I stopped. “You.”
“Marcella Gibbons,” she said slowly, rolling my name around in her mouth like a curse. “The bitch that set me on fire.”
“Not you. Your car,” I said weakly. A sharp tack of pain hit me. I hadn’t seen her in years, not since I’d left town. Not since my catastrophic meltdown … in which Luce Montgomery had had a starring role.
The scent of burning rubber still wafted in my nose whenever I least expected it. The frightened look in her eyes as her fingers scrabbled to open her car door that I’d … that I’d what? I always seemed to block this part out. That day, rage had bubbled over until I saw black, pushed to my limit by seeing her in her polka-dotted bra in Max’s bed and Max stammering in the background. I could still hear her shrieks as her car lit up in flames, could see the horrified faces of everyone looking at me like I was some sort of animal.
“Uh huh.” Luce’s eyes trailed down my legs, squinting at my shoes, then back up again. “No surprise they put you on the council. Not like you deserved it. Just like you didn’t deserve the valedictorian spot.”
I guffawed. “I suppose you thought that extra half point in my GPA—what, appeared out of thin air? I beat you fair and square. Give up, you lost.”
“Oh, honey, don’t flatter yourself. I never lose.”
Luce brings out something immature and angry in me. We’d been fighting over everything there was to fight about since we met sophomore year in the Anthropology Department. Thankfully, she’d switched majors, but the seeds had been sown. Four years later, she made sure my life went up in flames before she walked out of it. Quite literally.
After it had happened, I’d tried apologizing dozens of times, but she never wanted to hear a word. I didn’t blame her. I could barely look at myself in the mirror afterward. Still, I had a sneaking suspicion she was the one who passed around the petition to get my seat on the council revoked, and the one who reported me to the Arbiters as well.
Now, she brushed a stray hair from her face with a single green finger, all fuzzy and mossy, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Another failed experiment?” I asked.
A shadow crossed her face, and she looked away. “Like them calling you here, to save the day?”
I snorted. “Well, I notice they didn’t call you to come in and fix it.”
“No, but Maritza asked if I knew any fungal properties that could help the scarring on Dani’s skin. I’ve been looking into it since I was going to be on campus anyway for a field study.” She picked at her nails, and the fuzzy green algae blooming under the polish. “Sounds like they’re not too confident in you and your little Disaster Twin.”
I hated it when she called us that, the Disaster Twins. But I suppose that’s why she continued doing it. “For the one millionth time, we are not twins. One hundred percent not related.”
I was surprised at the jab that went through my heart at the mention of her research. While I’d been gone, she had not only finished her PhD, but had traveled all over the world, making breakthroughs in her field left and right. And now she was teaching at S&B.
“How is that nice hunk of man meat, hmm? See all the girlies on campus swooning over him? I could’ve sworn this freshman was ready to drop her panties for him right then and there.”
“He’s not interested in that,” I clipped.
“Oh? And why not?”
“That’s not what I meant,” I stammered. Luce arched an eyebrow, mouth twisting like a cartoon Grinch’s. “I just meant, we’re working here, and whoever’s … panties he drops,” I choked out, “is no concern of mine.”
Luce grinned, her teeth so bright she could probably blind someone. “Sure, Cel. Whatever you say.”
“He’s got a girlfriend, anyway,” I muttered.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Quelle surprise! So he’s acquired a few brain cells after all and moved on from you. Honestly, I never thought he was going to get his balls back.” She slow-clapped, she actually slow-clapped. “Good for him.”
“Well, as illuminating as this conversation has been, I have to get going. I’m busy with the investigation and—”
“For sure, I totally get you! See you in the next council meeting.”
I stopped, and she watched as I digested the information, savoring her victory and the stupefied look on my face.
Luce put a hand to her chest, shocked. “Oh, you didn’t know? I’m on the council, too.”
She paused, waiting for the information to sink in, and I felt my knees almost buckle beneath me. The empty seat, Dr. Strauss’s empty seat … was now filled by Luce Montgomery.
“I just want you to know, Cella, that whatever direction you decide to take this investigation in … I will be behind youone hundred percent.” Luce was going to make my life hell, that was clear enough. She’d make this investigation even worse, block me every chance she got.
“See you in a few days.” She blew me a kiss and walked away, whistling.
