Thorns of Decision (Dusk Gate Chronicles) (7 page)

It was good news. Although he’d always put a positive spin on things in front of Thomas, William had talked to her a few times about how much he wished they’d had the resources to do a really proper repair on Thomas’ shattered femur in their world. She was glad that, in the end, they’d had the option to bring him here.

“Are you going back up there tonight?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I want to, of course, but there are a number of things I’ve fallen behind on, and Nathaniel may be working. Thomas told me yesterday not to worry about it. We’re pretty sure he’ll be released to Nathaniel on Thursday morning.”

“So soon? Just two days?”

“It might not be so soon if Nathaniel wasn’t a doctor. There’s no school on Friday, so we’re probably going to try to take Thomas back home on Thursday evening.”

The floor dropped out from under her. “Already? You’re going to leave and go back?”

“I’m sure my parents are quite anxious to have Thomas home.”

She nodded. Queen Charlotte and King Stephen would indeed be worried about their son and wanting him back. It was selfish of her not to think of that. Besides, she was sure Thomas and William both wanted to be with their family. It was just … she hadn’t seen him yet since he’d been here, and she wasn’t so sure she was ready for everything to be over – to go back to living her life here without them. She was afraid it was all going to feel like it had never happened.

“I’m sure they are,” she said, fumbling for the right words, not knowing how to explain how she felt. “I’m just surprised … I was hoping to see Thomas while he was here.”

His eyes softened in understanding. “Oh, right.”

“It’s okay, though.” It had to be. Her life was here, not in their world.

William’s expression changed to one of concern, and suddenly it was like he could see right through her, like he understood her real feelings about it.

He shook his head. “No, I know he wants to see you, too. I could try calling Nathaniel later and ask if he could drive us up there tonight.”

Nathaniel? She wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with Nathaniel yet, not until she had spoken to her mother. “Well, I could drive, but I have to work tonight.”

William’s eyes lit up, and she realized that the issue of transportation was a big one. She wondered if he’d forgotten that she had a car and could drive. He had told her one time that he’d never really cared to learn to use a car while he was in her world – he didn’t think he would ever really spend enough time here for it to matter, and it was a useless skill in his world, where he was an accomplished horseback rider. “How about tomorrow, right after school?”

She paused. She had a pretty good idea how her mom might feel about her driving all the way to Grand Junction with William. Of course, that assumed she would actually see her mother long enough to even have the conversation – which at this rate looked unlikely. What did she have to lose? “Sure.”

*          *          *

As she’d expected, by Wednesday, she’d still had almost no contact with her mother. Although Megan and her siblings were still home when she had woken up that morning – it would have been difficult to get out of the house before four in the morning when Quinn had again been woken up by crazy dreams – this time it was Quinn who stayed in her room. As much as she desperately wanted to talk to her mother, today she didn’t want to intentionally jeopardize her trip to Grand Junction with William.

There had been another note on the counter in the kitchen after they’d left, though. Again, her mother had to work late and then had plans, and Quinn wouldn’t need to pick up Annie. The note irritated Quinn; her hands quivered as she read it. If she hadn’t already been trying to figure out a way to get out of picking up Annie today, she might have snapped. She might have driven, right now, to her mother’s work and had the whole thing out with her in the classroom before her students showed up.

But since it gave her a way to get to Grand Junction without worrying about seeing her family, she stuffed the note in her backpack, and headed to school instead.

The problem she hadn’t anticipated with the whole trip – and her heart sank as she realized she should have – was Zander. As soon as they’d set their lunch trays down at their usual table in the cafeteria, he turned to her, smiling. “What do you want to do today?”

She raised her eyebrows.

“We’re both off work, my dad has to work late, and your mom and my mom are taking all the little kids out to some pizza and play place that just opened in Montrose. I thought you and I could go out somewhere fun together. I could take you out to dinner, and then maybe ice skating?”

A hot, heavy feeling settled in Quinn’s chest. Honestly, she hadn’t even thought about Zander when she had made certain that her schedule for the evening was free. What was she supposed to do now? After a few seconds of deliberation, she remembered her promise to herself. The truth. She would tell him as much of the truth as she could.

“That sounds like a lot of fun, Zander. But, um … I kind of already made plans for tonight.”

He frowned. “What plans?”

“I told William that I would drive him up to Grand Junction to see his brother in the hospital.”

“Doesn’t he have his own car?”

“No, actually. Does that matter?” The tone in his voice irritated her.

“Can’t
Doctor Rose
drive him?”

She swallowed hard, hearing the tone of betrayal in his voice. After their conversation on Monday night, she knew he thought she should be as mad at Nathaniel as she was at her mom for keeping this from her. The two of them had been sharing theories about it over text messages well into the night last night. And, truthfully, she
did
want to confront Nathaniel, but the trip tonight wasn’t about him. It was about seeing Thomas in the hospital. If she was
really
honest with herself, she was looking forward to spending the time with William, too.

