Juliet Immortal

of his friends to say that so he won’t get in trouble. He’s a horrible person, Mom.”
    Melanie waves her hand. “Will you come inside? You’re making me cold just looking at you.”
    “You believe me, don’t you?” I ask, hesitating on the last stair.
    “I believe you,” Melanie says, making me sag with relief and take the last few steps into the house. Inside, the kitchen smells as sour as always, but at least it’s warm. And there’s bread and peanut butter in the pantry. No matter how upset and confused I am, I have to keep eating. I have to keep my strength up.
    I head toward the cabinets, hoping Melanie will get the hint that we should end this conversation if I start making a sandwich.
    “But Ariel …” She drops her purse on the counter and crosses her arms.
    “But what?” I ask, fetching a plate and a knife.
    “I’m not sure what everyone else is going to think. You and Gemma have been friends for almost your entire lives.”
    “Gemma?”
    She bites her lip, obviously not wanting to tell me what she knows.
    “Please, Mom, I don’t—”
    “Gemma’s the one who said she heard you planning to hurt Dylan. She says you said something to her this morning at the bakery.”
    “Gemma,” I repeat dumbly. Why would she lie for Romeo? Because she’s mad at me, or is it something more?
    She lied about her true opinion of Dylan from day one, and welcomed him into the barn yesterday. Who knowshow close she’s grown to Romeo? She’s been listening to his lies for at least a day, maybe longer. For all I know she could be getting ready to drive a knife into Ben’s heart at this very second, while I’m wasting time making a peanut butter sandwich.
    The knife in my hand clatters to the counter.
    “I have to go back to school,” I say, heading for the door. Melanie stops me with a hand on my arm.
    “Ariel, you can’t.”
    “I have to. I have to see Gemma and find out why she’s lying.”
    “Honey, I’m so sorry she—”
    “It’s fine. I don’t care, we just …” I take a breath, trying to keep the hysteria from my voice. “Gemma and I have to talk.” About how she’s never going to lay a hand on Ben, how I’ll kill her if she even
thinks
about making that kind of bargain. Gemma will
never
become a Mercenary. I’ll make sure of it—one way or another.
    “Please, Mom.” I shrug her off and reach for one of the coats hanging on the pegs by the door. If I can’t be dry, I can at least be warmer. “Can you just take me back to school? Or let me borrow the car for a few hours?”
    “Ariel, you’re not allowed back onto school grounds until the meeting tomorrow.”
    “But I have to go.” I
have
to go back. I have to get to Gemma before Romeo sways her completely to his side. She’s already telling outrageous lies for him; how much further is she willing to go?
    “We can’t,” Melanie says, her voice admirably patient. “Why don’t you go take a shower and warm up? I’ll make you a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and while you’re eatingyou can tell me exactly what happened. All about Ben and Dylan and Gemma and the rest of it. People telling that many lies always have holes in their stories. We’ll find them and be ready to point them out in the meeting tomorrow and everything will be fine.”
    I shake my head, struggling to think straight, wishing a talk could solve this problem.
    Melanie wraps her arm around me, pulling me close. “Come on, you’ll feel better after you’re clean and dry. And I bet between the two of us we can think of lots of ways to make Gemma suffer for being such a complete b-word.” My head snaps in her direction. She smiles at the surprise on my face, trouble sparking in her usually tired eyes. “What? You know I never really liked her. Her mother is a snob, and I honestly think Gemma is suffering from a nasty case of borderline personality disorder. And she treats you like a puppy. One she likes to kick.”
    “She does,” I say, not caring anymore that Ariel is so attached to Gemma. She’ll just have to get
un
attached. Gemma isn’t best friend material. And despite that red glow, she isn’t soul mate material either.
    My decision is made. The Ambassadors can take her glowing aura and shove it. I’m not going to do anything to help Gemma get closer to Ben. I don’t care what they do to me. They can come for me, strip me of my power, and send me to the mist, but I’m going to take care of Gemma before they do. Maybe I’ll