by Nicole Thorn
“Deal,” I said, because I knew I wouldn’t get anything better. Kezia had made up her mind, and the stubborn set of her jaw told me that she wouldn’t change it any time soon.
Then her shoulders slumped. “I wish things would stop being so complicated,” she said. “If we could have some time where we just got to lay in bed, and snuggle, that’d be pretty great.”
“Maybe after we figure out what’s happening with Jasmine’s visions and Argus,” I said.
“All right. A day of junk food and snuggling as soon as we get free time,” Kezia agreed. “Can we make brownies?”
“Of course,” I replied enthusiastically.
She would’ve responded, but someone knocked on the garage door. Before I could call them out, Jasmine burst into the garage. She had clearly just gotten up, wearing nothing but Zander’s shirt. It went down to her thighs, but I still wished she would’ve put on pants. Her hair stuck up every which way, and her eyes looked huge. “We’ve got a problem!” she shouted, flailing her arms around.
“What?” I asked, standing up.
Jasmine darted back into the house, and the two of us trailed behind her. We made it to the living room, to find the rest of the family already there. Juniper had gotten ready for the day, wearing a purple dress. Verin, disheveled as ever, sat on the couch. Everyone seemed focus on the television, which seemed odd. I looked over and felt like cursing. It wouldn’t have fixed anything, but it might’ve made me feel better.
Someone in a helicopter took aerial shots of the camps in the woods. They looked abandoned, but the fact that the glamor had been removed, and that humans could see those camps, didn’t bode well.
“That’s the one that I . . . ” Verin started, but then stopped. Juniper took his hand, and he laced his fingers with hers.
A woman’s voice started talking. “Police have started investigating these odd settlements that were found early this morning. Based on early reports, they say that these dwellings look like some kind of training area. They have found weapons, targets, and other evidence that supports this claim.
“According to the police, no one, , has been found inside the settlements. They currently think they were abandoned within the last few weeks. We aren’t sure how they managed to hide for so long, but the police are looking into that as well. They declined to give a statement, but the reporter that received the tip says that it looks like some kind of cult. What were they doing, and what strange rituals did they perform. More on this story at ten.”
The television switched to a story about a dog, and I looked over at Kezia. A frown puckered her mouth. “All right,” she said. “Any bets on who did this?”
“Erebus,” Verin said.
“Erebus,” Juniper agreed.
He had said that he wanted to watch things get messy. He had liked the thought of it, and maybe we didn’t make things messy fast enough for him. But . . . “There is another possibility. Argus,” I said.
“Why would he do this?” Zander asked.
“Because at least one of the camps they showed belonged to Athena,” I said, turning to Zander. “And Argus has a grudge against the gods.”
CHAPTER EIGHT:
The Man Needs a Leash
Jasper
IT HAD BEEN a nice morning. I’d woken up with a post sex glow, and I could have coasted off of that for the rest of the day. I had actually planned on pouncing Jasper when I woke up, but he wasn’t there. I also had a brother to kill.
“Until we have to,” Verin said as we looked at the TV. “Then we don’t worry about this.”
His girlfriend eyed him. “Humans just found a camp, and you think we should ignore it?”
“Yes, I do. We have other things to be taken care of, and this doesn’t have anything to do with us. If you ignore my . . . outburst there.”
“Nice word for it,” Zander said. “But you have a point. It’s not like we can undo this. If anything comes of it, then we can keep the seers safe.”
“Nothing will come,” Verin said, sounding sure. “I’ll make sure this is all taken care of, if I need to. So, I recommend we have some breakfast.”
I sighed at him. “Could you please stop going into denial about everything? Stubbornness isn’t going to save us.”
“I’m not stubborn. I’m optimistic. I like to fix problems, what can I say?”
He could say something reassuring. I had a brother who thought we all needed to live in a bubble, and a . . . cousin/nephew that liked pretending as if we didn’t have problems, right up until they smacked him in the face. He thought he could find a way to make our seers immortal too. The fucked up part was that I wanted to believe him. Verin sounded so convincing sometimes.
I nudged my fella. “What do you think?”
Jasper watched the TV. “I think that we really can’t do anything about it. We haven’t gotten any orders from the gods, and the damage is done.”
“You need to eat anyway,” I huffed, and then headed into the kitchen.
Zander started making breakfast with the other girls, and I sat at the table, trying not to make eyes at Jasper beside me. I had his hand under the table, and I still felt all dorky for the giddiness. Maybe that post sex glow wasn’t all gone. Jasper smiled at me, and my stomach fluttered.
What the hell would I do when I didn’t have him anymore? I couldn’t picture my life like that. I couldn’t imagine what I would do with my time, or what Zander would do. I couldn’t picture it for Verin either, because I saw what it did for him to lose his mother. I didn’t expect anything less painful for his partner, who will have been in—hopefully—decades of his life. It would ruin us all, and then what? I didn’t want to move on, and I didn’t think I would, even in a hundred years. I barely wanted life now.
I got up for a drink, because I needed a distraction. Juniper picked out a cup for me, and I filled it with water as I leaned against the counter. Naturally, my eyes went to Jasper, and I smiled to myself.
