Steadfast(24)

Dad raised his eyebrows. “Wait a second. I thought Mateo Perez had a girlfriend.”

“Oh. Well—he didn’t, actually. There was a girl he was hanging around with, but it wasn’t, I mean—” Nadia didn’t even know how to explain the whole Elizabeth situation in a way her father could understand. So she just shrugged and grinned. “Well, he has a girlfriend now.”

“Uh-huh. This is major news. When were you going to tell me?”

Nadia laughed. “When I thought you wouldn’t freak out about it the way you’re doing right this second?”

“Aw, come on. This isn’t freaking out. This is—normal dad curiosity. You know it’s okay with me that you’re dating, right?” Her dad leaned forward, suddenly way more intense than the situation called for. “Mateo’s a great guy. You couldn’t have done any better. And besides, a normal, healthy love life is . . . healthy. And normal.”

She was beginning to think that her dad might be talking about more than her love life now, which wasn’t something she wanted to add to her list of worries. “Yeah. Sure.”

Cole looked up from his coloring. “When you kiss him, does he put his tongue inside your mouth?”


Dad pointed a finger. “You think you’re pulling the innocent-little-kid routine, but we can see right through you. Right through to your bones, just like one of the skeletons on the wall! Want me to get a sombrero for you? Then we can put you on the wall, too.” This made Cole start giggling, and saved Nadia from having to answer that question.

“Be right back,” she said as she scooted out of the booth. Her dad, now coloring with Cole, just nodded.

In the bathroom, Nadia ran her fingers through her hair, checked her outfit, straightened up. It wasn’t like Mateo cared—he’d seen her covered with soot, soaked with seawater, you name it—but still. The more a guy thought you were beautiful no matter what, the more you wanted to be beautiful for him. If you liked me all grimy with cobwebs, you won’t even be able to handle me now.

“Oh, hey,” Kendall said, managing to reapply her lipstick and talk at the same time. “You sure do come here a lot. Like, all the time. I would’ve thought you guys would want Italian food sometimes.”

Even by Kendall standards, this made no sense. Nadia frowned. “Why?”

“You’re Italian, right? Caldani?”

“Actually, no.” Dad usually said the name was Persian. That was an old habit, going back to when he was a little boy in the 1970s and his family had to deal with a lot of prejudice; the fact that his family had actually fled the Ayatollah Khomeini didn’t stop people from blaming them for his rule. Nadia preferred the direct approach. “We’re Iranian.”

Mom’s half was part Scottish, part Greek, but Nadia didn’t bother mentioning that. It was too much fun watching Kendall’s eyes get wider. “I thought you were American.”

“We are American. You didn’t think I was actually from Italy before, did you?” Nadia took another look at herself in the mirror. Gray T-shirt tucked into jeans, sari-print scarf knotted around her neck just so, earrings dangling instead of caught: Everything looked right.

“Well, no, but.” Kendall said this like it somehow made sense. “Are you guys Muslim?”

“No. We’re Chaldean Catholics. Well, at least in theory. Not many Chaldean Catholic churches around in the United States.” There had been one in Chicago, but in Rhode Island, particularly Captive’s Sound? Forget it. “What would it matter if we were Muslim anyway?”

But Kendall had already moved on to the subject that, clearly, had interested her all along. “So, looks like you and Mateo are a thing.”

Nadia felt an irrational stab of annoyance. It wasn’t like Mateo would ever in a thousand years go for Kendall—and to be fair, Kendall didn’t seem to be into Mateo, either. But she was always sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong. Still—Nadia was proud of loving Mateo, being with him. Why not tell Kendall? “Yeah. We’re together.”

“Does Elizabeth Pike know?”

“Definitely.”

“Bet she’s not happy.”

Halloween night, Kendall had seen Mateo under Elizabeth’s spell. Nadia decided to bunt. “They decided they’re better off as friends.”

“Interesting” was the only reply, in a tone of voice that told Nadia the entire school would hear about this by tomorrow morning, if not within the hour. Kendall Bender was sort of a one-woman amplification system for gossip.

Good, she decided. Let the whole world know.

She said, “See you,” and left the bathroom as quickly as she could, giving Kendall a smile so warm it would have to confuse her.

As she went back to her family’s booth, Nadia glanced over her shoulder to see Mateo taking the check to yet another table. He had the most wonderful lopsided grin, and he seemed to be kind to everybody, even customers who were questioning the tab. This wasn’t a guy whose love she had to fear.

There’s no spell to break. Mateo wouldn’t leave you. He’s not going anywhere.

Kendall’s voice rang out, sharp with fear, cutting through all the other chatter like a knife. “Riley?”

When Nadia looked over at the Bender family’s table, she saw the older girl, the one in the Brown sweatshirt, putting her hands to her throat. That was the sign for choking, and Mateo ran toward the table—but he froze just as Nadia gasped in horror, just as Riley opened her mouth and black liquid began dribbling out.