Prodigium too?"
For a moment we held each other's gaze. At first I thought he was pissed at me, but then I realized the look in his eyes wasn't anger. It was more like he was . . . I don't know . . . studying me or something.
I felt a weird sort of heat travel from my stomach to my cheeks. I don't know if he noticed it, but he smiled at me, a real smile this time, and I actually felt my breath hitch in my chest. It was the same feeling I'd had in the fourth grade when Suzie Strelzyck dared me to touch the bottom of the pool at the YMCA. I'd done it, but kicking back up to the surface, my chest had felt like it was caught in a trash compactor, and I was light-headed by the time I'd broken through the water.
That's how I felt now, staring up into Archer Cross's eyes.
He walked down the two steps between us until he was on the same stair as me. I still had to look up at him, but at least it didn't make my neck hurt. He leaned in close, and I caught that clean soapy smell.
"I wouldn't say that kind of thing around here if I were you, Mercer," he whispered. I could feel his breath warm against my cheek, and although I wouldn't swear to it, I think my eyes may have fluttered.
But just a little.
As I watched him lope up the stairs, I gritted my teeth and repeated a mantra in my head:
I will not have a crush on Archer Cross, I will not have a crush on
Archer Cross, I will not . . .
When I got back to my room, Jenna was sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading a book.
I heaved a sigh and leaned against the door, pushing it shut with a loud click.
"What's wrong? The Moving Picture Show get to you?" Jenna asked without looking up.
"No. I mean, yeah, of course. That stuff was messed up."
"Mm-hmm," Jenna agreed. "Anything else?"
"I have a crush on Archer Cross."
Jenna laughed. "How original of you."
I flopped down on my bed. "Why?" I moaned into my pillow. I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Okay, so he's cute. Big deal. Lots of guys are cute."
Clearly my whining about a boy I liked was interfering with Jenna's reading, because she uncrossed her legs and came to perch on the edge of her desk. "Archer's not cute," she amended. "Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. I'm cute. Archer Cross is smokin' hot. And I'm not even into guys."
Okay, so Jenna was not going to be much assistance in squashing the crush. "He's a jerk," I pointed out. "Remember the whole werewolf thing this morning?"
"Yeah," Jenna said drily. "Saving you from a were-wolf. What a tool."
I groaned. "You're not helping."
"Sorry."
We sat in silence for a moment, me looking at a suspicious mildew stain on the ceiling, Jenna leaning back on her elbows, drumming her feet against the desk drawers. Outside, I could hear howling. It was a full moon, so the shifters got free run of the grounds. I wondered if Taylor was out there.
"Ooh!" Jenna said suddenly, sitting up so fast she knocked over her cup of pens. "He has a total bitch for a girlfriend!"
"Yes!" I said, sitting up and pointing at her. "Thank you! Evil girlfriend who already hates me, no less. And any guy who willingly spends time with Elodie is not a guy worth liking."
"Too true," Jenna said with an emphatic nod.
Feeling better, I rolled onto my stomach to grab a book from beside the bed. "It's weird, though," Jenna said.
"What is?"
"Archer and Elodie. She was after him all last year, but he never wanted anything to do with her. Like, ever. Then he came back from wherever he was, and bam! Suddenly they're a couple. It's weird."
"Not that weird," I countered. "I mean, she's incredibly beautiful.
Maybe hormones finally got the best of him."
"Maybe," Jenna said, resting her chin in her hand. "But still. Archer is smart and funny in addition to being hot. Elodie is stupid and dull."
"And hot," I added. "And even smart boys are dumb when it comes to hot girls."
"True," Jenna agreed.
I was about to bring up the subject of Holly again when Casnoff's voice drifted through the room, almost like she was on a PA system. I guessed it was some sort of voice amplification spell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in light of tomorrow's busy schedule, you are expected to retire early tonight. Lights out in ten minutes."
I glanced at my watch. "It's eight o'clock," I said incredulously. "She wants us to go to bed at eight o'clock?"
Sighing, Jenna went to her closet and pulled out her pajamas.
"Welcome to life at Hecate, Sophie."
There was a mad rush for the bathroom to brush teeth, but it was all shifters and witches. I guess faeries have naturally clean teeth. Once I made it back from that, I only had three minutes left to put on my pajamas and dive into bed. At 8:10 exactly, the lights blinked out.
My mind was whirling, and I didn't know how I was ever going to get to sleep. "Is it weird for you," I asked Jenna, "going to bed at night? I mean, aren't vampires supposed to sleep during the day?"
"Yeah," she replied. "But as long as I'm here, I have to follow
Hecate's schedule. It's gonna be a bitch once I get to leave."
I didn't ask Jenna when she would get to leave. Everybody else was released from Hecate at eighteen, but the rest of us aged like humans. Jenna would always be fifteen.
I settled into my bed and tried to think sleepy thoughts. It seemed like
I had just closed my eyes when I heard the door creak open.
Panicked, I sat up, heart pounding. The clock by my bed said it was a few minutes after midnight.
A dark figure slid into the room.