[Lily]“Home?” I turn my whole body towards Atticus. “You brought me to your home?” “I’m pretty sure I just said that,” he sighs. “Don’t make such a big deal about it. I just wanted to be able to talk to you without anyone bothering us and this is the only place the Legacies wouldn’t think to look. Don't worry, nobody will be here. This is just our townhouse. My father will be in the penthouse. He prefers to be close to work."My mom always preferred this house to the others," he sighs. "So when I come home, this is usually where I go.” "Do you miss her?" I ask, remembering that his mother, like mine, died several years ago. He doesn't answer. Instead, he gives me a small smile, avoiding the question completely as he reaches down, to help me onto my feet. “We’ll find you some new crutches,” he promises as he helps me by letting me lean on his shoulder. “Thank you,” I let myself relax into his embrace, grateful to be on my feet and not being carried or pushed. “How much longer do I
"Oh." I'm afraid to speak. My body feels warm at the memory of his lips on mine from the kiss he stole. I hate how I still think about it, how I can still feel him pressing me against the tree. "Kissing you like that wasn't fair," he looks away for a moment, biting his lip, and then turning back to me he adds. "It wasn't kind. You are my friend, and I took my fear, anger, and frustration out on you. I had learned some hard news and then seeing what they did to you and I just..." he pauses, seeing the look on my face, and then looks away again. "None of that is a good excuse for being abusive towards you. You deserved better.”“Yeah, it really sucked,” I snark at him, feeling petty. “Is that the best you’ve got, Ace?” I snap the end of his nickname at him and his nostrils flare in irritation at the sound of it. “Because if that is the best you'll need to try a lot harder. It didn’t feel friendly at all. It felt like an attack.”Silence falls between us again as my words ring out in the
[Lily]He wants to take me out on a date!“As a friend…right,” I confirm as he pulls me up to meet him, our chests touching. He reaches his arm around my back and my cheeks grow hot.“Of course not,” he laughs. “How am I, how are we, going to work out what we mean to one another if we hold anything back?" he asks honestly and I remember the kiss again, and his confession. "To be honest, Liliana, I might...I'm questioning everything in my life right now." "Atticus," I whisper, my hand reaching out to touch his arm. "What are you trying to do here?""I think," he looks at me and then pauses. "You know what, it doesn't matter what I think right now. The point of all this is you.
[Atticus]There is something to be said about seeing a familiar thing through someone else’s eyes. The look of amazement on Liliana’s face, when she peered out over all of New York City, will last me a lifetime.Despite being a New Yorker for 5 years, she had never been to the Empire State Building.“We’re so high!” She grins like a small child showing a miracle. I hold her a little tighter and she leans into me. “This is incredible,” she sighs, and I breathe in her delicious scent underneath the smell of her peppermint toothpaste and the rose blossom smell of her corsage.“My mother loved this view,” I confess, my heart aching as I remember how she held me up, pointing to her favorite landmarks. &ld
[Lazarus]For the first time in Legacy history, the Legacy Seven are meeting without the leader present. Technically it isn’t a real meeting without Atticus. We can’t have a proper quorum without him. As is tradition, we always work out our differences and problems as a group, with the leader making the final call.So what do you do when the leader is the one who is the problem?Three times in the over 200-year history of the Legacies has this situation ever come up. In all three occurrences, the final decision involved keeping the leader in place and letting them stay in power until the end of their term. Part of the problem is, it takes a unanimous vote to displace a leader. And with the way we are all vying for power and trying to dispose of one another for personal advantage
[Lily]Atticus would not look at me for the entire ride to Central Park. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, but I can feel a new distance between us. After how close were were just moments before, I don’t understand what happened to change things. Except for the kiss. That was not a “friend” kiss. The other legacies are all gathered at a large table. The restaurant is closed except for us, which feels strange because this is a world-famous restaurant in a world-famous park in the center of New York City in the middle of the day. Usually, a place like this would be packed with people who made reservations months before. And yet here we are, eating lunch, the whole place to ourselves. How much money did it take to make this happen? How much influence and power? Has this power been mine all alone as an Adare? Would using my grandfather’s name opened doors like this for me in the past if I had felt confident enough to use it?Madison wasted no time waiting. As soon as we were within ears
[Lily]Stunned, I sit for a moment, staring at Nyx’s number before answering. “Hello?”“LILY!!!!!!!” I pull the phone away from my ear as she chatters nonstop about how much she misses me and loves me and my ears hurt so badly I almost miss the important part. "You're where?" I ask as she takes a brief moment to breathe. "Did you just say you are outside?""Yes!" I almost start laughing as I imagine her bouncing up and down outside. "OMG OMG OMG I found you!"I carefully pull myself off the floor and explain my situation. Nyx sends me a text of instructions on how to get to the back door through the kitchen with a note that she'll meet me there. Hobbling on my crutches, I consider my options. I can return to the awkward meeting with the other Legacies where I have to answer questions about my wet and dirty dress, sit next across from Evie, who now wants me out of her way by any means necessary, and next to Atticus, who can't look me in the eye but is defending me against his friends
[Lily]There is a moment of stunned silence as the two of them blink at one another right before they fall over laughing. “Hey!” Link laughs. “What was that for, Cuz?”“Never writing me back, you Asshole!” Nyx laughs. “Damn, boy, I thought you were my friend and then you never wrote me or sent a postcard or anything. You suck!”For a moment I just stand there, looking at my friends, both new and old arguing like a couple of old hens, I feel both confused and ignored. How the heck do these two know each other?“Oi~!” I wave my arms to get their attention. “Remember me?”They both turn to look at me and they start to blush. Interesting…“Oh,” Nyx comes back to stand next to me. “Link and I go waaaay back. We have been in Ballet Camp together every summer since kindergarten. And Band Camp, and Wushu and…”Ah, it sounds like they know each other very well. “Are you two…” Not wanting to imply something too strongly, I don’t finish the sentence, leaving the idea dangling in the air that t