We left our suitcases in the rooms and immediately set off for the twins’ flat. Kope and I descended in silence into the Tube for our train.
“You are quiet,” Kope noted when we got off at our stop.
I forced a smile. “Just soaking it all in.”
When we neared the twins’ flat, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Marna.
“Hallooo?” she sang.
“Hello, yourself,” I responded. “I have a surprise for you. Kope and I are here for a visit.”
I pulled the phone from my ear when she screamed with glee and shouted to Ginger, which got a light chuckle from Kope.
“Seriously? You’re really here? I can’t believe it! Well, hurry on, then! But don’t take the lift—it’s terribly slow.” She gave one last excited scream before hanging up.
At their building we took the stairs to the second floor and rang their bell. When we made it in, Marna’s hug sent her and me both sprawling on the floor of their flat.
“Oh, pull it together, the two of you.” Ginger shut the door and gave Kope a quick hug before nudging Marna with her foot and muttering, “I suppose I’ll make some tea.”
Ginger shot me a mean look before going in the kitchen and I wondered if things would always be like that between us.
We got up from the floor and Marna hugged Kope around his waist. She looked as fresh and gorgeous as always with her big gray eyes, layered brown waves, and stylish clothes. Who wore dress slacks and strappy heels in the comfort of their own home? Only the twins.
Looking around at their flat, I was surprised by the immaculate severity of the decor. Not that I hadn’t expected it to be posh, but I hadn’t expected everything to be so white. The puffy couches and chairs and tables were all stark white or light ivory. Even the paintings and pictures hanging on the walls were in black and white. How ironic that the two most colorful girls I knew lived without color.
Ginger propped herself against the doorframe that separated the kitchen from the living area.
“Talked to Kaidan lately?” she asked, acknowledging me for the first time.
My stomach tightened. “I talked to him once. Why?”
“As if you don’t know.” Ginger’s eyes narrowed with distrust as she studied me.
My stomach compacted into a firm ball of nerves. “I don’t know.” I looked over at Marna. “Tell me.”
“Everything’s fine, luv,” Marna said, but I wasn’t convinced. Something was up. The electric kettle clicked off in the kitchen, forcing Ginger to break her death stare. I grasped Marna’s wrist.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
She glanced nervously between me, Kope, and the open doorway, where her sister wasn’t available to instruct her. Fear caused my hand to tighten on her wrist in an urgent plea, and I dropped it, afraid I’d cut off her blood circulation if I kept it up.
“He and Blake are friends,” she whispered. “They’ve gotten chummy, and we talk to Blake when our fathers are both out of town.” I nodded for her to continue. She sent another peek toward the kitchen. “It seems that Kaidan . . . isn’t working as hard as usual these days.”
“Oh, cut the shite.” Ginger came in and slammed the small tea tray on the table, making the cups rattle. “He’s not working. At all. He’s faking it. Like her.”
She stared right at me with a hand on her hip.
“What do you mean . . . ?” He’d definitely had to work with that nasty Marissa when he’d come to Atlanta. My skin prickled and I felt edgy.
Ginger’s lip curled as she asked, “What do you think I mean, you stupid little—?”
“All right! I get it!” I shouted. “You can stop talking to me like that!”
Her eyes were full of anger. My pulse raced. Was it possible? Had Kaidan been avoiding work in L.A.? But that was so dangerous! And brave. So stupid and wonderful. The most selfish part of me rejoiced, but then I remembered what it could mean for him and terror struck. It wasn’t like Kaidan to risk getting himself killed.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I whispered. “Maybe he just doesn’t work as hard when he’s hanging out with Blake or something.”
“Are you deaf? He’s not working unless spirits come around, and even then it’s half-arsed!”
I tensed, sick of her snide tone.
“That’s enough!” Marna said, but her sister ignored her.
Ginger’s soft voice was laced with cruelty, and she never took her eyes from me. “Admit it, Anna. You’re pleased about this.”
