The Complete Private Collection: Private; Invitation Only; Untouchable; Confessions; Inner Circle; Legacy; Ambition; Revelation; Last Christmas; Paradise ... The Book of Spells; Ominous; Vengeance (241 page)

But apparently that was not the case. And it felt nice.

“So, your parents are meeting you in New York?” Noelle asked.

“And my brother, Scott,” I said, a thrill of anticipation running through me at the thought of actually being with my entire family at the same time. I only had one day before I had to be back at Easton for second term—not enough time to go all the way back to Pennsylvania. So my family had decided to drive out to New York, and Mr. Lange had offered to put them up in a hotel for a couple of nights so we could all
hang out. I had been hoping they could all meet, considering everything Noelle’s dad had done for me on the island, but he was on his way to California for some business meeting. It seemed like no one I knew was ever in the same place with their parents for very long.

“Mmmm. I finally get to meet Scott Brennan,” Noelle said, actually licking her top lip.

“Ew. No. I think you two should stay very far away from each other,” I said.

“Afraid I’ll eat him alive?” Noelle asked with a smirk.

“He’d puddle at your feet,” I replied.

“Fair enough.” She looked out the window and sighed. “I can’t wait to get back to Billings and get you moved into my room. One more term and I finally get that elusive diploma.”

For the first time in a long while, I found myself thinking about everything Noelle had been through in the past year. The trial after Thomas’s murder, getting expelled from Easton, being on probation. She was supposed to graduate last spring, but that hadn’t happened thanks to her punishment. Last fall, however, her father had found a way to get her back into Easton and she’d spent the last few months repeating the first half of her senior year. Now she was actually going to get to finish out her high school career and get on with her life. But she was going to be a year behind all her peers—behind Dash and Natasha Crenshaw and all the others. It must have been torture for a person like her, a girl who was always in charge and in the know, to be bringing up the rear for once.

And now she was so looking forward to getting back to Billings
when who knew what surprises might be waiting for us there? I couldn’t handle the idea of her not knowing, not being prepared for the fact that Billings might be threatened—again. I took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge.

“Noelle, Sawyer said something to me at brunch this morning about a conversation he overheard between your dad and his dad and someone on the phone.”

Noelle lifted her head and eyed me curiously. “About?”

“He said they kept mentioning Billings, and basically, it just sounded bad,” I told her, fiddling with the string on my hooded sweatshirt. “I think they might be talking about splitting us up again.”

Noelle laughed. “Uh, no. If that were happening, I’d know about it.”

“But I—”

“Reed, please,” she said, pushing her hair behind her shoulder. “Leave the heavy thinking to me. If there was anything going on with Billings, Daddy would have told me. End of story.”

I wanted to believe her. Normally I would. But I couldn’t get Sawyer’s words out of my mind.
“For the good of the school . . .”

“But your dad doesn’t know everything, does he?” I said, shifting in my seat. “It’s not like he’s on the board or anything.”

Noelle laughed openly, shaking her head as she reached for the
W
magazine on the table in front of her. “No. No board appointment for Daddy. He likes to work behind the scenes. Kind of like the great and powerful Oz.”

My brow knit as I looked at her. What did that mean? Did her father somehow have
more
power than the board? I had never even
seen him before this trip. As far as I knew, he hadn’t been to campus in the year and a half I’d been at Easton.

“But I—”

Suddenly Noelle snapped the just-opened magazine shut and looked up at me, her eyes bright. “I just had the most fabulous idea! You and your mother should join us at Bliss tomorrow!”

Okay. I guess we were changing the subject.

“Noelle, that’s really nice, but there’s no way we could afford—”

“Shut up. We’ll just put it on our tab,” Noelle replied. “Come on. You know you need to relax before school starts. And has your mother ever even
had
a massage?”

“Not that I know of,” I replied.

“A facial?” she asked.

“Definitely not,” I said with a laugh.

“Then you
must
come,” Noelle said. “Please?”

“What’ll my dad and Scott do?” I asked.

She ducked her chin. “Are you kidding? They’re going to be in New York for the first time. I’m sure there’s some kind of ball game they could go to or some famous pizza they’ll just
have
to eat.”

I cracked up laughing. It was like she knew them. “Okay, okay. We’re in.”

“Good. I’ll book it right now.”

She pulled her iPhone out of her bag and started to scroll through the address book. I sat back and looked out the window again. There was nothing visible now other than blue sky and the even bluer ocean. Somewhere, miles and miles in front of us, were the U.S. and
Connecticut and Easton Academy. We were on our way home. Tonight I would get to be with my family, and tomorrow my mother and I would spend the day with Noelle and her mom blissing out at Bliss. And the day after that, we’d be back on campus, back in Billings and back to our normal lives.

“Okay, so the first thing we do is go to housing and make sure your transfer goes through,” Noelle said, tugging her rolling luggage behind her as we made our way around the circle in front of Bradwell. It was freezing out, and we were both wrapped up in warm wool coats again. It was hard to believe that a few days ago I’d actually been overly warm. “We have to get them to send someone over and move the extra furniture out of the triple and into my room. Then tonight we’ll have a little party to welcome you back.”

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of being in the same room with all the Billings Girls again. “You’re sure they’re all okay with this?”

“Are you kidding? They’re more than ready to grovel at your feet,” Noelle said, pushing her huge sunglasses up on top of her head. “I’ve already got Rose and London on food and decorations, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them had some gifties for you to say they’re sorry.”

