“Pilot,” Invidia keeps her gaze on me, “you were saying?”
“I’m sorry,” he says to me.
“For…?”
“For saying you’re a moron, Anne.”
“Because, in fact, Miss Merchant is…?”
“Very”—he looks like he might choke on this—“smart.”
Invidia smiles, releases my lock of hair, and saunters to the door. Casting one last smile at me, she swings the door in and leads the Guardians into Dia’s office.
Certain everyone here is crazier than a squirrel in a nuthouse, I zip through the atrium and push open the doors of Goethe Hall, stepping into a rare sunlit morning. I catch a short glimpse of someone just on the other side of the gates. A brown-haired girl. She’s not wearing a school uniform. She’s simply standing there, looking in, with sunlight through the trees casting shadows over her face.
“Hello?” I call. “Is someone there?”
The girl steps backward and vanishes into the shadows.
“Miss Merchant!” a woman calls.
I whirl to see Garnet Descarteres stomping my way. I’ve barely had time to gulp when she halts before me, raises her hand, and moves to slap me. I just duck out of the way—to the hoot of that strange, unseen girl outside the gates—but, even still, I feel exactly what Garnet wanted me to: embarrassment, pain, intimidation.
“Take it easy,” I say and dodge around her.
That’s not gonna happen. She tugs my arm until I can’t help but face her again. Anywhere else, a teacher would be fired for touching a student like this; here, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m going to need to bite back to survive.
“What?” I snap at her.
“He’s mine.”
“I’m not going to fight over a guy. Not with anyone, least of all you.”
“What does that mean, least of all me?”
“It doesn’t mean anything! Look, I’m sorry—”
“You’re gonna be sorry.”
“Shouldn’t you be inside with the rest of the Guardians, Garnet?”
“Shouldn’t you be making out with my boyfriend somewhere? He’s not going to fight for the Big V because of you! Do you understand that, you selfish cow?”
She pushes her enviably pretty face toward mine, and waves her fist near my face, so close I see the faintest shadow of a shackle on her wrist. It throws me. I’ve barely had time to process the fact that she surrendered her soul for this time with Ben.
“If you had a heart, you’d force him to be with me, Merchant. Without me, he’s dead. You know that. But you sit quietly while he slowly kills himself.”
“No one’s stopping you from helping him! You could be inside right now getting the scoop on whatever Dia’s telling all the other Guardians.”
She flinches like she hadn’t thought I’d see things so clearly. Rather than arguing the point, she pushes me hard in the chest. She might have kept pushing, and that pushing might have led to an actual fight, if we weren’t interrupted. Behind us, all at once, a stampede of Guardians tramples out the doors and down the steps. Like a herd of wildebeests, they race around us; they envelop me and Garnet. I check to see if they’re being chased and hear my name just as I spot Pilot, who’s calling for me. Sidestepping the throng, Pilot reaches for me, yanks my arm, and drags me away from Garnet and total pandemonium.
“Anne, it’s incredible!” he gasps, his perfectly straight teeth dazzling. Behind me, the last of the Guardians stream out noisily, letting the massive oak doors fall shut behind them. I turn to see them dart onto the path others have stomped into the grass and whiz away— until Pilot tugs me back to him. Garnet has fled with the crowd. “You and me, we’re gonna get serious about the Big V now, Annie.”
“Don’t call me Annie. That nickname died when you did.”
He tries to catch his breath. “K. Fine. Walk and talk?”
Reluctantly, I turn toward the quad with him. The pack of Guardians has dispersed; a few that have found their students are whispering with them in little pairs next to Valedictorian Hall, in the middle of the quad, near the dorms, by the cafeteria, outside of the Rex Paimonde building and Heorot Hall—everywhere. A conversation finishes and a duo high-fives; another finishes and a Guardian and student actually hug.
“Anne, listen, I know we’ve had our differences.”
I laugh.
“But I want you to know that I’ve always, deep down inside, been fully committed to seeing you win the Big V. I was just doing what Mephisto told me to.”
“Sure.”
“Hey, you weren’t exactly a good friend to me, either.”
“This world is doomed if you’re giving lessons on how to treat people.”
“I faked a friendship with you—and I was only partly faking, Annie. But I didn’t kill you.”
“You faked a friendship with me so you could live while I died. You would have killed me. I just killed you faster.”
“You’re in a coma! You wouldn’t have died.” He can see I’m not buying it. “Look, I’m ready to help you win the Big V now. We can do this. Together.”
“What’s in it for you?”
“‘In it for’—Anne, whatever could you mean?”
Guessing it’s something big, I pull back. “Forget it. If you’re gonna lie to me—”
“Fine!” He stops me from leaving. And sighs. “I get something, too, if you win.”
The only reward that could possibly inspire Pilot hits me. “It’s life, isn’t it?”
“See? This is why you’re going to win! You’re razor sharp.” He smiles awkwardly as I roll my eyes. “Dia wanted to up the ante for us. The winning Guardian gets one wish granted, and, yes, that could include a new life.”
“As long as there’s something in it for you, you’ll help me.”
“Totally!”
“That’s not something to be proud of, Pilot.”
“I’m helping you!” he defends, throwing his hands out and tracking me as I veer away. “How can you find fault in my motivations? So what if I get something? You’ll get something, too. And, Anne, you can win this. I happen to know you’ve got excellent untapped skills. We just have to change your PT, and you’re good to go.”
“We don’t just have to do anything. I’m alive, remember? I don’t need the Big V.”
“But we could win. Easily. Cakewalk.”
“I’m done with you, Stone! I wish I had Teddy as my Guardian again.”
He stops cold as I march on. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Go to Hell. Again.”
“Anne, there’s more to winning the Big V than a second life!”
Now I stop cold.
“It’s trivial stuff for most of us,” he continues. “But it could be big for you.”
I turn to him. “Spill it.”
“Riches.” He drags the word out. “Everything you’d need for a great new life. Valedictorians have gotta set up a new identity,