Silver gave me a light shove from behind and I moved to one of the chairs without breaking the intense eye contact. The Declan imposter sat straighter and I heard his heels drag across the floor. Silver took the seat to my left and James and Corinne each went to a corner behind us. Koenig leaned against the closed door.
The detective withdrew a pen and notebook from his shirt pocket. “Now that we’ve complied with your request, please state your name for the record.”
The fake Declan appeared amused as he leaned forward on his elbows. “Declan Rainbow. I was here on business and deeply regret any harm I may have caused.” His light blue eyes filled with the semblance of remorse. He tilted his head in inquiry. “How are you daughters?”
I realized he had no idea that Silver wasn’t with me, in me. I burned to know if we were speaking to the Soul Eater. The eyes had the same laser quality as the man who’d tortured us over five years ago but I wanted to be sure.
Silver answered him, “Declan Rainbow is dead. We’re no children of yours.”
Koenig made as if to say something and then leaned his shoulders against the door again to watch in silence.
The Declan that wasn’t Declan smiled in a wide mad way at my twin’s words. “Oh, you’re more my children than you’d like to be and less than that to be sure. I have been alone for many millennia and now I find the idea of company appealing. My puppet passed something of me to you unknowing, and I can’t say it makes me sad. I was forced to change my ways and give my hosts less autonomy after your father found a way to run from me.”
I drummed my fingers on the slick surface of the table for a moment before I asked, “What do you want? Why try to kill us and then chat?”
He began to toy absently with the button on one cuff as he said, “I already had those plans in motion before I knew you had returned to Earth. If you had died it would have only proven you weren’t able or worthy enough to join me. Why quibble over the past?” He shrugged, making his undershirt stand out under his thin sleeve.
Silver’s voice was layered in disbelief and fury, the two alternating for dominance. “Quibble, huh? You almost killed a small city’s worth of human beings but let’s not quibble? Your diplomatic skills suck.”
The fake Declan shrugged again. “Why be diplomatic when you can be truthful?”
Koenig pushed himself away from the door and slapped his hands on the end of the table. “What exactly is going on here? You came in to confess to a hit and run and now we’re talking attempted murder! If you aren’t Declan Rainbow then who are you?”
A cold light bloomed in the Soul Eater’s eyes. His face transformed from a genial expression to a calculating inhuman mask. “This is your only chance to join me, my children. If you decline I will continue my campaign to exterminate all vermin from this planet.” At the word vermin his glance touched on everyone in the room but us and lingered at the two-way mirror on the wall.
Silver and I spoke in unison, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
We grinned at one another.
The Soul Eater sighed and in a resigned, bored tone said, “Very well, now to war.” He raised a long middle finger and placed it across his throat. As he drew the tip over his jugular the skin split like it’d been cut with a hot knife. Blood sprayed the room. The same deadly finger rose to flip us the bird and he cackled as the Declan puppet bled out. “I’ll see you dead, then.”
Detective Koenig yelled at the mirror, “Holy shit! Call 9-1-1!”
Our shield protected us from the spray but Koenig wasn’t so lucky. The unoccupied body did a face plant in a crimson puddle and Silver jumped. We pushed our chairs back from the table as Corinne and James came forward. I wanted the warm embrace of James’ arms around me but I had to settle for the faint sensory pressure of his hold through the shield.
Chavarria burst in, pointing a finger at us. “You’re leaving right now. Go.”
Corinne lifted the blood delicately from our protective veneer and collected it in a loose floating cloud of droplets then let it settle with a wet plopping sound in the growing dark lake around the fake Declan’s head.
Koenig seemed struck speechless. His mouth gaped so wide I could count four metal fillings in his bottom molars. I hoped he didn’t stroke out from shock or anything.
We exited to the hall and Chavarria closed the door with a snick but held on to the knob. “I’ll confiscate the video for reasons of national security before anyone sees it, but you owe me some answers. No more avoiding my calls.”
