He walked out of the closet then, still shirtless, and barefoot, but now wearing black trousers. He shoved his arm into a long-sleeved shirt as I watched, pulling it around his back and shrugging it onto his shoulders without taking his eyes off mine.
“No,” he said coldly.
My hands curled into fists. “Why in the gods not?”
“I’ve told you why,” he growled. “Repeatedly. If you want to kill yourself, Shadow, you’re going to have to do it without my help.”
“But I can actually be of someuseto you with this!”
He laughed, not bothering to hide his derision, which probably should have offended me, but mostly just aggravated me.
“Ican,though,” I retorted. “I can finally actually help you with this. I’ve been invited by Forsooth to attend some secret meeting of his. He’s already told me they’re looking into the disappearances of humans and Magicals, and now they’re looking into what happened to Alaric. He strongly implied he could answer a lot of my questions if I went.”
Bones froze where he’d been buttoning up the front of his shirt.
He stared at me, his pale eyes sharper after the shower.
“What?” he asked. “When was this?”
“Last night. At the party.”
“You’ve been tapped for The Golden Sun?” he asked, disbelieving.
I blinked at him, then frowned. “You knew Forsooth was doing this? That he had some secret group working against Dark Cathedral?”
He didn’t answer, but a shrewder look rose to his eyes. “Did he saywhyhe wanted you there?” he demanded. “Did he actually offer you a spot in their group?”
“No.” I thought about that, and amended my words. “Well, I guess hesortof did, but he mostly invited me to a meeting, at least to start out. He didn’t name it. Hedidsay he’d intended to invite me to join them eventually, but the Alaric thing made him do it sooner than he’d originally planned.”
I frowned, a little disconcerted by the intensity I saw in Bones’s eyes. I’d known I was taking a risk, mentioning this, but Forsooth specifically told me I could talk to Bones. I was still a little taken back by just how effective it had been, even bringing it up.
“Am I supposed to know who they are?” I asked. “Is Golden Sun well known?”
“I wouldn’t say that, no. I can give you books,” he said, in an almost bizarre mirroring of what Forsooth had said. “When is their next meeting?”
“He didn’t say. They get together every few weeks. Tuesdays, usually.”
“But you’re planning on going? On joining them?”
I hesitated, watching his eyes bore into mine. “I mean, without having attended anything, or really knowing anything about it specifically… probably? If they’re what Forsooth implied, why wouldn’t I join, whether you want to help me or not? I’d absolutely intended on going to that first meeting. I’d go for Alaric, if nothing else.”
Bones’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t seem surprised by my answer.
As if he heard me, he rolled his eyes.
“Are you saying I shouldn’t join?” I asked. “Is that what the eye roll meant?”
“No,” he said, a touch coldly. “It meantof course.Of course you’d join. Why would you pass upanyopportunity to put yourself in mortal danger?”
“Of course I’d want to be part of an organization that’s doing exactly what Alaric and I tried to do all summer, only with real resources behind it?” I retorted back. “Of course I’d takeanyopportunity to try and help my friend? Yes. That shouldn’t surprise you, Bones. I’ve told you, I’m doing this, with or without you. I don’t get the option to ignore a group that kidnaps my friends and wants me dead. I have my doubts you do, either, frankly.”
Bones only nodded to that, his expression closed.
He stood there for a few seconds without moving, staring down at the carpet and the stone floor. Then, as if shakinghimself back to the room, he frowned. He glanced at me as he finished doing up the last few fasteners on his shirt, then adjusted his collar.
“All right,” he said.
Despite the surety of his tone, I saw conflict in his eyes, mixed with an intensity I couldn’t easily identify. He looked at me in something like resignation, mixed with a determination I didn’t fully understand, either.
