"There," Metis said. "All done."
She dropped her hands from Oliver's shoulder, and the warm, healing, golden glow that had enveloped his body slowly disappeared. Metis had already pulled the bolt out of his shoulder, and the skin there was smooth, whole, and unbroken once more. Oliver's face was still pale and sweaty from all the pain he'd experienced, but if I hadn't seen the Spartan writhing on the floor in the construction site, I wouldn't have known anything much had even happened to him.
Metis looked first at me, then at Oliver. Her green eyes were dark and thoughtful behind her silver glasses. She could tell something was going on between the two of us, but I didn't volunteer any information, and neither did he.
"I'll leave the two of you alone for a few minutes," she finally said, after it became apparent Oliver and I weren't going to talk in front of her.
"Thanks, professor," I said in a soft voice. "I think we'd both appreciate that."
Metis nodded, then left the room and closed the door behind her. Oliver and I didn't speak for a few moments.
"So, here we are," I said, staring at the Spartan who was half lying, half sitting on the next bed over.
He sighed. "Yeah. Lucky us."
More seconds ticked by in silence. On the table against the wall, the miniature statue of Skadi stared at us, her features neutral for once.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" I finally asked in a soft voice.
Oliver winced. "I guess I owe you that much, don't I?"
I shrugged.
Oliver sighed again, then sat all the way up on the bed. He swung his legs over the side so that he was facing me. Then he straightened his shoulders and looked at me.
"So I'm gay, and I'm in love with my best friend, who is not gay and has no idea how I feel about him. But you know all that already. You have ever since you picked up my notebook in the gym."
I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I got a feeling you had a serious crush on somebody, but I didn't realize who it was. You yanked the notebook out of my hands before I could see that it was Kenzie."
Oliver frowned. "But I thought you knew. You said all that stuff about me not wanting anyone to know who I wanted to hook up with. And then on the bus ride over here, you said that I'd… contaminate your stuff if I so much as touched it. I thought you were talking about me being gay."
Pain filled his green eyes. Oliver dropped his gaze from mine and picked at a loose thread on one of the bed sheets.
You could contaminate it because you're you,my own cold, nasty voice whispered in my mind. I'd been talking about something else entirely, and I'd said the words without thinking, without realizing how Oliver would interpret them.
"I was talking about my comic books," I said, trying to explain. "Whenever people touch stuff, they can leave part of themselves behind-their thoughts, feelings, memories. My psychometry magic lets me see, feel, and experience those things like they're my own memories, my own emotions. That's why I don't like people touching my things — because they can leave bitter, ugly pieces of themselves behind. Plus, I thought you were teasing me or something. I just wanted you to go away."
I winced. "Shit. I was a complete bitch, wasn't I? You probably think I'm a total bigot."
This time, Oliver shrugged. We fell silent for a few seconds.
"So why did you try to run me down outside my grandma's house? Why shoot that arrow at me in the library?" I asked.
"It's complicated," he said. "My parents know I'm gay, and they've been great about it. Really, really supportive. Logan and Kenzie know, too, and they're cool with it. They wouldn't be my friends otherwise. Pretty much everyone at Mythos knows. I'm not trying to hide it, but I don't shout it from the rooftops either, you know? I figure it's nobody's business but mine."
I nodded. I understood what he was talking about. I did the same thing with my Gypsy gift. Yeah, the other Mythos kids knew I had the power to find lost items, but I didn't stand out on the quad and brag about it between classes either.
I thought about that strange look Morgan had given me in the lobby when I'd told the clerk that I wanted to know what room Oliver was in. The Valkyrie knew Oliver was gay- that's why Morgan had thought it was weird that I'd go to his room or that I'd said that she'd hooked up with him.
Oliver drew in a breath. "But Kenzie doesn't know how I feel abouthim. I think Logan suspects, but he'd never say anything to Kenzie. Logan's too good a friend to do that. But I didn't know what you would do, Gwen. I didn't want you to tell anyone, especially not Kenzie."
"But why not just tell Kenzie how you feel?" I asked in a soft tone, even though I already knew what his answer would be.
Oliver shook his head. "Because Kenzie's my best friend, and I don't want to ruin our friendship. It's one of the best things in my life. Kenzie's not gay, so he's never going to feel the same way about me that I do about him. When I realized you knew about my feelings for him, I just… panicked, and I thought that if maybe I gave you something else to think about, then you'd forget all about me and my secret."
Oliver and I were more alike than he realized. I hated the fact that my feelings for Logan were so obvious to everyone. If I could have, I would have hidden them, especially since I had no idea how Logan really felt about me. Even back at my old school, I'd mostly kept my crushes to myself instead of immediately telling all my friends, because I knew how easy it was for one person to slip up and let a secret like that out of the bag. And if my crush didn't like me back, well, that's when things got humiliating, like they had with Logan. I could only imagine how much worse the situation would have been if Logan and I had been as close as Oliver and Kenzie were. So yeah, I could totally understand where Oliver was coming from about wanting to keep his feelings to himself.
He drew in a breath. "Plus, I didn't want to be the juicy gossip of the week at the academy or make Kenzie that either. That would just hurt both of us. I've got enough to deal with as it is now-being gay, being a Spartan, learning how to fight Reapers. I don't need people snickering and texting about me behind my back, because I'm in love with my best friend on top of everything else, you know?"
I did know. I'd been miserable when I'd first come to the academy because I hadn't fit in, because I'd felt so desperately out of place. Even after I'd become friends with Daphne and Carson, there were days when I still felt that way-like all anyone saw when they looked at me was Gwen Frost, that freaky Gypsy girl who touched stuff and saw things. Yeah, I knew how Oliver felt.
"I know what you're going through," I said. "But don't you think that the car and the arrow were a little… extreme? You could have just asked me not to say anything to Kenzie. I would have kept quiet about something that important to you."
Oliver winced. "I know, but I was mean to you that morning in the gym, making fun of you. I thought that you'd tell Kenzie, even if I asked you not to. Let's face it. Getting payback is like the school sport at Mythos."
"Why were you so snarky to me? I wondered about that."
"Because Kenzie said he thought it was cool you liked superheroes. He's been dropping hints for a couple of weeks now that he's into someone. I thought it might be you, and I was jealous. That's why I made fun of your shirt."