Chapter Eight
The taxi stopped outside Mother’s flat. There was a light on in the living room. I had only ever been inside once. It was a small, unattractive place but necessary. Mother had lived a good lifestyle for a long time. First Father had provided for her, then Nick. She was in hiding now so a luxury home wasn’t called for.
Looking down at my phone, I pressed Aquarius’ number. ‘Where’s Nick?’ I asked when he answered.
He cleared his throat before he spoke. ‘He’s about five minutes away from the hotel. I’ve just spoken to Taurus, he’s already there. There’s a coffee shop directly opposite the entrance. Be careful not to be seen when you go in.’
‘I’m at Mother’s flat now. I’m going to go and check on her, then I’ll head over.’
Aquarius grunted and hung up the phone. He was in work mode. His business brain had taken over. He was clever. I was glad he was the one in charge of keeping tabs on Nick.
Taking the steps two at a time, I made my way to Mother’s front door. When I got there, it was already open. I stepped in cautiously, taking care not to make a sound. If there was someone with her, I didn’t want them to know I was there.
I could see directly into the front room from my vantage point. There was no one there. Checking the bathroom and bedroom, I kept my breathing even as I confirmed that they were empty. My gut started to quiver. Mother wasn’t at home. I glanced into the small kitchen. No one was there. Had our mother really gone to meet our archenemy? After everything that had happened?
‘Aries, it’s me. She’s not here. I’m heading over to the hotel now. Hopefully I’ll catch her before she gets there.’ I left the message on his phone. For some reason he hadn’t picked up, which was unlike him.
Locking the door, I went back to the street. It wasn’t the busiest part of London. I had to walk a while before I found a taxi.
My phone burst into music so I answered it quickly.
‘Shall I come down?’ Aries barked.
Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. ‘No, I’ve got it sorted. Taurus is already at the coffee shop opposite the hotel. I’ll be there in five minutes. I can’t see…’
My sentence trailed off as I spotted our mother on the pavement. ‘Stop the car!’ I yelled at the cabbie.
The taxi abruptly stopped. Aries was shouting down the phone. I threw a tenner at the driver and jumped out the car. Mother had her head low as she marched. Her coat was pulled right up to her chin.
‘Aries, I’ve found her. She’s heading towards the hotel.’
I switched off the phone and tucked it away. I went to run after Mother. A group of men in black outfits approached her. Holding back, I debated whether to face them.
‘Go away!’ Mother shouted.
People around her started to slow their walking. I picked up pace and pushed my way through the lurkers.
‘Mother!’ I shouted when I was close enough.
The men turned and watched me approach. They stepped back but didn’t leave. Mother moved towards me, grabbing my suit sleeve when I joined her.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Saving your arse,’ I replied, snarling when one of the men stepped forward. ‘You need to leave.’
There were six of them in total. Why so many? Was Nick expecting a fight? Did he know that we would be there?
The surrounding people started to cross the road to get away from the group. They could smell trouble in the air and they weren’t about to get involved. They were British. They kept out of other people’s business.
‘What do you want?’ I called when none of them spoke.
One of the men stepped forward. He refused to make eye contact with me. In fact, when I studied them, they were all staring at Mother. I glanced at her. Her gaze was focused on the ground. Her eyes wide. Her shoulders were tight. She was afraid.
‘Stop psyching her out. What do you want?’ I moved forward and came face to face with the ringleader.
He blinked when his stare was broken. Mother clung to the back of my jacket. What was going on? She had obviously kept something from us since being away from Nick. Or, had we simply not paid her enough attention? The more I thought about it, the more I realised that we had been so engrossed in our own lives, we hadn’t really sat down and found out what had happened to each of our parents when they were locked up with Nick.
‘He wants to see her.’
The monotone of his voice made Mother pinch the skin on my back. Her fear transferred through her hands and onto me.
‘No chance,’ I replied, squaring my shoulders when he moved from one foot to the other.
