“Can you take care of this?” Hayden asked. “I’d like to get Ember out of here.”

“Yes, but I want to know if anything like this happens again,” Mr. Theo said. I looked at him and nodded. “Okay. I’ll get this cleaned up.”

Hayden picked up my books and cradled them under one arm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said in the softest voice I’d ever heard.

We left Mr. Theo to deal with the rabbit. A few minutes later, we stood outside his car. The walk had been silent. In my mind, I kept seeing the poor bunny. What Hayden thought, I had no idea. Only after he’d dumped my books on the backseat and pried the strap to my backpack away from my fingers, did he speak. “Are you okay?”

What was I supposed to say? Yes. No. It wasn’t every day I found a slaughtered white rabbit in my locker. “It’s just so sick. Who would want to do that to an animal? No one knows me here. I mean, at my old school, I’d kinda expect something bizarre, but here? No one knows me except…”

“Except us.” Anger shone in his eyes like tiny flames. “Ember, I know what you’re thinking, but none of us would’ve done something like that.”

I slumped back against the car, staring up at him. “Then who would’ve?”

Hayden looked away, drawing in a deep breath. “Ember—”

“Kurt doesn’t want me here. You heard him! And Phoebe hates me. Who else would want to do that? And why? To freak me out? Make me leave? Or draw attention…” I trailed off, heart dropping. “Oh my God, you can’t let your father know.”

“What?” He faced me. “We have to tell him. Someone cut up a rabbit and shoved it in your locker. He needs to know about this.”

“No.” I hugged my elbows, shivering. “Please promise me you won’t. He’ll think I said or did something. Then he’d… he’d send me off. Make me go away.”

“Ember, he’s not going to—”

I pushed off the car. “Please. Hayden, please don’t tell him. I’m all Olivia really has. Please.” My voice cracked, and I looked away, embarrassed. “She’s all I have.”

Hayden made a soft noise deep in his throat. Then he clasped my elbows and pulled me right up against him. His arms carefully snaked around my waist, trapping me in a hug.

It could have been the bunny. Hell, it could’ve been the last two years that suddenly made me want to stay in Hayden’s embrace. Surely—surely not the way his heat thawed the ice encasing my entire body. Or how hard his chest felt under the sweater… or how perfectly I fit against him. And he was a chivalrous type of guy. Right? He wanted to help me control my gift, as ridiculous as that sounded. Comfort—he offered comfort, and I needed to remember that. His arms around my waist made it hard, really hard to keep that in mind, though.