As he stared at the rose pendant, his stomach twisting, he was suddenly sure it was fully aware who was holding it. It was as if the thing wanted to punish him, to show him that it wasn’t at all surprised that he, a thieving Emerson, had crept in here to try to steal it yet again. Only now the ruby was fighting back.

Terror turned Grey’s bones to mush. He felt certain that by the time he got the pendant back into its bag, all the rest of the rubies would’ve fallen and his fate would be completely sealed, a month and a half in advance of his eighteenth birthday.

“No, no, no, no,” he whispered as he pushed it as gently as he could back into its bag, into its Pandora’s box. With shaking hands, he set the velvet bag back into the drawer and slid it shut. He caught sight of himself in the mirror then, his forehead shiny and damp, his eyes wide, his cheeks pale and hollow. He looked like someone who’d gotten terrible news at the doctor’s. He looked like someone whose life was ending.

There was a sound down the hallway, as if someone had just come up the elevators. Grey jerked his head up, his heart thundering now for different reasons.

Jaya

Jaya stepped off the elevator, walking quickly down the hallway to the senior girls’ suite. She’d get the pendant, and maybe she’d walk over to Grey’s room and see where he was. He couldn’t just hide away in here. He had to go to Aspen.

A familiar knot of guilt formed in her stomach as she walked. Grey Emerson was obviously very troubled. Continuing to execute the plan felt a little… cruel. But what was she to do, just let this opportunity go? It had landed in her lap, as if the fates themselves had conspired to bring the Emersons to justice. Emotion had no place in this. And yet revenge was supposed to be sweet. Why, then, was the inside of her mouth so ashy and bitter?

Jaya reached her door, turned the doorknob, walked in, and stopped short.

Grey Emerson stood in the middle of her room, his blue eyes wide, wild. He was dressed in a charcoal sweater that hugged the hard planes of his chest and stomach, and loose jeans. Strands of his dark hair hung in his eyes, and there were bags under his eyes that said he hadn’t slept well. Stubble dotted his upper lip and jaw.

Stop staring at his stubble, Jaya, her inner critic said, exasperated. There are more important matters at hand.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Her paralysis breaking, Jaya took another step inside and noticed her dresser drawer was open. Had she left it open? “Are you snooping through my things?”

“What?” Grey said. “No!”