“Weren’t you listening to me? You know I don’t. That kid’s been drowning his whole life, and we just threw him a rope. Whether he grabs it or pulls us under with him...” He shrugged. “That’s the gamble we’re taking.”
“That about sums it up.”
He looked at me, and something in his eyes made my breath catch. “Someone threw me a rope once, too. I grabbed it. Changed everything.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about Forza. Wasn’t talking about demon hunting or training or even the demon that had been shoved inside him. He was talking about me. What I’d meant to him. And, I knew, what I still did.
“Get some rest,” I said, because I didn’t trust myself to say anything else. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
He nodded, and I watched him walk out of the library, and I thought about ropes and drowning and all the ways we save each other without meaning to.
20
KATE
Eddie followed me down the hall. “I’m still not sure,” he said, his voice low. “But you’re the headmistress. It’s your call.”
“Damn right it is,” I said, making him grin.
“Careful girlie. I’ll think you’re starting to get a big head.”
I grimaced. “Hardly. All I accomplished this morning was giving a lost boy some hope—and probably terrifying the students, too. I still have a portal that probably goes straight to hell in my basement.”
He snorted. “Always the glass half-empty. You’re starting to sound like me.”
I paused, then tilted my head as I looked at him, that curmudgeonly face on a man who cared more than he wanted anyone to know. “Yeah, well, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
The tiniest, microscopic hint of a smile touched his lips. “See you at dinner.”
“Deal,” I said. “Unless that portal eats us first.”
I heard his soft chuckle as he walked away...and hoped that my snappy comeback had been a joke and not a premonition.
I stood there for a moment, letting the silence settle. The old mansion creaked around me, its bones shifting. Somewhere upstairs, I could hear the muffled sounds of the students—voices, footsteps, the ordinary noises of young people trying to pretend their world hadn’t just tilted sideways.
Something caught my eye, and I saw that Stuart was standing at the end of the hallway, near the stairs. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t calling out to me. Just standing there, watching. When our eyes met, he raised one hand to gesture me over. I set off toward him, but the closer I got, the slower I wanted to move—and the tighter my chest became.
“Hey,” I said.
“I heard about what you did in there. That was the right call for that boy.”
“Is that the attorney or the oracle talking?”
“The father,” he said. “So long as they can earn it, the saying’s true.”
“Saying?”
He shrugged. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
He nodded. “I do. You deserve one as well. So do I.”
I noted the fact that he didn’t say thatwedeserved one. But all I said was, “What do you mean?”
He didn’t answer at once, and as something in my chest went cold, I looked at him. Really looked at him. I’d watched this man for years. Playing with Timmy, hanging with Allie, helping me cook, which is something I need a lot of.
I’d watched him do yard work one day and give a campaign speech the next. I’d seen him put on a hard hat and dive into renovations on this incredible mansion.
