Star Gods, стр. 13

Ashe snorts. “Since when do you need to go to school?”

“Yeah, I don’t know where that came from.”

“So, I can call you in? You’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he’s okay?”

“You can’t ignore what happened, Ashe. You’re going to need to talk to him.”

“I know. I need to sort it out.” I hear keys rattle and when Ashe speaks again his voice is farther away. “I’ll talk to him when I get home.”

I slowly climb out of my bed and wince when my head reminds me of the occurrence only a few hours ago. I can hear Tyce in the kitchen and I drop my barrier, placing my hand on the knob wondering for a second if this is how I want to proceed. This could go one of two ways, Tyce will leave me alone, or he’ll want to discuss what happened hoping to convince me to forgive Ashe. Knowing I’ll have to deal with this one way or another, I pull open my door and slowly head down the hall and into our small kitchen. Tyce is yanking out his usual huge cereal bowl. He glances in my direction and holds up another.

I reach above the refrigerator to grab the biggest box they make for peanut butter cereal. Tyce brings the bowls while I get the milk and join him. He looks over but I avoid his eyes and stare straight ahead into the living room. It’s strange to have a meal in silence but I continue to ignore Tyce and he keeps looking over at me while he shovels in the cereal.

“Hell of a bruise you’ve got,” he says.

I shovel in a mouthful of cereal so I don’t say something I shouldn’t.

“I can heal that if you want me to.”

I shift my gaze to stare at the milk in my bowl now changing to a light tan.

“At least it stopped raining.”

“You can stop with the small talk,” I respond while trying not to show excitement. Tonight is the night to find that girl.

“You okay?”

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “Just peachy.”

“We should probably talk about it.”

I shovel in another mouthful. Maybe if I ignore him he’ll stop.

“Zeke.”

I sigh loudly, push back my chair, and empty the rest of my cereal into the trash. “I’m fine. There, we talked.”

Tyce turns in his chair. “Why are you being a jerk?”

I grab the dish soap from underneath the sink and turn on the hot water. “And you wouldn’t be?”

“Listen to me, Zeke.”

I rinse my bowl and drop it into the dishrack.

“Zeke.” Tyce tips his chair back, bringing the front legs off the floor and places his hand on my arm. “Please.”

I yank my arm out of his grasp when I feel the warmth of healing, then grab the towel off the stove to dry my hands before dropping back into my chair.

Tyce shoves his bowl away clasping his hands together. “Ashe is trying his hardest to parent and stay brothers at the same time. It’s hard for him to tell you what to do, and Ashe…” He tosses his bowl into the sink. “I guess he reached his limit and that’s why he hit you. I know that’s no excuse but Zeke, you’re being difficult. They mentally assaulted you and we can’t protect you if you’re out on your own. You would never go out like that and not tell Mom and Dad. Hell, you wouldn’t’ve gone out alone. Ashe needs you to give him the same respect.”

“Are you finished?”

He presses his lips together and leans back in his chair. “You have to tell us what’s going on and stop lying to us.” He clamps a hand onto my arm, healing my bruise. “We can’t help you if you’re lying.”

I shove his hand away and stalk out of the room, Tyce’s footfalls behind me. Suddenly his hand clamps over my shoulder and spins me around.

“You want to hit me too?” I yell, tears of anger and frustration filling my eyes. Tyce releases me and steps back. “You have to trust me right now, Tyce,” I say as my mind fights with me to tell him everything. “Please, just trust me.” I step into my room and close the door silently behind me.

I stand with my back against my door waiting to hear Tyce’s footsteps retreat, but instead I hear a sound like someone punching the wall and a stream of swear words that makes me lift my brows in surprise. I hear what sounds like the freezer door slam shut and the scraping of a kitchen chair. I knock the back of my head against my door a few times not understanding why I have to do this on my own.

Tyce’s voice wafts in under my closed door as he helps Claire with her math homework over the phone. Ashe won’t be home for at least another hour. I close my sketchpad, grabbing the sheet of paper I prepared and place it in the middle of my bed with Trust Me written in big bold letters. I glance at my closed door, my pulse catapulting as I think of the consequences of what I’m about to do. I had thought about just sneaking out, but asking Tyce to trust me keeps going through my mind, and I think by using my ability he’ll at least know I’ve left. I’ll explain everything once I find the girl and bring her back with me. Her fate is in my hands.

I stand in the middle of my room, close my eyes, and take a deep breath trying not to worry. I shake out my arms and hands in an attempt to clear my mind. If I think of Tyce right before I go, I’ll end up in the living room with him. I really need to make sure I have a clear head. I check once more for any living presence at