Spades and Angels

Lolita

The minute I find and show Mads the note stuffed into my backpack we know we have to speak to the others about what we found. The phone call too since I don't know how he recorded it but am thankful he did since it means they can hear the same threats we did. The same confusing message that I wish I understood but with what we'd been told about it meant we were confused.

Ignoring that we were supposed to be in school, I can hear Mads on the phone with what I presume to be Ash or Michael. Trying to explain that we needed to talk to the others sooner rather than later. Even with midterms coming up. Even with assignment deadlines, we put it all on hold out of necessity to figure all this out.

"Are you ok, Lo?" Mads taps my shoulder and I turn my attention from the window to him. Seeing how worried he is. "Hey, we'll figure this out. Maybe Riv's managed to find some more intel on the classified Aphrodite Project and how the hell you're supposed to fit into it. Something I don't get." He sighs, "We'll figure it out ok, mi querida tesoro?" The repetition of part of what he'd said to me all those weeks ago warms me inside but I...I'm still worried. "Lo?"

"Mhmm," I mumble, a half smile on my face. "Si, mi querido norte verdadero?" I whisper, seeing his smile. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, now that I know you are mi querida tesoro, mi querida corazón," Again the softly spoken Spanish endearments have me smiling, pushing away some of the tension from knowing he's always in my corner for me. Keeping me safe and looking out for me in a way that I doubt my brother will either be able or want to when word finally gets out that I switched sides of my own free will. Even if only just for a little while until he either comes around about it all or we find another way. "Mi querida tesoro, mi querida corazón?"

My darling treasure, my darling heart. The words warm me a little more every time he says them. Helping me push back the tension and anxiety in my chest that's sitting like a rock in my lungs. Making it hard to breathe even more so than anything else I'd suffered up until now. The idea that I'd been marked and chosen before I was aware made me question just about anything I thought I knew. That we all thought we knew about this mess that Mads and I started as well as Riv and the whole mess with the classified Project Aphrodite. The inclusion of that detail in the phone call made me feel more certain that whatever happened with the project was linked to something beyond what Riv suffered. Beyond me possibly if I'm supposedly part of it.

Getting to the spot Mads and the others must have chosen I'm no better mentally than when I hung up the phone. Still afraid of whoever was on the end of the line since I didn't know the Morovoz-Castillo kids by voice and the person who phoned me didn't give a name. Maybe Riv would know, given her time there and what she said happened. My brain chips in and I'm tempted to sigh in retaliation to it. Even if it might be true, I can't be sure. And since I can't be sure that makes it harder.

When we stop and get out Mads sticks by me, just as he always does. Keeping an eye out in case Connor or one of his buddies should dare come across the town border to attack us where we should be safe. But I'm no fool, just as I know the others aren't. We're not safe anywhere anytime soon. Not until the whole mess of problems with Connor and the Spades are dealt with. At least enough to find a way to sort it out in the long run.

"Are you ok?" This time I ask Mads the question since my partner seems oddly quiet in a way I can't decode. Just giving me an odd half-smile before shrugging. I laugh, rolling my eyes, "Fine don't tell me, see if I care." I pull an odd expression to him and he laughs, making me roll my eyes again. Seeing him do the same, "Ah you know what I've said-"

"-Pot and kettle Alcaraz, given what you've just done thrice I believe?" He laughs and bumps me with his shoulder as we make it up to the door and he raps twice. "No moral high horse this time Lo. Not with what you've done."