A siren sounded in the distance. Someone had probably called the police. That was not a good thing. The last thing we needed was police attention on our weird little family.
‘You need to leave before the police get here.’
My phone burst into music. I ignored it as I had a staring competition with our foe.
‘Nick will not be happy,’ one of the others said.
His words weren’t aimed at me. He looked past me to my mother. The ring leader clicked his fingers and the others retreated.
‘You’re lucky today. Nick doesn’t want any bloodshed. Which is a shame, because I’ve been wanting to get revenge ever since your brother scarred our leader.’
The man was in his late twenties. His eyes were vacant. His skin was pale. He was almost robotic as he took calculated steps backwards without turning around. He didn’t trust me not to attack when he wasn’t looking.
‘I will kill Taurus. Tell him that his friend from the bus is not happy. He’ll understand what I mean.’
When he was far enough away, he spun and disappeared across the road and down an alley.
‘That was dodgy,’ I said, turning.
I had been so wrapped up in my conversation with the leader, I hadn’t noticed that the pressure of Mother’s grip had lessened. She was no longer behind me. My gaze searched the street. All was quiet. Only a few stragglers remained. The siren sounded nearby so I sprinted back towards Mother’s flat. Where had she gone? Did they take her or had she escaped as soon as they had left us?
‘Mother?’ I shouted on the off chance she was hiding nearby.
My phone rang again. I answered it, swearing when Aries cursed at me down the phone.
‘Where the hell are you? What’s happening?’
Swallowing, I paused when I came to the end of the road. People no longer stared at me as I left the spectators behind. My eyes searched everywhere but I couldn’t see her.
‘I’ve lost her. She just bloody…’
Aries swore again. I had to bite my tongue. If he carried on, I would lose it with him and it wasn’t his fault. How hadn’t I known that she had let go? She would be safe. She would go back to the flat.
‘Aries, she’s not right. Something is seriously wrong with her.’
I spotted a long coat retreating down a side street. It looked familiar so I gave chase.
‘I know, I noticed.’ Aries sighed.
‘Why are we bothering? If she wants to go to him, we should let her.’ I struggled to pull air into my lungs as I spoke and ran at the same time.
‘She’s our mother. Find her!’
I clicked the phone off and sped up. He was right. We had to take care of our parents. Shouldn’t it be the other way round? Shouldn’t they be keeping us safe?
‘Mother!’
My shout made her glance over her shoulder. It was her. I only just recognised her with her dyed blonde hair.
‘Will you stop?’ I shouted.
She paused, waiting for me to catch up to her.
Her whole frame was folded in on itself. She shrunk under my gaze when I reached her. She looked like a guilty child about to be told off for running away. I couldn’t understand why she was acting so strange. I had never seen her so vulnerable before. She had always been tough.
‘Take me home,’ she mumbled, tugging on my sleeve.
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sp; I glanced around to make sure no one had followed us. Texting Taurus, I let him know that I had Mother and was taking her back to her place.
After I had sorted her out, I would leave her and go to the hotel. I wanted to be in on the action. For a long time, Aries had the main job. When he’d gone into hospital, I relished the opportunity to do more.
‘Let’s go.’ I took her arm and guided her across the street. ‘Why did you go?’
She kept her head low as we passed people on their way home from work.
‘He’s going to kill me,’ she muttered but I heard her perfectly.
Would it be such a bad idea to let her meet Nick? We could bug her and listen to their conversation. If we knew what he wanted, maybe we could bring the whole stalking to an end.
‘Did you go so that he could kill you? Or to try and avoid it?’
Her grip on my arm tightened. She glared at me as we entered her road. No one was following. I had made sure to keep an eye on the people around us.
‘Don’t be silly! I was going to talk to him to stop all this. To try and sort out the mess I made.’
It was good to see a small part of the mother I remembered. Her pupils flared when I looked into them.
