Melmarc and Lola turned their heads at the same time.

  The owner of the voice left Melmarc a little confused. Patience stood not too far away with a blue plastic cup in her hand. She had a tired look on her face, as if she was tired of doing whatever it was that she was about to do.

  Lola’s hold on Melmarc’s shirt loosened a little, but she did not let go of him, not yet. With a sigh that showed on her face, Patience walked over to them.

  “Can you let go of my good friend, Lola?” she asked. There was nothing polite about her tone.

  Lola’s grip tightened a little, but it only lasted a moment. Once the moment passed, she relaxed her grip and lowered herself back to the ground. Then she released him.

  “Patience,” Lola said, a touch of annoyance in her voice.

  Passed Patience, back inside the building, Melmarc saw Ark watching the entire thing with a small frown of annoyance on his face. The question was why he was annoyed. Melmarc didn’t want to believe that he was annoyed because Patience had interfered.

  Still frowning in annoyance, Lola turned to Melmarc. “You know her?” she asked.

  “Did you have cotton in your ear when I just called him my good friend?” Patience said before Melmarc could answer. “I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in your system for your IQ to already be deteriorating.”

  Her words stunned Melmarc for a very brief moment.

  Lola looked like she was about to snarl at her but didn’t. Melmarc stood in place, slightly awkward. Right now, he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

  “Go on then,” Patience said, making a shooing motion with her free hand. “Scat.”

  Lola’s jaw ticked as she grit her teeth. Her eyes moved to Melmarc as if asking him if he wanted her to go.

  Melmarc wasn’t sure. He wanted her to go, but he didn’t want her to be chased away. Those were two different things.

  Sighing once more as the music changed into a sensual song about sex, Patience closed the remaining gap between her and them. She stood before Lola now, towering over her.

  “I have no problem moving you, dear,” she said very slowly. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Your choice.”

  Lola stood her ground, her face morphing in continued growing annoyance. Melmarc heard her breathing pick up, annoyance turning into anger. From inside the house, Ark and the others watched, waited. One of them—Scottie—looked worried.

  “I’ll leave,” Lola said finally, burning away the tension in the air that Melmarc had not even noticed.

  She said something else, but Melmarc missed it. A very uncomfortable sense pricked him in the neck. It was like wearing a new shirt with a tag that was very itchy. Frowning, he adjusted his shirt with a shrug of his shoulder, then turned and looked in the general direction of the feeling. The discomfort was not new. He recognized it—a strong similarity to how he had felt when he’d finally returned from the portal.

  Something was wrong.

  Then, without him doing anything, the feeling was gone.

  “Marc.”

  Melmarc blinked, returning his attention to Lola. “Yes?”

  “Be careful,” she told him, already backing away, “she’s trouble. Spend enough time with her and she’ll ruin your stay here.” She turned sharp eyes on Patience. “She ruins everything she touches, and you won’t be the first.”

  Patience had the most unbothered look on her face when Lola stomped off in annoyance and disappointment.

  When she had returned into the house, exchanging what looked like annoyed words with the other members of her group, Patience settled in confidently beside Melmarc. She stood there, taking a sip from her cup.

  “She wanted you to fight for her you know,” she said.

  Melmarc shrugged. He’d just met the girl. He wasn’t going to go around fighting to keep people that he had just met.

  Patience eyed him from over the lid of her cup in a half-sip. “Why can’t you be as direct and rude with other girls as you were with me?”

  “I wasn’t rude with you,” Melmarc said, disagreeing. “At least not intentionally.”

  Patience nodded as if to say that she didn’t agree with him but was agreeing to disagree. She finished the sip, paused, then took another sip.

  “You didn’t answer my question though,” she pointed out.

  Melmarc looked away from the group so that he could look at her. “I shrugged.”

  “You shrugged.” Patience rolled her eyes. “Shrugs are not universal answers. You knew, though, didn’t you.”

  Melmarc sighed. “I did.”

  “So why didn’t you? With how I treated you when we met at the administrative block I figured I wouldn’t be a good friend right now. Not one you want to talk to anyway.”