“Do you have to rub it in?” Zander said. “Come on.”
My eyes narrowed. “You got something to say to me?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to have to see you all googly eyed after handing your innocence over.”
It didn’t surprise me that he knew, because he could feel around my soul and all that. Also, I kept staring at Jasper.
I set my cup down, and walked over to my brother, wearing a smile. I put my hands on his shoulders. “I’m so sorry I was insensitive. Clearly this is about you, and I should make sure that you’re comfortable.” Then I kneed him in the balls, and he went down like a brick. So much for not staring a fight. I’d make it up to Jasper later.
“Hey!” Jasmine said as Zander groaned in a pile. “What the hell?”
I straightened out my shirt, noticing the looks of surprise on the others’ faces. Juniper seemed to be more concerned with not letting the food burn. “Don’t say hurtful shit about my boyfriend.”
“What?” Jasmine said. She swatted at Zander’s shoulder. “What the fuck did you say to my brother?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Zander just has some control issues we need to curb. Like his anger, and the fact that he thinks he needs to tell everyone what they should and shouldn’t do. Zander, I love you so much, but you’re an ass.”
He stared up at me with pained eyes. “I’m aware,” he grunted.
“Are you, because if you were, then you would stop doing this kind of thing. You don’t get to judge people for how they react to things. No one does. You and me have been through some fucked up shit, but so have a lot of other people. You don’t get to think you understand because you can feel echoes of their heart. That’s not how it works. You killed people for hurting me, and that was how you dealt with pain. Not everyone is you. And if I ever hear about you talking to Jasper the way you did, then I will hurt you bad enough that you won’t heal for an hour. You got me?”
Zander nodded.
I picked up my glass and went to sit with Jasper again.
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“You didn’t have to do that,” he told me.
As she helped Zander up, Jasmine said, “She sort of did. Zander, it’s great that you want everyone to be all better and happy, but you go about it the wrong way. Don’t put us in bubbles.”
I added, “And don’t think you know what it was like to grow up like they did. There’s no right and wrong things to have been done. Watch your mouth.”
With my point made, Zander stayed quiet while they finished cooking. It wasn’t the end of anything, and I knew it. Zander couldn’t be changed like that, even if I hoped for it. Side effect from having to be a protector for so long. He didn’t like it when he saw something he couldn’t fix.
We sat around the table awkwardly, and Verin tried to break the tension. “Pass the juice would you, Aunt Kizzy.”
My eyes narrowed, but I smiled at him. “I’ll pour it on your head if you want.”
“Good, that way I can absorb its power and become even stronger than you. All hail the orange man.”
“Wanna see something messed up?”
“Obviously.”
I waved my hand at the carton of orange juice, and it started floating. Jasmine’s jaw dropped a little as her eyes got wide. “You can control juice, and you kept it from us? How could you?”
I smiled. “It’s still something that had once been alive. In theory, I could grow more oranges from it. Though I can do that from nothing . . . Not so impressive.”
“I would say it is,” Jasper said.
Jasmine nodded. “I agree. Now I love her even more. And I’m sorry my boyfriend was an ass, Kizzy. I’m glad you finally figured it all out.”
Zander glared at her. “You knew . . . you knew she was going to do that, didn’t you?”
Jasmine scoffed, and I turned red. “Of course, I knew. She had to come to someone for advice.”
“Even if she’s Jasper’s sister,” I said. “And I would have talked to you too, Juniper, but I felt like you wouldn’t have wanted to have that conversation.”
“You felt right,” she commented. “Can you make the juice stop floating now?”
I delivered it to Verin, and said, “It was only like a month that she knew, Zander. Don’t feel bad.”
He clearly felt bad, and that had been the point. I felt Jasper had been properly avenged, and then I could go back to my breakfast.
After we finished eating, we broke up in our respective couples. Jasmine and Zander got kitchen cleaning duty, which meant that Zander had to clean it from top to bottom while Jasmine ordered him around. Verin and Juniper were in their room, and I heard the drums playing from our spot in the garage. The rule was that Verin had designated playing time, so that Juniper didn’t go crazy. She had to clean the bathroom, so Verin got some time to himself.
Jasper and I stayed in the studio, and he’d opened the garage door. I watched it lightly rain as I tried painting my latest abomination, in hopes it would eventually look like a rose. Jasper kept trying to trick me into thinking my hands weren’t cursed, and I appreciated the effort.
“It’s fine,” he told me as I presented him with the not at all red blob. “It’ll change colors when it goes in the kiln.”
I frowned at him. “Now we could keep doing this, or . . . ”
Jasper smiled, then held his messy hands up. Clay had been coated on him from the pot he had been making. “Do I have to wash up first?”
“Nah, let’s be weird.”
He looked around as he dipped a paper cloth into his water bucket. Jasper draped it over his work in progress. “Hmm, everyone is awake.”
“Damn, that’s true. Verin and Juniper are upstairs, very close to our room.”
As Jasper washed his hands up, his eyes went to the couch. “There could be another option . . . ”
I hurried to the door, locking it while Jasper went to the garage button. He pressed it, and I met him in the middle for an attack that he seemed to be ready for. Jasper caught me when I jumped into his arms, and I got pinned to the nearest wall.
