Chapter 120

Looking around at Liz’s room, Natalie couldn’t quite keep the smile from her face.

“What?”

“It’s very you,” Natalie said diplomatically.

“Huh?” Liz looked around, then pouted. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing. Just that you really like the color pink, apparently. And fluffy things.”

“Who doesn’t?” She plopped down onto her bed and continued to pout.

Natalie was mostly teasing, though Liz had definitely put a lot more effort into decorating than she had—and was more ‘girlish’ by several degrees, with pink bedsheets and a mountain of pillows, and even a few stuffed animals. Having only had the room for a day, she must have made it a priority to customize her room. Other than the bed, though, it was fairly standard—a plain desk, drawers, closet, and mostly unadorned walls. But Natalie suspected that was because Liz hadn’t gotten to the rest of it.

Natalie sat next to Liz and fell backward, stretching wide with a groan. It’d been a long day, like most days at Tenet—even if they hadn’t gone delving.

“So. Think Johanna’s suspicious of anything?” Natalie asked.

“Sorry? Suspicious?”

“You know. Us. Alone, in your bedroom.”

Liz’s eyes widened, and she let out a single laugh, incredulous rather than embarrassed. “No, no chance. She knows I like girls, but hooking up with one while she’s here? And someone I’ve only known a few weeks? Like I said, she sees me as her innocent little sister. It wouldn’t even cross her mind.”

“So we can get away with whatever we want. She’ll stay oblivious.”

“What?” Liz protested. “That’s not why you’re here.” She hesitated, then corrected herself, “Well, kind of.”

“Kind of?” That was a promising clarifier.

“We do need to talk about, you know, all of that.”

“I figured.”

Liz rubbed her knee, not quite able to look at Natalie, who was still laying on her bed, rolled to the side with her head propped up on one hand. Liz stared down at her lap, cheeks quickly darkening.

“I can use [Illusion] to make sound barriers,” Natalie said. “Just by the way. You want me to?”

“You can?”

“Recent discovery.”

“Um. Yeah, then. That’s probably for the best.”

Natalie did so.

“Not that I think Johanna would listen in,” Natalie clarified.

“It’s done?”

Natalie nodded.

“Then yeah,” Liz said. “She wouldn’t, but it’s still nice to have.”

“And it’s helpful for if we get too loud.” Natalie waggled her eyebrows.

Liz huffed. “You’re frisky tonight, aren’t you?”

“Teasing you is just fun. You’re too cute about all this.”

Liz pouted for the third time that night, which didn’t help her case. “Anyway,” she said, “you’re right that the major topic is that stuff. Specifically my wand. I’ve been, um, thinking about it.”

“The special ability?”

Liz shifted in place, her gaze returning to her lap and her cheeks burning even hotter. “Yeah. The special ability. Someone needs to use it on me to find out what the effect is, and ... I guess ... well, maybe if you want to be the one?”