A bolt of anger ricocheted inside me and I closed the space between us with clenched fists. My heart pounded at the prospect of a confrontation, but this had been a long time coming.
“I’ve put up with you saying a lot of things to me, and about me, but let’s get one thing straight. I would never want Kaidan to put himself in danger. He has nothing to prove to me. He doesn’t even talk to me! I understand that you resent me, Ginger, because I haven’t had to go through everything you have. But believe it or not my life isn’t perfect, and neither am I.”
“Right.”
“Geez, Ginger! What do I have to do to prove myself to you?”
“Tell me one mistake you’ve ever made in your perfect little life,” she challenged.
Ugh. Fine.
“Okay. For one, I fell in love with Kaidan and showed him my colors.” I sucked in a reflexive breath at my own declaration.
Ginger smiled victoriously, and Marna’s body jumped with a giant hiccup. In my peripheral vision I saw Kope shove his hands in his jeans pockets and stare down at the white carpet.
“That really was quite stupid,” Ginger said, “but we’d guessed as much already. If that’s your only so-called mistake—”
“Aw, Gin,” Marna started, but I shook my head, not willing to be sidetracked.
“No, that’s not it,” I started. “When we went on that road trip last year . . .” Was I really going to admit this? Her eyebrow rose in eager anticipation. Taking a deep breath and fully aware of Kope’s listening ears, I told my biggest secret. “I wanted to . . . be with him. You know. But he said no.”
Oh, my gosh. I wanted to curl up under the table away from their stares. Ginger’s mouth and eyes rounded and she let out a snigger. I didn’t dare look in Kope’s direction, but I could see he’d frozen in place. After a moment Ginger dropped the act and eyed me with seriousness. We’d both been rejected by Kaidan. That had to put us on more equal ground. And even if it didn’t, I was done being bullied.
“This isn’t about Kaidan,” I told her. “It’s about us. I’m tired of how you treat me. And you wanna know what’s really sad? Even though you’ve been nothing but hateful to me since the day we met, you have no idea how much I want your approval and how many things I envy about you.”
She scoffed. “What things might you envy about me? Could it be my arsehole father who refuses to let us attend university because they don’t offer slut degrees, even though I could teach the bloody classes myself? Or maybe it’s the record number of marriages I’ve ended this year?”
“No,” I said, softening. “I envy that you’re such a strong person, despite those things. I wish I could speak my mind like you, and be the kind of person who people don’t try to walk all over. You don’t put up with crap from anyone. And . . .” I glanced down at her low-cut V-necked sweater with the perfect amount of cleavage on display. “I envy your boobs.”
Marna snorted. Kope swiftly turned and walked away with a shake of his head. Ginger held my eyes as she crossed her arms under her chest, fluffing her boobs upward even higher.
“They are rather nice,” she admitted. Marna bent over at the waist and laughed now. Ginger and I cracked a smile at the same time, stepping back from each other as the tension slightly lifted.
“Please come back, Kope,” Marna called. He’d gone to look out a window across the room. “Let’s all sit down and have tea before it gets cold.”
His gait was stiff as he walked to the square white tabl
e and sat.
“There, there, luv,” Marna patted his shoulder and placed a cup of warm tea in front of him. “You poor dear, having to hang out with the likes of us.” She winked at me.
He kept his eyes down. It was clear he didn’t trust us not to steer the conversation into uncomfortable territory again. I picked up a book that had gotten pushed aside by the tea tray. It was a book of sign language.
“Ooh,” Marna said, taking a dainty sip of tea. “We’re learning! You guys should learn it, too. Blake and Kai came up with the idea to learn sign language for those times when they weren’t sure if their fathers were within range.”
“That is very dangerous but smart,” Kope remarked.
“Isn’t it?” Ginger asked. “I can’t believe those two thought of it. Marna and I made up our own general signs when we were younger, just playing around, but this will be better.”
“Do you think the whisperers have picked up on sign language, though?” I asked.
