by Tamar Sloan
If the adoption goes through at all.
And if Cassandra hasn’t gotten her claws into him by then.
The crunch of leaves nearby startles Brielle out of her daydreaming, and she whips her head in the direction of the sound. She expects to catch a glimpse of the tail of one of the stray cats skittering by, so she’s even more shaken when she sees a large silhouette under the trees across the lawn.
Her heart rate spikes, flooding her veins with adrenaline and the urge to run, but she’s stuck, unable to do anything but stare at the figure who she can feel is also staring at her.
After a few eternal seconds, her motor skills return enough for her to swallow and stutter, “W-w-who’s there?”
The figure steps forward, and Brielle mentally prepares herself to use the thick library book as a weapon if need be.
His face comes into the light, and confusion mixes with the fear brewing in her chest.
It’s Eye Patch Guy.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, his gruff voice softer than it was at the library earlier today.
Suddenly, every story Brielle’s ever heard about him replays in her mind, and she’s filled with the morbid curiosity of which one she’s about to experience first-hand.
“After that whole mess in the library, I needed to make sure you weren’t on their radar,” he says. “I needed to make sure you were safe.”
Brielle isn’t sure what she expected him to say, but that certainly wasn’t it, and she’s even more confused.
“On who’s radar?” she can’t help but ask. She knows she should just turn tail and run inside, Marie and the Brady Bunch be damned. Why doesn’t she run?
He shakes his head, looking very much like an ex-soldier. “I can’t explain that to you, yet.” He takes another step closer, and Brielle flinches backward, which makes him raise his hands in a gesture meant to calm. “Trust me when I say I’m not the one you should be afraid of.”
“If you don’t intend to hurt me, then why are you here?” she asks, surprised by her own bravery. Or maybe it’s just recklessness.
“Like I said, I only came to check on you, but since you caught me, I might as well warn you.”
Check on her? Why would he care about an argument between her and Suki? Why would he care about her well-being at all? How does he know where she lives? Nothing about this makes sense, and everything about it seems wrong.
“Warn me about what?”
His one good eye locks onto hers. “Don’t use your powers right now.”
White hot terror flashes through her, and beads of cold sweat practically jump out of every pore. Brielle tries to feign ignorance, scrunching her brows in a way that feels like confusion, but she knows she can’t remove the fear from her wide eyes.
“P-powers?” A nervous giggle trips out of her throat, then quickly dies. “What are you talking about?” She shakes her head.
He looks down at the ground. “It’s okay. You don’t have to admit anything to me. I just need you to know that it’s not safe to use your powers right now. They’re looking for you, and you can’t do anything to call attention to yourself. That is all. Have a pleasant evening.”
And just like that, he turns around and walks off the lawn and down the sidewalk like he’s just taking a nighttime stroll.
Brielle sits there, unable to slow her heart down as questions race through her mind. How does he know about her curse? No one knows, not really knows. Marie, Cassandra and Suki only suspect, with no real proof. So how does this guy, who might as well be a stranger, know anything about her at all?
And who does he think is looking for her? Her imagination really runs wild at that question. She entertains every idea from Shield Agents from the Marvel Universe to witch hunters who want to burn her at the stake. Or maybe scientists who want to dissect her and find out how her visions work.
Or could Eye Patch Guy be referring to Tristan? Tristan had noticed Brielle right from the get-go, had asked her out five minutes into meeting her. None of that made sense at the time, but if he’s part of this, his interest would actually have an explanation. What if he’s the danger that the crazy librarian warned her about?
And if so, does she have the restraint to stay away?
15
Tristan
“Chardis has been looking forward to meeting you,” sneers a voice close to Tristan.
All the moves Tristan would use right now flash through his mind. An uppercut to the grinning man’s jaw. He could swing his legs around and wrap them around the guy’s throat. He could pummel the crap out of him like he was a punching bag.
But all Tristan can do is lie there. Waiting. Wondering if Tess is okay.
The Skin moves in closer, his voice sliding over Tristan. “One down. Twelve to go.”
Suddenly, there’s a gasp and a gurgle. The Skin grunts and his body thumps on the ground.
Tristan curses the still, silent blackness he’s trapped in. What just happened?
“Fool,” Zarius mutters. “Your impatience to get to a Zodiac Heir blinded you.”
Zarius is here! And he killed the Skin! Relief floods Tristan’s consciousness. A fist pump sure would be nice right about now…
“Tess? Tess! Are you okay?”
