Chapters (52)
“Annika,” Theo says, stopping beside her. He doesn’t say another word, but I can see his jaw twitching under the dim lights.
“It’s necessary,” she says, answering an unspoken question.
She steps closer to me, her eyes dark and serious. Taking a seat at the edge of the coffee table, she leans in, studying me like I’m a specimen in a lab—the same way I studied the strangers with the too-bright faces.
Like she isn’t sure I’m human.
I sit up a little straighter, twisting my body so that I’m facing her. “Are you looking at me like that because you think I’m a Resident?”
The tilt of her mouth is so subtle I almost miss it.
“Because I’m not.” I try to ignore the nervous quake in my shoulders, hoping sincerity will make up for my lack of confidence. “I’m not anyone special. I’m completely human, and completely ordinary, believe me.”
Annika grips the edge of the table, and I hear the drum of her fingers against the metal. She parts her lips, her eyes never leaving mine. “I want you to know, this isn’t personal. But I have to be sure.”
And before I realize the drumming has stopped and her hand is behind her back, Annika shoves me against the couch and plunges a knife into my chest.
Infinity becomes nothing but darkness.
7
FINN SMILES, AND I FEEL like a thousand stars are spinning around me. He nudges his shoe against mine. It was the first thing he ever did that made me wonder if he liked me the way I liked him.
That was in November.
I didn’t know for sure until May.
It wasn’t the first time he hugged me, but it was the first time he pressed his mouth against my hair when he did it. I could feel his breath, feel that my hair was tickling his nose, but he didn’t pull away. Not for a long time.
I knew we had suddenly become a different shade of what we were. Not more, exactly, because our friendship was still as important as ever. But different. An extra layer.
Like we had an entirely new world to exist in, just for the two of us.
And now he’s looking at me with his crooked smile and his bright green eyes, and all that’s left is to say the words.
“I feel like you already know this,” he starts.
“Say it anyway,” I tell him.
He laughs. A bright, beautiful, happy laugh. “I like you. Even more than E.T. likes Reese’s Pieces.”
I’m glowing from the inside out. “I like you too. Even more than the Ewoks like C-3P0.”