I immediately push away from the window, darting down the stairs and out of the house. I’m on her porch in a matter of seconds. It’s unlocked. I’m suddenly glad for the ridiculous, trusting habits of these people.
Wren’s eyes are closed when I get into her room, but her breathing is irregular, and it doesn’t seem like she’s asleep. I grab her shoulder.
“Wren? Open your eyes.”
Her lids flutter open slowly.
“Talon?” she asks. Her voice is soft and weak, like it takes effort to even get the words out.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“What time is it?” she croaks.
“A little after eight,” I tell her.
She tries to sit up. “Oh, no. I’m late for school.”
I take her by her shoulders and ease her back down. “Tell me what’s going on before you try moving around. Did someone do this to you? Do you need something?”
“Water,” she says.
I go into the attached bathroom and fill a pink plastic cup with cool water. She sips it down slowly, then lets out a sigh.
“Better?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Now, will you tell me what in the living hell is going on?” I ask.
“I’m fine, really. I have a minor heart condition,” she says.
“A heart condition? That doesn’t sound so minor,” I frown.
“It is. Really. It’s called mitral valve prolapse with low blood volume. I’ll spare you all the medical details, but essentially my heart doesn’t pump my blood well, and my body doesn’t make the right volume of blood. If I don’t take care of myself, I have really bad fatigue and feel weak. If it gets bad, I can pass out and even experience adrenaline surges that shock my heart, but they can cause panic attacks.”
“Holy shit,” I mutter.
“It’s really not that bad. I just didn’t get enough sleep and haven’t been eating well. It started messing with me, so I laid down for another minute to make the dizziness stop. I guess time kind of slipped past. I should really get up and go to school.”
“You need to stay right here,” I tell her. “School’s still going to be there tomorrow.”
“Why aren’t you at school?” she asks, staying reclined against her pillows.
“I got the urge to do a little urban spelunking. Except, I guess out here it’s suburban spelunking. Damn near rural spelunking. I’m going to explore some of the old abandoned houses out here. Learn about the history of the area from a different angle.”
“I love history,” she says.
“So do I. I just also happen to hate Valentine’s Day, so this was the perfect excuse.”
Her hands cover her face, and she groans. “I completely forgot about Valentine’s Day,” she says.
“Your outfit tells a different story,” I point out.
She looks down at her red sweater and leggings. “Just a coincidence. Oh, jeez. I can’t believe I forgot.”
“Did you just say ‘oh, jeez’?” I ask. She doesn’t even hear me.
“Isaiah is going to be so upset. I need to call him.”
My smile falls. I walk back over to the door. “Of course you do. Can’t let Isaiah think his lap dog is straying too far off the leash.”
She protests as I walk out of the room, but I don’t turn back. Six weeks isn’t enough time to be away from her after all.
14
Talon
Two weeks after Valentine’s Day, March decides it’s had enough of winter, and the days start feeling more like spring. I take all my school supplies out of my backpack and refill it with my sketch pad and pencils, my camera, and a few snacks. Bree left a few hours ago for work, which means there aren’t any questions when I slip the hood up on my black hoodie and head out the back door to the run-down old house I’ve been scoping out for two weeks.
I dipped into a few places on my last excursion, but old empty barns and a one-room house that looks like it hasn’t been lived in for about a hundred years can only be but so interesting. The looming mansion deep in the woods, however, looks promising. I’m a few yards into the woods when what I thought might be footsteps behind me become obvious with a loud crack of a twig.
“You’re not very good at being stealthy, Little Bird,” I call back over my shoulder without pausing.
“I wasn’t trying to be stealthy,” Wren protests.
“Yes, you were. What do you want?”
She jogs a couple of yards to catch up with me. “Are you going grave-robbing again?”
I look over at her and laugh. “I don’t intend on digging anybody up. So, if you happen to see any fresh tombstones around, give me a heads up.” She doesn’t laugh. I roll my eyes. “It’s called spelunking. Like cave exploration. And, yes, that’s where I’m going.”
I mean it as a cue for her to turn back, but she doesn’t catch it. She continues walking right along beside me.
“I haven’t seen much of you in the last few weeks,” she finally says.
It’s thrown out casually, like she’s just trying to have a breezy conversation, but the words have a little bit of weight to them.
“You told me to back off. So, I’ve been keeping my distance,” I shrug, still not looking her in the eye. “How’s your boyfriend doing? Still keeping you on a tight leash like a dog?”
She tenses, but it doesn’t stop her from walking beside me.
“Isaiah is fine. He just found out he was accepted into his first-choice school, so he’s excited,” she tells me.
“Well, congratulations to Isaiah,” I say. “I guess that means you know what college you’re going to as well.”
She looks at me strangely. “Why would you say that?”
“You two have a future together, right? I just figured that means you’re going to follow him to college. That way, you’re right there to find a nice apartment off-campus and... oh. Well, I guess you won’t be doing that. You can gaze at each other in front of your dorm buildings.”
She scoffs and shakes her head. “I’m not following him to college. We don’t have the same academic goals. He really wants to be a lawyer, so it’s off to Harvard Yard for him and then law school.”
I whistle. Didn’t think Isaiah had it in him. “Harvard? That’s pretty far from here.”
She nods.
“And how about you? What do you want to be?” I ask.
She shakes her head and looks up at the sky through the branches hanging overhead. “I don’t know yet.”
I finally look over at her. “Really? I’m surprised at you.”
“Why? A lot of people go to college without having a clear idea of what they want to do with their lives,” she argues.
“But not you. Everything is mapped out for you. You said so yourself.”
She nods, her eyes casting down to the ground now. “I guess you’re right. My parents would love for me to be a veterinarian. I’ve spent so much time volunteering at the animal shelter; they think it just seems like a natural progression for me.”