Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles 3)

“See you later,” I say. Jamie winks at me and jogs down the hall to Spanish. I love that boy.

I try my hardest to focus in class, but it's hard when part of my brain is thinking about Peter and I am feeling his emotions, another part is wondering if my mother is okay and another part is thinking about blood.

She was still asleep when I left that morning, but Dad was staying home with her. I'm pretty sure he's going to take leave from work soon. I don't want that day to come, because that will mean we're close to the end. She said she would tell me when it was happening, but I'm too scared to ask. I'm stuck in a place of wanting to know, and not wanting to know.

One thing is for sure, I'm going to need a serious miracle to get through exams. They're extremely important because colleges will be looking at them. Not that I've really thought much about that. I know I'll go to college, but I can't see past this summer. I can't see a life without my mother. Obviously Peter will have to come with me. Maybe he can enroll with me. The question is, will I be human or not? Either way, I'm getting a degree. That is something I promised my mother, and I'm not going to go back on my word. Just like I promised to take care of her garden, I'm going to college. Bottom line. Even if I have to study my ass off to pass geometry. Even if I have to have Peter stand outside the window and feed me answers. That's what I'll do.

I call Mom during study hall and make sure she's recovering from the day before and all that craziness.

She sighs. “I knew it was going to be emotional. The phone hasn't stopped ringing. Just wait until you see what's in the kitchen when you get home.”

“Why, what happened?”

“You'll see,” she says.

Oh, God. I have no idea what to prepare for. I hang up with her and go back to struggling with my homework. The words on the page swim in front of my eyes. Whoever came up with the idea for homework should be hung by their thumbs and tickled to death.

When the bell finally rings for lunch, I'm more than relieved. Tex is already waiting for me at my locker when I get there.

“The boys are outside. I may or may not have skipped out of AP Euro early with a headache so I could see Viktor.” I'm guessing the answer is may.

“Come again? Did you just say that you skipped history? Who are you?”

She laughs and loops her arm with mine. “This is the new and improved Tex. I now come with a hot Russian at no extra charge.”

We bust out of the school doors and dash to the parking lot. Technically speaking, only seniors are allowed to leave campus during lunch, but the monitoring is sketchy at best. As long as you aren't a wide-eyed freshman, you can pretty much get away with it.

Peter and Viktor are hanging out next to Tex's car, as if they're guarding it. At the first sight of him, my heart does a happy dance, and everything falls into place. Like it or not, my life is only complete when I'm with him. Whether that is completely due to the Claiming or not, I still haven't figured out. Not that it matters. It is what it is.

I wonder sometimes if he'd been human and we'd both met at school or at a party, what we might have been like. If we would have been a couple.

Obviously, he'd be a much different person. He'd probably smile a lot more and play the guitar. Maybe he'd wear guy-liner and write weird poetry and hang out in cemeteries. I don't know. Peter wouldn't be the same Peter if he was human, that's for sure. Even thinking about wishing that he was human is crazy. I mentally slap myself and smile at him.

“Hey, Peter.”

“Hello, Ava-Claire. How has your day been?”

“Meh. It's better now that you're here.”

“I have told you before that if you want me to enroll in school, Viktor can make it happen,” he says, taking my hand.

“That is true,” Viktor says, pulling something out of his back pocket. He always wears an odd assortment of clothes, and today he has a Batman t-shirt and khakis with a newsboy cap. It's all very hipster chic. He hands me what, for all intents and purposes, looks like a Maine driver's license. I stare at it, but it looks exactly like mine. Except, of course, it has a picture of Viktor on it and his details.

“You're an organ donor?”

“No. I put it on there because people tend to treat you better if you are.” He takes the ID back from me and slips it in his back pocket again.

“Okay, how did you make that?”

“They are not difficult to make. I have had a lot of time to practice. I can also do passports and other documents.”

“Where do you make them?”

“At my place in Russia. I am having a lot of my equipment shipped here.”

“Where are you going to put it?”

“In my room,” Tex pipes up. “If I shove it in the closet, my mom will never know. I can also throw them in a box in the basement of the bookstore. She only sends Toby down there, and if I label it with something generic, he'll never look. Easy as pie.”

“Have you ever made pie? It's not that easy,” I say. She has no idea how difficult pie crust can be.

“Whatever,” she says, gazing adoringly at Viktor. He glances down at her. I haven't seen him smile, either. Maybe Tex can give him lessons. They'd probably involve her taking her clothes off. Strip Smiling. Ew.

“I really don't think it would work, having you at school. Plus, you would be seriously distracting. I don't think I'd get anything done,” I say.

“I think it's a great idea,” Tex says. Of course she does.

I roll my eyes and Viktor gives me a wink. Wait, what? I give him a look and he does it again. There is definitely more to Viktor than meets the eye. Tricksy boy.

“So if you would like it, I can make it happen,” he says, back to Mr. Stoic.

“I think it's a really, really bad idea. Anyway, school is going to be out soon and then we'll have the summer.” I'm going to spend most of my summer with my mother, but I'll spend whatever is left with Peter, and probably working a few hours at the bookstore so I can get my Tex fix. Obviously I'll also add some quality Jamie time, too.

“We do have the summer,” Peter says, swinging our hands.

My skin shivers with excitement that I get to touch him. He doesn't mention the fall, because we both know what happens in the fall. Or maybe even in the summer. I am going to lose my mother, and it's going to break both of us. He is so tied to me that my grief is going to become ours.

“I'm starving,” Tex says.

We all decide to grab a quick bite at Grill Monsters, which is a camper that has been turned into a mobile grill that drives around Sussex in the summer and parks in a different place every day. Sometimes we forget where it's supposed to be and have to drive around to find it, but not today. It's hanging out next to the lumber supply in an unused parking lot. I like Grill Monsters because I can get a veggie burger, and Tex loves the bacon barbecue burger. I'm surprised when she orders it, because it's really messy and she gets sauce all over her face when she eats it. I didn't think she'd want to show that side to Viktor just yet.