We sat cross-legged in the middle of our dorm room, our voices hushed. Excitement sizzled and popped inside of me.
“Except me. If you want this to work, you keep your mouth shut. You keep your nose to the ground. You are normal. You are aboveboard in all other things.” Rose clenched her hands into fists on her knees.
“Why me? Why are you trusting me like this?” I didn’t get why a girl who had built herself this top secret world had decided to let me in.
Rose didn’t answer me immediately. The noises from the hallway seemed far away.
“Because my instincts about people are never wrong. I’m not wrong about you.”
Rose gripped my hand in hers, so hard it hurt. “Don’t ever let me regret it.”
—
“I haven’t told anyone. I haven’t done anything wrong,” I protested.
I hated having to defend myself to her. To anyone.
I wasn’t some dumb kid who needed supervision. I had come a long way from that naive girl Rose had helped to mold.
What she was suggesting was ludicrous. It made absolutely no sense. I was always careful. No one could find me unless I wanted them to.
“You’re mistaken,” I said dismissively. But I felt panic. It blossomed in my gut even as I tried to tamp it down.
“I know what I saw. Don’t speak to me like I’m an idiot,” she snarled.
“What you’re saying is impossible,” I argued.
“Is it?”
Rose sounded sure. Too sure.
There was only one connection between my two worlds.
“Who haveyoubeen talking to?” I demanded, my voice icy hard.
I heard Rose’s quick intake of breath. “You thinkIwould say something?”
“There’s no other way—”
“There’s a hundred other ways if someone is smart enough,” she snapped.
“I don’t have time for this crap,” I muttered, concerned in spite of myself.
How was this possible?
I had been so careful.
Painstakingly so.
I started to doubt. There wasn’t room for questions. For second-guessing.
But…
If someone knew my name, then others could find out as well.
Hewould find me.
Mason.
