Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Gus smiled. “I’ll take care of him.” She didn’t have good intentions from the way she said that, but I needed to pick my battles. The old Gus was back, appeased now that everything was going to be fine.
“Just don’t kill him,” I murmured under my breath before I left for class.
“There are other ways.” My sister sounded more excited than she should’ve been.
Kellan wasn’t at school that day, and I didn’t have hope that he’d show up later in the afternoon. I sent a few text messages to him, but he didn’t respond. When I called, it went straight to voicemail. As I was leaving, trying to figure out where I might start looking, I wasn’t expecting to find Dylan Cavanagh, so I almost bumped into him when I reached for my door. Before I made contact, I managed to jerk backward. “What are you doing?”
He straightened from my car and stood over me, reaching his fullest height. “I have a bone to pick with your family.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw where Vespar had punched him. I saw it had darkened even more and was now an ugly shade of black and purple. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He puffed up his chest. “It’s not right that you guys get to walk wherever you want, do whatever you want. Kellan’s been gone from school all week, and no one will say anything about it. You guys aren’t special, so you shouldn’t be treated like that. Vespar’s going to get his ass kicked, too.”
“Really?”
His eyes narrowed. “Yeah.” He expected me to cower before him. I wasn’t at all, and that wasn’t adding up to him. “Me and some of my buddies are going to take down your brother. You might want to warn him.”
“Really?” I scoffed for the third time.
“Yeah.”
Then I smiled. “Good luck with that. Now, move.”
He did, but only because he was confused. As I drove away, I saw my sister swaying her way to him in my rearview mirror. Her hand lifted to trail over his shoulders, and he was already entranced by it. Shaking my head, I kept driving. No matter who did it, somehow Dylan would be put down like he was a dog. I had no doubt that he’d come to school the next day with his tail figuratively between his legs.
They always had to learn.
When I got to the house, instead of going to my room, I went to Kellan’s. It felt strange going up there without him there and especially because the last time I’d been there had been when I’d stayed with him. The place seemed to hold his presence in it, even though he wasn’t there. I felt him everywhere. Strongly. Suppressing a shiver, I glanced around and tried to focus on what I needed to do. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was looking for, but I wanted some idea of where he might’ve been. Maybe he had written down some information…maybe not. I doubted it, but I was willing to try. When I didn’t find anything, I wasn’t surprised. My brother was a very clean person/demon. Then I sighed and gave up. As I went to my own room, something was nagging at me, almost tickling the back of my neck. It was like I was forgetting something…
Then I groaned and called my sister. When she answered, I asked, “Has Leah been at school this week?”
There was silence and then, “No. I didn’t even notice.”
“He’s probably there. Don’t you think?”
“Are you going over there?”
“I guess. I mean, I have to, right?”
“It’d be good if you talked to him soon.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll go over there.”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded curt, as if she had been interrupted.
I asked, “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly and hung up.
And that meant she was doing something. I shook my head and left again for my car. I could only handle one of my siblings at a time. As I went outside, Vespar was walking toward me. His eyebrows shot up. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.” I threw that over my shoulder as I passed him swiftly. He turned to ask again, but I shut my car’s door and quickly reversed to drive away. Vespar still stood there as I turned onto the road. I could feel his confusion.
As I drove to Leah’s, I tried to remember the way. I’d only been there once to pick up Kellan. I never asked questions, and he never offered any answers. He’d reeked of sex, though, and a part of me didn’t want to find him in the same manner. As I pulled up to her house, I tried to sense Kellan from my car. I sensed him good and plenty. His presence wrapped around me like a blanket. It was powerful, so powerful that when I went to the door, I half expected him to answer it himself. He didn’t. Leah did, looking pale and gaunt. Her eyes had a scattered look in them, like she was in the middle of a stampede and didn’t know where to go for safety.