Pure: Ignis Part 16

"Why not?"

"Because you never saw him. You told me you didn't remember Joshua. If you didn't remember him-and both Simon and I saw him-how can you possibly remember that William was there? Neither one of us saw him. And as I said, William would have helped you."

"I'm positive William was there," Charisse said. "I told you William reminded me of Joshua. That's probably because subconsciously I knew they were working together."

"You can't let your dislike of William cloud your judgment," I said angrily. "You're imagining things now. It would be irresponsible of you to tell the police you saw William at the scene. You can't be sure."

"I'm sure," Charisse said stubbornly.

"Charisse, what's wrong?" Mrs. Graebel called out.

GM pulled the curtain back. Mrs. Graebel was getting out of bed.

"I just remembered something that happened back at the house," Charisse said.

"Charisse, you didn't-"

Mrs. Graebel interrupted me gently. "Katie, Anna, would you mind leaving us? I think my daughter and I need to talk."

"Of course. We will go." GM put an arm around my shoulder. "Come along, Katie."

I allowed myself to be steered out of the room and down the hallway.

"William was not at the house," I said to GM as we waited for the elevator. "Charisse was unconscious when I found her. I was wide awake. She doesn't know what she's saying."

I was really worried that Charisse would actually go ahead and tell the police her ridiculous story. From what Simon had said earlier in the day, William had already been questioned in connection with the attack on the second girl in the Old Grove. If he were also identified as being present in Charisse's house, he really would be in trouble.

"We will need to talk," GM said firmly.

And talk we did. By the time we reached home, it was established that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere in town alone-not even to school. GM would be driving me to and from school just as she had back in October when people had begun disappearing.

And I was no longer permitted to see William.

I had argued and argued against that, but eventually I had to give up. I realized that no amount of arguing on my part was going to change GM's mind-at least not at the moment.

I was worried about what William would say when he found out. Would he want to abide by GM's rules and not see me?

He would certainly be worried by Joshua's attack. Would he think that avoiding me was safer for me?

That was ridiculous, of course. In fact, I realized now that I should have used William's call and summoned him to me. William would have appeared in an instant, and he could have stopped Joshua and prevented the fire from ever happening.

Things would have been different if I had just called William.

But I had been so frozen both in body and mind that I had never even thought of calling him.

I was really lucky that Simon had shown up when he did.

I felt another pang of worry-this time for a new reason. William hadn't shown up at school today-even though he'd promised to come-and he hadn't shown up at the hospital tonight either. William often seemed to know when something was wrong, but he hadn't appeared.

Where was William?

When would I see him again?

I hoped that I would see him at school tomorrow-I needed to warn him that the police might be after him soon.

As GM and I got out of the car, I couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into Charisse-she seemed so positive that William had been at her house with Joshua. Her dislike of him must have been stronger than I had realized.

GM went into the house ahead of me, and I paused outside on the step. What if Charisse had seen something and misinterpreted it?

What if there really had been someone with Joshua? What if there was yet another vampire lurking in town?

"Is something wrong, Solnyshko?"

"No-it's nothing," I said. I went into the house and closed the door behind me.

GM and I had a quiet dinner, and then I went upstairs to do my homework, wishing all the while that it were already tomorrow, and that I was already back at school.

I had to see William tomorrow.

And once again, before I went to bed, I pa.s.sed by the mirror and could have sworn that a shadow moved within it-a shadow that shouldn't have been there.

GM drove me to school the next morning, and I was nearly frantic to see William. I knew that I could use his call to summon him, but that was something I felt I should only use in an emergency. I hoped he would show up right away.

Maybe he'd heard about Joshua and would even be waiting for me outside the school.

I hurried into the schoolyard and scanned it quickly. There were a few students standing out in the yard huddled against the cold, but William was not amongst them. I'd already had a text from Charisse telling me that neither she nor Branden would be in school today. But I did spot Simon standing by the usual picnic table-he was clearly waiting for me.

I hurried over to him.

Simon turned at my approach. "Hey, Katie. How are you? Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Yes, thanks," I said. "How are you? How are those burns?"

Simon pulled off his gloves to show me his bandaged hands. "They're good. I know all this wrapping looks bad, but it should heal well. There probably won't even be any scarring."

He gave me a smile. "That last part is too bad. I hear girls like a few scars." He pulled his gloves back on. "Would you like to go inside? It's freezing out here."

I took one last look around the schoolyard and felt disappointment rising within me.

"Sure," I said. "Let's go in."

We went into the school and made our way to the cafeteria.

"So, your grandmother is shepherding you to school again, is she?" Simon asked as we sat down at a round table.

"Yes, she is," I said. I scanned the cafeteria for William. He usually chose to appear at busy times when he was less likely to be noticed, but I hoped to see him anyway-I didn't care if Simon saw him and wondered why he was there. I looked over each face carefully, but William clearly wasn't in the cafeteria anywhere. Disappointment welled up within me again.