‘That’s who we need right now,’ I said, rubbing her back as I led her up the steps to her flat.
‘What do you mean?’ She darted glances behind her the whole way to the front door.
I unlocked it and pushed her inside. She almost tripped but I kept a hold of her. ‘Our real mother. The one that’s not frightened or acting strange.’
‘Strange?’
I forced a chuckle. Maybe if she thought I was making a joke, she wouldn’t take me too seriously.
‘You’re right. I’ve not been myself.’
‘You’re fine…well, you’re not, but you know-’
Her head shake cut me off. She slouched on the sofa and aimed the remote control to switch on the television. She stared at it, obviously waiting for me to leave. What had got into her?
‘Are you okay?’ I stuttered.
She stood quickly, smiling brightly. It was the weirdest change in character I had seen for a long time. I stepped back, holding up my arms as she came to me. Reaching out, she brushed her hands down my sleeves.
‘Gemini. You’re like two people. You fight with yourself all the time, did you know that?’
I smiled gently. ‘No, I don’t. Well, I suppose I do. But then…’ My sentence trailed off when I heard the truth of it.
‘You must go,’ Mother said, gesturing to the door.
I agreed with her and gave her a quick hug goodbye. She resumed her sofa position. Taking the key with me, I locked her in. The guilt that washed over me was shoved down into the pit of my stomach. It was for her own safety.
Taking my phone out, I dialled Taurus.
‘What’s happening?’ he asked.
I skipped down the steps, making sure to check that no one watched me. ‘I’ve taken Mother home. She was on her way to see Nick.’
Taurus’ sigh echoed my own. It was time we did something about our parents. Father had proved that he was trying to help. Especially when it came to Pisces and Antony. He had been captured by Nick. Since his release he had tried to get our attention but we had been too busy with our lives.
‘Nick is still in the hotel. I saw him go in. A couple of his men are outside in the street. They don’t seem that threatening, I could-’
‘Don’t do anything. I’m on my way.’
The phone beeped off as I jogged down the road. I would need a clean shirt soon. Sweat seeped onto the fresh material of the one I wore.
Getting into another taxi, I leant my head against the back of the seat as it took me to a road near the hotel. When I climbed out, I heard a commotion in the next street. Taurus was in trouble. I wasn’t sure how I knew but I did.
‘I wouldn’t go round there if I were you. There’s a fight,’ one woman said as I was about to head towards the hotel.
I nodded, thanking her for her warning. Ignoring her, I let my feet carry me around the corner.
Taurus was in front of the coffee shop. His arm thrashed about in the air. A small tree by the hotel entrance was swinging with his efforts. It wasn’t enough. There were six men ready to attack.
I passed the people trying to get away from the scene. Nick’s men advanced on Taurus. Why had he confronted them?
‘What are you doing?’ I shouted when I got behind him.
He didn’t flinch when he heard me. ‘They spotted me. I couldn’t wait.’
The group of men were the ones that had approached Mother. I looked at my hand before glancing back at them. I couldn’t believe Taurus risked being seen. He was able to connect to trees and plants. He could make them move by connecting to the root energy and controlling them with a movement of his arm.
It wasn’t obvious that he was making the tree move, even if people watched him. It would be really clear that I was doing something if wind all of a sudden picked up.
‘I could use your help.’
The men’s eyes were trained on us. Their hands were in their pockets, probably grasping guns. Why couldn’t my brother run away? He had to start a fight.
‘There’s too many people,’ I said, stepping forward.
When one of the men took out his gun, I changed my mind. I didn’t care if we got shot but if their bullets hurt anyone else, that would be unfair.
‘Just do it.’ Taurus grunted.
I closed my eyes briefly and sucked in a breath. My power had always been with me. I felt a hum of energy as I pictured a whirlwind in my mind. That’s all it took to start. My visualisation brought the wind down towards me. Opening my eyes, I held up my hand. Using my first two fingers, I spun them in a big circle. The mini tornado touched down in front of us. Nick’s men jumped back from the sudden onslaught of wind.
