Lumen looks at Chasm and then swings her brown eyes over to me.
It occurs to me then that she woke up in a field with supposedly no memory of how she got there. Sort of … like how I woke up in my bed after being attacked by two men in the woods? Woods that looked suspiciously like the ones outside of Chasm’s dad’s guesthouse.
Oh.
The Fort Humboldt Security thing.
Shit.
I need to sit down and gather my thoughts, go over my spreadsheet again. There’s so much going on; I feel completely overwhelmed. Which, I think, is sort of the point of all this.
“Maybe you just didn’t give a shit that Danyella and I needed a moment alone?” Lumen counters, switching her gaze back to Chasm and sighing. She dangles the liquor bottle by the neck. “You guys want something to drink?”
“What’s going on down here?” Danyella asks, appearing in the kitchen entrance with her hot pink glasses perched on the end of her nose. She doesn’t seem overly surprised to see me and Chasm in her dining room. “Are you guys okay? I’m sorry we didn’t answer the door, but we’re sort of in the middle of something.”
“We just broke into your house,” I say, but she doesn’t seem fazed. “We’re the ones who should be sorry.”
It won’t be the only thing I’m apologizing for tonight. Mr. Volli—via the Slayer—told me that if asked, I had to blame my reasons for setting the theater on fire on Tess. He never said that I couldn’t tell Danyella how genuinely sorry I am for doing it.
“You must really need to talk to us then,” Danyella says, giving Lumen a look. They exchange a long, intense sort of stare before Danyella redirects her gaze to me. “Should I order in? We could have dinner.”
“I need to talk to you,” I say as Chasm closes and locks the back doors.
“We need to talk to you,” he corrects, and then turns around to level a dark stare on both girls. “Also, are you guys nuts? Parrish is missing, the Seattle Slayer is in town, and you left the back door unlocked?”
“Yeah, sorry, that was my bad,” Lumen admits with a loose shrug of her shoulders. Her blond hair waves gently around her face, and her makeup is flawless as usual, but there’s something else in her expression, a darkness in her gaze that bothers me. “What’s up?” She saunters over to the table and pulls out a chair, flopping into it with the alcohol bottle still in her hand.
Danyella watches her for a minute before grabbing a seltzer water from the fridge.
“You guys sure you don’t want anything?”
I can’t take it anymore. The words are crouched just behind my lips, clawing at my heart and soul with wicked fingers. I just need to get this out there or else I won’t be able to do it at all.
“I set the fire in the theater,” I blurt, adrenaline spiking my blood as I step forward and curl my hands over the back of one of the dining chairs.
“We set the fire,” Chasm corrects yet again, taking responsibility when he really doesn’t have to. Why is he being so … great? I mean, I like it. But I like it too much. That’s not okay. He moves to stand beside me, shoulder to shoulder.
“I’m sorry, what?” Lumen queries, setting the bottle down hard on the table as she blinks at us in confusion. “What are you guys talking about?”
“We poured gasoline on the props, and we flicked the wheel on a lighter, and we started the blaze.” I’m looking at Danyella, not Lumen, but she hasn’t moved since I made my statement. She’s still standing with one hand on the handle of the fridge door, the other clutching the cold can of her seltzer. “I’m so sorry, Danyella. I …” I trail off, tears pricking at my eyes. I really don’t want to cry yet again today, but it’s been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. “I didn’t want to do it, and I’m sorry. More than I could ever say with words.”
Lumen stands up from table so suddenly that her chair falls over and hits the floor. She’s just … staring at the pair of us like she’s never seen us before.
“Why would you do that?” she breathes, searching my face, searching Chasm’s face. “Kwang-seon, what the hell? Danyella worked her ass off all year for that production. So many people had their dreams crushed by that fire.”
Chasm exhales and glances down at me, but I can’t tear my eyes away from Danyella. She offered me friendship within seconds of meeting me. Non-judgmental friendship with no strings attached. She’s been kind and inclusive and generous with her time, offering me a part in the drama club, letting me stay over here and use her to lie to Tess.
