Lola sits cross-legged on her perch on the coffee table. “How long?” she asks. “How long would you have to keep pushing him away?”
I wince at that comment. That’s not what I’m doing, is it?
“Three weeks,” I answer. “She intends to enact the plan in three weeks.”
“That’s not too long,” Lola says happily.
“Yeah, I mean, it could be worse. He’s not even around anyway.” Janet presses her forefingers against her lips as she thinks. “We can tell Jarron right before it all happens.” Her eyes light up at that idea.
My brow furrows. I’m not so sure I agree.
“What?” she asks. “You make all the plans; it’d be all set. He’d have no choice but to go with it to protect you and make sure everything works out. Right?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“You don’t want him to?” Lola guesses.
“No! No, I want him to be there for sure. I just think we’ll run into the same problem. Bea will be a part of this. He’ll just kill her along with the rest.”
Janet’s lips part, but then she shuts them.
“What?”
“Is that… the worst thing in the world?”
My stomach sinks, then shock sets in. Janet thinks we should kill Bea?
“I mean, look, I don’t want anyone to die who doesn’t have to, but she’s just as much a part of this as the rest of them. She deserves punishment as much as anyone. So, if we’re all on board for killing off the bad guys here, it certainly shouldn’t be a deal-breaker that she’s included in that.”
Logically, that makes sense. “I see your point,” I say slowly, working it out in my own mind and heart. “Part of me doesn’t want to do that, though. I mean if she has to die, then, yeah, for sure. I’ll choose my sister over Bea any day, but there’s something deep down that makes me really not want to betray her.”
“Intuition?” Lola asks.
I frown, looking down at my hands.
“Do you think she’ll know it if you plan to betray her at the last second? Do you think it’ll turn out worse for you?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper. I guess it could be that. I do have a strong intuition, but I’ve never used it for anything other than potions work before. I don’t really consider it as an actual form of magic, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be helpful. “I don’t know what it is. Just, something is telling me that it’s a bad idea.”
“How about this, then,” Janet says. “We go along with Bea’s plan, but if she makes you swear something, you make sure it’s vague. Make sure it gives you some leniency to tell Jarron if worse comes to worst. Don’t promise you will never let harm come to her or something, you know? You have to be able to tell Jarron to protect yourself, or it’s not worth it at all.”
I nod absently.
“And our secret bond remains.” She holds out her arm where the tiny mark sits on her tan skin. The three of us swore a secret bond a few weeks ago. It’d hurt us, if we ever spoke the secret aloud. “If you ever get into trouble, you use it.”
My eyes widen. “Use it?”
“You start saying the secret out loud. It’s gonna hurt like hell, but it will notify Lola and me that something is very wrong, and we’ll come and find you. We will tell Jarron, instead of you. That’s how you stay safe in all of this.”
I look to Lola, eyes still wide. She looks equally as impressed as I am.
“You’re fucking genius,” I tell Janet. And I mean it.
Hope wells in my chest. This plan is going to work. I can feel it.
22
BEHIND ALIEN EYES
