Page 17 of Zachary

There are quiet gasps around the table, shocked faces turning toward me. I deserve that. I know I do. Here’s the thing, though…

How did she know?

There were only two people in the cave when that happened: Me. And Ronan.

I know I didn’t tell anyone what I said. I was too ashamed of myself to repeat it, even to my cousins. Which means Ronan must have made a complaint.

Hot anger rushes through me, obliterating all reason. How fucking dare he have looked me in the eye this morning when he’d—

Wait. I take a deep breath, trying to think. Everyone’s eyes are on me. Grandmother’s glare is scrambling my wits. But something’s not right here.

Ronan and I aren’t friends. We’re not even friendly. Maybe he’s trying now, and maybe when I get to know him, he’ll turn out to be a great guy, but right now, today, that’s not how I feel. But.But.When I left his house this morning, I was sure we were both going to try to get along better. He was wary when he opened the door—not like someone who was expecting me to come and apologize. And if he’d officially complained yesterday, there’s no way in hell I wouldn’t have heard about it before now. I saw three members of the village council while I was out today, and they were just as friendly and casual as ever.

Which means either Ronan didn’t make an official complaint, just tattled on me to Grandmother—which seems unlikely, since he barely knows her—or he waited until this afternoon, after he’d accepted my apology and we’d agreed to a truce, to make his complaint, thereby stabbing me in the back.

This seems the most obvious option. He might not even see it as a betrayal, given how difficult I’ve made things for him. It’s just… remembering his face when he thanked me for apologizing and admitted he was trying harder, I can’t see him doing that. He seemed, if not happy, then at least resolved to start over. I don’t believe he looked at me so hopefully and then just a few hours later made a complaint about something I’d already apologized for.

So… how does Grandmother know?

Did Ronan tell someone else? Not a formal complaint, just a comment to a friend? That’s possible, and I wouldn’t blame him for it. But… I didn’t think he had friends like that here. Even if he did, I can’t think of anyone in town who wouldn’t come and yell at me first before tattling on me to Grandmother. If it was another dragon or a friend from home… would they make a complaint on his behalf without even telling him? Because for some reason I don’t understand, I have this unshakable belief that if he’d known, he would have called and warned me.

I look Grandmother dead in the eye. “How did you know about that?”

“Zac,” my mother begins angrily, “that’s not the most important part here.”

I don’t look her way; I know what I’ll see. Fury and disappointment. My mom loves me, completely and without any reservations. But she’s never been okay with bad manners, and she already told me once in the past few weeks to smarten up my attitude.

“Grandmother? How did you know?” I repeat.

“Nothing happens in Hortplatz that I don’t know about,” she snaps. “You think I don’t know how you joke about that?”

“We do,” I agree. I’m pretty sure Micah has stopped breathing. “But this didn’t happen in Hortplatz. This happened in the cave.”

“You can’t blame Ronan for this,” Uncle Sol protests. “Zac, I thought better of you. He had the right to protest you saying that to him.”

I nod. I’m suddenly absolutely certain of what happened, and it sends cold chills through me that she would do this. “I agree. He had the right. I don’t blame Ronan at all for what happened yesterday. I was wrong to say what I did, and I regretted it. But I find it difficult to believe that he would complain to Grandmother about what I said and thennotfollow up after I went to see him this morning and apologized.”

Dead silence. Grandmother’s face is stone.

“You apologized?” Mom sounds cautious.

“Sincerely and unreservedly. I was wrong. My attitude has been poor, and I took it out on him more than once—but yesterday I crossed the line. He accepted my apology, and we agreed to a truce.” I don’t look away from Grandmother. “Ronan and I aren’t friends, and I haven’t thought highly of him since we met, but I don’t believe he would have looked me in the eye and lied about wanting to get along better. I don’t believe he said anything about what happened yesterday. So how did you know, Grandmother?”

Her nostrils flare, and it’s obvious enough that even a non-demon would have noticed. “Since you have apologized, we will put this behind us. But if you ever disgrace this family like that—”

“How did you know?” I’m not letting her off the hook that easy. “Have you bugged the cave?”

Into the heavy silence that follows, Aunt Hilda clears her throat. “Chloe, Isaac, you’re excused.” It’s a testament to the mood in the room that neither child says a word—they just push back their chairs and flee.

Grandmother says nothing.

“Where else have you bugged?” She knows everything that happens in Hortplatz—we joke about it, because it seems so true. We always thought that was just because she’s a busybody and people tell her things, but…

“Have you buggedus? Do you invade every second of our lives?”

That finally gets a reaction. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snaps. “This melodrama doesn’t suit you, Zachary.”

“I’m not the one planting bugs like I’m in an espionage thriller,” I retort. “Since it never occurred to me you might be spying on us all electronically, I have some questions now that I know you are.”

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