34. Piper

34

PIPER

JANUARY 2, 11:15 P.M.

For a moment, I'm stunned, like maybe I heard wrong, but no. I can read it all over her face, hear it clearly in her tone. Some questions, you're better off not asking.

Mom knows what happened to Margot. Or at least she has suspicions she's choosing to ignore.

And I know, suddenly, what I have to do.

Putting on my best good-daughter performance, I tell Mom good night and head upstairs, where I sit on the second-floor landing and listen. It takes forever, but finally, I hear her pad down the hall and into her bedroom. I wait a minute. Another.

And then I walk as fast as I can to the front door, grab the keys, and rush out to the car.

My knuckles are white on the wheel, and I try to breathe, focus on the road as I pull away. Except I don't know where I'm even going. I lift my phone and voice-command it to start a FaceTime with the Maids. It rings and rings, but no one picks up.

"Goddammit," I mutter, trying again.

No answer. What the hell could they even be doing right now? Sleeping, maybe, like normal people.

That's when I get another idea. Probably a bad one. But I'm already starting to drive in that direction, and he's the only other person who sleeps as little as I do.

" Goddammit. " I flick the turn signal. "Call Arch Nemesis."

Aiden picks up in two rings. Of course he does.

"Hello?"

"Can I come over?"

I must sound as wild and panicked as I feel, because he doesn't even hesitate.

"Of course. Is everything okay?"

"Can't explain now. And the handshake still stands. Cone of silence, Ortiz."

I hang up before he can answer, willing myself to focus so I don't add a traffic violation on top of this shit sundae of a night.

He opens the door before I even ring the bell.

"Hey," he says. "What's—"

I plow into his house. "Can we go to your room?"

"Yeah, sure. My parents are both sleeping, so we should try to keep it down."

Of course he's worried about not pissing off his parents. His parents are good, law-abiding people who don't join cults or cover up murders to save their son from assault charges.

"Okay, seriously," Aiden says once we get upstairs. "What's—"

A creature leaps from the shadows and directly into my path, so quickly I almost shriek before I realize it's just a black-and-white cat.

"What the hell?" I whisper.

The cat eyes me, unimpressed, and slithers over to Aiden, nuzzling his calf.

"Mr. Mistoffelees," he says. "Don't be offended if he takes a second to warm up."

The absurdly named animal approaches me warily enough that I think it's about to bite me. Then it butts its soft little cat head up against my leg, purring.

"Would ya look at that." Aiden grins wide.

It makes my insides go all warm and buttery for a second. I scowl back at him. "Mr. Mistoffelees?"

Aiden runs a hand over the back of his neck, embarrassed. "From, uh, Cats the musical. I had a phase."

"Oh my god." I'm momentarily delighted enough to forget why I came here. "I can't believe you've given me this ammunition. Did you dance around your room in leg warmers? A tail ?"

"The soundtrack is full of bangers. I don't know what else to say."

"I knew I hated theater kids."

"Rude and offensive," Aiden says, pushing open his bedroom door.

And just like that, I'm faced with the reality of his space and the fact that we haven't spoken since I left him in the study room. For a breath, I take it in. It's exactly what I expected: immaculately clean, Star Wars posters, weirdly pleasant-smelling for a guy's bedroom. I also clock the Lego spaceship on his dresser, and I want to make fun of it, but I'm suddenly too anxious.

Aiden closes the door and then crosses his arms, facing me. "So are you going to tell me what's up, or not?"

It hits me that I have no idea how to explain this. I glance down at my phone. Nothing from Vivian or April yet. Mom, either. At least she didn't catch me leaving. But knowing her, she'll probably figure it out soon enough, so I might as well rip off the Band-Aid.

"My dad didn't kill Margot," I say.

Aiden looks relieved—and like he believes me. It makes the rest of it come out easier.

"But you were right," I go on, "that he's part of the Pierrot."

I give him my best abridged version of what I learned tonight: the deal with the Pierrot, how they manipulated Wyatt into being the Jester. Aiden listens with a calm expression, a small worried crease between his eyebrows.

When I get to the end, I hesitate. Once I tell him, there's no going back. There's no guaranteeing that he won't be disgusted by me. That he won't call the police. Worst of all, this is a betrayal. We're supposed to protect each other, Mom said. That's what families do. But how far can the lies and secrets go before they rot us from the inside out?

Some questions, you're better off not asking.

I feel the ghost of Mom's hand on my cheek, the warning look in her eyes, and I know I have to give him the truth.

"I think my parents know who killed Margot," I say. "Or, at least, they know it was someone at the Pierrot. I don't know who did it, who killed Margot, but… I think they're both part of the cover-up. And I'm worried they might know where Lily is, too."

It's all out in the open now, everything I've feared in the deepest parts of me since the moment I found that report on Dad's computer, and I wait, with a horrible feeling of dread, for Aiden to hate me.

Instead, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me tight to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Piper," he says.