Simon continued. "That's probably for the best that you have a chaperone." He took a deep breath. "I heard about Charisse-I heard that she saw William at the scene of the crime."

"Charisse doesn't know what she saw," I said, my anger flaring. "She also told me she didn't remember much of anything at all."

"She seemed pretty sure about William. Katie, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I really think you should stop seeing him."

My anger faded as quickly as it had come-Simon was just onto his favorite topic. There was no point in arguing with him.

"You've been saying that a lot lately," I said wearily. "And as it happens, GM agrees with you."

"Oh, does she?" Simon did a poor job of concealing a smile.

We talked a little more, but my heart wasn't really in it. I was relieved when the warning bell rang, and Simon and I streamed out into the hall with everyone else.

Shortly after Simon waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around expectantly, but it wasn't William who was standing behind me.

It was Irina.

Her dark eyes were blazing. "You almost got him killed. Are you happy?"

"What are you talking about, Irina?"

"I'm talking about Simon. It's all over the school. He was nearly killed in a fire last night. All because he was trying to save you."

"That's not exactly what happened."

"Do you even care about him?" Irina demanded. "You take everything so calmly. Like the world owes you something. Like everyone's supposed to be in love with you. And you can't even be bothered to care about anyone in return."

I felt my anger flare up again. "You don't know anything about Simon and me. We've been friends for years-and during most of those years you didn't even seem to know he was alive. Do you actually care about him? Or is he just something you can't have?"

"Do I actually care?" Irina's voice rose hysterically, and several people in the crowded hall turned to stare at us. "Do I care? I care more than you ever have or ever will."

I was startled to see tears welling up in Irina's eyes. "Irina-"

"Your family has always been trouble," Irina said suddenly. "My father told me all about it."

I was thrown off by the sudden shift in topic. "My family?"

Irina's lips twisted into a bitter smile and a tear spilled down her cheek. "My father told me that your family tried to ruin us back in Russia. He told me about what your grandmother did. And you-you're no different."

Irina stormed off, and I was left staring after her in shock. What could my friendship with Simon possibly have to do with anything that had happened in Russia?

And why was she attacking my grandmother?

I shook off my shock and hurried on to homeroom.

As the day wore on, I looked anxiously for William. I lingered in the hallways and was very nearly late for several cla.s.ses. I had lunch with Simon, and though I tried to be sociable, I had a hard time paying attention to anything Simon said.

The second half of the day pa.s.sed all too quickly, and though I did receive a series of unexpected glares from Irina-who suddenly seemed to be everywhere-I didn't see any sign of William.

At the final bell, I went to my locker slowly and lingered in the halls, searching the faces that pa.s.sed me. With reluctance, I left the school and stood outside in the cold, watching the crowd as it swelled at first and slowly dispersed.

As the minutes ticked by, the cold seemed to seep under my coat and into my skin. I waited as long as I could, knowing that GM was probably growing anxious.

I was alone in the schoolyard when I finally got out my phone with shaking fingers and called home.

Once again, William had forgotten me.

Chapter 8.

Two more days pa.s.sed without any word from William. When the final bell rang at the end of the day on Friday, I went to my locker and pulled out my books without looking around. I'd reached a point at which I no longer scanned the crowd for William-I actually avoided looking as much as possible.

I didn't want to see that he wasn't there.

I knew I could use the call to summon him, but I kept telling myself that I wanted to keep that for emergencies.

In reality I was afraid that he wouldn't appear.

I had realized with a pang that I couldn't call William the regular way either-since I didn't have a phone number for him. It hadn't mattered very much before-he'd appeared of his own volition often enough that we stayed in regular contact-even if our meetings tended to be brief. I supposed it had been part of his plan to keep some distance between us.

I tried to tell myself that there was nothing to worry about, that William had something important he had to do, and that he would come back when whatever it was was finished.

Somehow, I felt as if William were still nearby, still watching over my house at night so I could sleep in safety.

If that is the case, whispered a dissenting voice in my head, then why didn't he protect you from Joshua Martin?

I pushed the thought away-I didn't have an answer for my own question.

All I could do was wait-and hope.

I closed my locker door, and I was surprised to see Charisse standing on the other side of it.

Things had been awkward between the two of us since that day in the hospital when she had accused William of being at her house with Joshua, and though she had returned to school, we hadn't really spoken much.

So as I looked at her now, I wasn't sure what to expect from her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I said warily.

"I don't want things to be weird between us," she said.

"Neither do I," I replied.

"I want you to know that I didn't tell the police that I saw William at the house with Joshua," Charisse said slowly. "Ultimately, I couldn't be sure it was him. My memory of the whole incident is very, very hazy."