Page 59 of Seren

“Sounds like bull,” a kid in the back of the class called out.

“I’m deathly serious—pun intended,” the teacher said. With a rubber glove on his hand, he lifted a small see-through plastic capsule that held a two-inch-sized piece of silver-looking metal. “This is Thallium. I keep it locked up for fear of it getting into the wrong hands. I’m gonna call you up row by row to get a closer look.”

As he called the rows, students gathered around his front lab table for a quick peek before returning to their seats.

“Thallium in this form is dangerous, but what if ingested? In its powder form, it was used in rat poison until it was outlawed in the United States.”

“Can you be arrested for having it?” a girl in the front asked.

He laughed. “Only if I try to poison someone with it.”

The class laughed.

“In its powder form, it can be used in lights and some medicines, but in the wrong hands…well, you know.”

When the bell rang to dismiss class, I packed my things and headed to the hallway, eager to get to English. I arrived before Seren but, as usual, I could tell when he arrived because my skin prickled with awareness.

“Can we all agree, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy should have just talked about how they were feeling in the first place?” a girl in the back asked during our class discussion.

“Maybe they needed to do it in their own time,” Seren added, silencing the class.

I stifled a smile.

“Maybe Darcy just needed time to get his shit together—”

“Mr.Grayson,” the teacher warned.

“Sorry,” he grumbled.

“I agree,” I said. “Maybe Darcy needed to see that someone like Elizabeth was good for him. She challenged him and he needed that.” I glanced over my shoulder and met Seren’s eyes.

His lips twitched. “She definitely did that. If she’d just done what other more agreeable girls would’ve done, it could’ve saved them both a lot of aggravation.”

“But where would the fun in that be?” I said, turning back to face the teacher so she didn’t catch on to the fact that we were no longer talking about Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

“I’d say you hit the nail on the head, Grace. Without the tension. Without the misunderstanding. Without our need as readers for them to get their shi—stuff together,” the teacher said with a laugh, “our story would not be the classic it is today.”

CHAPTER 27

Seren

“So, where’re we going?” Grace asked.

I glanced over at her in the passenger seat of my car. My dashboard lights cast a soft white glow around her, and the angelic vision wasn’t lost on me.I hear ya, Dad.“I told you. It’s a surprise.”

She smiled and I could sense she enjoyed surprises. “Can I guess?”

“You can guess, but I’m not telling you.”

“That’s no fun.”

“Never said it was gonna be fun,” I said, lying through my teeth. She was gonna fucking love my surprise.

We hit the town line and turned onto the highway. She glanced over at me. “Mini golf?”

I kept my eyes on the road. “Don’t waste your time trying to guess. I’m not telling.”

“Well, just to be clear, is this a date?”

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