I shrug a shoulder, and Ezekiel lets his eyes wander over me.
I remember that time he bought a girl a red lace slip, and I imagine it. The second it appears, he grips the chair he’s in hard enough to cause it to whine.
That’s certainly a confidence booster.
Jude is more into leather, so I imagine a saucy little leather underwear set that has some straps attached to the lace-trimmed thigh-highs I’m suddenly in.
He instantly grabs for me, cursing in frustration when his hand swipes right through me, and those tingles just tease me all over again.
“Something less alluring would be appreciated right now. If we get worked up, you’ll have to watch us with yet another girl tonight before we even finish this conversation,” Kai tells me flatly.
“I’m okay with watching,” I say with a shrug. “Once you get over the indecency of it, it’s actually pretty hot. Though I admit I won’t be okay with watching once I’m able to be a participant.”
Jude groans. “We have to figure out a way to make her whole.”
“Just because you want to fuck her that doesn’t mean we need to be focusing on her right now. That’s probably what they want,” Kai growls.
“She has nothing to do with them. Whatever she is, it’s linked to our own mystery of who we are. Something is going on, and you know it. Everyone knows it.”
“I don’t know it,” I decide to point out as a pair of flannel pants and a T-shirt appear on me. “I’m actually a little fuzzy on the details of what it is you guys do and what you are. I see the souls and stuff that you take—”
“You see the souls but they don’t see you?” Kai interrupts, sounding more curious than hostile for a second.
“Yes. It’s why I have no idea what I am. Clearly I’m not the same as them. And I know you go to this other place, but I have no idea where it is. I just hop a ride when you do your disappearing thing.”
“You can trail our siphons?” Jude asks, interested.
“You call it a siphon? Then yeah; I can trail that. I just have to be close enough when you do it.”
He moves toward me. “Then hold on. We can just ask someone who might know what’s going on.”
My fingers go to his body without hesitation, and Kai snaps at him not to do it just as we disappear.
The wind whirs in my ears much louder than before, and we appear in the back of an alleyway.
“We’re seeing your pawn shop friend, aren’t we?” I ask him.
He doesn’t even bother asking me how I know that.
“Yes,” is his only reply as the other three join us.
Kai stalks forward. “Until we figure out what’s going on, we can’t risk our very important friends by exposing them to a possible threat.”
Jude ignores him, leading the way, and Ezekiel trails me as we walk out of the alley.
I move through the wall of the pawn shop, causing Ezekiel to curse. “She’s going to draw attention. It’s not late enough for this,” he hisses.
Only a few people are on the street. I forgot I could be seen.
They, fortunately, seem too inebriated to notice an apparition passing through walls.
Jude doesn’t say a word, just walks to the back counter where the familiar older man with a broad grin greets him.
“Need another pint of the good stuff?” Harold asks, lifting a bottle of the clear liquid they buy a lot of from here.
Apparently it’s the only way they can get drunk.
“I’ll take two of those and some quick answers about what she might be. We’ll pay good,” Jude tells him.
Harold immediately looks around like he’s searching for something. His eyes pass right by me without so much as a second glance.
“Who?” he asks.
My heart stutters. Have I gone invisible again?
My four boys look at me, then at each other, then back at me.
“You can’t see her?” Jude asks, causing me to relax a little.
Wait, why can’t Harold see me if they can?
That man I crashed into certainly saw me. I swear he looked a little horrified. I must have had a seriously pissed-off expression on my face if he felt that threatened.
“See who?” Harold asks like he’s crazy.
Harold can see souls…
But he can’t see me?
“No one,” Jude says tightly. “Just had too much to drink, I suppose. But I’ll take two more,” he goes on.
The other three guys go along with it, even though I can see the way Kai is frowning at Jude and me.
Harold rolls his eyes, but sells him two bottles. We leave without a word, and Jude steps into me again. I feel the tingle of our electricity, and I breathe him in like I can touch him if I try hard enough.
Doesn’t work.
Next thing I know, we’re back in their monstrous home, and he’s stepping away from me. The other three appear behind him, and all four study me.
“The assassin who broke in saw her,” Gage, One, says. “He was so distracted by her that I was able to kill him before he even realized I was awake.”
“The assassin was a high-level royal mercenary. The crest was on his skin before the body vanished,” Kai says quietly, his eyes raking over me like he’s seeking answers in my appearance.
“She also hit him. Maybe that had something to do with it,” Ezekiel suggests.
“Maybe,” Jude answers, no one sounding too attached to any particular theory.
“I need more sleep tonight. I’m not sure how well I’ll sleep knowing we’re being haunted by a possible threat,” Kai says as he turns and walks out. “We have orientation for the trials tomorrow, and her as a distraction is going to get us killed,” he adds on his way out.
“I’ll stand watch while you all get some sleep,” I tell them, burying my own selfish desire to talk to them until I can’t possibly say anymore.
If the trials are that dangerous, I sure as hell don’t want them distracted. I’ll even wait until after they’re rested to ask what the hell these trials are and why they need to do them. But not tonight.
