. “I didn’t think it mattered at the time … it was something I took from Tesla’s lab. A bronze egg. I wasn’t lying about that.”
“What does it do?” he asked calmly. Too calmly.
“I can’t say with absolute certainty. But I conducted a few experiments, and…” She chewed her lips guiltily, then met his stare. “It amplifies my powers. I think it might have been what Tesla used.”
“Bloody hell, Lucy.”
She looked away. “I’m sorry.”
Ravi snaked his fingers through her curls, drawing her closer. Not the reaction she’d anticipated. “We’ll sort this,” he promised. “We will.”
He rested his forehead against hers and Lucy closed her eyes, seeing a red dawn in her mind. Sailors take warning.
Slipping her arms around his waist, she hugged Ravi back. For this stolen moment, nothing existed but the warmth between them. Heartbeats and breath and heat.
Tomorrow, she would get back to training. Tomorrow, she would deal with Cole. Not right now.
Right now, Lucy just wanted to be held.