Tears slip out, hot and quick, and I can't believe I'm crying in front of my arch nemesis. Into his T-shirt, which is as warm and clean-smelling as his room.

"It's just so fucked. "

"I know," he says, a hand pressed against the back of my head.

I pull away, wiping the mess of tears from my face. "God, what is wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you."

"Then what's wrong with you ?"

He blinks. "What?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I'm maybe 25 percent joking, but there's a dull ache in my throat. "I'm awful to you. You're a cocky jerk to me. It's our whole thing. It works."

Aiden smiles, and I want to slap him, because even his smile is like honey, that asshole. "You're not awful all the time."

"Well, you're still a cocky jerk," I quip. "And—" It hits me suddenly. Shit. I'd almost forgotten. "And you probably know I sabotaged Lily's Vanderbilt application. Because I'm terrible and vindictive and—"

"Piper, stop." He looks serious now. "I saw the email. And yes, that was definitely a bad call on your part, and maybe there'll be consequences, but you shouldn't beat yourself up. You're a good person."

My mouth hangs open. Does Aiden Ortiz, of all people, have a better opinion of me than I deserve?

"Look, I don't know what's going to happen," he says, before I can argue. "And it sucks that you're going through this with your family. But Lily's in danger, and if there's anyone who can figure out how to save her, it's you. And whatever you're going to do, I want to help."

Never in my life have I been so sure of what I think while feeling so totally at a loss for words.

Yes, I want you to help me.

Yes, I might want something else, too, and Vivian might have been right with her stupid Pride and Prejudice crap, and—

"Vivian and April," I blurt as soon as the thought crosses my mind, snapping out of the spell. "I need to find them, and then—"

Before I can even finish my sentence, my phone buzzes. April. I pick it up before it even makes it through one ring.

"Way to disappear when I need you," I snap, and then, overwhelmed suddenly by relief, "You're okay?"

"Yeah," she says. "You?"

"Yes. I'm with Aiden. Where are you?"

Mercifully, she doesn't make any Pride and Prejudice jokes.

"Renee just dropped me off at home," she says quickly, and for the first time, I pick up on the change in her voice. She's breathless, wired. "Can we meet up? I think I might have figured out something big."

"What?"

She hesitates. "I think we should talk in person. Just to be safe. But… I know who the Rougarou is."

"Shit. Yeah, okay. I'll pick you up."

"Have you heard from Vivian?"

"No, I tried to call y'all, but—"

Right on cue, my phone buzzes again. I look down at the screen.

"Speak of the devil," I say.

I open our group chat, and my heart nearly stops when I see Vivian's text.

Meet me at the Den. I know where Lily is.

"Holy shit," I say.

"Holy shit," April echoes.

"What is it?" Aiden asks.

I'd almost forgotten he was here—which should be a relief to the part of me that was having some pretty ridiculous thoughts about two minutes ago. I want to tell him, but for some reason, I can't make the words come out. Aiden wants to help. I know he does. But this is all coming together so fast, a head rush of information, and something taps at my brain, a little worry trying to get in: something's wrong here. And I know, with sharp certainty, that I can't drag him into this. This isn't his mess, even if he wants it to be. It's not his family that's wrapped up in it.

"I'll pick you up in ten, okay?" I tell April.

"Okay."

She hangs up, and I turn to Aiden.

"I have to go meet April and Vivian."

"What's going on? Do you need me to—"

"We'll be fine, I promise."

Aiden watches me. I can tell he doesn't believe me, just as much as he can tell I've made up my mind.

"Can you trust me?" I ask.

It hangs between us for a moment.

"Of course," he says finally. "Will you text me in, like, an hour to let me know you're okay? And will you share your location? Just so I know, in case anything happens."

I stare at him, a little stunned.

"Sorry," he says quickly. "If that's too much, you don't have to—"

"No, it's okay. I'll share it."

I open my phone's location sharing, hoping he can't read what's really going through my head. He cares. Just like April and Vivian, he wants to know that I got home safe.

And for some reason, in this context, share your location is the most attractive thing I've ever heard in my life.

"There," I say, pressing SHARE . "For your stalking pleasure."

Aiden looks embarrassed. "Seriously, I didn't—"

I smile. "I'm kidding." And then, because I can't leave without saying it, without letting him know how much I mean it, "Thank you."

He smiles back at me, those stupid eyes big enough to swim in, and suddenly, I'm pulled by this irrational fear that I'm about to walk into something life-or-death at the Den, that this might be my last chance, so I do the most deranged thing of all: I get up on my toes and kiss him on his stupid mouth.

It only lasts a second, maybe two, but time stretches out and I feel him shift from surprise to kissing me back, bringing his hand under my hair to cup the back of my head, and then I realize how completely and utterly ridiculous this is, so I pull back.

"Bye," I say.

And without giving him a chance to respond, I spin around and march down the stairs on my way to whatever's waiting for me.