Ezekiel yawns, but he turns and walks out next.
Jude and Gage just stand there studying me.
“You’re able to follow us into purgatory?” Gage finally asks.
Frowning, I tilt my head. “Purgatory is where you go? It’s way nicer than I expected it to be. It has some seriously bad PR. But the people there seem horrible, so that much now makes sense.”
Jude’s lips twitch, and even Gage appears amused.
“Purgatory is a little bigger than the section we’ve visited. That’s for special events. The inhabitants of purgatory who are forced there against their will wouldn’t agree that it’s just bad PR.”
I swallow down the lump in my throat. It didn’t seem as real before as it suddenly does now.
I have no idea what they even are.
“Tomorrow, you can explain what that means. It’s always very hard to focus there for me. But tonight, you need to sleep. I don’t want anyone getting hurt because I kept them awake to talk.”
Jude steps forward as Gage slowly starts walking backwards, moving toward the door, but holding my gaze for a moment longer. As soon as he’s finally out, Jude reaches for me.
His fingers pass right through me, but that strong tingle has me close my eyes as the pleasure washes over me. He moves in closer, lowering his head until his face is near mine, and I sway a little.
“There’s something about you that feels far too comfortable. But if you hurt my brothers, I’ll end you, somehow or another. And it’ll be painful.”
Now he’s not my favorite anymore. I thought we had something special going on.
He steps back, and I ignore the painful tug at my heart. He’s the one I just knew would be in my corner, though I have no idea why I thought such a thing.
They’re not quite as awesome as I’d hoped they’d be if I ever got the chance to finally be seen and heard. I also thought touch would come wit
h that, but now I’m glad it didn’t.
I think they’d kill me.
Feeling like the air has just been sucked out of me, I don’t say a word. Instead, I pass through the wall to go stand guard.
As long as I’m close, I can peek in and get my fix every ten minutes to keep from fading.
Jude really hurt me. I’m not sure why, but they all hurt me, if I’m being honest. I was amusing and then disposable.
I’ve waited five years to be able to speak to them, stupidly thought there’d be an instant friendship between us.
And no one even said good night.
Chapter 5
Nothing happens during the night. I mostly peeked in on Gage, since he sleeps the hardest and I knew he wouldn’t notice me. I was afraid one of the others would wake up and be annoyed with my presence.
My confidence from yesterday to today is nilch, thanks to Jude bursting my little bubble and no one even being nice enough to say good night.
I can hear them all in the kitchen, but I’m sitting on the steps. I’ve spent so long wishing they could hear me and see me, and now that they can, I just want to be invisible again so I can go back to feeling like I’m part of the group. Instead of the weird interloper who needs them to even exist.
Ezekiel rounds the corner to find me, and he stumbles to a halt, eyeing me. “Where’s all that spunk from yesterday?” he asks.
Like a petulant child, I don’t answer. I pretend they’re invisible to me now.
“Ah, this game? I’m good at this game,” he says as he takes a seat by me. “Used to play it when I was three or something.”
Dick.
I pointedly ignore that dig and him, and I continue staring at the wall like it’s fascinating.
He rolls his eyes and stands.
“Whatever. I tried.”
I’m being irrationally emotional over this. It really makes no sense.
Maybe it’s because my emotions have heightened since leveling up. Everything seems twice as crucial as it did before.
I’ll deal with sorting it out later. For now, my fantasy of these four guys being mine is done. I just want to be whole so I can exist without needing them.
He blows out an annoyed breath before finally walking away, rejoining his brothers in the kitchen. I can barely see them if I poke my head out.
Which I’m doing. Every nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds.
“What the hell did you say to her last night after I left?” I hear Ezekiel asking.
“I went to bed too,” Gage says to him in confusion.
I should probably tell them my hearing is exceptional. I hear whispers I don’t think I’m supposed to be able to hear all the time. No one else seems to be able to hear quite so well.
But I keep that secret to myself.
“What did you say?” Gage asks someone, who I assume must be Jude.
“Just gave her a friendly warning,” is Jude’s response. “I was fine with everything until I realized it’s just us who can see her. There’s something going on here, and now I think Kai is right. It feels like a trick, and it’s certainly something Manella would do to put us off our game.”
Kai is next to jump in and start talking. Of course. “I vote we ignore her like she’s not around until we get through the first round of the trials. Then we’ll deal with her during the month long break.”
“Her timing is suspicious,” Gage says on a sigh.
Tears prick my eyes, though it’s just transparent mist. Unlike the real tears I felt last night before fainting. Those stupid tears were happy tears, because this was not how this was supposed to go.
They’re so nice to all the women who come and go. I assumed they’d be nice to me too.
“There’s something about the way it feels when she tries to touch us. It’s just…I don’t know. I don’t feel like ignoring her is going to do anything but hurt her feelings, and what happens if she’s somehow linked to the answers we’re trying to find, and we piss her off enough that she—”
A phone rings, cutting Ezekiel off, thankfully.
