“Wait,” Annalise calls. I take my time turning around, afraid I’ll fall apart. She comes to stand in front of me, her brilliant red hair cascading over her shoulder, her green and brown eyes twinkling with a layer of tears.
“Be careful,” she whispers like a wish. But I’m panicking.
What if I never see her again?
When do I tell the other girls?
How could she do this to me?
Annalise leans in to press a soft kiss to my lips. I close my eyes, holding back my tears, as she rests her forehead against mine.
“Love you,” she whispers. I murmur that I love her too.
Unable to hold it together, I turn away and walk to the door with Sydney. At the last second, I look back.
“Promise I’ll see you later,” I tell Annalise. I feel Sydney look sideways at me, confused.
Annalise smiles, holding her hand up in a wave.
“Bye, girls,” she says.
“Bye,” Sydney responds, and opens the door. We walk out without the promise of ever seeing Annalise again.
Sydney and I order a car service, and as we ride to the address Lyle gave me, I stare out the window. I think about Annalise, reminded of one of our oldest memories together. Long before we were … us.
We were alone in the greenhouse on the property of Innovations Academy, the sun streaming through the glass, falling over my cheeks and warming them. It was a rare sunny day in the mountains.
“Do you know what I love?” Annalise said, her blond hair in a high bun since none of the professors were around to tell her how to wear it. Her gardening books were open on the small table.
“Should I guess?” I responded, making her laugh.
“This.” She walked over to caress a hanging flower. It was pretty, a soft delicate bell dangling on a wooden stem. “This is Angel’s Trumpet,” Annalise continued. “The best part? It’s toxic. Paralysis, memory lapses, death. Did you ever think something so pretty could be so dangerous?”
I studied the flower and then Annalise. “Probably not good for them to grow those so close to our food though, right?” I asked.
“Silly. They’re already in our food. But maybe one day Professor Penchant will accidentally take too much.” Annalise smiled and went back to reciting the names in her books.
And even then, even though I never spoke it out loud, I knew Annalise had designs on putting poison in the staff’s food, although she never got the chance.
She wanted to burn down the academy from the first day she woke up there. In a way, she was always awake. She just needed it confirmed.
“What’s wrong?” Sydney asks, startling me from my thoughts. I turn to her in the backseat of the car just as it pulls into a modest neighborhood not far from our apartment.
“Nothing,” I say, waving it off.
“Well, get focused,” she says, checking her reflection in her phone camera. “We’re going to have to be annoyingly charming.” She looks sideways. “Hopefully for the last time. Because I’ll tellyou what, no matter what we do next, I’m not attending school again.”
“Maybe we’ll give public school a shot next time,” I suggest.
The driver pulls up to Lyle’s house, and Sydney taps her phone screen to pay him. After climbing out of the backseat, we pause on the sidewalk and look at the house. There are only a few cars parked on the street, so it’s definitely not a huge party. Which is perfect.
I take out my phone and check for any missed calls. When I see there are none, I text Raven to let her know we’ve arrived. I click record on the phone, slide it into my clutch purse, and head toward the front door of Lyle’s house.
I knock, and there are voices on the other side of the door, a “Shhh … ,” and then it opens. Lyle smiles widely.
“You actually came,” he says, out of breath. “I figured …” He shakes his head, glancing back inside the house. “Well, I’m glad you’re both here.”
“Hi, Lyle,” Sydney says brightly.
