by Rose Wulf
“It’s not safe out there,” Christopher reminded her carefully. “You seemed content to pass the time on your computer today, what makes you so sure that won’t be acceptable tomorrow?”
Holding up a semi-crumbled piece of paper for emphasis, Angela snapped, “I already told you—I was researching! And now I need to actually go somewhere in order to make my final decision!”
“Then it can wait until after Monday,” Christopher declared firmly.
Crunching the paper in her hand as her fist curled, Angela asked, “And what if Monday doesn’t actually solve anything? What if they get away, but we have no reason to think they won’t come back? Or what if we lose? Am I supposed to live the rest of my life shut up in this house?” Her voice rising with each question, she finally exclaimed, “Because if that’s the way it’s going to be, then we’ve already let them win!”
Nate and Madison barely stepped to the side in time to avoid being barreled into as Angela turned and stormed out of the room, running up the stairs angrily. Silence trailed after her for a long minute before Nate finally turned toward the rest of his family and asked carefully, “What was that about?”
Heaving a sigh, Christopher slumped back into his chair and said, “She thinks she’s finally figured out what car she wants. And she wants to go to the dealership tomorrow to test-drive it.”
Before he could stop himself, Nate said, “Well … that doesn’t sound so bad. The dealership’s out of town, and we’ve never had any problems that far away. Why can’t someone take her?”
Dean spoke up, a bitter grin on his lips as he said, “Oh, that’s the catch. She’s using this whole car thing to try and get her mind off everything that’s going on right now, so she doesn’t want any of us to take her.”
Nate turned surprised eyes to his brother, dumbly asking, “So she wants to involve her friends?”
“No,” Dean said again with a slight shake of her head. “She thought she could compromise by asking that Prescott kid to take her.”
“Vaughn,” Christopher supplied monotonously.
“The one who saved her before?” Nate asked rhetorically. “Has she already talked to him, or did she volunteer him without his knowledge?”
Humorless grin still firmly in place, Dean replied, “She called him earlier. He, of course, said he was up for it.”
“It’s not about Vaughn,” Christopher interjected with a glance toward Dean. “She just doesn’t understand that we need to be extra cautious right now.”
“She’s a teenager,” Blake began, speaking up for the first time. “She’s upset and reacting accordingly.”
Lillian, who had been sitting silently in her own chair, released a breath and declared calmly, “That’s all true. But if we don’t find a compromise she’ll accept, I’m afraid she’ll run off in the middle of the night and get herself hurt.”
The family fell silent again at that idea. They all acknowledged it was a definite possibility, but none of them knew quite how to fix it.
It was a long minute before Madison carefully suggested, “What if you let her go … but only if she agrees to certain terms?”
All eyes turned to her curiously, and Lillian asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Madison began with a partial shrug, “I’m sure she knows—intuitively—that we’re living in a dangerous situation right now. So maybe tell her that she can go on Sunday, instead of tomorrow, provided that nothing happens between now and then? And you could take it a step further by giving her time constraints.”
The brothers turned their gazes from Madison to their parents, waiting to see what they thought of her suggestion.
Lillian and Christopher paused before exchanging a long, silent look. Christopher inclined his head, turned back to face Madison, and offered her a small smile. “That’s a decent compromise, Madison. Thank you.”
She smiled self-consciously, saying, “Don’t mention it.”
Strangely proud of his girlfriend, Nate’s lips lifted in a smile and he looked over at his father, asking, “Want me to talk to her? She might not be so angry with me right now.”
Christopher inclined his head again, saying, “That might be good. Tell her we don’t want her leaving before breakfast, and we’d like her home by seven.”
“Sure,” Nate replied with a faint nod. He flashed a grin to Madison before turning and pushing off the ground, landing easily on the second floor hallway and starting toward his sister’s room.
Her door was closed, which didn’t surprise him, so he knocked calmly. Her muffled, tear-choked voice floated out to him a beat later. “Go away!”
