The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1) (18 page)

“I heard the news of your arrangement today.” Jareth dipped his head at Rafael. “I found it unusually interesting.”

I glanced up curiously.

At my side, Rafael tensed and his lips tightened into a thin line.

“I’ve been wondering all day, what has the Inner Circle so concerned that they would force their favorite into marriage at such a tender age?” Jareth’s voice took on a tone of outright challenge. “And of all fiancées that you might have ended up with, you score the beauteous Raven, no less.”

My heart skipped a beat. So that’s what Harmony had meant when she said Rafael was already taken. If I had heard this news yesterday, it would have been very hard to hear. And even though it was still a bit depressing, I managed to shrug it off. Obviously, I had been admiring him, maybe even subconsciously equating him a bit to a knight on a shining white horse for rescuing me. Not once, but twice. However, I knew quite well that he wasn’t my hero. In all likelihood, he was really a lizard wearing a human suit.

At that moment, I realized I’d been staring.

Rafael’s eyes were piercing mine with that same intense gaze he had used before, and I blushed. How could I let him read those thoughts? Desperately, I averted my eyes, imagined a brick and quickly scrawled a collection of cakes, sandwiches, and cookies onto the order sheet.

In the prolonged silence that followed, I imagined more bricks, building a red-brick igloo around myself. Finally, I looked up to discover all three of them watching me attentively.

I held my breath, frantically conjuring up more bricks.

They continued to stare at me.

I focused harder on the bricks.

“What is it, Sydney?” Rafael inquired softly.

My palms began to sweat.

“Sydney?” Rafael’s voice was concerned, but a smile hovered about his lips. He reached over and bonked me on the tip of the nose. “Where are you, Sydney?”

“Oh, Rafael, she’s afraid that you’re reading her mind.” Jareth chuckled sardonically.

“Reading her mind?” A flash of humor crossed Rafael’s face as he assured me, “No one can read your mind! Where did you get that idea?”

I looked at them. It was impossible to tell who was telling the truth anymore. But then the thought struck me that if they could read my mind, then they wouldn’t have had Harmony follow me around at school, and she would have known that I had been lying about the made-up speaker in mentor class. She would also have known of my plan to test metal out on her. All at once, the utmost relief washed through me.

“Add some gourmet chocolate.” Jareth tapped on the paper with his finger.

This time, Samantha peered over my shoulder. She frowned at the order sheets and then glared at Jareth. “I don’t have time for you to play here.”

“Play?” Jareth rose. He stretched his arms for several long moments before towering over her, a little menacingly. “Are you belittling my charity work?”

“These orders must be at least $30,000.” Samantha snapped, unruffled at the rock star looming over her.

“Really? Is that all?” Jareth smirked down at me. “Then double it, Sydney.”

Samantha’s brows knit into a deeper frown. She grabbed the papers and looked at the dates. “I can’t fill such large orders! This is a small shop—“

“Then buy the dump next door and expand!” Jareth interrupted her and rolled his eyes. “It isn’t my problem.”

As Samantha continued to argue, I took the opportunity to escape. I stumbled past Reese’s table when Rafael caught up with me.

“We must speak, Sydney,” he said, his long fingers closing over my shoulder.

I looked up at him. I didn’t feel like talking. I didn’t have the chance, anyway, because Reese chose that moment to slither from her table and touch Rafael’s arm.

His response astonished me.

He froze. His expressive gray eyes widened and then he turned upon Reese, and smoothly captured her hand in an almost amorous gesture before letting it go.

Reese began to smile. Flipping her long black hair over her shoulder, she giggled, “I just wanted to tell you that you dropped this pen.”

I knew she was lying. She was holding out one of the coffee shop pens.

To my amazement, a smile creased Rafael’s cheek, and his voice deepened as he replied, “Why, thank you. Miss … ?”

“Reese, my name is Reese,” She kept giggling. Looping her arm through his, she sent me a triumphant look.

Rafael didn’t resist as she led him back to her table.

Annoyed, I stalked away. I was definitely going to remove Rafael’s stones and mirror from my sweatshirt pocket at home. I’d seen my mother deal with plenty of cheaters, and I had no tolerance for double-dealers. I’d just heard he was engaged. He had no business flirting with Reese. I hadn’t thought he was the jerk kind, but I was obviously wrong.

I kicked the door back and marched to the dishwasher, slamming dishes into the rack. I stayed in the back until Betty picked me up.

We didn’t talk much, and I was yawning by the time we got home. Though I was exhausted, I took the time to empty my pockets of the fairy runes and the mirror, dumping them all into Jerry’s cage.

I looked at them in disappointment. I had thought of Rafael as a bit of a noble character, honorable even, though a bit handy with the eye makeup. And Jareth. I couldn’t figure him out. At the moment, he didn’t actually seem that bad.

I crawled into bed, glad that the day was over, and too tired to think about them anymore. I heard Jerry’s hamster wheel begin to squeak. It was a comforting sound. Listening to it, I began to drift off, and as I did so, I heard Jareth’s voice: 
Oh, Rafael, she’s afraid that you’re reading her mind.

How had he known that? I woke up a little to worry about it, before I convinced myself I was just overreacting. If I was going to up my game, I had to start acting more and worrying less. Otherwise, I wasn’t going to get very far.

Chapter Fourteen - The Red Tube

I had a hard time waking up the next morning and was groggy for the first part of school. I hadn’t studied as much as I should have, but I was pretty sure I got a C on my Science test. I kept to myself during lunch, eating my sandwich in the corner with my headphones on and surrounded by a pile of books.

