Interactions with him were confusing. He’d been short at the Blacklight, couldn’t get away fast enough after my trial, and apparently didn’t care to tell me anything personal, as I’d had to find out from Belinda that he was a Seven. Yet sometimes, like now, his eyes were ringed with concern, words were on the tip of his tongue, and he looked at me like it was all an act. It was infuriating.
“What do you want, Leland? Why are you here?”
I turned away from him and eyed the plate on my desk. There was plenty of food, but nothing to eat it with, so I held a hand out, waiting for Leland to put a set of utensils in it. Then I sat down at the desk, pushing the second rolling chair toward him so he could sit. At a distance. With my back turned.
I stabbed a bite of cold chicken and said again, “Why are you here?”
“I’mhere” — I heard the wheels of his chair roll and pictured him sinking back, stretching an arm behind his head in a relaxed position — “to ask what you’re still doing in Everden.”
“How nice of you.” After the discomfort in my chest went away, I had to smile at my sarcasm. Joking wasn’t something I did. I couldn’t. Because people believed what I said.I hate you, for instance. When I was a kid, I hit a few people pretty hard with that one, before I learned to keep my phrasing safe and literal. Not with Leland though. With Leland it was different. With Leland, I could say anything.
There was a dull sound, like his hand dropped to the armrest, and maybe he leaned forward a little.
“You want to go home,” he said. “The human realm is safer for you. They gave you what you wanted, but you chose Everden. Why would you do that to yourself?”
“Well.” I set my fork on my desk, thinking about how to answer as I turned to him. He was sitting exactly how I’d pictured, gracefully occupying the chair. “Skye has encouraged me to figure out what’s going on with Helen.” I dragged my eyes to his. “And you were also a factor.”
“Explain.”
“You made a Dark Deal with Jaxan. I figured that came with a Death Bond. Why would I want to go home if it’s going to kill someone you care about?”
“What do you mean, someone I care about?”
“Isn’t that the rule? You can’t put a Death Bond on an Unselected witch? You were five when you made the Deal.”
“Ember.” His eyes closed for a long second, and then he opened them again slowly. “Don’t do that. Don’t make decisions because of me.”
“I didn’t,” I said. “Not completely. I made it for both of us.I . . .” I sighed. “I don’t need the guilt.” The nightmares that started after Dad’s accident were bad enough.
“You aren’t safe here.”
“I have a way out,” I said, shoving down the memory of Helen eagerly lifting her pointer finger. “Three strikes, remember? When I’m ready to go home, I’ll call Farrah Prolix, sayGod God God, and be gone.”
“That would be the worst thing you could do.”
“Fine. Then I’ll steal three magazines with your face on them.”
“Do you plan on burning them?”
“I don’t,” I said, because I couldn’t. “I plan on donating them to the second-year victims of your Disintegrating spell.”
His face pointed up at the stone ceiling, and he shook his head, his fingers pensively tapping. “I have to go plan lessons,” he said, pushing up from his chair.
Lessonsdidn’t start for weeks, but I wasn’t going to argue with him.
“Bring your plate to the cafeteria when you’re done,” said Leland. “Dishes Vanish from the tables. Doesn’t matter which one.”
The cuffs were clearly working because there was no longer an overwhelming need to peel my skin off and scream at random intervals. Still, there was an urge to keep him close to me every time he threatened to leave. He reached for the door, and I remembered . . .
“Leland?”
Reluctantly, he turned.
“Skye doesn’t want to be my backup handler. She wants to be a water Elemental. So whatever arrangement you two made, please release her from it.”
He looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression, then said, “There’s no arrangement, Ember. Skye just wants to be your friend.”
“What? Why would — ”