“C’mon, Angie,” Nate called, reaching down and easing the door slightly open. “You know you’re not mad at me. Can we talk a sec?”
She sniffled pointedly and released her pillow, pushing to a sitting position on her large bed. Her legs curled beside her, she studied him for a beat before sighing and managing, “Fine, come in. But shut the door behind you.”
Nate obliged, stepping into the room and clicking the door shut softly. Keeping his voice light and gentle, he said, “I heard what you were arguing about down there.”
Narrowing her tear-rimmed eyes, Angela said, “If you’re just here to tell me that Mom and Dad are right, don’t waste your breath. I don’t want to hear it.”
He held up his hands defensively and shook his head. “Hey, I wasn’t gonna say it.” Gesturing to her desk chair, he asked, “May I?”
She screwed up her face in thought for a minute, but slowly nodded.
Barely a thought pulled a tight, controlled breeze in through her partially open window, wrapping around the chair and dragging it toward him. Nate flipped the chair around and straddled it, crossing his arms over the back as he said, “Now, I want you to listen for a sec, okay? Madison actually thought up what I think is an acceptable compromise for you. And Mom and Dad are on board with it, too.”
Angela interrupted him, eyes still narrowed as she said, “If they’re okay with it, then it’s probably not as fair as you want me to think.”
“Don’t judge it before you’ve heard it,” Nate instructed casually. “I’m sure it’s not perfect, but … Angie, you have to keep in mind that none of this is perfect right now. So here’s the offer: they’ll let you go to the dealership with Vaughn on Sunday, assuming everything stays quiet and peaceful tomorrow.” He paused, giving her a moment to absorb that part.
She mulled it over in her head for several seconds, her eyes flicking to the wrinkled paper she’d been holding earlier which was now resting beside her on the bed. At length, she looked back at him and asked, “What’s the catch?”
Inclining his head, Nate replied, “You can’t leave until after breakfast, and they want you home by seven.” He kept his expression neutral as he waited for her reaction. It had been several years since she’d had such an early curfew. He expected she wasn’t going to like having to be home before the sun was fully set.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a second, eyes slightly glazing over as she pictured what he was telling her. And then, slowly, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I guess I can live with that, as long as they really let me go.”
Nate managed to keep his smile to a small lip twitch as he assured her. “They will.”
Her smile returned, watery and sad, and she said, “Thanks, Nate. I’m sorry I flipped out earlier. I just … I need air, you know? I’m feeling so cooped up—it’s like torture.”
Chuckling now, Nate stood and kicked her chair aside as he declared, “Oh, trust me, Angie, I understand that.” He moved closer to her, dragging her to the edge of the bed for an exaggerated hug, and added, “I do solemnly swear to hereby always vouch for you when you need a little air, how’s that sound?”
Angela laughed, shoving him back before he could ruffle her hair, and teased, “No offense, but I think Madison’s a better advocate. I’ll take her.”
“Can’t say I blame you,” Nate replied with a laugh.
> Chapter Fifteen
Saturday morning found the brothers gathered in the large backyard as the late-morning fog slowly receded. Nate was sitting on the ground, legs semi-stretched out before him and palms braced behind him for support. Blake sat to his right, cross-legged and leaning forward with a thoughtful frown. Logan had claimed a large boulder to Nate’s left, one foot propped on a jagged outcropping, elbow on knee. And Dean sat between Blake and Logan, leaning back against an old, healthy tree with his legs outstretched, feet crossed at the ankles. No one was quite sure what to say.
Nate dragged in a deep breath, causing the air around them to stir slightly. After a moment he released the breath forcefully, generating a swirling, lingering wind that circled around them before dispersing.
Arching a brow at his brother, Blake asked, “Yes, Nate?”
“This sucks,” Nate declared as his eyes rolled up, toward the nearly cloudless sky. “It’s summer. We should be spending weekends at the beach, having fun and doing stupid stuff because we can.” Turning his gaze to Blake, he added, “You’re supposed to be planning a wedding. Angie should be celebrating her last summer before college. But instead we’re all holed up in Mom and Dad’s house, living in fear and walking on eggshells.”
