The Hierophant (Book 1 in The Arcana Series) by Madeline Claire Franklin Page B

Trebor?
     
    I wait, and hope he'll respond. A minute passes, then two, as I stare at my phone, willing a new message to appear. My father changes the television channel and yawns. Nothing happens.
    Something inside of me shrivels. Desperation seeps out, fingers reaching for the fleeing possibility of the answers I had hoped he could provide.
     
    ME: at least tell me what kind of danger I'm in. please.
     
    I'm surprised when the reply comes swiftly.
     
    TREBOR: I don't know yet. I'm trying to find out.
     
    It's not the relieving response I was hoping for.
     
    ME: do you know why this is happening to me?
    TREBOR: Because you can see more than you should be able to.
    ME: do you know why I can see more than I should be able to?
     
    Pause.
     
    TREBOR: No.
    ME: and what if the sura want me dead? or worse.
    TREBOR: I won't let that happen.
     
    I bite my lip, not really convinced his assurance is good enough.
     
    ME: I don't want to sound ungrateful but why do you care?
     
    There is a long pause, during which a thousand fears and hopes are born, live, and die in the fertile void of my mind, and I can’t tell any of them apart in order to align myself with any single one of them. Finally, my phone buzzes with his response.
     
    TREBOR: Because, as you said, apparently I'm interested in you too.

— 23 —
     
    I make sure to walk into the coffee shop five minutes late, because few things are as awkward as waiting for someone else to show up when you're already not certain you want to be there. Andy strikes me as the kind of guy who has punctuality bred into his bones, and the casual demeanor to make it work. He's probably chatting up a barista while he waits, or making friends with whoever is sitting around him.
    When I do walk in, it takes me a moment to find him among the tables and chairs, but I find him in a corner, by the gas fireplace, just about to end a conversation on his cell phone. I head down to the table as nonchalantly as possible.
    “Ana,” Andy says as I approach, setting his phone down on the table, standing to greet me. “Glad you could make it.”
    “Yeah, sorry I'm late.” I pull out a chair and unsling my bag from my shoulder, hanging it on the back of my chair before I sit.
    He smiles, sits, considering me. “You look good. I mean, not like you nearly drowned the other night.”
    I raise an eyebrow.
    “I'm sorry,” Andy closes his eyes for a second, shakes his head. “That was really insensitive of me.”
    “You're fine.” I force a laugh.
    “Still. That must have been a horrifying experience.” He raises his eyebrows. “Thank goodness Trebor was there. He said you almost died.”
    “Almost but didn't, right? What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Etcetera.” I smile, trying to be casual.
    Andy smiles back, slides a cup of coffee my way. “Black, right?”
    I nod, wondering why he knows that. Do I just seem like the type of girl who drinks her coffee black? I try not to follow that thought, because I think if there’s an ascribed type of girl who drinks black coffee, I wouldn’t want to be her. I don’t want to be a type of anything at all.
    “So, tell me about your family.” He looks at me with such interest and sincerity that I could almost believe I'm the only person in the world right now. It's one of his special powers, something he uses to garner votes and favors—but being aware of it helps protect me from the charm.
    “Um, well. Okay. So my mother was raised in a caravan that moved around the country, like all of her ancestors,” I begin, hands curled around my paper cup of coffee, and I tell him most of her story: young and restless, running off to school—“she wanted to be a ballerina more than anything else”—then into marriage—“and then she met my father, and wanted to be with him more than anything else.” I skirt around the subject of religion and faith, though he keeps prodding me back to it.
    “I thought a lot of Romani were very religious,” Andy