Book 3: Not Like Them

Candace

I shrink lower in my seat. My mark brands my skin like a hot iron, and I just swallow the pain. Eva found me hiding out at the edge of the party, trying to convince myself to join in and risk seeing either of them. I tried to warn her that I wasn’t very good company, but she’s too good of a friend to take no for an answer.

That only makes me feel worse.

“He’s right,” I say numbly. “It wasn’t very funny.”

“See?” Hollis grins at Eva. “Even she admits it. Nobody likes bird stories.”

I nod. I’ve heard that enough, though usually without the edge of venom in Hollis’s voice right now.

“Please can we talk about something interesting?” he says.

Eva’s gaze flickers between the two of us. I can’t read anything in her green eyes, which are so like Hollis’s.

“What in the world are you doing?” She shrugs out from under his arm.

I suck in a breath. I’ve never heard her sound so offended before.

Hollis puts up his