Page 148 of The Glittering Edge

“Sulking again?” comes a voice behind him.

“We’re not talking,” Corey mutters.

“That’s my line,” Julian says, coming up beside him. They stand on opposite sides of the window. Julian watches him while Corey looks outside, trying to see through the fog of his anger.

“Look,” Julian says, his voice soft, “I don’t agree with the whole house-arrest thing they’re doing to you.”

Corey’s muscles tense at Julian’s words. His cousin keeps acting as if Alonso tricked Corey into getting involved. As if he’s the victim, when nothing could be further from the truth.

“So did Grandpa reinstate you as the future CEO?” Corey asks.

Julian pauses. “It’s not going to happen.”

Corey knew that already. He just wanted Julian to say it out loud. He’s overheard his father and Grandpa Charles fighting in the library, with Corey’s dad arguing the company will fail in Julian’s hands. Grandpa agreed, but he added, “Make sure your son knows his place.”

Corey closes his eyes, as if that could make the memory disappear. “For the record, I never wanted it.”

“Right.”

“I mean it, Julian. Not that I want you to have it either, after what you did.”

Julian laughs. “At least you’re being honest.”

“When have I lied to you?”

“You mean besides the time you colluded with a witch?” Julian looks away. “You used to hold so much of yourself back, Corey. But now you’re all anger. You almost sound likehim.”

Julian gestures out the window, where Alonso’s Shelby has pulled up. Alonso gets out of the car, and Donna De Luca shouts something at him about helping the movers. Instead of helping, Alonso flips them off. Then he marches inside, leaving Donna sputtering and yelling after him, her voice muffled by the glass of the windows.

Corey snorts.

“See what I mean?” Julian says.

But it doesn’t matter if Alonso has rubbed off on Corey. Being angry feels good right now. He nods at Julian’s almost-faded black eye. “She got you good.”

“And you think I deserved it?”

Corey doesn’t answer.

“Right.” Julian starts walking away before he pauses. “I heard the first football game is on Friday.”

Corey wishes he could forget about the game. Tomorrow is the first day of school—the beginning of his senior year. He thought he’d feel different. Better. But he only feels lost. “Don’t bother coming.”

There’s a smile in Julian’s voice as he says, “I’ll be in the front row.”

Penny

THE CLOCK TICKS, THE HEART MONITOR BEEPS. OCCASIONALLY THEYsync up before drifting apart again, filling Penny’s ears with an anxious chorus. Her backpack sits on her cot, where she’s been sleeping most nights since the gala. Penny usually reads out loud to her mom, but she hasn’t been able to force herself to openPractical Magictoday. It’s one of her mom’s favorites, but the last thing Penny wants to think about is magic.

Instead, she’s free to dwell on the fact that tomorrow is the first day of senior year.

Will Naomi walk right by her in the halls? Will Corey acknowledge her? And worse—will Penny ever stop looking for Alonso around every corner? Tomorrow is the day he’s supposed to move. Or maybe he’s already gone.

Penny sighs, burying her face in her hands. She can’t sit around anymore; she’s been doing that for days, and she’s rotting away. She forces herself to take the elevator, get into the Prius, and turn on the engine. She tries to think of somewhere she can go where memories won’t haunt her.

She pulls out her phone, opening her photos. There are screenshots of articles from SkyCat. A photo of Penny playing bike polo, sent to her by Alonso. One discreet candid photo of Alonso and Corey in the café in case Penny ever needed proof they could be civil to each other.

And then, there’sthephoto. The one that shows Giovanni DeLuca at the Barrions’ gala, standing behind a smiling Charles and Ellie Barrion.

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