thunderstruck | book #2 | discontinued

X I V

Remy eyed herself warily in the bathroom mirror. She had made a slight effort with her appearance, if only to hide her dark circles and how much paler she looked recently. Still, she barely recognised the eyes staring back at her. It was as though there were two versions of herself: one who still lived in Astracia among magic and danger and one who lived here in a perpetual state of boredom. The second version was slowly getting lost, though, and she could no longer find her when she searched now. She was still trying to figure out if that was a good or a bad thing.

She took one final deep breath and looked at her watch. 9.30. In half an hour the portal would be open and she would be back in Astracia. She had not been expecting her return to occur quite so soon, and her stomach twisted with nerves. She had no idea what to expect, or who to expect. In her letter, Hilda had seemed to only refer to herself and a 'friend'—there had been no mention of Maksim anywhere. Did that mean she would not see him?

Perhaps it was better that way, she thought as the she felt the weight of the key in her back pocket.

She found the strength to leave the bathroom, stepping out into a silent hallway. Her brothers and sister had gone back to school today after taking a couple of days off after Remy's return, and her mother was at work. If she was not heading out herself, she would have relished in the quietude of the house. She did not have the time to, though. She pulled on her jacket and then wrote on a pad of paper that was lying on the kitchen counter with trembling hands:

If I'm not home when you get back, don't worry. Went to Sarah's. – R.

She had contemplated taking her phone with her, but she hardly doubted that Astracia had phone service. It was all she could do to hope that she would be back relatively soon so that she would not receive the same reception as the last time she had returned home.

Just as she was about to open the door, there was a knock. She frowned as she opened it and found Sarah standing on the other side, looking much calmer than she had yesterday.

"If you're here to yell at me and tell me how awful I am again, now's not a great time. I'm just heading out."

Sarah pursed her lips, her eyes scouring over Remy. Remy tried not to look as nervous as she felt.

"I came to see if you were alright. Adam told me you had a panic attack on the beach. I suppose I didn't realise that you were struggling so much."

"I'm fine," she said quickly, looking at her watch again. 9.35. "Thank you. Look, I would love to talk about this, but I really need to go. Do you mind if we walk?"

She was already stepping out and locking the door behind her. She could feel Sarah's eyes on her the entire time.

"Where are you going?"

Sarah was trailing behind Remy as they left the apartment building. It was raining—Remy almost laughed as she realised, for it had been raining the first time she had portalled, too—and she threw her hood up, glad that she could shield herself from Sarah.

"The police station," she lied. "They still have some questions, apparently."

"You're lying. You wouldn't be in such a hurry to go to the police station, and you wouldn't go without your bag." Sarah didn't sound angry as she spoke, or even judgmental. She was simply stating a fact, one that caused Remy to stop in her tracks and turn around to face her friend—if she could still call her that. "Where are you going, Remy? Really?"

"I'm confused. Yesterday you hated me. Now you're making sure I'm okay and prying into my business." 9.39. She had just twenty-one minutes. "I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I don't know where we stand, Sarah, and right now I don't have time to find out."