Dean released his own breath, crossed his arms behind his head, and said, “I hate that you’re right.”
Logan shifted his eyes to Blake and asked, “How are the wedding plans coming?”
“They’re on pause,” Blake admitted, frustration coloring his voice and clouding his eyes. “We tried talking about it some more yesterday and she sort of freaked out, so we agreed to leave it alone until next week.”
Heavy silence stretched between them again for a moment, before Dean said, “I guess we should talk about next week, huh?”
“We won’t get a better chance,” Blake agreed.
“Should we go in with some kind of plan?” Nate asked, sitting forward. His eyes were downcast and his lips were curved in a frustrated, thoughtful frown.
Logan was the first to respond to his question, saying, “We shouldn’t assume too much.”
“What shouldn’t we assume?” Dean asked, lifting his own frustrated gaze to Logan. “I doubt they’re gonna want to chat when we get there. They want us dead. We’ve seen enough to know that for a fact. So what, exactly, should we not assume?”
Holding Dean’s gaze firmly, Logan replied, “For starters, we shouldn’t assume that they’ll all be standing together, waiting to be picked off.”
“He’s right,” Blake added, looking between them. “They almost always come at us indirectly, or from somewhere we can’t see.”
Voice low, Nate said, “So you think they’ll try to surround us—maybe hide in the trees?”
Blake shrugged dejectedly. “Who knows? They told us to meet them exactly ten minutes out—maybe they’ll be lying in wait at eight or nine.”
“We’d be sitting ducks if they come at us while we’re driving,” Dean declared darkly. “We should definitely take more than one car.”
Logan inclined his head. “I agree. But I don’t think we should each drive ourselves out there, either. Just in case we can’t all drive ourselves back.”
Swallowing heavily at Logan’s point, Blake suggested, “So … two cars, then?”
Dean and Logan nodded agreement, and the trio turned their attention over to Nate curiously.
Nate, whose gaze had traveled back up to the sky, looked at his brothers for a beat before saying, “I think I should fly in. We’ve never seen evidence that they can fly, and the height should give me more of a chance to see if they’re trying to ambush us.”
Again, his brothers nodded, and Dean said, “That’s a good idea. But you’ll have to be careful—we already know they can throw lightning in any damn direction they choose.”
“Yeah,” Nate agreed. “I thought of that.”
“So what about when we get there?” Blake asked carefully after another round of silence.
“Seems to me,” Dean began, “that’ll be trickier. But I say if they do surround us, we stick together, even if we fight them one-on-one.”
“And if they don’t surround us?” Nate asked.
“Then we separate them,” Logan declared. “If we can get them far enough apart, we shouldn’t have to worry about someone else’s opponent aiming an attack at us when our backs are turned.”
“Separating them would be a good idea,” Blake echoed. “I think we should try for that anyway, if we can.”
“Yeah,” Dean agreed. “But I get Eric.”
Their heads swiveled back toward him, three frowns curving their lips.
“Dean,” Nate began carefully, “we’re not supposed to be taking this personally, remember?”
“But we are supposed to separate them, right?” Dean replied pointedly. “So we’ll each end up with one opponent, and as much as I hate the other three, I hate Eric most.” He held up his hand, snapped his fingers, and his whole hand turned into flame. “Anger sort of helps me operate,” he added.
Reluctantly, Blake nodded. “You’re right, anyway. And, in that case, I’ll take Jacob.”
Logan and Nate exchanged a look, but neither of them had a good reason to argue, so they didn’t. Instead, Logan declared, “Then I’ll take Victor.”
“Whoa, wait!” Nate exclaimed, holding his hands up in a time-out gesture. “Don’t stick me with Emma!”
Dean smirked, teasing, “What, are you afraid you’ll lose to a girl?”