I nodded. “Come see us at the enclave and we’ll have a chat.”
Malcolm cleared his throat and we turned to leave the station. Once we were out on the cobbled street under the stars I breathed easier. Without Chavarria’s interference with the LPD we could still be stuck in there possibly facing murder charges as they scrambled to figure out how a suspect killed himself with an invisible knife. How had the Soul Eater done that?
Silver read my mind. “He did it from the inside out, Cass. I could do the same thing if I wanted to but I never would.” She sounded terrified and her eyes were open too wide.
I knew what she was thinking—she was thinking that her gift to heal had come from that bastard so what he said about being partially our father was true. I disagreed. “Don’t do that to yourself, Sister. He isn’t our father and he never will be. Laser Eyes was just messing with our heads, trying to shake us up. He’s the father of lies, cruelty and death, not you or me.”
James switched sides to put his body between us and threw his free arm over to include Silver. “We’ll get through this if we stick together, okay?”
I was proud of him for incorporating my twin in the embrace. It couldn’t be easy on him. I did notice he kept his eyes averted from her face and focused in the distance at one of the taller bank buildings lit up against the night. The tiny blinking lights were a precaution against airplanes or helicopters flying into the vertically reaching sides. My brain threw in Genesis in the King James Bible and the story of Babel and their tower built to reach Heaven.
In comparison, from the curb, the law offices looked like deserted shoe boxes with windows. At least the mint green stucco on the one to the right made it seem a bit more cheerful. A dark rectangular plaque advertised a firm with its partners listed in order of importance. Most people came to these places out of desperation and paid dearly for the privilege, if they could afford it. The justice system was geared to those with money and the poor got what they got with public defenders. I wondered idly where Penny Gilmore, Esq. had her offices. They could be anywhere really. I’d have to ask Corinne since she dealt with her more than anyone.
Once we rounded the short wall by the entrance to the vacant tarred parking lot and gathered in a messy circle under the leafless tree, Malcolm clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get back to the enclave before we have a pow-wow or whatever. I’ll feel better when we’re on familiar turf and close to our people. That was some seriously messed up shit!”
No one disagreed. The shields dropped in preparation for physical contact. Our order was off from the walk over, so James ended up holding my hand and Silver’s. Corinne looked nervous as she took my sister’s fingers in her own and reached for mine. I whispered, “Are you okay?”
She grimaced and bit the inside of her bottom lip before mumbling back, “Yeah, it just feels wild and unsteady when we link ourselves together, almost as if we’re teetering on the edge of a nuclear meltdown. I’m afraid I’ll mess up and kill us all.”
I squeezed her hand until she looked me in the eye. “We’ll manage. I can help more if you’ll let me, so can Silver. She and I controlled the juice in our old quad. We need to figure out the connection between the shield and the tesseract.”
Corinne layered the thin energy veneer over us again and we burned from the inside out in a sensation teetering on the border of pleasure and pain. Sort of like an itch vigorously scratched to the point of shredded skin. The sky over us turned into
a view through a distorted lens and I blurted to Silver, “I’ve got the destination this time!”
I pulled the visual memory of our scorch marked bedroom carpet to the forefront and the stars melted in a watercolor river reassembling themselves into the square, dimly lit confines of our bedroom. The shield withdrew and we all disconnected to rub our palms on our thighs in perfect synchronicity. James noticed first and chuckled.
Malcolm announced, “I know I said we should talk but it’s late and I think we all need to sleep on it. First thing in the morning, after we get the kids off to school, I say we meet at the big table or the kitchen. Maggie and Melody will just have to be updated in the Web. James, you need to check in with Kevin and make sure the night watch is set.”
James gave a brief nod and I could tell by the tightening of his eyes that he didn’t like Malcolm ordering him to do something as if he were the head of security. It was hard, I imagined, for Malcolm to reconcile that James was no longer his student. Old habits die hard. To the big man’s credit he usually only slipped up in regards to the chain of command when we were all alone.
