Only the Strong, стр. 36

“I don’t see why I’m the one who’s grounded,” Sami said. “Mom is the one who misbehaves. I’m an angel.” Her gaze was imploring as it landed on her father. “I’m Daddy’s angel.”

“Knock it off, Sami,” Aric muttered. “You can have your phone back if you stop being a pain but that’s it. You’re still grounded.”

Zoe sent him a sarcastic thumbs-up. “Way to hold strong.”

“Hey, you’re the one in trouble,” he shot back. “I can only take so much estrogen right now and she makes me weak when she bats her eyelashes. What do you want from me?”

Cormack cleared his throat as he cut through the room and sat in his regular chair. To my surprise, he motioned for Sami to take the chair next to him and then immediately opened the small table on his right and pulled out a package of Red Vines, which he proceeded to hand to the snarky teenager.

“I’m not supposed to eat too much sugar before dinner,” Sami noted as she shifted her eyes to her parents. “But since Mom is the one in trouble, I’m sure it will be okay.” She happily tore into the package, biting into one of the pieces with zest and practically daring her mother to say something.

Rather than pick a fight, Zoe focused on Cormack. “I’m going to leave her here with you tonight so you can talk her off the ledge when the sugar collides with her hormones.”

Cormack didn’t look bothered by the suggestion. “That’s fine. We’re having a cupcake bar for dessert this evening. She’ll be able to decorate cupcakes to her heart’s content all night.”

“A cupcake bar?” Sami looked so excited I thought she might burst. “I definitely want to move in here. Mom’s idea of a cupcake bar is opening four boxes of Little Debbies and letting me pick what I want.”

“Oh, you live such a terrible life,” Zoe drawled. “I really am going to leave you here. Your father and I are going to head back to the hotel and roll around naked with the Little Debbies. It’s going to be party time in the suite tonight.”

“Don’t tease me,” Aric said dryly. “Don’t change the subject either. Whose house were you in that had a personal gate?”

“Oh, right.” Zoe turned serious. “So, after the conversation Izzy heard in the gate room regarding the revenant book that went missing, we decided the smartest thing was to find the book. Since Adam Grimaldi was the last person who claimed to have seen it, we started with him.”

Cormack’s mouth dropped open. “You broke into Adam’s house? What were you thinking?”

It took me a moment to realize the question was directed at me. “It was her idea,” I offered immediately. “She was the one who said it was a good time since we knew he was out with you and Renley.”

“Yes, but I know where Adam lives.” Cormack was positively apoplectic. “There are cameras all over the place in that neighborhood. All he has to do is bribe someone, a neighbor or security company, to let him see the tapes.”

“Calm down, Karen,” Zoe drawled, earning a fiery glare from the Grimlock patriarch. “I’m not a novice. We parked several blocks away and went in invisible.”

“Invisible?” Braden leaned closer to me. “I didn’t know you could make yourself invisible. That’s weird ... and a little bit titillating.”

“What’s titillating?” Sami asked. “Is that like ... ?” She held her hands in front of her chest, signifying breasts.

“Yes,” Braden answered at the same time Aric barked the word “no.”

“I’m not the one who can make people invisible,” I said, directing the conversation back to the matter at hand. “That was all Zoe.”

“Dome?” Aric queried.

Zoe nodded. “We were perfectly safe. Nobody saw us. We thought the trip was going to be a waste of time until we went into the basement and found a gate.”

“I don’t understand.” Cormack looked baffled. “How could he have a gate in his basement? That’s just ... unfathomable.”

“There’s more.” I licked my lips and pressed forward. “Someone — and I’m not saying who because I’m not a narc — but someone went through the gate and it led to a random room, like a storage room or something. In that room there were shelves and artifacts ... and three more gate entrances.”

The room fell absolutely silent, the only noise coming from Sami as she methodically mowed through the Red Vines. Aric was the first to speak.

“I can’t believe you just walked through a gate,” he complained. “What would’ve happened if you were trapped over there?”

“Then Izzy would’ve gotten help and it wouldn’t have been a big deal,” Zoe replied simply. “Besides, Izzy has crossed over through a gate and had no trouble coming back. I figured it would be the same way for me.”

“Oh, well, you figured ... .” Aric threw up his hands in disgust. “I just can’t deal with you sometimes. It’s little wonder I’ve turned to day-drinking.”

“You’re never going to prosper,” Sami warned.

“Eat your candy,” Aric fired back. “Your new father for the night is going to deal with the sugar rush.” He gestured toward Cormack. “This is on him.”

“I had to see,” Zoe insisted. “We’re dealing with something none of us have any knowledge about. I had to know what was on the other side.”

“I take it you didn’t look on the other side of the three other gates you found,” Cormack prodded.

“Of course not.” Zoe turned into a serene angel. “I’m not an idiot.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nobody went through the other gates. We didn’t think it was safe. We came back here because we figured everybody else should know about our happy news.”

“Well, at least that’s something.” Cormack rubbed his cheek, thoughtful. “I don’t know what to make of any of this. It’s all so ... unbelievable.”

“Obviously this Grimaldi person is a megalomaniac as well as a pervert,” Zoe supplied. “I think we should just kill him and be done with it.”

“You think we