He sighed and shook his head. “Look, I know that you don’t trust them. I get that. Really, I do, but I know my family. I know them. They wouldn’t do something like that, because they aren’t horrible people. And what was done to your familyto youwas horrible.”

“Then can you tell me who else to blame?” I practically yelled. “You said it yourself, Hayden. My parents wouldn’t know who to go to.”

“That doesn’t mean it was my family.”

“Oh. So the fact that you broke into my home, kidnapped us, and brought us here isn’t at all suspicious to you? That no one was interested in Olivia until Aunt Liz sensed me? Bullshit.”

“Ember.”

“No.” I pushed a hand through my hair wildly. I knew my curls had to be standing up every which way, but I didn’t care. “The note on that toy car‘dead things should stay dead?’ And then again on the noose”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed. “What noose?”

Whoops. I took a step back. “That’s not important. What’s important is how anyone else in the world could know about that.”

“I’ve thought about this,” he said after several long moments of silence. “It’s not like I’ve ignored the obvious, but I can’tI won’t believe my family had anything to do with it. I’m sorry, Ember, but instead of spending time obsessing over how evil my family is, we could be figuring who really is behind this.”

“Oh. Is that what you’ve been doing? Working to prove your family’s innocence? Well, good luck with that.”

The scent of something burning surrounded me, and Hayden’s lips thinned and now his eyes were all black. I knew I’d struck low. “Are you done yet?”

“No.”

“I am.” Then he was walking away.

“Hayden!” I yelled, feeling the sting of tears in my eyes.

He stopped, but didn’t turn around.

My heart leapt into my throat. “Do you regret what happened in the cabin?”

I didn’t have to explain it any better than that. By the way he stiffened, he knew I was talking about his admission and how we had clung to each other, desperately wanting more.

“No. That’s not what I regret,” he said.

And then he was gone and I stood there, staring at the place he’d beenalone with the cold knowledge that things had altered between us and I had no idea where it left me.

* * *

Things just kind of sucked after that.

Hayden’s and my drives to school were tense, and they usually ended with us arguing by the time we pulled into the school parking lot. I spent my mornings stewing over how adamantly he refused to believe his family had anything to do with what’d happened. They were all saints and angels in his book.