I lessened the tension by changing the subject. “Corinne, are you gonna be okay on your own? When does Kevin’s shift end?”
She raised an eyebrow and broke away from the group to stand in the open doorway to the dark hall. “Don’t worry about me. I’m used to minding myself. Goodnight.” With that cool farewell, she put everyone under wraps with the shield again and vanished to her room. I heard her door close and her lock engage with a click.
Malcolm stepped backward in his navy blue corduroy house shoes and waved awkwardly from the waist. “I’m out. Night, y’all.” The fade of his muffled steps was fast.
The air pressure in the room seemed to heighten and a buzzing began in my ears to fill the silence. James shoved his hands in his back pockets and rocked on his heels. He didn’t look anxious to leave.
Silver threw Kara’s body over the footboard like an amateur high jumper but left her Converse covered feet hanging off the end. “I’m ready for sleep I guess. This body feels tired, I think. It’s hard for me to tell after that power boost. What time is it?”
I pulled my phone out. “After 9:30pm.”
She bent at the hips and I sensed the shield recede on her feet as she untied the white laces and kicked off each shoe by the heel. The black soles landed face up. Silver straightened the bed covers and lay down on top of them, giving me a sly look as she laid her head on a pillow.
I snorted at her, “Yeah, yeah, we can strip the sheets tomorrow.”
She glared at me with Kara’s face but our whiskey eyes. “I’m not sleeping in the wet spot if it isn’t Mez’s—that’s all I’m saying.”
James coughed into his palm and nearly choked.
I asked Silver, “If I sleep in the middle can James stay?”
She stiffened for a second then relaxed. “Sure.”
He considered my indirect invitation. James didn’t answer with words; he turned away and headed to his own room. Sadness filled me. I followed my twin’s example and removed my boots. My jeans weren’t comfortable enough to sleep in so I shed those as well then climbed over the rumpled miniature hills and valleys of our fluffy covers to spoon with my sister. We enclosed ourselves in the shield to feel each other’s body heat—skin on skin. I kissed the back of Kara’s neck and tried not to cry.
Silver grabbed my arm and pulled it tighter over her ribs then cupped my hand over her heart. “I know.”
We both jumped when our bedroom door closed. James stood in a pair of threadbare cotton pajama pants and a gray t-shirt with bare feet.
He looked uncertain. “Am I still welcome?”
In answer, I threw up an arm. He crawled like an eager frightened child to huddle his long frame against my shorter one. Silver included him in our shield cocoon and wiggled her hips into my thighs. Their legs were longer than mine so their feet bumped and they both froze for a heartbeat. I patted an arm apiece and they relaxed.
It took no time at all for us to fall into dreams, breathing synced and peaceful.
Chapter Twelve: My Boyfriend’s Back
Morning light bled in a blue-green wash around the drapes, and I felt smothered and disoriented until I realized the weight trapping my legs was James’ calf and the ozone smell on the air was fresh—not a holdover from our bends last night. A dark brown, near-black fingernail brushed through Kara’s hair and I raised my head to see a concerned Mez squatting by the side of the bed.
I tried not to panic when I realized the shield had fallen sometime during our group slumber. When I coated myself in it up to my knees I could sense all of the others safely sealed like vacuum packed coffee beans—all but us. Corinne was fine and still sleeping if her stillness was any judge. Wow, we must have been really exhausted to let that happen.
Mez’s bushy eyebrows got closer to the place where his hairline would have begun if he wasn’t shaved bald. The Shar-Pei wrinkles went all the way to the bridge of his nose. Nostrils flaring, Mez took a deep breath. “She smells like Silver but this is not Min Leoght Cor. My heart and nose tell me yes, my mind and eyes say no. How will we fix this, Sustor Cor?”