We were about three seconds from some real fun, when the garage started opening again. I saw a foot on the bottom, getting in the way of the sensor. Jasper set me on my feet. I saw a man as the garage opened up again, with something in his hands. I sighed through my nose when I saw what looked like candy corn. How he got it this time of year, I didn’t know. Jasper gave away who he was, though I didn’t need to hear it.
“Erebus,” he said. “You know where we live.”
“Yup,” the man said, taking a step inside. The sun had been covered by clouds, but the world looked darker when he came into our home. It crawled around him, like something attached to his body. “I would have called, but this felt easier. And how are you today?”
I looked at Jasper for a moment before I said, “Um, fine. You?”
“A little bored, but I was hoping you could help me with that. This is my formal invitation to lunch, for your whole family. I’d like to have a chat with all six of you, and I thought you would be more comfortable if it wasn’t in your home.”
“You want to meet us for lunch?” Jasper asked. “Why?”
“That can be discussed later. Relax, you seem tense. I don’t need to hurt you or your people. I can make fun other ways. Though I suggest you show up to lunch, because you wouldn’t like what happened if you stood me up.”
I stayed my ground, ready for a fight if I needed one. “What might that be?”
He shrugged as the darkness crept further in. “I don’t know yet. Could be anything, but I know that you wouldn’t like anything I picked. There’s this little Italian place six miles from here. Be there at noon.”
“Or?”
Erebus started walking away, not looking over his shoulder. The darkness followed him, and all I wanted were lights around me.
I stared at Jasper, wishing I could shove him into the house and keep him there forever. “He’s creepy.”
“A little. I don’t think we get a choice in the lunch thing.”
I didn’t think so either, because the man probably didn’t have an issue with killing people. I could only have imagined that he’d done it thousands of times before and would do it for the rest of his existence. He might have tipped the humans off to the camp, just for the fun of it. I hoped the gods would have stopped something that could have let the humans know about them, but honestly, I couldn’t say for sure. They might have left us all to drown down here, and not looked back. It hurt my chest to believe it.
“We have to get the others,” I said, feeling a little defeated already. “Even though this isn’t a choice, we kind of need to get opinions.”
“We do.”
***
Needless to say, everyone was upset. We stood on the porch while the sky cleared up, and Zander twirled his keys in his hand. I had the other set, and we hesitated on going.
“A half hour,” Juniper reminded us. “What happens if we’re late?”
“Nothing good,” I said.
Zander looked at the seers, and he rolled his shoulders. “Maybe we don’t have to bring everyone. We can leave the triplets home and go ourselves.”
Verin lifted an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t ask Juniper to stay back if she didn’t want to. I can keep her safe no matter where we are. Can you not say the same?”
“I can,” my brother snapped. “But I don’t want to have to. Sorry if I’m not as willing to kill as you.”
“Sorry if I grieved a little when my mother got murdered. Say, what did you run off and do when you found out people had been hurting Kizzy? Would you not have taken down more people if they were in your way?”
I stood in front of the boys, holding my hands out to them. “Shut up, both of you. If the seers want to go, then they go.”
Jasmine stared Zander down, all attitude. “This Erebus guy wanted us all, so we all go. Try and keep me home, and you’re sleeping in the backyard with Nemo for a week.”
Zander gave up. “Fine then. We’ll all go. When things go te
rribly wrong, don’t blame me.”
“I never do.”
We split up, with me and Jasper with Verin and Juniper, because the boys needed to be parted for a while. I thought about getting a muzzle for Zander, and I might have if he wouldn’t have chewed it off.
“I’m going to start drugging you guys,” I warned Verin. “You’ll get happy time tea, and you won’t want to fight with anyone.”
The man leaned forward from the back seat. “I feel as though you all think I believe I was right in what I did to those people. I don’t actually think that. If you all walked into a room with the still warm body of a person you loved with your whole heart, you would react in ugly ways too. You wouldn’t feel like yourself, and all you’d want to do is turn back time. But you can’t, and when you figure it out, things get dark.”
I didn’t want to think about that day, because it would come. My Jasper would get older, and I couldn’t turn back the clock. Who would I be then?
When we arrived at the Italian place, I parked out front and along the sidewalk. I didn’t like the arrangement, but I had better things to complain about, if I were to do that. I decided against it, since it wouldn’t have helped.
Zander and Jasmine got there with ten minutes to spare, and the six of us gathered outside. When I peeked inside, I saw that it was full of people. We wouldn’t have been able to get a seat, even if we bribed the guy at the door.
“What do we do?” Jasmine asked, looking around. “Do we go inside?”
“We’d get stopped at the door,” her brother said, eyeing the man with a tablet in his hands. “This wasn’t very well planned out.”
“Nelson party?” the host asked us.
“Huh?” Juniper took one step closer to him, bringing Verin along. “Are you expecting us?”
The man looked to his tablet again. “Yes, party of seven. Your other guest is already here. Right this way.”
We followed him, having no other choices. He brought us right to the back of the big room, where the lights were dimmed. People on a date might have been into that, but I wasn’t.