  “I didn’t fight because I just met her.” Melmarc brought a finger up to scratch his cheek. “And I think she was very horny. She just wanted to get laid.”

  Patience took another sip of her drink. “And you weren’t interested?”

  “I was not.”

  “That’s sad.” Patience looked at her cup, frowned at the empty thing, then tossed it to the ground. She eyed Melmarc’s cup for only the briefest of moments.

  Melmarc offered it to her. “Want some?”

  “Nah.” She shook her head. “Your brother told me it’s your first cup. Can’t be taking your first cup. Besides, I can always go get a refill when I want.”

  Melmarc paused. “You spoke to my brother?”

  “Of course.” She said it as if it was obvious. “How else did you think I found you?”

  “Coincidence?”

  She barked a short, amused laugh. “Oh, no. I came looking for you, no coincidence there.”

  Why?

  Patience tilted her head to give him a curious look. “Anyone ever tell you that you can be very scary at times?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” he asked, confused. “I don’t think I scared anyone.”

  “You didn’t, but it’s your expressions.” Patience gestured at his face with a finger. “It’s all over the place. I can almost read you like a book. For example, right now you’re wondering why I came looking for you after talking to your brother.”

  “And how is that scary?”

  “Because when you were beating up Devin during the admission test, you didn’t even crack a look. You didn’t smile or frown or strain. Your face was just blank.”

  “Oh.” It was all Melmarc could say.

  “Which shows that you definitely know how to hide your expressions, but you don’t. That proceeds to beg the question...”

  She moved to stand in front of him, then walked into his personal space. Melmarc drew up into himself but did not step back. If his stomach was big, he would’ve sucked it in.

  “All the expressions you make,” she continued, “are they really true or do you make them up?”

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  Inside the house, Ark continued to watch her and Melmarc. Now he had a look on his face that told Melmarc that he was contemplating coming out.

  He relaxed when Patience stepped back and returned to standing by his side.

  “Anyway,” she said, as if she hadn’t just asked the question that she had asked. “Your brother told me that Lola might be getting a little too pushy, and he was glad to bump into me because he didn’t want to be the one to break things up.”

  When does Ark ever hesitate to break things up?

  “Did he say why?” Melmarc asked, watching Ark return to jokes and conversations with the group. Lola was already easing into things. At least she no longer looked annoyed, conversing and making a lot of hand gestures.

  “It’s kind of complicated when a guy stops a girl from making a move on his brother,” Patience answered. “It’s easier if it’s the sister or another girl. I’m sure your brother was trying to avoid a scene.”

  Melmarc wasn’t sure about that. But her lack of dissonance led him to believe that she thought that was really the case. Maybe he would ask Ark later.

  He and Patience rolled into a comfortable silence after that. It was spent listening to the music the DJ was playing while watching others dance to the beat he was playing. Melmarc could feel it in his chest, every beat, every instrumental. He’d been around loud music before but this felt different, precise.

  “Oh, fuck it,” Patience groaned out of nowhere, snatching his cup from his hand. “I’ll get you another one when we’re inside.”

  Melmarc shook his head, smiling to himself. “Don’t worry about it.”

  She had taken his cup in a way that felt so natural, as if they were old friends with no problems. He liked it.

  Patience paused before taking a sip. She watched him through narrow lids. “Is this going to be one of those cases of minors aren’t supposed to drink so you don’t want to drink?”

  “Nott really.” Melmarc shook his head, the smile falling from his face. “I just don’t like drinking.”

  “Good. Because you know the whole minor rules don’t apply to the Gifted, right?”

  Melmarc was aware of that. There were a lot of safeguards for minors that did not apply to the Gifted. There were also a lot of restrictions that did not apply. Drinking was one of them, if not one of the most popular one.

  Once you became Gifted, there was nothing against drinking. You could go into any store and buy a drink. If an officer of the law caught you with one, it did not matter. Getting drunk was frowned upon, but that was only because normal alcohol didn’t easily get a Gifted drunk, except those in the D, E, and F ranks. But it was frowned upon socially.