 “Doctor Rose has to work, Zander. William wants to see his brother, so that Thomas doesn’t have to be there all alone for another whole night. I told him I would do it. Besides, I like his brother. I want to see him, too.”

The look on his face made her insides twist in knots. He was really upset – more than she would have expected. “Fine, whatever,” he said.

There was a heavy shadow over the rest of the lunch period. She and Zander sat next to each other as they always did, but neither one of them ate much. Abigail had watched their exchange with interest. When the bell finally rang, he mumbled something about needing to get to his next class a few minutes early. As soon as he was out of the cafeteria, Abigail cornered Quinn.

“What in the heck is going on with you? You’re turning down a night out with Zander so you can run off with William Rose to see his brother in the hospital when you already spent the entire weekend there?”

She didn’t know how to answer; she stood there, her face turning red, her insides going wobbly.

Abigail leaned in close, her blue eyes hard and icy, and her voice low. “Are you cheating on Zander?”

Quinn’s jaw dropped. Is
that
what it looked like? “No, Abbie! It’s nothing like that. William and Thomas are just friends.”

Abigail’s expression didn’t change, her voice stayed low and dark. “Well, I don’t get it, Quinn. Nobody does. First, William
Rose
is talking to you, when he’s never talked to another person the entire freaking time he’s lived here. Then you’re hugging his cousin who turns out to suddenly be his brother? Where are their parents? What is going on with that? Then you disappear for the whole weekend and it turns out you’re off somewhere with them – who knows if this hospital thing is even true. And
then
I hear from Adam that the other night Zander told you he
loves
you, and you haven’t even said anything back!”

Quinn’s eyes were wide at the end of Abigail’s speech. She had never really put all of that together before – what all of this must look like to Zander and the rest of her friends. The twisting feeling in her stomach grew decidedly sick, and hot tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. How had her life gotten so complicated?

“I … I don’t know, Abbie. It’s not all something I can explain.”

“Well, you’d better figure it out, Quinn. Because you’re about to lose everything.” And with that, Abigail turned around and walked away, leaving her standing alone in the almost-empty cafeteria.

She felt like the room was spinning around her; her hands shook, and ripples of nausea tore through her stomach. Her first impulse was to run away, drive off, get some fresh air and some space, but the small rational part that was left knew it would only make things worse with school. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she whirled around.

“Hey, are you okay?” William’s voice was soft, calming. She wondered how much of the exchange he’d just heard.

She blinked several times, trying to keep the traitorous tears from falling. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He raised one eyebrow.

“Okay, I don’t know. Not really.”

“We don’t have to go up there tonight. You could stay here instead and work things out with your friends.”

She swallowed hard. He’d heard everything. “No,” she shook her head. “I want to go to Grand Junction this afternoon.” And she did. She wanted to leave and go there
right now,
actually. Spending time with William and Thomas was about the only thing in her world that made any sense to her right now. “How about we leave now?”

He chuckled, though behind his glasses, his eyes showed concern, understanding. “That won’t solve anything, and you know it. Besides, you can’t afford to miss any more classes right now. Make it through the day, and we’ll leave right after school, okay?”

She nodded. His hand twitched at his side, almost as if he were resisting reaching out and touching her. A strange current filled the air between them, distracting her from the fight she’d just had with Abigail.

A shrill ringing disrupted them then, the bell warning that the next class period would begin in one minute.

“I’ll meet you out front after school,” he said.

She watched him walk away, and then made a mad dash up the hallway to her class.

*          *          *

By the time her last class ended, she wasn’t so sure it had been worth it to stay for the rest of the day. She hadn’t been able to focus on anything. Zander and Abigail had both avoided her for the rest of the day, and she’d gotten an angry message back from her mother when she had texted to let her know where she was planning on going after school.

Mad as she was about it though, her mother hadn’t refused permission for her to go. In the mood she was in, she would probably have gone to Grand Junction even against her mother’s wishes, but it still surprised her when her mother’s last message had held no argument, and ended only with a statement that she wouldn’t be waiting up for her to get home.
Would you have, anyway?
she wondered to herself as she snapped the phone shut.

Not wanting to spend any more time in the building than she had to, she’d pulled everything she needed out of her locker before her final class and carried it all with her. As soon as the bell rang, she headed to William’s locker.

“I take it you’re ready to go?” he said when he saw her.

She nodded. “Please?”

*          *          *

“Are you feeling any better?” William asked when they were about twenty minutes outside of town. It was the first time either of them had spoken, and she was a little surprised at how nice that felt, having him just sit quietly next to her, patient and unassuming.