Firelight by Sophie Jordan Page B

this new life-sucking world. My sister hanging out with populars? Should I now add that to the list? Even if it makes her happy?
    Catherine waves her burger with one hand. “I’m telling you, those girls over there are a pack of wolves.”
    Because I don’t want to worry about this, because I just want to get through the day and figure out what to do about Will, I joke, “You’re really upbeat, aren’t you? Don’t tell me. I bet you’re a cheerleader.”
    Brendan snorts.
    Catherine’s mouth sags—the picture of horror. Color burns her cheeks. She shrugs. “So maybe I have an ax to grind with Brooklyn.”
    “Really?” I mock.
    “They used to be best friends,” Brendan volunteers. “In junior high.”
    “I told you never to mention that,” Catherine rebukes.
    “Really?” I ask again, this time minus the mockery.
    “Yeah, well. That ended the first week of freshman year when the gods of popularity—”
    “Seniors,” Brendan supplies.
    “—chose Brooklyn as their little protégé. Since then, I’m just a bad memory.”

    And I can’t help thinking of Cassian, of me and all the other draki blessed with talents the pride deems invaluable. We were the lucky ones. There, I had been admired, prized. While Tamra became invisible. She and the others who never manifested.
    Funny. Here, I am insignificant. Expendable in the eyes of my peers. A strange girl uncomfortable in her skin—well, her human skin. Uncomfortable in her surroundings. Who doesn’t know how to talk, act, or dress.
    It makes me want to go home all the more. Home to the pride. Even if the pride does try to control me. At least there, I’m me.
    A slow certainty steals over me. I need to keep my draki alive long enough to get back. The thought of it dying terrifies me, makes me desperate. Desperate enough to do something I shouldn’t.
    Desperate enough to tell Will yes.
    “You’re probably wondering what you did in a past life to get stuck with us.” Catherine says this as she drowns a fry in ketchup, her many rings glinting as she works her fingers.
    “Gee, thanks,” Brendan murmurs.
    She gives him a look. “Don’t be so sensitive. You know I adore you.”
    I lower my mostly uneaten burger. “Of course not. Just glad for anyone who wants to be my friend.”
    “Hey, Jacinda!” Nathan calls from his table, half rising. He waves and jerks his head, beckoning me over.
    Catherine’s smile slips. She reaches for another fry, avoiding my gaze. “You’ve got plenty of people willing to be your friend. Go on. Sit with Nathan. He’s a decent guy—unfortunate pink shirt and all.
    No hard feelings.”
    I send Nathan an easy wave but remain in my seat. “I’m good where I am.” Good at least in this. In hanging out with Catherine and the quiet Brendan. They’re undemanding. Uncomplicated. Easy to be with when everything else is so hard right now. I need that. “Unless you want me to go.”
    “No.” Catherine flashes a grin. “Stay.”
    Nodding, I eat another chip. My gaze drifts across the room, to my sister. Her hair falls smoothly past her shoulders, gleaming like flaming silk.
    The same boy who walked with her in the hall yesterday sits beside her. Across from her, another one vies for her attention. Cute guys. My heart expands a little. For her. Who knew she could flirt?
    Cassian wasn’t the only one who rejected her, after all. Showed her his back when she came around.
    The boys in the pride rarely spoke to her. They couldn’t. Their families too afraid of letting them get involved with a defunct draki. They wouldn’t risk contamination of their gene pool.
    I look away, stare down at my tray. Sorry that I can’t share in her pleasure. Sorry that I have to do everything in my power to simply abide this life that gives her such happiness.
    Sorry that maybe, in the end, I will lose the battle and have to leave her behind.
    Firelight
    10
    The day stretches on, endless. It feels like seventh period will never arrive. The hands