He’s a death-speaker who knows about us and is involved in the Underworld and practices the occult. After his mom died, he became obsessed with learning about reincarnation, which is something I am not willing to support.

I guess I should have expected it. There was no way Thane and I could have remained friends with his interest in the dark practices. At some point, he was bound to do something I disagreed with, and staying friends with him would have gotten me in trouble with the Order.

No one talks about how crappy it is to lose a best friend, but it really freaking sucks.

And part of me wishes I could trust him with Anora.

But I can’t.

After my shower, I head downstairs. Mom’s shoveling eggs onto a plate. She turns to me and smiles.

“You’re up!” She leans forward to kiss my cheek, handing me the plate of eggs. “I made your favorite.”

My “favorite” is chocolate-chip pancakes with whipped cream and syrup. Mom always makes it when we’re celebrating something. Usually, every Saturday morning, it’s a win for my team. Today it’s my win and shadow knight appointment to tracker, except I don’t feel like celebrating my jump in rank all that much. I still feel uneasy about it, and I dread when Natalie finds out.

Mom and I sit down to eat; Dad’s seat remains unsurprisingly empty.

“I heard what happened at the game,” Mom says. “Is Gage okay?”

“I think he has a broken nose, but otherwise, he’ll be fine.”

Mom frowns. “And what about Sean?”

That is a harder question. There is no telling how long Influence had its hold on Sean or what sort of deep-rooted feelings manifested his actions last night. I’d heard all things that are common when dealing with Influence—he was such a cool guy, he was so funny, I can’t believe it. That’s how it works—it’s always the people you don’t expect doing things you don’t expect.

“I don’t know.”

Mom doesn’t say anything, and when I look up, I find her staring at me. “Have any plans today?”

I scrub my hand through my hair. “I…uh…I thought I might go see Anora.”

I’d been thinking about approaching her house again since the night with the telescope but hadn’t worked up the courage. After last night, today seemed just as good a day as any. The best way to catch someone unaware is to sneak up on them.