We sat in the back, tucked into a corner table and away from the street view. ‘You’re wondering why they’d be into someone like me,’ he said, without preamble. ‘We kind of grew up together. My dad used to work with Gwydion.’ He smiled at my surprise. ‘It’s not a secret. You’re new, that’s all.’ ‘Were you friends with all of them?’ ‘Fen in particular. But you know how it is. If one adopts you, they all do.’ I knew. ‘So what happened?’ I said. Marcus looked away. ‘Summer told me that you and Thalia were together for a while.’ I was trying to be kind. His head reared. ‘She told you that?’ He seemed surprised they’d trust me with such secrets already, and I couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud. ‘Why don’t you just tell everyone?’ I said. ‘They wouldn’t treat you the way they do if they knew you were actually involved with her.’ ‘It’s not up to me,’ he muttered.