Nate rolled his eyes at his brother and said, “No. I’d just rather have Victor.” He switched his gaze back to Logan and added seriously, “He came after me a few months ago, remember? And then he went after Madison last week. Let me have him.”
Logan inclined his head, understanding his brother’s argument. “Okay. I’ll take Emma.”
Dean chuckled and said, “That sort of seems like overkill. Skinny little Emma versus Man-Mountain Logan.”
Blake shook his head, fighting the twitch of his lips. Beside him, Nate choked on a short laugh of his own.
Logan rolled his eyes and the ground opened up beneath Dean, rushing back into place just enough to catch him at the torso and pin his arms beneath layers of rock and dirt.
“Hey!” Dean exclaimed, his laughter falling away as he attempted to glare at his sibling. “That’s not funny. Let me up!”
Feminine laughter drew their attention, and all four turned their heads to find Brooke and Madison walking up to them. It was Brooke who was laughing faintly, though Madison’s lips were curved with undeniable amusement.
“Sorry to interrupt your male-bonding experience,” Brooke began, her gaze lingering over Dean for another second before shifting to her fiancé. Her smile became soft and genuine as she added, “We have to go meet up with Paula for something. Mind if I borrow your car?”
Blake pushed to his feet and easily dug his keys out of his pocket. “Sure, just be careful, okay?”
Brooke leaned in and planted a kiss to his cheek as she scooped the keys into her hand. “We will.”
Nate stood as well, moving over to Madison and asking, “Is everything okay?”
Madison inclined her head. “Yeah,” she said. “Paula said she’s trying to get a lot of us together for some pictures, but she didn’t say why.” She offered him a smile and added, “We’ll be back when we’re done.”
“Are you gonna want to go out later and look around some more?” Nate asked curiously.
Uncertainty in her voice, Madison replied, “Maybe?”
Nate grinned, pulled her to him for a quick kiss, and said softly, “All right, then.”
“You boys have fun!” Brooke teased, another grin curving her lips as she glanced back toward Dean before she and Madison turned and casually walked away.
“Oh, yeah,” Dean grumbled, shifting as much as he could within his prison. “Loads.” Turning his glare back to Logan, he added, “You gonna let me up yet?”
“I’m just waiting
for the magic word,” Logan replied calmly.
Chuckling now, Blake said, “All right, Logan. You should probably let him out before he overreacts.”
Obligingly, the ground beneath Dean’s buried feet lifted, pushing him easily to the surface.
Dean reflexively dusted himself off, grunting incoherently, before promptly dropping to a seated position once again. Ignoring Logan altogether, Dean looked over at Nate and asked, “So, since we’re all alone for a while, tell us about you and Madison. You look pretty cozy.”
Nate rolled his eyes, already sitting again, and said, “We’re not awkward teenagers, Dean. We’re allowed to ‘look pretty cozy.’”
“Sure, sure,” Dean agreed flippantly. “But you’re avoiding the question. And you have to know we’re curious.”
“Why would you be so curious?” Nate asked with a frown. “Other than the fact that you yourself are a naturally nosy person.”
“I resent that,” Dean replied with a grin.
“You have to admit,” Blake began, looking over toward Nate, “this all hit the fan a couple of hours after your first date. Most girls would’ve bailed and no one would’ve blamed them.”
Nate shrugged. He had thought about that himself, but he didn’t specifically have an answer for it. So, instead, he countered, “Brooke didn’t bail.”
Blake’s lips twitched and he replied, “No, she didn’t. But are you comparing the two of you to the two of us?”
“Who else would I compare us to?” Nate returned before he really realized what his brother was asking.
And even as that realization dawned, Dean was asking, “So … should we be getting used to Madison, then?”
Nate lifted a hand and massaged the bridge of his nose as he realized what hole he’d fallen into. He hadn’t wanted to tell someone else how he felt before he’d figured out how to tell Madison. But it was looking like he didn’t have a choice now. Me and my big mouth, he groaned silently. Aloud, he simply said, “Yeah, you should.”
Dean whistled appreciatively and slouched back against the tree.