I laughed and rolled my shoulders back as we came around the side of Bradwell. I was trying to ignore the pitter-patter of my heart, the blood racing through my veins. Somewhere on this campus was Josh Hollis. How was I going to feel when I saw him? What was I going to say? What would
he
say? I had to play it cool. I definitely could not mention the fact that he’d gone radio silent for more than two weeks. If I did, I’d sound like a pathetic, pining loser and that was
not
how I wanted to come off.

I was Reed Brennan. I was a Billings Girl again. I had a superhot European boy pining for me. The rest of the world could kiss my butt.

“I can’t wait to see Constance’s face when we tell her she doesn’t have to be in a triple anymore,” I said as Noelle hooked a right around the back of the building and started up the pathway toward Billings. “She is just going to—”

My mouth snapped shut as I walked right into Noelle from behind, tripping over her luggage. I almost fell flat on my face, but managed to stop my forward momentum by grabbing her arm.

“What just happened?” I said with a laugh. But Noelle’s face was as white as bleached wood. Her jaw hanging open in a way she never would have approved of if she could have seen it. That was when I heard the beeping. The grinding. And smelled the unmistakable stench of diesel fuel.

My heart in my throat, I followed Noelle’s gaze, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. Or, more accurately, didn’t see.

Billings House was gone.

There was a patch of sky where the tall structure used to be. All that remained standing was about half of the west wall. The wall that was once the outer wall of my room. Two ugly yellow backhoes were clearing away stone and brick and dust and rubble. The rubble that used to be Billings. That used to be my home.

Confounded into silence, I looked at Noelle for an answer. She was shaking from head to toe. She dropped her luggage and took two unsteady steps forward.

“What . . . ? What . . . ?”

For once, Noelle didn’t know everything.

It wasn’t until that moment that I noticed the other students. Dozens of them, dotting the quad. Everyone was bundled up in their winter coats, surrounded by their boxes and laundry bags and luggage. And everyone was watching. Watching those two vehicles dig and shove and maneuver awkwardly around the destruction zone. Some people were wide-eyed, hands covering their mouths as they looked around in confusion. Others were openly laughing, and a few of those noticed us in our dumbstruck tableau and started to point.

“Noelle,” I said, grabbing her arm. “What happened? What’s going on?”

My touch seemed to snap her back from whatever bad place she’d spun off to. She yanked her phone out of her purse and pushed down on the touch screen so hard I was surprised it didn’t shatter. She brought the phone to her ear and exploded.

“How could you not tell me about this!?” she shouted at, I assumed,
her father. “It’s gone! Billings is gone! You couldn’t
warn
me? How could you let this happen?”

Noelle paced away from me toward the wall of Bradwell, which she kept touching with her free hand as she spouted accusations, as if she was trying to ground herself, trying to make sure this was all real. I knew the feeling. I couldn’t stop staring at the trees that used to be behind Billings, but were now visible to the entire quad.

It was gone. My home was gone. Where the hell was I going to go?

“Reed.”

His voice sent tingles all down my back even as my heart sank all the way into my toes. I was not prepared for this. Not
now.
How was I supposed to wear a happy, unaffected, cool-Reed face
now
? But there was no putting it off. He was standing right behind me.

I turned around to face Josh Hollis . . . and found him standing there with his hand in Ivy Slade’s.

“You’re here,” he said, obviously confused. “I . . . we heard about what happened. I figured you’d still be . . . recovering. I mean, are you all right?”

His green eyes flicked past my shoulder to the spectacle behind me.

“Of course she is,” Ivy said. “This is Reed Brennan we’re talking about.”

She released Josh and hugged me. Hugged me so tightly I coughed. I managed to lift my arms and hug her back, all the while staring at Josh. He had to give me something here. A mouthed word, a look, a smile—something to let me know what he was thinking. But he simply stared at me. His expression was completely unreadable.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Ivy as I released her. She looked good. She looked, in fact, healthy—like she’d added some weight to her formerly skeletonish frame. There was color in her cheeks, and her dark eyes were bright and happy. Her black hair was back in a tight ponytail, and the pink scarf around her neck was definitely her color.

“I feel amazing,” Ivy said. “Nothing like starting over, right?”

The depth of my disappointment was going to suck me down into the frozen earth. My new start had been crushed before I could even begin. I was about to respond. To say something witty, hopefully. Something that would let them know I had been completely aware that Billings was going down and that I was totally fine with it. But then a limousine pulled up on the circle behind them and Sawyer stepped out of the backseat, and suddenly, I didn’t want to be talking to them anymore. I didn’t want to talk to anyone I had to be fake with or put on an act for. I was too tired. Too over it. Too done.

And Sawyer was right there. He’d gotten his hair cut—not short, but short enough that I could see his eyes—and he looked boyishly handsome in a gray wool coat and black pants. He found me with his eyes and smiled that sweet, vulnerable smile of his, and something inside me responded. Josh must have seen it in my face, because he turned around and gave Sawyer and Graham, who had now joined his brother, a quizzical look.

Behind me there was an awful crumbling sound, followed by a tremendous crash. The students on the quad hooted and cheered and yelped as the last wall of Billings went down. Noelle shouted into her
phone. Sawyer lifted his hand in a wave. Josh looked back at me, the curiosity blatant on his face. For a moment I couldn’t think of what to do. Where to go, who to turn to, how to begin. So I just closed my eyes. Closed my eyes to all of it and breathed.

My life had just gotten very interesting.