  “Can I ask a question?” Patience said, seeming cautious all of a sudden as she drank from her cup once more.

  “I don’t see you any differently because you saved me from Lola,” he said simply.

  That got him a glare from her. “I’m obviously not different because I saved you. Don’t go thinking I like you or something.”

  Melmarc chuckled. “I won’t.”

  He could ask her if she liked him, though. Whatever answer she gave would tell him the truth. But he wasn’t going to. It seemed like some kind of breach of trust, like he was taking advantage of her somehow. Hearing people lie was not his fault. It was not something that he could control. But seeking out things that they obviously didn’t want him to know, baiting them into giving him the information when they did not know, that felt like some kind of invasion of privacy.

  “You really don’t act like other guys, do you?” Patience said, intrigued.

  Melmarc offered her a smile. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “I’m serious. Most guys would’ve asked me if I like them after I said that, either as a serious question or as a serious question hidden under the disguise of a joke. You know,” she made a vague gesture with her hand, “the whole, I’m joking but I’m serious if you are serious.”

  “These things happen,” Melmarc replied, intentionally vague. “Guys are just the way guys are.”

  “No.” She shook her head vehemently. “You’re different. Other guys would’ve also asked what Lola meant when she said that I’ll ruin you.”

  “That’s because I don’t think you will.”

  “People would’ve still asked.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “I guess they have their reasons.”

  “And what’s your reason for not asking?”

  Melmarc shrugged. “Because I don’t think you intend on ruining me. So I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

  Patience paused, then she rubbed a confused hand through her hair, green highlights gleaming under the lights.

  “How are you rude and polite at the same time?” she complained.

  Melmarc turned, confused. “What did I do this time?”

  “One moment you act like a friend, then it turns out that you weren’t even being a friend, you were just being polite. Then the next thing I know, you’re being politely rude to me.”

  Melmarc blinked. “I’m very confused right now.”

  “Like this.” Patience threw her hands out at him as if pointing out a problem. “You are being a perfectly good friend right now, not prying, not pressing. But I know you, so now I’m wondering if you’re like this because you are actually a good person or because you actually just don’t care.”

  Melmarc opened his mouth to answer only to close it shut immediately. His answer was either going to make her feel horrible or be dissonant. So, he tried a different strategy.

  “Patience,” he said, voice soft, gentle. Only when he knew that he had her undivided attention did he continue. “How does Lola know you?”

  Patience looked down and away, suddenly lacking confidence. “We went to elementary school together.”

  “And high school?”

  She nodded. “That, too.”

  Melmarc pieced a few things together, things he had already figured out. “Which means that she was very aware of your rebellious phase with your overgrown partner and your breaking into cars and your… I want to say drugs.”

  “I did do drugs,” she confirmed with a nod. “Nothing too strong, though, just weed and cigarettes. Tried coke a week after I got my class. It didn’t take. It turns out I’m not a fan.”

  Melmarc paused. “Oh.”

  “Anyway, yes, that’s how she knows me.”

  “And your overgrown ex?”

  The question sobered her very much. She looked down and away in sadness, maybe embarrassment.

  “He knew what he signed up for,” she muttered. “Somehow our school found out about it. I swear I don’t know how, I tried to find out but couldn’t. When they did, they tried to press charges.”

  Melmarc’s brows furrowed. “The school? Not your parents?”

  “The school,” she confirmed. “Tatelat doesn’t work like most other cities. The rules are a little different here, but they’ll teach us about the norms of Tatelat in school.” She drew in a calming breath. “As I was saying, they tried to press charges, but since I was emphatic that nothing happened and that we weren’t dating, I just hung out with him once in a while because I was pestering his life, he couldn’t be persecuted. There was no evidence of anything, and the cops said it’s not a crime for a kid to hang out with an adult when nothing bad is happening.”

  “But that was not the end of it, was it?” Melmarc asked.

  Patience shook her head. “It was not. News travels fast in Tatelat. He became a pariah, everyone saw him as a man without control, a pervert, a problem. He moved from the city a week later, haven’t heard from him since.”

