Adversity (13 page)

Except run.

Amelia

“
Wanna sit with us today?”

I looked
around in surprise. Perdita hadn’t come back to school since her
dad’s accident, and Nathan was off, making things up with her. I
should have been happy for them to be back together, but I was left
alone again. I deserved that, for relying on them so much. But I
was lonely, so I nodded at Ger and said yes without
thinking.

“
Cool. Follow us over then.”

Ger
turned on her heel and strolled across the room as though she
hadn’t a care in the world. She joined a couple of kids that I
vaguely remembered seeing in a couple of my classes. Again, I
couldn’t remember all of their names, but they nodded politely at
me as I took an empty seat next to Ger. I felt as though I was
reliving my first day all over again.

I was
sick of thinking about my dreams and how everyone else in my life
could stand up for what they believed in, while I cowered in the
corner. Even Kali, during a time when she had precious little say
in her life, had defended herself against evil and searched for
happiness. Nathan had gone against the entire pack, and the alpha
power, to make his way back to Perdita.

“
Don’t you hang around with some fifth years?” a boy with
shockingly curly, black hair asked me. His eyes were wide with
innocence, but my anger rose, nonetheless, and I wasn’t sure why. A
trickle of sweat rolled down my back as they all stared at me,
waiting for an answer. It was only then that I realised people were
as interested in me as they were in Nathan. In such a small
location, new people were the hot topic. We would likely be the new
kids the entire time we attended the school.

Suppressing a sigh, I nodded. “My brother and his girlfriend.
Mostly.”

“
I heard Aaron Hannigan asked you out,” said a petite girl with
short, brown hair.

“
Nah,” I made a face. “He tries to irritate my brother is
all.”

“
We saw your brother box the living daylights out of Aaron,”
she said with a grin. “Best. Day. Ever.”

I looked away, embarrassed. Nathan’s wild behaviour that day
had horrified me because my own temper kept trying to reveal itself
for little reason. That morning, I had snapped at some boy for
tipping off my arm. He had backed away in alarm, and something
inside me felt pride at his action. It felt
right
to assert myself over him and
to win
.

“
Where are you from again?” Ger asked and smiled reassuringly
at me, and I tried to feel comfortable. Questions didn’t bother me
as much as my fear of blurting out something important but very
private.

“
All over,” I said, shrugging. “Spent most of the last few
years in England, so I suppose I consider myself English really.
Doesn’t really matter to me.”

“
That’s so cool,” the brown-haired girl said breathily. I
exchanged a bemused glance with Ger and had to bite my lip to stop
myself from laughing.

“
Sorry about your grandmother,” a quiet boy in the corner said.
Everyone at the table seemed surprised that he spoke at all, and I
stared at him with interest. He had short, light-brown hair and the
palest grey eyes I had ever seen. Something about him reminded me
of my dreams, and my stomach flipped over a little. Maybe it was
because he was quiet when the others were excitable, a trait that
called Andriy to my mind. Not that I liked Andriy. Kali did. But
still.

The boy
held my gaze for a couple of seconds before leaving the table with
the rest of the boys. I watched him go.

“
That’s Connor. He’s kind of weird, so ignore him. I’m Julie by
the way. We have English together. And French. And, um, Geography,”
the brunette said.

“
I take Geography?”

The
others laughed, and I found myself relaxing a little. Connor had
interested me, and Ger seemed nice enough the few times I’d spoken
with her. Maybe I really had depended on Nathan and Perdita too
much. They didn’t have time for me anymore, and sticking with
normal kids might keep my mind off all the drama.

When Ger
invited me to the cinema that evening, my “yes” was given without
hesitation.

***

“
You going somewhere?”

I closed
the lid on my bottle of water and shoved it back in the fridge.
“Yep.”

“
Where? Who’s going with you?” Nathan demanded.

“
Do you actually care?” I cocked my head and studied my older
brother.

“
Of course I care! I think you should be more careful,
though.”

“
Why? What else could possibly happen? Someone might die?
Someone might hate me? Think we’ve covered all of those. This is
the bottom of the barrel, brother dearest. Don’t patronise me about
being careful—as if I’m anybody’s priority.”

Nathan
physically recoiled, and a small part of me warmed with power. I
liked warning off people or making them listen to me. I stalked
off, high on the adrenaline rush of standing up for myself, but the
tears came as soon as I slammed my bedroom door behind me. I took
deep calming breaths, wiped the smudging of my eyeliner clean, and
prepared to leave.

A soft
rap on the door made me pause. I knew it was Nathan, but I didn’t
feel like speaking to him. He belittled me as much as the rest of
our family, and I was beginning to have my fill. I knew he didn’t
mean it. I knew deep down he cared, but talking to him would
provoke the anger I could hardly contain anymore. I would go out
and have fun. And I would forget all about the damn
curse.

Nathan
was waiting outside my room when I left. I made a frustrated sound,
and he gave me an apologetic smile.

“
I’m sorry, okay?” he said. “I’m worried about you. These
dreams, the headaches… everything is all adding up to trouble, I
know it.”

“
That’s no reason to get bossy with me. I’m allowed to leave
the house.”

He
shrugged. “I know that. But maybe you shouldn’t be. Oh, don’t look
at me like that,” he added hurriedly. “I’m nervy because of what
happened today.”

“
What happened?” I couldn’t help myself. I pretended I didn’t
care, but I so did.

“
Perdita told me that the wolf came to her in the hospital. The
red male.”

“
What? Is she okay? Why didn’t anyone…?”

“
Relax. She’s fine. He turned up to talk to her to tell her
he’s been looking out for you and her.”

“
Looking out for… he attacked us!”

