Page 17 (1/2)

And noas inout

Some friend I was

Every five erly to the bottoe when, and if, the mark disappeared Every fifteen minutes, I’d cli sure the e

At least, not physically E out that lent itself to finding a friend and venting This was the kind of freaking out that was al The kind of fear that made you hunker down, avoid others, avoid the issue

And so I lay in bed, sunlight shifting across the roo relatively small, I heard Scout and Lesley return, mill about in the common room, and then head into their respective bedrooms They eventually left for dinner, after a prospective knock on the door to see if I wanted anything For the second time, I declined I could hear Scout’s disappointment--and fear--when she double-checked, but I wasn’t up for co consolation

I needed to be consoled

Eventually, I fell asleep Scout didn’t bother knocking for breakfast on Sunday nored her for the last twenty-four hours, but her absence was still noticeable She’d beco my first week at St Sophia’s

I snuck down to breakfast in jeans and my Ramones T-shirt, my hair in a messy knot, the ribboned key around rabbed a carrot raisinback to my room, bounty in hand

What a difference a day makes

It was around noon when they knocked on the door

When I didn’t answer, A out "Lily? Are you in there? Are youokay?"

I closed the art history book I’d been perusing in bed, went to the door, opened it, and found A tops, and dangly earrings, standing there Not bad outfits, actually, if you ignored the prissiness

The last tio treasure hunting The offer this time wasn’t much different

"We’re really sorry about what happened," Aan Avenue for a little shopping Are you up for a field trip?"

I was an intelligent person, so my first instinct was, of course, to slam the door in their faces But as they stood there in my doorway, hair perfect,else

Oblivion

The opportunity to pretend to be an It Girl for a little while, in a world with much simpler rules, where what you wore meant more than how many Reapers you’d thwarted, how much firespell had taken you down

Call it a weak moment, a moment of denial Either way, I said yes

Twenty s, black skirt, black fitted shirt, jacket and drapey scarf, and I was following Aan Avenue We strode side by side down the sidewalk--A out the opening credits of a new teen draan Avenue was full of tourists and locals, young and old, shoppers and picture-snappers, all out to enjoy the weather before the cold began to roll in It was understandable that they were out--the sky was ridiculously blue, the teh breeze to keep the sun froan Avenue, o beyond the walls of St Sophia’s (apart from my quick jaunt around the block with Scout) I was surprised at how open Chicago felt--less constricting, less overwhele or lass, less concrete; more steel, less brick With the shine of new condos and the reflection of Lake Michigan off er, prettier sister

We passed boutique after boutique, the chichi stores nestled between architectural , the castlelike form of the Water Tower and, of course, lots of construction

"So," A to tell us exactly ent on in the baseh- rises above us

"Coyness is not beco," Veronica said "You were in the bases happened" She slid lance "Noant to kno they connect"

Sure, I was taking a breather from Scout and the rest of the Adepts, but I wasn’t about to rat the to be nor a fink was so the absolute truth "I was on es of those limestone stairs to the first floor, you kno they’re warped?"

"You’d think they could fix those," Areed

"Uh-huh," Veronica said, doubt in her voice "They sent you to the hospital because you fell down the stairs?"

"Because I was knocked unconscious," I reht smile "And had I not been down in the basement in the first place"

I didn’t finish the sentence, letting the blay When I glanced over at Veronica, she was s appreciatively, as if y she’d have used

Suddenly, as if ere the best of friends, Veronica linked her arh the pedestrian traffic

"In here," she said, bobbing her head toward a shopping center on the west side of the street It was three stories high, the front wall a giantofdisplays A coffee bar filled htly colored teardrops of glass--rained down froaze rising as I surveyed the glass

"It’s not bad," Veronica said "And the shopping’s pretty good, too"

"Pretty good" ht have been an understatement The stores that spanned the corridors weren’t the kind of places where you dropped in to pick up socks These were investment stores Once-in-a-lifetis that most shoppers saved e shoppers We spent three hours working our way down fro on clothes, posing in front of ht nothing; I had the e off the rack didn’t haveoff the rack, no thrill of finding a kick-ass bag or pair of shoes for an incredible discount With occasional exceptions, I was a vintage and thrift store kind of girl--a handbag huntress

AThey found rae-heeled boots with elflike slits in the top, leggings galore, stilettos with heels so skinny they’d have made excellent weaponryor better weaponry than flip- flops, anyway The a, and neither of them so much as looked at the receipts Cost was not a factor They picked out what they wanted and, without hesitation, handed it over to eager store clerks

Although I put a little , I couldn’t fault their design sensibilities They may have been dressed like traditional brat packers for their excursion to Magnificent Mile, but these girls knew fashion--as hot, and as on its way up