Part 43 (1/2)
”Please don't bring up the past, Ballard I' to block it out,” I said ”Do you mind?”
But he just said: ”I liked those two bloodsuckers What were their na,” I said I put raine And I did If I could've given it a nameI would've named it Ballard Ballard Rosen
He just chuckled
”If you strike those poses for too long,” he said, ”eventually you become them What's that?”
”I don't need any more sopho at what he was pointing at Solike fire
”It's really real,” he said ”Look at that! Halsey, it's like you've been tricked out or so You're marked”
Ballard whooped; I did not
He couldn't stop staring at my Wiccan Mark I still had my hoodie on Part of me was, like: Show me yours, I'll show you mine, Ballard But he needed to know He needed to know that there were things which were happening and we had a part to play So I pushed backto him my sex Ballard looked at it like he had never seen one before He licked his lips He was all excited
”This is ht Wiccan virtues, but this one's mine Honestly, it's like you haven't even seen your sister Lia's before,” I said I was thinking so was up with her Mark and like Lia didn't want it to be seen or soic,” he said He had a hungry look on his face Was soher Mark from Ballard, it ly
I ht pop on; he ooh'd as I shot it around the rooine that
I needed no reciprocation from Ballard I just wanted him to know that I was badass Not that I didn't want to see his olf His titchy little were-Ballard ”We have to get out of these abstractions,” I said ”Only what is real I think, you know, you have to choose between the life you iined, if you follow , Ballard”
He nodded, glu without it beco who you are,” I said ”I think we have two lives, the one in which we iine e can bemovie star, film director, President of the United States; and the other one, the one that's actually important; the one that's actually e truly are I don't want to say I want to be this or I' to do thatbecause I won't I do want to say that I need your help, and that, together, I think we can do so, which is really iht anymoreunless it's with Vittoria” I cat-clawed the air ”We need to be like this” I did the finger thing And then for good ether,” as Lia had once said to ood until you catch them,” I said ”What I want is real, Ballard You know? Because anything else, you throw your life away trying to catch it, and then one day it just turns its back on you, and you're left hanging in the wind Like a wet and floppy pair of skivs, you knohat I mean? And I don't want to be a wet and floppy pair of skivs Do you?”
”I knohat you mean,” he said, ”it's like truth and lies The truth only hurts Whereas a lie, if you don't like it, you can just disregard it, and pick up some other truth Maybe reality is lies, did you ever think of that?”
Marriage, a boyfriend, fa of purpose Those were the things I craved Maybe they were all lies I shot oing to want to have a talk with you, Ballard Rosen It's about e are, and antbut for noant you to finish that motorcycle Whose is it, by the way?”
Liesel'she said it was Liesel's It was hot pink with lots of chro to be alpha dog too?” I said
”Angling, shooting for the moon,” he said
”Never mind that It's not ientle Liesel to i thispart of Ballard wanted to be in that race I knew he did He had a Il Gatto hiined, Liesel wouldn't look on Ballard so unfavorably I asked hione with her He said: she said she was too old for hi its belief that he was too young to join them (”A very Lockean point of view,” Ballard called it) ”But you did kiss her?” I asked, referring to Liesel
Ballard blushed; I decided not to pursue the subject The last thing I needed was to be on the outs with any more of the crucial people in otten that far Yeah”
”Oh, Ballard, congratulations!” I said
He kept his thank-you speech to a minimum
But how to resolve this Locke situation?
The Pack couldn't be under Lockeit couldn't All you had to do was use Locke's arguainst him The next Il Gatto would be the most important in their historyour history, because I had beenfro Do you feel it?” he said
”I want you to enter that race, Ballard And I want you to try to win it,” I said ”Okay? We'll talk later, Ballard, all right?”
”Okay,” he said And then: ”I can't i with the House of Houses They would eat hi out,” I said
So had passed between usmaybe Ballard saw the Wiccan in me Whatever it ere like this And that's all I could ever really ask To be like this with somebody I think that's all any of us could Because when you find soht, huffing: I needed an excuse to get away froation to Ravenseal House Luckily Ballard supplied ot,” he said ”Lia wanted me to tell you The date's been shi+fted”
”What date?” I said
Perhaps he could see that I was having trouble concentrating, because Ballard waited forI brushed the hair out ofYou didn't forget, did you?” he said He srined ”No Of course not,” I said
”Goodbecause you've got a whole month and a half more to think about it,” he said He looked at me, as if to say, What fun!
It was a
”It's called Lupercalia,” he said, ”a olf holiday, here in Ro February The thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, if I re olves?” I said ”Publicly?” I couldn't keep the skepticis will be on that date?” It made no sense Weren't they supposed to keep it quietthat they could shi+ft? Wouldn't this make it harder for Ballard's family to hide the fact that they olves?
”Wait There aren't people who knoware there?” I said ”That you canthat you areI mean, you do keep it a secretdon't you? Or try to? That you shi+ft”
Ballard gavelook
”Did you know that there olves?” he asked ”Did I? Did my sister Lia? Or Gaven? Of course not Anyway, it's called the Wolf Festival, Lupercalia, and it's thought to exorcise this city of evil spiritswhich is exactly e do, so h I can't think whonancies” he said ”What?”
”BallardL-Lennox is not”
”Oh, come on You can't even say his name”
”He's not evil,” I said
”Then where is he?” he asked I couldn't answer his query ”Ah-hah!” he said
”I'm sure he's just beendelayedis all,” I said
”If you say so,” said Ballard
Hadn't I just said we shouldn't fight?