“
That’s what I said. But Perdita reckons we can trust him.” He
shrugged. “I don’t know what to do. He told Perdita that the alpha
Opa told
us
about
has his daughters, so he’s making him do all of this stuff. He’s on
our side, he claims.”

“
I don’t know about that.” My stomach squirmed. Why would
Perdita believe him? Then again, why would he risk speaking to her?
He could have killed her then. He had protected her from the other
wolf, but what if it was all a trick?

“
She wants me to meet him. Opa won’t be impressed.”

My mouth
gaped. “You’re not seriously thinking of going ahead with that, are
you? That’s insane.”

“
I can take care of myself,” he insisted, but his shoulders
sagged. “I don’t know. I’ve been acting… let’s say I need to make
it up to Perdita. I need to show her I have faith in
her.”

“
By risking your life? That’s ridiculous. Even for you
two.”

He held
out his hands. “You don’t understand. She really believes he’s
telling the truth.”

“
And what if she’s wrong, Nathan? What then?”

He looked
away. “Maybe you shouldn’t go out tonight.”

“
I’m going out. I’m not going to keep hiding. I’ll be with
people, and if you think this other wolf is actually protecting us,
then I’ll be fine. And you better not follow me. I swear
to—”

“
Relax. I won’t follow you. And if you’re really worried about
me meeting this other wolf, then I’ll ask Jeremy to back me
up.”

I stared
at him. “Fine.”

“
Fine.”

“
Good.” I walked off before he could change his mind.
Everything was getting screwier by the day. By the time I reached
town, my nerves were so on edge that they went into overload when I
saw the gang of giggling teenagers waiting outside the cinema. I
was about to turn back when Connor caught my eye and said something
to Ger. Ger turned around and jogged over to me, a grin on her
face.

“
Hey, we thought you might not show.”

“
Sorry I’m late. I had… stuff to do.”

“
Doesn’t matter. The show we got tickets for won’t start for
another hour. Here.” She pressed a ticket into my hand.

“
Oh, I’ll pay now,” I said, flustered.

“
Pay for me next time,” Ger said with a smile. “Means you’ll
have to show next time, so don’t forget.”

Unsure of
what to say, I obediently followed Ger back to the others. Ger
discreetly pushed me away from Julie and toward Connor, who took
one look at me before turning away. Confused, I glanced at Ger who
was pointedly looking the other way. Great, more weirdness. The
whole point of going out was to get away from screwy
behaviour.

We hung
around an arcade for the next half hour, and I consistently found
myself wedged between Ger and Connor.

On the
way back to the cinema, Ger pulled me back, allowing Julie to
basically slobber all over Connor.

“
You sit next to Connor in the pictures, okay?”

“
Erm, why?”

“
I think he wants to meet you. That’s why!”

“
Meet me? What are you on about? We met at school.”

Ger giggled loudly. “Not that kind of meet.
Meet
,
meet.”

I stared
at Ger blankly, finding every hour more confusing than the
last.

“
You know.
Meet
. Oh, God. What’s that horrible word you lot use? Snog? Yeah,
that. We say meet. You say snog. Whatever. A proper
kiss.”

I covered
my mouth to hide my smile. “How do you know that? And what, I’m
supposed to snog him in front of everyone? Erm, no
thanks!”

“
Oh, so the only problem is doing it in public?” Ger winked at
me knowingly.

“
I think Julie likes him.” I nodded ahead at Connor and
Julie.

“
She had her chance last year. She met Martin behind Connor’s
back. He doesn’t forgive people very easily.” She shrugged as if it
didn’t mean much, but so many people in my life didn’t forgive
easily that I couldn’t help seeing it as negative.

“
Yeah, well, I’m not interested,” I said a little too loudly,
hurrying on in front of the others. I was pretty sure Connor heard
me, but he didn’t say anything. I could only assume he didn’t care
at all.

Not that
I cared. After all, I had more important things to worry about.
Such as killer werewolves and the fact that my entire family seemed
to hate me, yet I knew my cousin was stalking me from a distance to
keep me safe because my brother made him. Oh yeah, my mistakes
helped get my grandmother killed. Plenty more important things to
worry about.

I
fidgeted with the charm bracelet hanging on my wrist, which seemed
slimmer. I hadn’t been eating enough, but I hadn’t really had much
of an appetite. After my conversation with Ger, I’d been hiding my
weight loss under baggy clothes. I would deal with that problem
some other time.

Despite everything I’d said, Ger made sure I sat between her
and Connor in the cinema. Okay, so maybe I cared a little.
Maybe
I even used my
family stuff to avoid the scary but normal stuff that everyone else
had to deal with. Perhaps Connor would be the person to take my
mind off the werewolf crap. Both nervous and excited, I waited for
him to say something, but he didn’t. He didn’t look at me at all,
and perhaps that was for the best.

But part
of me longed for something similar to the companionship my brother
and his girlfriend had together. For the history Tammie and Joey
had built. For the love Kali and Andriy shared, in my dreams. Even
though I knew their love was forbidden, I longed to at least
experience love like they did.

The
dreams were becoming more troubling. As the gypsy girl in the
dreams, I was growing fonder of Andriy all of the time, and those
feelings were spilling over into real life. That was probably why
Connor attracted my attention in the first place. His almost Slavic
eyes reminded me of Andriy, the forbidden man.

Was Kali
attracted to him because she couldn’t have him, because she was
smothered by rules? Did she hope, instead, that he would free her?
I couldn’t forget the things she had said about curses and
werewolves. She was a curse-maker, but she would be the mother of
werewolves. How did that fit? It was a dream, I reminded
myself.