Is that your prediction?I want to ask, but thankfully choke back the words. He’s only trying to help, and whether or not I believe him, whether or not Sabine will ever come around to my side, isn’t really the point. He’s just trying to connect, and the least I can do is allow it.

“But as far as school and your attendance is concerned—” He shoots me a stern look. “It’s only a matter of time before she catches on. So, try not to make things any tougher on yourself than they already are, okay? Or at least think about it anyway. Besides, last time I checked, getting a high school diploma didn’t hurt anyone. In fact, it can only help.”

I mumble some sort of halfhearted reply, give a quick wave of my hand, and head for the gate. Having no idea if the conversation was actually over, but knowing my part of it is. Those kinds of things, the rules he referred to, no longer apply. The pomp and circumstance of a high school graduation is for other people.

Normal people.

Mortal people.

Not me.

Starting my car with my mind long before I’ve reached its spot on the drive, I pull out of the gate and onto the street, speeding toward the place where I told Jude we’d meet.

Chapter 14

The moment I pull into the parking lot I see him.

Waiting for me in his Jeep, thumbs tapping the steering wheel in time to the music that blares from his iPod, looking so peaceful, so content to be sitting alone there like that—I’m tempted to turn my car around and head back to where I came from.

But I don’t.

This is far too important to miss.

Haven has no plans to renege on her threat, and for all I know this could be my one and only chance to convince him of the importance of this.

I pull up beside him and wave. Watching as he removes his earbuds, tosses them aside, and jumps out, leaning against the door, arms folded before him as he watches my approach.

“Hey.” He nods, studying me carefully as I heave my bag over my shoulder and straighten the T-shirt I wear over my tank top. “You okay?” He tilts his head and squints, clearly confused as to why I summoned him here.

I nod and smile, thinking if anyone should be asking that question, it should be me asking him. “Yeah, I’m good.” I stop just shy of him, unsure where to take it from here. Just because I asked him to meet me doesn’t mean I took the time to memorize my long list of talking points. “Um, and you…are you okay?”

My gaze moves over him, noting how he certainly looks better than the last time I saw him, the color’s returned to his face, his gaze isn’t nearly as empty and bleak, and one glance at his vibrant green aura is all it takes to know he’s definitely on the mend.

He nods and lifts his shoulders, obviously waiting for me to make the next move, to tell him what this is really about. But when I don’t, when I just continue to stand there before him, he takes a deep breath and says, “Seriously. I’m—I’m getting used to the idea of her being gone. I mean, I can’t change it, so I may as well adapt to it,right ?”

I mumble some sort of agreement, some standard-issue, easily forgettable reply. Then, knowing I’ve stalled long enough, that it’s time to get to it, the real reason we’re here, I take a deep breath and say, “And Haven? Have you seen or heard from her lately?”

He looks away, fingers working the slight sheen of stubble just beginning to show on his chin, his voice sounding tired, resigned, when he says, “Nope, not a word. Which, when you think about it, probably isn’t a good sign. But then again, this whole thing is a little out of my league, so who knows?” He glances at me for a moment, eyes moving over my face before wandering again.

“But what if I were to tell you it wasn’t?” I pause long enough for his gaze to find its way back to mine.

“What if this whole thing wasn’tout of your league at all?”

He grunts, mumbles something completely indecipherable under his breath, then shakes his head and says, “You’re joking, right?”

I hold my ground, hold the serious expression on my face. “Trust me, it’s no joke. In fact—”

But before I can finish, before I can even get to the point, he cuts me right off, having already drawn his own conclusion as to what this is about and eager to stop me before I can go any further. “Listen, Ever—” He sighs, kicking his foot out before him as he buries his hands deep into the front pockets of his jeans. “While I appreciate your concern for my safety, I want to make it clear that I have absolutely no intention of drinking the elixir and becoming immortal like you.”

My eyes go wide as I fight to keep my jaw from dropping to my knees. I can’t believe he actually thought I was offering such a thing.

“I mean, I know I’ve said it before, and I don’t mean to get all judgmental on you or anything, but that kind of unnaturally long lifespan…well, I have no interest in that sort of thing.”

That makes two in as many days,I think, unable to keep myself from gaping.

“After going to Summerland, and afterseeing Lina, well, I think you’d have to be pretty crazy to want to stay here. To choose an extra-long, extended stay in such an imperfect, hate-filled world when there’s something so much better waiting ’round the bend—so to speak.”

And even though his words hit me, hit me as hard as Miles’s did, I don’t cry. I’m done with all that. For better or worse, I am what I am and there’s no going back. Though that doesn’t mean I have any intention of convincing all the others to join me.