Free Heirs of War by Mara Valderran Page B

All this talk of being kept safe, and not once had the thought occurred to her that they might all actually be protecting her from something. “I…I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone following me. There’s was this new guy last year that was a bit weird, but whatever. He moved away. He was a total emo anyway, nothing serious.”
    “Have you asked Tate?”
    “How can I? He’s been M.I.A. pretty much since he called Varrick to kill off the last hope of a social life I had.”
    “What does M.I.A. mean?”
    Ariana blinked at her new friend, wondering just how sheltered she had been. “Missing In Action. It’s a military term or something. So you really think all this secret stuff is about a stalker?”
    Sheridan waved her off. “Probably not. I just watch too many movies. Look, I say we go to the dance anyway. We’ll talk to Allen beforehand so he knows to look out for trouble. Maybe we should even tell some teachers too.”
    “Tell some teachers I snuck out against my parents’ wishes to go to a dance where a potentially dangerous stalker that I know nothing about might be lurking in the shadows?”
    Sheridan laughed. “Okay, point taken. We’ll mention it when we get there. Pick you up around five?”
    Maybe she was giving more voice to the rebellious teenager locked inside her than usual, but she was determined to go to this dance like a normal girl, regardless of the cost. “Meet me at Emma’s. We’ll get dressed there like we planned. We’ll just leave Tate out of it this time.”
     
    ***
     
    Zelene was in a pretty bright mood as school let out, but it darkened significantly as she spotted Varrick. She was happy to see him, of course. They were going camping this weekend, and she planned on talking him into letting her move in. She’d even taken pictures of her black eye as a sort of visual aid to the presentation she had planned.
    But Varrick wasn’t alone. He was standing with Kyle, which really pissed her off. Despite everything he had put her through, Varrick still insisted on being nice to her ex. Every time she call ed him on it, he would simply say, “What? He didn’t dump me .” Because pointing out that she got dumped always made her feel better. Really.
    She decided not to let Kyle’s presence ruin her good mood, and approached the pair with a pep in her step. She wrapped her arms around Varrick’s overly-large biceps and watched them continue their conversation with a smile on her face.
    “What happened to your hand?” Varrick nodded to Kyle’s battered knuckles.
    “Punched a w all,” Kyle answered as he flexed the hand in question.
    “What’d the wall do to you?”
    “It got in my way, okay?” Kyle snapped. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to launch himself away from her as fast as possible. “Anything else?”
    “Just making conversation.” Varrick turned to Zelene. “What’s got you in such a good mood?”
    “Are you kidding me?” Zelene laughed incredulously. “What you did to Nora, that’s what. She has a shiner to match mine, and she’s so scared, she won’t even look at me now. But she did make me breakfast. She might be a bitch, but she makes a mean pancake.”
    Varrick nodded, rubbing his chin in exaggerated thought. “Someone laid into Nora, huh?”
    Zelene looked back and forth between Varrick and Kyle, who was shifting uncomfortably. “ What do you mean? It wasn’t you?”
    Varrick looked pointedly at Kyle. “You should get that hand looked at. You can break bones on something as hard as a wall. Especially if it really deserves it.”
    No way. There was no way Varrick was implying Kyle had taken revenge on Nora for her sake. “Stop trying to play off your super hero status, Varrick. And stop trying to earn Kyle points he doesn’t deserve.”
    “Whatever,” Kyle looked up at Varrick, that same odd and heavy look in his eyes she could never understand. “Can I go?”
    Varrick wasn’t paying any attention as he read a