Kai Ravencroft's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Kai's five dollars bought him a soda and a shadow. Yuki had slipped off the second Yuna returned. Now Yuna trailed him toward history, chatting about lavender ratios, her sneakers squeaking on the floor planks. She had helped him twice today. She had scared Yuki off twice too. Kai owed her, and that was the trap. He needed her gone by the bell's end, without making her feel like a mistake. They took desks near the globe at the back. The history teacher wrote dates on the chalkboard, calm, pointer tapping. A paper airplane sailed past Kai's ear and struck the map of Africa. Two boys laughed. Yuna caught the next one mid-flight and grinned at him. "Nice arm," Kai said. "Softball," she said. "One year. Quit. Long story." She smoothed the plane flat on her desk, then folded it into a sharper one, wings crisp. "Watch. Mine flies straighter." Kai watched her hands work and saw his exit. Yuna liked a mission. He would give her one that had nothing to do with him. "You know the club's short on dried chamomile," he said. "Raven keeps the stock. Nobody's counted it in weeks." Yuna's head came up. "Somebody should." "Somebody good with numbers." He tapped the sharp airplane. "You built that in ten seconds. You'd sort the shelves in one lunch." She studied him, wary now. "You're trying to get rid of me." The honesty landed like the plane had. Kai stopped smiling. He decided not to lie to her. "I'm trying to give you something that's yours," he said. "Not just following me around. You're better than fetch-the-soda." Yuna's ears went pink. She looked at her desk, then at the airplane. "That was your idea, the soda." "I know. I owe you." He kept his voice low under the teacher's droning. "So take the stockroom. Raven will trust you with it. That's real club work. That's a real reason to be there." For a moment she said nothing. The pointer tapped a date on the board. Then Yuna nodded, quick, like she'd decided before he finished. "Fine. I'll count your chamomile." She launched the paper plane. It cut a clean line and dropped on the empty desk by the door. "But I'm not doing it to disappear. I'm doing it because I'm good at it." "Deal," Kai said. The bell rang. Yuna gathered her bag and left with the crowd, chin up, headed for the apothecary wing instead of Kai's heels. He watched her go, relieved and a little ashamed. Then it hit him. He had sent Yuna straight to Raven's stockroom. Raven, who had looked him in the eye and named him the note-writer. The two of them, alone, sorting shelves for a whole lunch. Yuna talked when she was nervous. Raven asked questions. Kai had traded one problem for a worse one, and it was already walking away from him.