“Good. Let’s keep it that way for as long as possible,” Thomas said. “We need her oblivious for now.”
“What about the rest of the Cretans?” Gus asked. “How long are they staying?”
“It’s their right to be here as long as they want,” Harpin said. “What’s it matter to you?”
“It matters to me because Lily’s gonna start asking questions. Curious and smart can be a dangerous combination around someone who has a secret,” Gus said. “And I’ve got plenty of secrets.”
“Then lie.” Harpin hissed. “You said you could do it.”
“Enough, we have to keep moving,” Thomas said. “You have the information we need, Gus?”
Another long beat. “Yes.”
“If you’re lying, I can talk to her,” Harpin said. “It’s been a while since we’ve spoken.”
“Because she despises you,” Gus said. “Which is fortunate, since she’ll never expect us to be partnering on something of this magnitude. She knows I dislike you just as much as she does.”
The silence that followed was laden with tension. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at Ranger X.
“We’re done,” Thomas said. “You have one day, Gus. Tomorrow night, we’ll meet.”
“I need longer than a day.”
“You don’t have longer than a day, so get it done,” Thomas said. “Goodbye.”
Ranger X and I sat still for a long while. The first two pairs of footsteps to fade into the distance belonged to Thomas and Harpin, their robed figures vanishing into the night as they headed east. I strained my eyes to see the color of their ribbons, but I could only make out that they were a bright color, which contrasted against the black of the hood. Meanwhile, the third set of footsteps never disappeared.
“Is he gone?” I breathed to Ranger X.
He shook his head.
It was a good thing we waited because the footsteps belonging to Gus didn’t sound again for at least ten minutes. Though we couldn’t see him from behind the ice cream hut, I suspected he might have been sitting. Sitting and staring up at the stars because when he finally walked away, his face was pointed toward the sky as he moved at a slow, deliberate pace.
However, I didn’t expect him to be wearing a robe. An all-black robe with an all-black ribbon around the hood.
My eyes met Ranger X’s gaze, and together we watched as one of the most powerful wizards to graduate from Cretan disappeared into the night.
Chapter 15
“He was supposed to be on a date with Mimsey,” I said as we made our way over the bridge to the West side of The Isle. “What does all this mean? What did he need to prove to these men?”
We’d waited behind the ice cream hut for at least thirty minutes, maybe longer, before setting out on foot.
“Maybe the date ended early.”
I sighed. “Does that explain why he’d go and put on his graduate robes and meet some old buddies? I don’t know what to think.”
“I don’t either.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“About what?”
“Everything!” I threw my hands into the air. This time, I didn’t notice the fish swimming below the bridge or the lovely scent of lilacs lingering on the night breeze. “What was that all about? Gus working with Harpin? What on earth could be so important that two arch-enemies agree to work together? They hate each other’s guts. Anyone could’ve seen that from the two seconds they stood next to each other.”
“There are things important enough for people to overcome their differences,” Ranger X said. “The only question left is what is so important.”
“That could be anything!”
“No, I don’t think so. I’d argue it’s quite limiting.” Ranger X slipped his hand to my lower back, guiding me over a rough patch of cobblestone. “Consider it this way. You dislike Harpin, yes?”
I could barely hide the curl of my lips into a frown. “You could say that.”
“So what would it take for you to work with him?”
“A lot.”
“Exactly,” he said. “You wouldn’t go over there to ask him for a hand if you needed furniture moved, no matter how much you wanted that furniture moved. You wouldn’t ask him for money, you wouldn’t do anything that might require a favor of you in return unless...”
“Unless something, or someone, I loved was at stake,” I said quietly. “But what does Gus care so much about?”
“That’s for you to think about,” X said. “But remember what I said earlier. Before you judge him, ask. It sounded like he doesn’t want to lie to you back there. Maybe all you need to do is ask and he’ll explain things to you.”