  She ruined his life. That was what Lola was talking about. And he’d known what he was doing when he’d decided to date a minor. Still…

  Melmarc shook his head.

  “It taught me that even as a child actions have consequences,” Patience said. “But the problem with being a child is that most of the time the consequences are suffered by others.”

  Melmarc folded his arms. Had he ever done something wrong that had affected others as a child? He had generally been a very calm child, though. He rarely got into trouble. Trouble had been the domain of Ark. But there had been a few times when he had done things that he wasn’t supposed to do, climbed something he shouldn’t have climbed here or eaten something he shouldn’t have eaten there. On the few occasions when such things happened, Ark had been punished for it by Ninra if he was present when it happened.

  Does that count? He wondered. Sometimes he felt Ninra just looked for any reason to burden Ark with responsibility so that he grew up to be more responsible.

  Caldath, his mind informed him almost instantly.

  He had allowed the Delvers to go in with him, and Claire and Jude had died for it. But did that count, was that his fault? Going after Caldath was something that he hadn’t had a choice in, following him had been the decision of the Delvers as far as he’d known. His father or his teammates hadn’t even coerced them into joining him.

  “My mom found him later, though,” Patience said, drawing his attention back to reality. “She told me that he was alright. He’d started a budding life for himself outside Tatelat.”

  “Did she tell you where?” Melmarc asked.

  Patience shook her head. “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because my mom knows the kind of person I am.” She sighed, taking a sip from Melmarc’s cup in her hands. “I was wild, remember? She told me that she knew I had practically been the one to ‘woo’ and seduce him.”

  “He knew your age,” Melmarc pointed out. “You were wrong. But he was wrong, too.”

  Patience shrugged. “It wasn’t really his fault.”

  “It was,” Melmarc corrected, shaking his head. “For lack of a better example, no matter how tempting a meal is, it remains up to you to eat it or not. Unless you raped him, he knew what he was doing. He was wrong.”

  He watched Patience’s shoulders relax a little.

  “Thank you,” she muttered.

  Melmarc paused. “For what?”

  “Reminding me that I’m not entirely at fault.”

  “But you’re still at fault, though.”

  She gave him an incredulous look and he laughed. “Just wanted to point that out,” he added. “You are both at fault.”

  A sigh left Patience as if she couldn’t disagree. “My brother told me the same thing. So, he went out and found the guy.” Melmarc’s thoughts must have shown on his face because she hurried to add, “He didn’t beat him up or anything. Just told him that if he ever hears anything about the man and another minor that he would wish he was dead. At least that’s what he told me.”

  Ark would probably have killed the guy if it was Ninra.

  “Any way.” Patience took another sip. “Never heard from the guy again, and I have no plans to find him or hear from him. I also have a principle because of that.”

  “You do?” Melmarc said, moving a little closer to her, actually interested. “Do tell.”

  “Once I reach eighteen, I’m not dating anyone younger than me or more than five years older than me. More specific, if you were never a minor when I was a minor, I’m not interested.”

  Melmarc said nothing.

  “That makes sense, right?” Patience pressed.

  This time, he shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve never thought about it before.”

  “Dating?”

  “The rules of it to be specific,” he clarified. “For me it’s always been about adults not dating minors and dating the person you like. I never really gave it any deep thought.”

  “So you just dated your ex, no questions asked?”

  Never had an ex, Melmarc thought but didn’t say the words. “I just haven’t thought that deeply about it.”

  “I take it your brother hasn’t either.”

  “Why?”

  Patience nodded towards the house where Ark was grinding on Emerald, the girl that had been eye fucking him since they joined the party.

  Melmarc gave it a thought before answering Patience. “When it comes to dating, I have a feeling he has thought very deeply about it.”

  Patience took another sip. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  If Ark could help it, he wouldn’t date a girl who didn’t get along with Melmarc. If Ninra could help it, she wouldn’t date a Gifted with a combat class or dreams of being a Delver of any kind.

  Melmarc knew this. His siblings had some kind of person rules about dating.

  What about me?