Jude answers, and I hear the shuffling like they’re about to leave. Shit.
Just as I stand and go to chase them down, I see Kai turn and smirk at me. They all disappear before I can reach one to hitch a ride with, and a sick feeling creeps in my stomach.
They just left me here.
I told them I’d fade if I went longer than ten minutes without them in my sight, and they left me here.
I let them know I hated the fade. That it was nothingness.
And, still, they left me here.
The lights flicker, and the house vibrates as tears cloud my vision and anger simmers close to the surface. Things rattle off the counter, and it distracts me enough that everything stops at once.
The lights start shining solidly, and the vibrations cease.
My breath catches in my throat as I look around at everything. From Casper to Poltergeist, it seems. Just didn’t have the proper motivation until now.
But as time dwindles on, the stabbing pain catches me off guard. It’s never hurt before. Why does it hurt so much now?
It feels like knives are being dragged from my toes to my thighs before a lancing pain shoots across my back like a whip has been cracked.
A scream is torn from my throat as my vision dims, but before I can fade into nothing, I suddenly feel myself moving. My breath comes back in a harsh rush as I suddenly find myself in a huge tree. At the top of it, actually.
Right above the four assholes who left me in pain.
Glaring down at them, I watch as Kai takes out his sword. “You two get the Falker twins into the gulley, and we’ll herd the juggernauts in behind them. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of this with the highest times.”
I thought they were coming for orientation.
I’m only half listening as I gather back all my strength that they ripped from me. Apparently this new level I’m on comes with a perk.
It takes me a long second to realize that there’s more than one perk.
Looking around, I can see…everything.
And my stomach sinks when I take in the prehistoric looking land that surrounds me, along with various hideous creatures that are lurking about.
Gage slashes his sword through a stringy corpse as it tries to grab him. The stringy corpse falls away, its head rolling off, as they go on like it never happened.
Why did I think these sociopaths were so great before?
We’re in the middle of this forest or whatever you want to call it. I half expect a dinosaur or dragon to come barreling through the massive, elaborate trees that stretch on for as far as I can see.
The quad splits up, and I watch as Jude and Ezekiel dart to the right, running instead of siphoning. Kai and Gage are moving slower, so I follow them, sticking to my trees. They’re so big and tightly interlocked together, that I can move effortlessly from one tree to another.
And I can jump really far when I need to. One perk of being weightless. Another is the fact I don’t have any pressure under my feet when I walk, so they never hear me up here.
They crouch low just as two identical men move in from another angle. Taking a seat, I watch as the two men near them.
Just as they reach the canyon, Gage and Kai spring from their positions, and tackle them with so much force the twins barely have time to yelp before they’re flying over the edge.
“That was easy enough,” Kai mutters.
“We knew this would be easy to us. Everyone knew it. I told you that you’ve been stressing too much.”
A scream reaches the tip of my tongue, and I swallow it down just before it escapes.
A four-headed beast is running down that gulley, as the twins tumble down the side, finally landing in a heap on top of each other. One barely gets the sword drawn in time before the thing strikes at them. Right behind it, two more of those beasts with four heads are running down, almost as though someone rang the breakfast bell.
> Kai and Gage start sprinting, and I have to turn away before I know if those guys survive, because I have to keep up with the two dicks instead.
One of my leaps tests me, because I’m airborne for a little longer than I ever have been and stretch my usual limits before landing on another limb and racing after them still.
The four of them are suddenly all together, and I have no idea where Jude and Ezekiel just came from. All the while, I race behind them. Staying close but not close enough to be seen.
Nothing eventful happens after that.
They’ve got blood all over them, so I’m assuming more eventful things happened before I got here. I’m not sure how. It was just over ten minutes when I ended up here behind them.
Before I can ask too many questions, a blast of light hits them, and they’re suddenly gone.
Cursing, I drop out of the tree, looking around aimlessly. Shit. Not again. What if I get stuck here? It’s not like I know how I even zapped myself here to begin with.
Just as I turn around, I meet a set of huge eyes. Eyes as tall as my body. And scales. And fur. There are scales and fur. It’s a hideous combination right on the nose that is between the eyes that are in front of me.
A scream tears from my throat before I can remind myself that I can simply pass through the scaly fur best. It reels back like I’ve slapped it, and it leaps into the air before diving down.
All several hundred feet of it.
The entire earth moves and shakes as it burrows below, taking forever to get that entire, worm-like body down the hole. And I say worm-like instead of snake-like because worms don’t scare me as much.
My legs are shaking even after the ground goes still again, and I stagger around, looking for a way out of here.
Just as the pain starts to form in my chest, I feel it happening again. Like a rubberband has been snapped, an unseen force violently yanks me away from monster land and tosses me back inside the quad’s home.
“Think she faded?” I hear Gage asking.
He doesn’t sound too torn up about that.
“No clue, but Neopold just called. He said since we easily crushed everyone else’s times, they’ll make the next trial harder.”
Four Psychos (The Dark Side Book 1) Page 3