She’s chasing a piece of folded, paint-splattered paper that’s scuttling ferret-like across the Persian rug. Another magical experiment that’s gotten away from her, no doubt.
All three of our parents look at her. Pa lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Hannah! This isn’t the right time for goofing around.”
“I know,” Hannah calls over her shoulder as she sprints onward into the family room. “I didn’t mean—it was only supposed to take a minute—I’m sorry.”
Our parents exchange a glance of knit brows and tensed mouths. They were hoping Hannah would outgrow her scattered, artsy nature by the time she hit ten. It’s been three years after that, and not so much, so far.
“Maybe we should leave her at home again?” Mom murmurs to Dad.
His frown deepens. “We don’t want people to get the impression we’re hiding her. That’ll raise more questions. I’m sure she can handle herself… decently once we’re there. No one will pay her that much mind.”
Because they’ll have my parents, my Worth grandparents, andmeto focus on.
I’m the heir to the Worth name. I’m the one they’re counting on.
I swallow down my protest. “What time do we need to leave?”
Mom answers without needing to look at a clock. Her organization-oriented glim means she always knows exactly what time it is. “You’ve got half an hour. The gala starts at six, but it’s an hour’s drive.”
“I’ll be ready.”
I stride up the stairs as if I always intended to. As I reach the second floor, the padding of Hannah’s footsteps below reaches my ears.
I dawdle just long enough for her to catch up. She hurries onto the landing, her dark hands with their finger-bitten nails clutched around the colorful paper.
“It would have beenamazingif it’d worked like it was supposed to,” she informs me, lifting her chin. “Dad always says we should be ambitious. I’m simply extending myself.”
I give her shoulder a quick squeeze, the pang that resonates through my chest stirring up more twitches of agitation. “I don’t think he meant right before one of their galas. Show me whatyou were aiming for after we get back, and maybe I can help you sort out the rest.”
The flash of her smile soothes the pang but not the awful jangling sensation that’s been building beneath my skin. The second she’s moved on, I hurry into my bedroom.
One of the staff has laid out the pieces of my tux on my four-poster bed. I walk straight past it to one of my bookcases.
Every volume, alphabetical by author last name, stands with its spine perfectly aligned with all the others along each shelf. My hand reaches for the first book in one row.
Slide it just a smidge out, then back into place. Confirm it’s exactly where it should be.
And the next. And the next. And the next. All of them exactly in order.
Nothing can bethatwrong if everything’s where it should be.
Gradually, the compulsion fades, taking the worst of my edginess with it. I keep going to the end of the shelf, until my mind feels totally clear. Then I step away and get on with making myself look gala-presentable.
As I shed my school uniform, I can’t stop my thoughts from drifting back to Elodie. It was her fault I got so agitated.
Not just her muttered comment after we finished our work. There’s been something about her this week… Nothing I can explain, just a vibe that keeps niggling at me every time she’s nearby.
She seemed offended by Professor Raith’s comments this morning, when normally she’d have merely rolled her eyes if he criticized her. She was blunter with me than I’d have expected when it came to working out our approach for the practicum assignment.
And what the hell was going on with her when she rushed off after class? When I first saw her, it looked almost like she was… crying.
The way she told me off afterward was pure Elodie Devine, though.
Why did I follow her? Idiotic.
There was just something so… unsettling about the way she dashed off.
I shake myself and finish buttoning up the formal shirt before looping the bowtie around my neck. I shouldn’t bother even thinking about her. The Devines are going to do what they do, and we Worths have to keep proving we’re every bit their equals.
