Vita

Chapter Seventeen

Levi hugs me tightly in his kitchen. I'm afraid of losing him, but I think he's even more afraid of losing me. Relationships are built on trust, so I'm glad I spilled to him about my kiss with Isaiah, but that didn't help my feelings for Isaiah. I thought I left those behind last year, and I did, but somehow they always worked their way back into my life. And what do you do when you're in love with two different people?

"I think I know someone who will know where Ember is," I say in a hushed tone, "but you're not gonna like it."

"Who?" Levi asks cautiously.

"Isaiah knows Avery and Zoe well enough to know where they're hiding her."

"No," Levi laughs, "Isaiah is not going to help us. We can figure it out on our own."

"We might not have that time," I fire back.

Even though Levi was completely against having Isaiah come help us search for Ember, I finally convinced him that it would be our only hope. Isaiah was at the front door in less than ten minutes. With the traffic nowadays and all the construction in town, he was definitely speeding.

"Hale," he smirks and looks me up and down, "long time, no see."

"Isaiah," I smile and gesture for him to come in. His fingers trail my hand for a second as he makes his way in. But Levi who is in the back of the room wouldn't have been able to notice that.

"Ah, and nice to see you again, Levi Bitchanchi," Isaiah wears a smile that shows his glory of thinking of a new nickname for Levi that is other than just plain asshole.

Levi's fists tighten at this, but he doesn't say anything. The tension between these two are growing by the second, so I interrupt, "so how about we focus on where Ember is? Isaiah?"

"Avery and Zoe, knowing those two, would most likely hide Ember in the now-abandoned cellar of the school. You're welcome."

"Why couldn't you just tell this to Eleanor over the phone?" Levi hisses to Isaiah.

"Is it a bad thing I wanted to visit my good friend, Eleanor?" Isaiah pouts to Levi, "Or am I intruding on some quality boyfriend-girlfriend time you two were having?"

"Even if Eleanor and I-"

I interrupt their bickering before it got physical, "Can't you two stop it? Levi, I thought you forgave me for kissing Isaiah in the first place?"

"I forgave you, Eleanor. I haven't forgave Isaiah for provoking you," Levi states harshly.

"Maybe I didn't provoke her," Isaiah shrugs and leans on a wall. I bolt my eyes over to him.

"What?" Levi asks.

"Levi-"

"Is it true then, Eleanor?" he walks over to me.

"I-"

"Is it true?" he's standing a foot away from me, his eyes blacker and scarier than ever. My heart pounding through my chest. His glare is burning a hole through me. His fists now clenched.

His jaw tightens, "you know what? I'm not going to come. You and Isaiah can go rescue Ember. I'll talk to you later about this, Eleanor."

I stand there in shock as he whips around and leaves the front hall to go to a different room. Isaiah walks over to me and grabs my arm, "we should go find Ember now," he tells me but all I can do is nod.