In the event that it did happen in the modern age, there was a spell that kept the Red Bloods from noticing anything strange. Mimi Force would still be Mimi Force after the bonding, except the Red Bloods would assume it was because she was Jack's wife and not his sister. Memories were easily changeable, the truth malleable.
Schuyler saw Jack turn to Mimi with a soft look on his face. For her part, Mimi simply glowed.
All at once Schuyler felt a deep and aching sadness. It was hopeless to think she would ever have a chance of real, lasting happiness with Jack.
There has to be a way, she thought desperately. There has to be a way to break the bond and be free to love whomever you want.
There is.
She started. For a moment she had thought she'd heard Jack's voice in her head. But she didn't hear it again. Still, she knew it had happened. She had not imagined it. She felt lighter all of a sudden, and more optimistic.
There had to be hope for the two of them still.
Bliss never understood Schuyler's infatuation with Jack Force and wished her friend would give up that particular ghost. Nothing good could ever come out of it. Even though Bliss was a new member of the Committee and was just starting to accept the ways of their kind, she'd always understood one thing: you didn't mess around with the bond. The bond was serious stuff. Nothing would ever separate Jack and Mimi; nothing was ever supposed to come between them. It was impossible to even think otherwise. Bliss thought Schuyler had always taken it too lightly, which was odd for a girl whose very own mother was the first of their race to break her bond and live (if you could call that living) with the consequences. But as they say, love is blind.
But she didn't say "I told you so" after the lecture. Bliss wasn't that kind of friend. Neither of them spoke as they left the Committee meeting. Oliver had excused himself quickly, leaving before the meeting had even been dismissed, while Schuyler was moody and silent on the walk home from school. Bliss didn't ask her if she still met Jack at that downtown apartment—a secret that Schuyler had spilled innocently one day, several months ago, when she'd told Bliss about the key she'd found in an envelope with an address slipped underneath her door. The next day, when Schuyler had come to school flushed and dreamy, Bliss had put two and two together.
Bliss blamed Jack Force. He should know better. He had access to the wisdom of his past, whereas Schuyler was a new spirit, as blind and dumb as a Red Blood, really. He should have just left Schuyler alone.
Both of Bliss's parents were home when she arrived, which surprised her. BobiAnne usually had her cellulite treatments at this time, and Forsyth was supposed to be in Washington for the week. She put her key in the sterling-silver dish on the front table and walked down the main hallway, drawn by the quarreling voices.
It sounded like Forsyth and BobiAnne were screaming at each other. But Bliss soon realized it was just her vampire hearing that made it seem that way. In reality, they were whispering.
"Are you sure you had completely secured it?" That was BobiAnne, sounding more agitated than Bliss had ever heard her before.
"Positive."
"I told you to take it away."
"And I told you that wouldn't be safe," Forsyth snapped.
"But who would take it? Who would even know we had it? He hasn't even realized it's missing. …"
There was a hollow laugh. "You're right. He's a wreck. He's finished. All he does is weep and pore over old photo albums, or listen to old tapes. Trinity is beside herself. It's pathetic. There's no way he knows."
"So who, then?"
"You know my suspicions."
"But she's just a girl."
"She's more than that. You know that."
"But how can we be sure?"
"We can't be."
"Unless…"
Their voices faded, and Bliss crept up the grand staircase to her room. She wondered what they were talking about. It sounded like they had lost something. Her mind flashed to the necklace she was wearing. She had never returned it to her father after the night of the Four Hundred Ball. But he had never asked for it back either. It couldn't be the necklace, because BobiAnne had seen her wearing it the other day and commented on how well it went with her eyes.
She put away her things in her room and picked up her phone. Dylan had been on her mind all day after the visit. She couldn't believe he didn't even remember her. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she thought about him. Bliss changed out of her school clothes and put on something comfortable. She padded into the kitchen, where she found Jordan doing homework on the island counter.
"What's wrong?" Jordan asked, looking up from her books. The kid was in all honors classes—something Bliss hadn't achieved until the vampire blood kicked in.
"Nothing." Bliss shook her head.
"It's about that boy, isn't it? Your friend?" Jordan asked.
Bliss sighed and nodded.
She was relieved when her sister didn't press her to talk about it. Instead, Jordan broke her bar of Toblerone in half. It was Jordan's favorite candy, and she hoarded it in her room because BobiAnne was forever haranguing her about her weight.
"Thanks," Bliss said, taking a bite. The chocolate was sweet and delicious as it melted on her tongue. Bliss was touched. Her little sister had tried to make her feel better in the only way she knew how. "You need help with anything?" she asked, as a way to say she appreciated the thoughtful gesture.
"Nope." Jordan shook her head. "You're hopeless at math anyway."
"You've got that right." Bliss laughed. She zapped the remote toward the small plasma television hanging over the counter. "Is this going to bother you?" She asked, flipping through the channels.
"Nah."
Bliss finished the chocolate and watched television while Jordan continued to work on her math problems. When Forsyth and BobiAnne entered the kitchen a few hours later to rally the family to dinner, they found the sisters still sitting quietly together, side by side.
An emergency Conclave meeting had been called, and at the end of it Mimi was surprised to find Bliss waiting outside the doors. "What are you doing here?" she asked, slinging her gym bag over her shoulder. She'd been in the middle of a two-hour cardio session before heading to the Force Tower. She hadn't had time to change or look presentable. Her hair was still sticking to her sweaty forehead.
"Forsyth picked me up from school, and when he got the summons, he brought me with him," Bliss told her. "What's happened?"
"Your dad didn't tell you?" Mimi hesitated, using a terry-cloth wristband to wipe the dampness on her cheek.
"Something to do with a golden sword?" Bliss asked.
Mimi shrugged without confirming Bliss's guess. She was especially annoyed with Bliss, whom she'd always assumed to be more of an also-ran rather than a homecoming queen in the grand scheme of things. Yet the city's machers and arbiters of fashion couldn't seem to get enough of the russet-haired Amazon. After opening the Rolf Morgan show, Bliss had booked more advertising campaigns than ever. Her face was everywhere—on billboards, on top of taxicabs. She was inescapable.
Mimi would forgive sudden fame and glory—God knows that's what everyone in New York was after—but she couldn't forgive Bliss for choosing sides, especially since it was the wrong one. Everyone at school knew Bliss and Schuyler were besties. Mimi found it insulting that Bliss, a girl who wouldn't have had a social leg to stand on in Duchesne without Mimi's blessing, had turned her back on the in-crowd to hang with the ragged little group of misfits.
She didn't want to share her information, but the opportunity to lord her insider status over her former friend was too much for Mimi to resist. "It's Michael's sword," she explained. "The Blade of Justice."