“Well, we obviously wouldn’t use it in front of them,” Ginger said. “It’d just be for when Dukes are nearby, but no one can see us. Thought about making up our own, but that’d take too damn long.”
I nodded.
“Supposedly Kaidan’s having a difficult time ’cause he can’t say swear words in every sentence,” Marna said with a smile. “He’s determined to find signs for cursing or make some up himself.”
“Really?” I asked. “He doesn’t cuss that much.” In fact, I’d only heard him use a few minor words here and there. I looked up to find Marna and Ginger staring at me with disbelieving expressions.
“What?” I asked.
It started with small giggles, Marna trying to hide hers behind her hand. When the two of them made eye contact, the dam broke and their laughter burst forth in a torrent. They howled, egged on by each other, stomping their pretty feet and smacking their legs. I looked at Kope, whose expression was as somber as ever while he watched them. He would not look at me. Marna shook her head, trying to explain through a bout of mirth.
“I’m sorry, luv, it’s just that Kai has the filthiest mouth of any bloke I’ve ever met!”
Another round of sisterly cackling. I felt my skin heating.
“But he never . . .” I let the sentence die in the midst of their laughter, shrinking inside. I didn’t like the feeling that crept over me. Envy? How pitiful to be jealous that Kai hadn’t cursed much in front of me, as if he could be himself with them and not me. Marna took a gasping breath and reached for my hand, working hard to control herself.
“Don’t be upset, please. It’s just the very idea . . .”
I wanted to believe Kai’s reasons were sweet and respectful, but the twins made me wonder if he’d been catering to my personality. We’d had such precious little time together, and I didn’t want to think that any of it had been fake.
I stared at the tea set. It’d been fifteen months since Kaidan and I drove cross-country together. Why was I letting this get to me now? And I wished the twins would stop sniggering already.
“It just feels wrong swearing in front of you,” Marna said, “like a sweet little granny is in the room.” She said it with utter innocence, but my eyes bugged.
“A granny?”
Ginger didn’t try to hide her amusement.
“Oh, come off it,” Marna told her sister. “Even you hold back when Anna is around.”
Ginger frowned and shrugged noncommittally.
“Anna,” Kope said, forcing me to look at him. “Are you ready to tell them?”
God love him. The boy knew exactly what to say to kill the current conversation and pull me out of this rut. I breathed in. Time to focus. I nodded at Kope, and hoped he could see the gratitude in my eyes. I let out the breath, working to tuck away all thoughts of Kai.
The twins had finally stopped laughing and wore expectant looks on their faces.
“Remember the nun I told you about who passed away during my trip to California?”
They both nodded.
“Well, her spirit came to me this summer . . .”
I don’t think either of them blinked or moved as I told them about the angelic Nephilim spirit and the prophecy. After I finished, several minutes of complete silence passed.
When Marna finally spoke, her voice was so small and childlike that it nearly shattered my heart. “Will they really be gone? We won’t have to work anymore?”
Her voice cracked and Ginger gathered her into her arms just as Marna broke down, shoulders shaking with the force of her tears. I blinked the sting away from my own eyes.
“They’ll really be gone,” I promised her. “And you’ll both be free.”
“What do you need us to do?” Ginger asked in an uncanny moment of teamwork. Marna dabbed at her eyes with an ivory cloth napkin from the table.
“There’s no long-term plan, yet,” I explained. “We just need to be ready, at any time, to band together and fight. I have no idea how it’s going to play out. But when I leave, you can’t talk about this at all. You can’t tell the guys. My dad’s sending me places when he knows it’s safe.”
I told them about the trip to Syria. They were good listeners, enthralled and full of questions. The things we were doing and planning right under the Dukes’ noses were extraordinary and unprecedented. Neph had never banded together against them, and the possibilities were enough to give us head rushes.
“We’re still trying to find other Neph to be allies. I need to see Blake and Kai. I know they’ll be in, but they need to hear about the prophecy.”