My twin stirred and fluttered her eyelids like Sleeping Beauty waking for a prince. Kara’s face lit with the love and joy my sister felt for Mez. It looked brighter than a newly minted coin or a baby sun. She flew into his arms and buried her borrowed nose behind his ear. Mez stiffened for just a moment and Silver just held tighter until he recovered. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent.
I realized she was crying and I turned over to smack a lightly snoring James on the chest none too gently. He flailed awake. “Wha–?”
My voice sounded thick with contained emotions, none of which I felt up to discussing. “I’m hungry. Do you want to go down to the kitchen with me?”
His jade iris thickened as his pupils adjusted to the dawn light creeping through the heavy duty drapes. James wiped his expression clean as he stared at Mez holding his sister’s crying body. His legs slid off the side of the bed as he turned his back to rub his eyes. “Yeah, let’s stop by the bathroom first. Grab some clothes. You can change in my room.”
I ignored the roughness of his voice and pretended it was just from sleep. I patted Silver once on her butt because it was the closest thing within reach and scooted to the foot of the bed.
She stopped crying and sniffled loudly and repeatedly before aiming puffed-up, red-rimmed eyes at the room. “No incestuous advances, Cass. That’s just rude.”
Saliva got caught in my throat and my unexpected laugh turned into a choke. James ended up banging me on the back and then pulling my arms straight over my head, which set me off on a cackling giggle fit that was impossible to stop.
First Silver joined in, then Mez and James. By the end of our gasping, desperate merriment we were all left staring at one another as we wiped tears from our cheeks with our knuckles. Rather than ruin our communion with words I opened a drawer and grabbed some clean jeans, a t-shirt with Fugazi Repeater on it and some underwear. I could wear the bra a few more days before I washed it as long as I didn’t sweat like a pig or anything.
James followed as I exited and he closed the door behind him without turning around. He held out an arm with overdone gallantry. “Ladies first.”
The urge to pee hit and I got shy. “Can you wait outside while I go to the bathroom?”
He smile was crooked and amused. “After all the things we did to each other yesterday you’re embarrassed I’ll hear you cut the cheese?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not very romantic. What if I’d like to keep a little mystery in our relationship?”
James ruffled my already crazy bed hair. “You’re cute. C’mon.”
He grabbed my hand and led me to the bathroom. It really wasn’t that weird going to the toilet at the same time since we each got to close a door to the narrow space allotted for the porcelain commodes. I flipped the fan on just to have some noise c
over and did my business with relief and no escaped gas regardless of my lover’s prediction.
When I opened my door James was just coming out along with a cloud of funk strong enough to fumigate a roach motel. He closed the stench in the tiny toilet closet to await the next user with a grin. The fan hadn’t been running either.
Corinne stumbled zombie-like into the vanity area, well out of the range of James’ stink bomb. The smell probably wouldn’t permeate her veneer of energy until it was too late if she chose the closed door instead of my open, uncontaminated one.
She gave us evil puffy eyes. “I hate morning people. Y’all need to get your shields up.”
I walked as fast as possible and snagged my change of clothes off the counter by my usual oval sink. My gaze lingered on my toothbrush with longing. I ran my tongue over my furry teeth with a pasty tongue. James ran into my back with a shove and pushed me out in the hall.
He whispered, “Hurry!”
I looked up into his boyish smirk and shook my head. Right about the time we got to his room, which was right next to Corinne’s, and just before we could close ourselves in, an earsplitting shriek broke the morning silence of the house.
Corinne’s voice probably carried to the whole enclave. “James, you disgusting goat!”
James patted his stomach with a fond expression on his face. “Our job here is done my friend.”
I stood clutching my clothes thinking bemused thoughts. Fingers snapped in front of my eyes and I focused on James’ extended hand.
His smile was wide and full of mischief. “Oh good, you’re in world of the now instead of la-la-land.”
James grabbed me by my drooping ponytail and dipped me into a closed mouth kiss then stood me back on my feet and smacked my butt through the thin protection of my panties and shirt tail.
PHOENIX (The Weaver Series Book 4) Page 10