Juliet Immortal

that one. There was no glitter of madness inhis old eyes, no thinly veiled threat in the baring of his teeth. He’s coming to me, in broad daylight, with this new friend—probably Jason, the one Gemma mentioned—to torment me, to break me down with some cruelty he’s worked out during the night. It’s the same as it always is, but so much worse.
    Because I am alone, and Ben and Gemma are so strange, and he is … haunting.
    I back away, fingers gripping my tray so hard my bones begin to ache. I don’t want to look at him; I don’t want to speak to him. But I have no choice. If I run, he’ll know something is wrong. I never run, even when I should, even though the Ambassadors say it’s better to run than to fight.
    Instead, I put my tray back and walk toward him, meeting him head-on.
    “Get me meat. Lots of it. Meat on meat,” Romeo says to his friend before stopping in front of me. For some reason this makes the shorter boy snort with laughter. His dark eyes meet mine as he walks by, and I fight the urge to shiver. It’s like looking into the face of a reptile, a predator born without human feeling. Even
Romeo’s
eyes seem warm by comparison.
    “So glad to see you,” Romeo says, grinning like the madman he is. “I wanted to apologize. For last night.”
    Apologize? I look around, wondering for whose benefit he’s putting on this show. There’s no one within earshot, and his friend is already pushing a tray through the line fifteen feet away.
    “Sincerely. I’m sorry. If I’d known, I never would have touched you.”
    “Known what?” I cross my arms, bracing myself for the inevitable punch line.
    He leans close, his voice dropping to a whisper. “The world is different this time. You can feel it, can’t you? You’ve noticed … things.”
    I narrow my eyes, searching his face. He’s fishing. He might not know that I can’t contact Nurse, but he knows something. Now it’s just a matter of finding out what he knows without giving myself away. “I’ve noticed you don’t seem to be healing as quickly as you should.”
    His fingers go to his cheek, pushing at his bruise. It’s fainter than it was last night, but it’s definitely there. He smiles, as if relishing the wound. “Perhaps my new father gave me a beating for wrecking my car.”
    I flinch. The thought of Romeo being beaten by anyone but me is unexpectedly disturbing. At least I know that every time I’ve struck him he deserved it.
    “Or perhaps my gifts are fading,” he continues. “Perhaps I’ve been abandoned by my cause. I believe it’s likely. Look at this mess.…” He turns and lifts his carefully coiled curls, showcasing a dent in his skull, the one I made when I slammed his head into the glass roof of the car.
    I gasp. And turn to make sure no one else has seen.
    “Aw. I didn’t think you cared.” Romeo laughs, and slings a casual arm around my shoulder. “So tell me the truth, Jules. How goes it with you? Things rotten in the state of Denmark?”
    “Wrong play.” I shrug him off, refusing to think about how tired I am or how frightened by my inability to contact Nurse. I know better than to trust him. Romeo always has an agenda.
Always
. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Oh, Juliet. Don’t lie. I don’t want to lie or fight anymore. I’m so weary of it, aren’t you? Wouldn’t you jump at the chance to put an end to it all?”
    Romeo has said similar things before, when he’s offered me the chance to join the Mercenaries. All I’d have to do is convince one soul mate to sacrifice his or her love to the Mercenary cause and I’d pay my way into their eternity. A waking eternity, where I would be free to do as I wished between missions. Romeo has reminded me a dozen times that the offer stands, but never with much conviction. He knows me well enough to realize I’m not capable of stealing an innocent soul.
    “I’ve told you, I’m not—”
    “I’m not talking about the Mercenaries. Or the Ambassadors.” He leans even closer, until his lips are inches from my ear. “This shift is different. And if we play our cards correctly, it could be our last.”

NINE
    R omeo is waiting on the stage when Gemma and I walk into rehearsal that afternoon, smiling that smile that assures me my efforts to avoid him are futile.
    Gemma chucks her backpack onto the floor and joins the dancers onstage without bothering to say good-bye, and Romeo’s smile becomes a merry grimace. I turn and slip