Star Gods, стр. 11

“You’re going to stay here, in my house with my brothers, while I go looking for this girl? I’m sorry, Neil, but I don’t personally know you.”

“The only way I can make sure they stay asleep is by being here.” He hunches his shoulders and smiles. “I’m a Star God, Zeke. We harm no one.”

What is going on with him? He can’t be someone else, right? “You stay outside.” I grab my jacket from off the peg and lead the way. Dad informed us that laws were put into effect for earthbound half-descendants. If I take away his right to enter our house, he can’t. Where do you think Bram Stoker got the idea of vampires? “You’re not going inside without me here.”

His eyes flash again before giving me a solitary nod.

I flip up my hood and walk into the night, glancing back once as a feeling of unease travels through me. Neil is standing where I left him with his hands still shoved into his pockets. “What am I doing?” I mutter to myself.

Neil lifts a wrist and taps on an imaginary watch.

My heart thumps nervously in my chest. With uneasy doubt in my mind that I can’t explain, I sigh heavily jogging to the path. “If I get caught the truth is going to come out eventually anyway,” I mumble and a dog barks as if in response.

It’s dry as a bone out here, the sky slightly overcast with stars shining through the haze. I stand in one of the openings of one of the alleys considering my choices. I can keep jogging around aimlessly, or I can travel and cut my time more than in half and get home sooner. I know Neil’s a Luminary, but I can’t shake this feeling of unease. The sooner I get home, the better.

Traveling is easy. I put a picture in my mind of where I want to go, literally fading out of existence in one place and back into another. Of course, I need to know where I’m going. I can’t just put a red door in my mind, I could end up anywhere in the world.

I glance down the alley and travel to where I ended this morning, checking for any living presence in the area before fading into existence. I check every door, every dumpster, and nothing fits the description I need. I think of where I want to go next and the back of my neck tingles. I call my personal barrier to the surface and turn slowly expecting to find someone watching me, but there’s no living being around. I keep my ability close and travel again. It’s a little cleaner here, but not resembling what I’d seen in my message.

I sigh, placing my hands on my hips, and the first raindrop falls hitting me on the top of my head. “Fantastic,” I mutter, studying the sky just as it opens up. I step backward into a sheltered doorway. The rain pours in thick streams, bouncing off the pavement to soak me through my shoes and jeans.

This is working out swell.

I have no choice but to travel as close to our house as I can without Tyce and Ashe feeling it. Star Gods can feel each other use their abilities when in a certain radius. I’m going to get real close, but hopefully not too close.

I pop into the alley across the street from home, jog through my neighbor’s yard, and panic when I find Neil gone. I stand under the awning with my clothes weighing me down and scan our yard. Neil is nowhere in sight.

I withdraw my key from my pocket, absently reach for the deadbolt, and my key smacks into something at first unseen. The door suddenly yanks open, and I slowly lift my eyes. Ashe stands inside protected by his ward.

I lift my brows in apology. “I can explain,” I say, and Ashe slams the door. “Come on, Ashe,” I plead. “Let me in. I’ll explain everything.”

The kitchen light goes off leaving me in darkness.

“What the hell, Neil?” I mutter.

I stand like an idiot, shivering. I know Ashe is probably seething in the dark and won’t drop the ward no matter how hard I pound. Thankfully, I have another brother with the same ability.

I make my way to the side of the house with rain pouring down on me, and to Tyce’s bedroom window. Even with the ward up, people can still knock on our door, or window for this matter, and we can hear it inside. “Tyce!” I call in between raps. “Tyce, let me in, please!” I rap harder. “Tyce, wake up and let me in!” It seems like forever when the blind finally shoots up to reveal Tyce bare chested and confused on the other side of the window. “Can you let me in, please?” I beg, my teeth chattering a steady beat.

Tyce blinks a few times, scratching the top of his unruly head. “What’re you doing out there?” he asks around a huge yawn.

“A ward is up. Can you let me in, please?”

“What time is it?” He yawns again and scratches his chest.

“Just let me in and you can go back to bed.”

Bed must’ve been the key word because Tyce waves a hand, drops the ward, yanks open the window and then flops back down onto his bed. I climb in, pulling the window closed behind me, only to turn and see Ashe taking up the space in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

At least I made it inside.

“Kitchen, now,” he orders, turning toward the hall.

“Let me change first.”

Tyce growls into his mattress. Did I mention he doesn’t like being woken up?

“No,” Ashe calls from the hallway.

“I’m freezing and wet and I’d…”

“Whose fault is that?” Ashe responds harshly, jabbing a finger in my direction. “If I were Tyce I’d throw your ass back out that window and reinstate the ward so you can continue to play in the rain.”

“What?”