When students cluster around the bench to wait for the bus, I ease farther to the side so I’m still clearly visible to anyoneleaving the school. I overhear snickers and hushed remarks about the “shiner,” but no one speaks to me.
Maybe today is going to be another dud.
I swallow the sense of despair rising from my chest. If I get nothing now, I’ll set myself up at the opposite corner tomorrow. There’s got to besomethingabout this place.
Unless Other Elodie’s DVB has a totally different meaning and I’m wandering down the wrong track.
That thought has just passed through my head when a short, stocky girl with thick brown hair strides by. Her hand dips beneath the neckline of her sweatshirt in a furtive motion.
For just a second, a necklace tucked beneath flashes into view: a glint of gold and a cluster of emeralds like teardrops.
Recognition jolts through me, flavored with enough disbelief that my legs freeze for a few beats of my heart before I propel myself into motion.
The girl has dropped the necklace back beneath her shirt. I hustle after her, doing my best not to look like I’m hustling.
It’s only when we’ve gotten a few blocks from the school that I feel comfortable closing the distance between us. I aim for a friendly tone. “Hey! Can I talk to you for a second?”
The girl was already tensing at my approaching footsteps. My voice makes her flinch. She shoots a glance over her shoulder at me as if confirming I’m talking to her.
I paste on a smile. “Sorry to bother you.”
She slows to a halt but only turns halfway around. Looking at her close up, I think she’s only thirteen or fourteen, her face holding a lingering childish softness around the jaw.
She digs her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “What do you want?”
In my haste, I didn’t think through the fact that I need a good excuse to talk to her. At least, an excuseshe’dthink is good.
I grope for an answer. “I, uh, noticed your necklace. It’s really pretty. I was hoping to get a better look at it so I can figure out where to get one like it.”
I feel like that’s a decent effort, but the girl’s stance goes even more rigid. Her hand snaps to her upper chest, resting against the necklace through her sweatshirt. “I didn’t steal it. You can’t take it back.”
Interesting response. I summon as gentle a tone as possible. “I didn’t think you did, and I wasn’t going to try to. I promise I only want to see it.”
With a guilty twist of my gut, I pitch a tendril of soothing ephemera toward her as well. It’s a simple strategy Uncle Nik taught me to use if I got hassled on my missions.“Just a little grease to smooth your way through.”
The technique encourages people to see you as more trustworthy. Using it makes me feel the opposite of that, but the thought of letting this lead slip through my fingers horrifies me much more.
The effect works fastest on drabs, but an inexperienced lucent won’t have much defense against it either.
The girl blinks, and her stance loosens. “Oh... All right. I guess it’s okay.”
With an expression as if she’s not completely sure why she’s doing this, she fishes the necklace out. As the full band comes into view, my chest clenches.
It looks exactly like the necklace Aunt Daphne pointed out to me—the one she suggested I wear with my dress for the Blossom-Bounty social, that Other Elodie had on in the family photo.
What are the chances of a Beacon Prep student having a jewelry that expensive at all, let alone the exact same piece?
“Wheredidyou get it?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice subdued.
“I... It’s a weird story.” The girl’s gaze darts away from me, scanning the street, before returning to my face. She shoves the necklace back into hiding, her eyes narrowing. “You probably wouldn’t believe me.”
Well, I do believe that she didn’t steal it. I can’t imagine a girl who hasn’t even graduated yet managed to get past whatever magical security is on the Devine home.
No, the obvious answer is that Other Elodie gave it to her. As payment for something? But the girl doesn’t seem to recognize me.
I venture a foray into uncertain territory. “I’m guessing... someone offered it to you. A friend of mine used to have a necklace like that. That’s why it caught my eye. But she was very generous with her things. Maybe she passed it on to you?”
Was my doppelganger disguised when she did, like I’ve been when going into The Eclipse? That could explain why no one’s recognized me in my natural state around Beacon Prep.
