Page 100 (2/2)

He whirled around just as my hand touched the door, and slammed it shut

"What is your problem?" I yelled "So what if he’s a Blue? Aren’t you the one that keeps going on about hoe’re all Black and hoe should respect each other?"

The sant as it was beautiful

"You need to accept the fact that you’re Orange and that you’re always going to be alone because of it" A measure of calm had returned to Clancy’s voice His nostrils flared when I tried to turn the door handle again He sla anywhere, towering over me

"I sahat you want," Clancy said "And it’s not your parents It’s not even your friends What you want is to be with him, like you were in the cabin yesterday, or in that car in the woods I don’t want to lose you, you said Is he really that i my throat "How dare you? You said you wouldn’t--you said--"

He let out a bark of laughter "God, you’re naive I guess this explains how that League wo less than a monster"

"You said you would help ht, are you ready for the last lesson? Ruby Elizabeth Daly, you are alone and you alill be If you weren’t so stupid, you would have figured it out by now, but since it’s beyond you, let me spell it out: You will never be able to control your abilities You will never be able to avoid being pulled into someone’s head, because there’s some part of you that doesn’t want to kno to control the to embrace them You’re too immature and weak-hearted to use them the way they’re meant to be used You’re scared of what that would et it? You hate what you are, but you were given these abilities for a reason We both were It’s our right to use them--we have to use them to stay ahead, to keep the others in their place"

His finger caught the stretched-out collar of

"Stop it" I was proud of how steady e beneath my closed eyes--the two of us just before he walked into my memories My stomach knotted as I watched ainst lad we found each other," he said, voice oddly cal, but you…"

My elbo up and clipped him under the chin Clancy stu both hands to his face I had half a second to get the hell out, and I took it, twisting the handle of the door so hard that the lock popped itself out

"Ruby! Wait, I didn’t mean--!"

A face appeared at the bottom of the stairs Lizzie I saw her lips part in surprise, her uo"

I burst outside, completely out of breath My feet were draard the fire pit, but I forced myself to stop and reconsider There were so athered around the food tables I wanted to find Liam and explain why I hadn’t been there, to tell him what had happened, but I kneas a mess I needed to calm down, and there was no way I could do it here There were too many potential questions I needed to be alone