"Fine,"Dad said, without hesitation.
That took me by surprise, but I tried to seem nonchalant as I said, "Awesome."
"That reminds me,"Dad said to Mrs. Casnoff. "I was wondering if it would be al right for Alexander Cal ahan to come with us as wel ."
"Who the heck is Alexander Cal ahan?"I asked. "Oh, right. Cal."
It was weird to think of him as Alexander. It was such a formal name. Cal suited him a lot better.
"Of course,"Mrs. Casnoff said, al business again. "I'm sure we can manage without him for a few months. Although without his healing powers, we'l certainly have to invest in more bandages."
"Why do you want to bring Cal?"I asked.
Dad's fingers strayed to his suit pocket again. "Council business, mostly. Alexander's powers are unique, so we'd like to interview him, possibly run a few tests."
I didn't like the sound of that, and something told me Cal wouldn't either.
"And it wil give the two of you a chance to get to know one another better,"Dad continued.
A sense of dread slowly began creeping up my spine. "Cal and I know each other wel enough,"I said. "Why would I want to know him better?"
"Because,"Dad said, final y meeting my eyes, "you and he are betrothed."
It took me a good thirty minutes to find Cal. That was actual y a good thing, because it gave me plenty of time to come up with something to say to him that wasn't just a string of four-letter words.
There are a lot of freaky things witches and warlocks do, obviously, but the arranged marriage thing was one of the grossest. When a witch is thirteen, her parents hook her up with an available warlock, based on things like compatible powers and family al iances. The entire thing is so eighteenth century.
As I stomped across school grounds, al I could see was Cal sitting with my dad in some manly room with leather chairs and dead animals on the wal , chomping on cigars as Dad formal y signed me away to him. They probably even high-fived.
Okay, so it's not like either of them are exactly the cigar-and-high-fives type, but stil .
I final y found Cal in the potting shed behind the greenhouse, where our Defense classes were held. His talent for healing extended to plants, and he was running his hands over a browned and drooping azalea when I flung open the door. He squinted as a shaft of late afternoon sunlight flooded in behind me.
"Did you know I'm your fiancee?"I demanded.
Cal muttered something under his breath and turned back to the plant.
"Did you?"I asked again, even though I clearly had my answer.
"Yes,"he replied.
I stood there waiting for him to say something else, but that was apparently al Cal had to say.
"Wel , I'm not going to marry you,"I said. "I think this whole arranged marriage thing is gross and barbaric."
"Okay."
There was a bag of potting soil by the door, and I scooped up a handful to fling at his back. Before it hit, he raised his hand and the dirt froze in midair. It hovered there for a moment before floating slowly back to the bag.
"I just can't believe you knew and didn't tel me,"I said, sitting on an unopened bag.
"I didn't see the point."
"What does that mean?"
He dusted his hands off on his jeans and turned to face me. He was streaked with sweat, and his damp T-shirt was clinging to his chest in ways that would have been interesting if I wasn't so irritated with him. As usual, he looked more like an al -American high school quarterback than a warlock.
His face was blank, but Cal always held his cards pretty close to his chest. "It means that you didn't grow up in a Prodigium family, so I knew you'd think arranged marriages were-what did you say?"
"Gross and barbaric."
"Right. So what was the point in making you al freaked out and hostile?"
"I'm not hostile,"I protested. Cal gave a pointed look to the potting soil, and I rol ed my eyes. "Okay, yes, but I was mad that you didn't tel me, not that we're...engaged. God, I can't even say it. It sounds too weird."
"Sophie, it doesn't mean anything,"he said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "It's like a business contract. Didn't anyone explain that to you?"
Archer had. He'd been betrothed to Hol y, Jenna's old roommate, before she died. Of course, now that I knew he was an Eye, I wondered how legit that had ever been. But I didn't want to think about him right now.
"Yeah,"I said. "And we can, you know, break it off, right? It's not a done deal."
"Exactly. So are we cool?"
I drew a pattern on the dirt-covered floor with my toe. "Yeah. We're cool."
"Great,"he said. "So there's no need for things to be awkward."
"Right."
Then we sat there awkwardly for a moment before I said, "Oh! Almost forgot. Dad wants you to come to England with us this summer."Briefly, I told him everything that had happened in Mrs. Casnoff 's office. He looked surprised when I told him about the Vandy, and he scowled when I mentioned the interview-and-testing part of his summer vacation, but he didn't interrupt me. When I was finished, he said, "Wel , that sucks."
"A bunch,"I agreed.
He got up and walked back to the azalea, which I guess was my cue to leave. Instead, I said, "Sorry I tried to throw dirt at you."
"It's fine."
I waited for him to say something else. When he didn't, I pushed myself off the bag of soil. "See you back at the house, honey,"I muttered as I left. He made a sound that might have been a laugh, but it was Cal, so I doubt it.
The sun was beginning to set when I walked up the front steps of the crazy half-antebel um mansion, half-stucco institution that was Hecate Hal .
Crickets were already chirping, and frogs croaked around the pond. A gentle breeze that smel ed like honeysuckle and the sea breeze nudged the vines that climbed the wal s of the school. I turned and looked back at the lawn. I'd hated this place when I first came here, but I was actual y going to miss it this summer. So much had happened to me since Mom had steered that rental car up the drive for the first time, and, as impossible as it would have seemed then, Hecate Hal almost felt like home.
Something furry brushed my arm. It was Beth, a werewolf I'd met my first night at Hecate.