‘Well done,’ Taurus called.
He let the tree go. It was too small to do much damage anyway. Anyone that had been left in the street started to run at the sight of the tornado. It spun in front of me, waiting for me to make my move. A bullet whistled past my ear. I ducked, hoping that it missed Taurus too. I hadn’t even heard the gun being fired through the rushing of the wind.
‘Do something!’ Taurus shouted.
I thrust my hand away from me. The tornado struck three of the men. They yelped as it pushed them to the ground and held them there. The force of the wind was too strong to fight against, even though they tried.
If Nick was inside, we could go and get him. Taurus grabbed my shoulder, breaking my attention. I had been so wrapped up in my power, I hadn’t noticed the other men approach.
A gun was held near my head. The slight shake of the barrel told me that the man wasn’t as confident as he made out. Holding my other hand to the side of me, I flicked it as if I was slapping the air. A great gust of wind came in, wiping the man away from me. He crashed into the coffee shop window. The smash of glass made the other two men turn and run away. They were right to go. I wouldn’t stop until they left us alone.
‘We need to leave.’
A siren was drawing near. It seemed the police almost caught us every time we got into a new situation.
‘What about Nick?’
Taurus shook his head and pulled me. I dropped my hand. The mini tornado vanished. How many people were going to try and ruin my suit today?
‘We need to go.’ He glanced at the coffee shop. Luckily, no one was injured. Except for the man that had flown into it. He was knocked out on the ground.
I followed Taurus as we sprinted away from the hotel. The street was empty. We rushed around the corner as the police came into the road.
The car’s brakes slammed on. We ran down an alley and jumped into one of the gardens. They had seen us. They would probably give chase.
‘Hurry!’ Taurus shouted as I scrambled over a wooden fence.
They were shouting in the alley beside us. The police ran straight past where we
had jumped. They obviously didn’t realise that we had gone into the gardens. My breath heaved as I pulled myself over another fence. The next alley was on the other side of a brick wall. It was higher than the previous fences.
‘We can’t get caught!’ Taurus glanced over his shoulder. The shouts had died down. Had the police gone?
‘There!’ I pointed at a tree.
Raising his arm, Taurus made the tree bend down by moving his hand down. We climbed on the thick branch. When he lifted his arm, I had to grab onto the branches and twigs to stay on as the tree slowly moved towards the wall. Taurus was fitter than me. He had started to train again.
His powers had come back since giving up drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t given up my long nights of gambling.
‘Jump!’ Taurus growled.
I hovered, about to move. Taurus hopped off the tree and somehow landed in a crouch down in the alley. The tree started to shift back into its upright position. I let go, haphazardly flinging my body over the wall. My foot cracked against the brick as I fell. I landed heavily on Taurus. He grunted as I tumbled us to the ground.
‘You stupid-’
A shout in the distance made us get to our feet. I cried out when I put weight on my foot. It hurt. A lot.
‘What are you doing?’ Taurus huffed when I hobbled along behind him.
I pointed at my foot, unable to get enough breath to talk. He clenched his fists before turning and crouching in front of me. I hesitated for a second. Could I really let my brother carry me? I should be able to take care myself.
‘Do you want to get caught?’ His hissed words were almost drowned out by the running footsteps that drew nearer.
I grabbed onto his thick neck. He put his hands under my knees and piggy backed me out of the alley. His breath was already short. I had no idea how he could carry me, too.
‘We’re losing them,’ I said, catching a glimpse of the police going the other way.
Taurus couldn’t speak. He needed as much air as he could get. He spun around the corner and into another street. Dropping me when he saw a taxi, he hailed it down. I hobbled beside him as he dragged me. The driver didn’t say a word when I asked him to take us home. It was a close call.
Gemini: Book 4 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) Page 6