Star Gods, стр. 49
I smile. “I think you know the answer to that…Dad.”
Several words of disbelief fill the air as Neil rocks back onto his heels, nods with affirmation, and smiles. The bracelet on his wrist breaks loose, vanishes, and Dad suddenly takes Neil’s place. He’s taller and broader than Neil, his blonde hair is longer than usual and in the same disarray his sons each inherited, his favored clothes of well-worn jeans and t-shirt take the place of the starchy suit, and his face is more tired looking than I’ve ever seen.
My brothers and I rush him, pushing him back a number of steps. Dad laughs with tears streaming, pulling us each close to hug and to kiss. “Oh, you boys, thank the gods you are safe. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you who I was, but I couldn’t, it had to be done this way.” He clasps one hand onto Ashe’s shoulder. “You’re a Luminary.” He places a finger under Tyce’s chin and lifts it. “Tyce—you’ve grown…again, and Zeke your abilities are far more than I ever imagined.” He stops, gazes around. “Where’s Sage?”
“I’m here.” She’s standing next to Claire, her fingers fidgeting in front of her. She lifts one shaky hand and grins nervously. “Hi…Dad.”
Dad touches the back of each of our heads before going to her, stopping a foot away. “You look so much like your mother.”
She tucks hair behind an ear. “That’s what Zeke says.”
“I can’t believe you’re right here.” A tear trails down Dad’s cheek. “Your mother and I, we owe you an explanation when we are all reunited. Can you wait until then?” Sage nods and Dad outstretches his arms. “May I?”
She answers by going to him. Dad pulls her in close, placing his hand on the back of her head. I hear a choked sob and feel the release of a bind from my sister. Warmth, shared by us both, spreads. I smile.
Sage inhales sharply and pulls back from Dad, staring at her arms bright with violet, and then turns her gaze to me. “I feel everything now—all the abilities you hold and how to share them.” She reaches out a hand and lifts Maliki right off his feet.
“Okay, seriously, I am not a plaything,” Maliki says with a grin.
“This is way too cool,” Sage expresses. She places Maliki back onto his feet and suddenly covers her face with her hands and cries.
Dad pulls her back and kisses the top of her head. “This is a lot of change for you in a short period of time.” He holds her close with one hand and reaches out to Cesar with his other. “Thanks for being here for my kids.”
Cesar clasps Dad’s forearm tightly. “I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done for me or mine. It’s good to have you home.”
“Claire, I do hope Tyce hasn’t given you too much trouble.”
She snickers. “Not at all.”
“Abby, thank you. I hope I’ll be seeing more of you?” Dad’s eyes twinkle with humor as he gazes between her and Ashe.
“I’m confident you will,” she responds, moving closer to Ashe.
Lastly, Dad reaches a hand out to our Assassin turned friend. “Maliki, it’s good to see you again.”
He grasps on and smiles. “You as well, sir. Have you seen my family?”
Dad presses his lips together and passes Sage off to Ashe, running his fingers down her hair before giving his attention to Maliki. Sage moves in close to Ashe, placing her cheek against his chest. “Your mom is with my wife, but your dad and brother went missing this morning. I assure you, we’ll get them back.”
Maliki’s face falls. “Levi will use them as an example, sir, because of me and my being here with all of you.”
Dad places his hand on the back of his head, pulling him closer. “We’ll get them back. That’s a promise Maliki.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Martin, call me Martin.”
“How were you able to disguise yourself?” Ashe asks, rubbing Sage’s back and Dad smiles as he watches them. “I thought the band of secrecy is only to keep information from another?”
“We have a Luminary who is able to mirror his image to someone else. Once he changed my appearance I placed the band of secrecy onto my wrist and Luminesce kept him out of sight while I was him.”
“Why the disguise and the band?” I ask, sitting on the couch and rubbing my temple with two fingers. “Why couldn’t you just come as yourself and bring Sage home?”
“Are you okay, Zeke?” Dad asks. He goes down on one knee in front of me and places the back of his hand onto my forehead. “Is this from when you were stabbed by Levi?”
“No, Dad, Tyce and Ashe fully healed me after the attack. I’m fine. I have a little headache, that’s all, and before you tell Ashe or Tyce to heal it, they can’t and neither can Sage. It’s not so bad now that Levi is gone.”
“He was here, in our house?” Dad asks in surprise.
“I had his staff, he came to get it.”
“You had Levi’s staff?” Dad questions. “How?”
“Long story short—I received a message that he was going after Abby. We went to save her, she took him down, and I took his staff from him.”
Maliki high-fives Abby.
“Don’t leave things out,” Tyce states. “The staff had some kind of control over Zeke and made him take it.”
“What do you mean by control?” Maliki asks.
“I couldn’t walk away from it. When Levi went for his staff, I opened my hand and it flew into mine. Pissed Levi off.”
“Hold on, lets back this up a little.” Maliki moves closer. “When Levi stabbed you and his staff broke, did your blood get into the wood?”
Dad gazes at me with concern.
“Dad, I’m fine, honest,” I reassure him, but he doesn’t look convinced. “Maliki, the only thing that broke was a portion of the blade and