I wasn’t studying, though. I was updating my science notebook, adding my notes to my bullet points about Jung’s entries. I had confirmed a good portion of them already, like the Equal, the iron, and the Blue Threads of Fate. I still didn’t know anything about the Inner Circle or the Brotherhood of the Snake. I also didn’t know where Jareth, Rafael, and Harmony were really from.

If they were the forerunners of an invasion force, I was going to have to gather real evidence. I didn’t have anything of real value to offer as proof to anyone yet. Even Al would find it hard to believe at this point.

If I could get my hands on the red tube in Marquis’ car, then that would probably be a significant piece of evidence. I wasn’t sure how I could pull that off, though. I tapped my pen on the table, wondering if they had other things in their house that might serve just as well. If I could get into their house, then I could see what kind of technology they had, and maybe find evidence to
shoplift
. After all, I was a pretty good thief.

The afternoon crept by slowly. I spent the remainder of my classes trying to dream up ways to get into Rafael’s house until I decided I really didn’t need an excuse. Rafael had said himself that he wanted to talk to me at least twice. I could just walk across the street and see what he wanted to say. I’d remember to bring a fork and my cell phone. I still had Jareth’s number in my pocket, but I wasn’t sure if he was any better than Rafael.

After school, Ellison and Grace were running a little late, so I headed for the bridge myself. As I got there, I was surprised to see Rafael’s Bentley waiting in the circular drive along with the other cars. The driver’s door was open, and he was leaning and swinging on it a little as he talked to a few giggling girls.

I squinted. They were Reese’s friends.

“Hi, Sydney!” I heard Reese’s voice approaching from behind.

I jerked, glancing over to find her stopping next to me with a superior smile.

“I see you’re staring at my new boyfriend, Rafael.” She purred.

“Boyfriend?” I frowned. “I thought he just got engaged yesterday.”

Reese blinked. It was obvious I had shocked her, just as it was obvious that she had been lying about him being her boyfriend. I was a little surprised that she had even tried to deceive me. Why would a girl like her need to lie?

She stared at me for a moment and then lifting her chin, teetered on her abnormally high heels toward his car.

Rafael saw her coming and bowed to the other girls before moving to open the door for her. After seeing her settled, he clicked the door shut, and then turned my direction and paused. He looked at me for several long moments before slowly walking around the car to the driver’s side. Again, he paused for a noticeable length of time, staring in my direction and tapping his hand on the roof of the car before finally sliding in and pulling out of the circle drive.

I shook my head, wondering what his fiancée would think of him driving off with another girl. I couldn’t presume to know what kind of relationship they had, but I knew if it were me, I wouldn’t be pleased. I shrugged thoughts of Rafael away and randomly kicked stones across the bridge, pausing again to read the inspirational words:
—Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought— Blaise Pascal

I paused, looking at the words a little differently than before. In my brief Rafael-might-be-reading-my-mind paranoia, I had read those articles explaining the power of mental imagery. For a moment, I felt I was on the verge of understanding some great secret and then someone honked, and the thought slipped away.

I looked over my shoulder to see both Betty and Al had arrived. Betty had come for Grace and Al for me. I had forgotten he was taking me for my driver’s permit.

“I don’t think I’ll pass,” I muttered. I had been concentrating on aliens, not traffic laws.

“You’ll do fine, kiddo,” he assured me.

I wasn’t so sure. I slumped in my seat.

“I’ve been thinking about your alien comment,” he said unexpectedly.

I sat bolt upright.

“Ever heard of Area 51?” he asked.

“Of course!” I swallowed with a tingle of anticipation. “Everyone has heard of Area 51.”

“Well, one of my best buddies was stationed in Arizona.” He nodded, obviously expecting me to be impressed.

“Arizona?” I repeated. I had always heard Area 51 was in Nevada.

“He was at Luke Air Force Base for quite a few years,” Al continued, apparently pleased with my reaction. “I’ll shoot him an email and see what he thinks about this alien theory of yours.”

I waited for him to continue, but when it became obvious that he was finished, I prodded. “So is he an expert on aliens or something?”

“Jack?” Al blinked. Apparently, I had interrupted his thoughts. “No, Jack was the senior supervisor over all sanitation operations for the entire base.”

So Jack was a senior janitor on an Air Force base in Arizona. I didn’t see how he could know anything about Area 51 in Nevada. I looked out the window, disappointed.

“It’s all about connections, Sydney,” Al stated with conviction. “The world runs on connections.”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

We didn’t talk anymore because we had arrived at the driver licensing office. Already, I regretted not studying as much as I should have. It wasn’t long before it was my turn to stand in the little booth and answer the questions on the computer.

It was harder than I thought it would be, and I was sure I had failed. I answered the last question and steeled myself for a low score. To my surprise, I got an 88%.

I had passed!

“I didn’t doubt you for a minute, kiddo.” Al tousled the top of my head as I exited the building with a driver’s permit in my hands. “You’re a smart one. Why don’t you drive home?”

“No, not yet.” I shook my head. I was a little too nervous.

He popped into the truck, but I didn’t follow him. I was rooted on the sidewalk. No one had ever called me a “smart one” before. I stood there a few moments, a little misty eyed, and then finally ran to the passenger side.

Al called Betty to share the news and told her we’d celebrate by bringing home Japanese food. It wasn’t long before we pulled up the driveway with a couple of plastic bags filled with containers of teriyaki, tempura, and pot-stickers.

It was an unexpectedly cheerful dinner. Betty invited Jerry—as my honorary family member—to the table, and we let him loose in one of the takeout boxes with a spoonful of rice.

I found myself congratulated for passing the test on the first try and was treated to a variety of humorous stories about Grace’s first driving attempts. She good-naturedly laughed as hard as the rest of us.

Al was the only one of us to eat with chopsticks. “After the time I served my country in Japan, it just don’t taste right off a fork,” he said.