“No!You’re—”
“Freaks?”Kimmie asked quietly from beside the door.
Lee had his mouth open, halfway through his comment, but at that, he shut it.And just stood there, staring at her.And at the tears welling up in her eyes.
“How long have you been following us?”Chayton asked, looking between the girls.
“Long enough!”Sophie snarled.“And in these tunnels, sounds carry!”
“Look,” Lee said, and then he just stood there, as if he did not have any words to follow it.
“Is that really what you think?”Kimmie asked, moving forward.Her hair was in a smooth chignon today, making her look older than her years, but the expression in her eyes was that of a lost child.Or a betrayed one.
“No, I mean,” Lee looked around, but the other boys were avoiding his gaze.“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?”Kimmie’s voice was soft, not accusatory like Sophie’s, but she was clearly hurt and wanted an explanation.
“It’s just… you’re not Weres—”
“I am,” Sophie said.“Oh, but I’m a freaky sort of Were, so it doesn’t count, right?God!”she looked disgusted.“You’re as bad as Arnou—”
“That’s bullshit!”
“Is it?”Her hair was a red halo in the lamplight, but her expression was far less angelic.“Sounds the same to me.Those bastards don’t give a shit about us, or anyone who isn’t High Clan with a lineage going back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.And I have news for you: you don’t qualify.”
“I know that!”
“Uh-huh.But you want to, don’t you?”She got even closer.“If you’d been High Born, you’d be just like them, looking down your aristocratic nose at all of us, and drawing back when we pass, so our stench doesn’t accidentally cling to you—”
“Shut up!”
“—and let people know you had anything to do with such scum.”
“You’re not scum,” Andy said.
“Tellhim.”
“I did,” Jace said.“I’ve been telling them all—”
“Yeah, you’re so perfect!”Lee snarled.“You’re the one who ran away in the first place and got us all in trouble!”
“Hey!”Chayton said.
“It’s true!”
“It is true,” Jace agreed.“But not ‘cause I wanted to be more normal.I wanted to be more freaky.Strong, like you.Able to protect instead of being protected all the time.”He looked around.“If there’s any more of that freak potion, I’ll down it right now.”
“It’s not a freak potion,” Lee said.“It just reveals our true nature—”
“Tell it to the clans,” Sophie snapped.
“Hey!What are youdoing?”Andy asked, alarmed, as Jen suddenly grabbed the corpse by the eye holes, and sank her fingers in knuckle deep.
“Trying something.”
“Shit!”Chayton said.“Shit, shit, shit!”
“Relax,” Sophie said, although she looked slightly green.“She’s just trying to see if any brain activity survives.Sometimes, necros can pull memories even out of dead brains if they’re—”