A thoughtful minute of quiet passed. My nerves felt like they were being wrung out at the thought of seeing Kai again. Ginger eyed me.
“You realize he’ll never let you love him, right?”
She could verbally punch like no other.
“I know that, yes.”
She crossed her arms, one shoulder cocked up, and glared at me as if I’d never truly understand Kaidan the way she did. And maybe she was right. Because even though my mind knew he wouldn’t let me love him, my heart continued to hope.
Kope caught my eye from across the table and we both looked away.
“Let’s do something fun together while arsey-Astaroth is gone!” Marna grabbed my arm, redirecting my attention. “Let’s get our nails done!”
I could never tell Veronica. She’d combust if she knew I’d cheated on her with Marna.
“You ladies should enjoy this time.” Kopano sounded weary. “I will go to the hotel.”
“Ah, Kope, I’m sorry!” Marna laughed. “Men get their nails buffed, too, you know.”
He stood. “I could use an early night to bed.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “We could do something else.” I knew how he felt—jet lag was setting in—but I was too excited to sleep yet.
“I am certain.” He headed for the door, bowing his head at us.
“I’ll come by to see you in the morning before you leave,” Marna promised. “Text me your hotel info.”
His eyes looked weary when he gave a small nod and turned to go, and it made something inside me seize up with sadness.
When he left, Marna sent me a meaningful look and I nodded. We’d talk. We grabbed our purses, but Ginger still sat, staring off, deep in thought.
“You coming, Gin?” Marna asked.
But Ginger looked at me. “You say it’s safe tonight?”
“Yeah.” I told her about Dad’s intel, and how they’d let me know if danger arose.
“You two go,” Ginger said. “I think I’ll have a night to myself.”
The mother bear was letting the cub out of her sight. Shocking.
Marna looked completely taken aback. “If you’re quite sure . . .”
Ginger nodded absently and waved us off, already falling into relaxation mode, getting up and plopping herself on the couch with a remote. Marna shrugged and linked her arm through mine, leading me out of the flat with a skip in her step.
“Don’t go back to the
hotel tonight,” Marna pleaded. “Stay here with me!”
“Okay,” I agreed, and we chatted the whole way to the salon.
After manicures, pedicures, and pub baskets of fish and chips, we started making our way through the night crowd to the hotel so I could get my stuff. I pulled my jacket closed as the fall breeze kicked up and we passed a pub playing live music.
“I could totally live in England,” I said.
Marna took my arm again. “You would totes love it here.”
We walked quietly for a minute.
“What do you think is going on with Kai?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No idea. We were all shaken up after the summit, but him worst of all. Maybe he’s going through a rebellious stage.”
“I don’t want him to do anything stupid,” I whispered.
“I know. He’s just testing the boundaries, but I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t worry, ’kay?” She squeezed my arm and I squeezed back.
We retrieved my bag from the hotel and took the Tube back to Marna’s place.
“What’s it been like to travel with Kope?” she asked as we ascended from the Tube at her stop.
“It’s been great. He’s actually talked to me some. He was awesome in Syria. You should have seen him.”
We sidestepped around a street violinist. He wound a string of sad, whimsical notes through the air, and I tossed a few bills in his open case.
“He likes you, you know,” Marna said.
For one confused second I imagined she was talking about the violinist. When I realized she meant Kope, my heart sank. “We’re friends. That’s all I want.”
“Okay,” she said quietly. “I understand.”
But I felt the need to explain. “Sometimes I forget how he is,” I said. “And I touch him, like I’d do with Jay or Blake. But it’s weird. He gets all tense, and then I feel bad. Does that ever happen to you?”
She grinned at me. “No. But that’s because he doesn’t fancy me. I imagine he’s got a bit of pent-up sexual aggression that he’d just love to—”
“Marna!” I squealed, bumping her hip with mine.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”
When we got back to her flat, Ginger was in her room, talking animatedly. Marna mouthed “Blake” to me, and Ginger must have heard us come in because she got really quiet.
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