Zarius’s voice is full of panic, something Tristan’s never heard. Zarius invented cool, calm and collected.
But Tess has never been directly attacked before. The Skins have never come to their house.
Splintered wood crunches under Zarius’s boots as he rushes to her. Please, Tess. Please be okay.
“Tess! Can you hear me?”
The softest of groans is the sweetest sound Tristan’s ever heard. “Zarius?” There’s a sharp movement. “Tristan! The Skin—”
“The Skin is finished. He never got to our boy, thanks to you.”
“I didn’t do anything—” Tess stops, gasping. “Zarius! There’s an antidote! The Skin said there’s an antidote!” There’s more sounds of shuffling. “No, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. We need to find it!”
They scramble closer to Tristan, then there’s the quiet rustling of material being shifted.
“He’d have it in one of his pockets,” says Tess.
“I’ve got it!” cries Zarius triumphantly.
“Quick, we need to get it into Tristan.”
If Tristan’s breath could spike with excitement, it would. An antidote! He listens as Zarius and Tess move around the room. They’d be getting a syringe from the monster-sized first-aid kit on the bench. Drawing in the liquid.
Then they’re beside him.
“Hold on, Tristan,” says Tess. “This is going to work.”
For the first time since he was shot, Tristan believes her. He can’t feel the prick of the needle or the sting of the antidote as it’s injected into his veins, but he knows it happens. Both Zarius and Tess move back, releasing their breaths.
“How long will it take?” asks Tess.
“I don’t know. I haven’t come across this sort of poison before. It seems Chardis is becoming innovative.”
“He’s not moving, Zarius.”
“Give it time,” he soothes. “Tristan could be like this for a while yet.”
A while? How long is a while? Tristan scans his body. Well, he thinks he does. As he reaches out with his mind, he finds he still doesn’t know where any part of him is. There’s nothing to feel. No sensations to experience.
Except… Was that a tingle dancing across his fingertips? Focusing everything he has, Tristan waits. Yes! Like a fairy is nibbling on his nails! Tristan tries to move them, except the link from his brain to his hand is still severed.
Feeling as if he’s trying to move a mountain, he concentrates on where his fingers should be.
“Zarius! His hand!” Although Tess’s voice is hushed, it’s full of excitement.
Tristan didn’t feel any movement, but Tess’s words tell him he must’ve twitched. He tries again, this time sensing the flex of muscles
and contraction of each knuckle.
“It’s working,” breathes Zarius.
Tristan gasps. And he feels it! He draws in a deeper breath and it’s like air is being sucked into his lungs for the first time. It feels cool as it hits the back of his throat, the sensation dissolving as his chest expands. Man, that feels good.
He turns his head, finding Zarius and Tess exactly where he thought they’d be—right beside him. “I never want to hear about the body fold defense again.”
Tess’s laughter is powered by relief. She throws her arms around Tristan and he’s never felt anything so amazing. His own arms feel like they’re carved from stone, but he lifts them and hugs her back. Over her shoulder Zarius catches Tristan’s gaze as he nods.
Tristan gives him a thumbs up. Zarius isn’t big on physical affection, but the quiet joy in his eyes tells it all. Not to mention he looks like he just aged twenty years.
Feeling like he might’ve done the same, Tristan pushes himself to a sitting position. He looks around the basement, eyebrows hiking at the mess in the back corner. “Seems I missed all the action.” He looks to Tess, heart jerking when he sees the blood trickling from a cut on her forehead. “Hell, Tess! Are you okay? Here,”—he shuffles off the table he was lying on—“lie down.”
Tess rolls her eyes. “You’re as bad as Zarius. You two have sustained much more serious injuries than this and still wanted to mow the lawn.” She juts out a hip. “Are you giving me special consideration because I’m a girl?”
Tristan backs down faster than he ever has in his life, quickly straightening and stepping away. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Give him an angry Skin with a gun, and he’ll take him on in a heartbeat. Faced with Tess going all feminist on him, and Tristan knows when to admit defeat.
“Good, because we have some cleaning up to do.” She glances at Zarius. “Was that the bookshelves I heard being demolished?”
Zarius grins. “We disagreed about whether he should go down to the basement or not.” But then he frowns. “One got past as I was fighting the other two.”
Tess places her hand on his arm. “You got here in time. We’re all fine.”
Zarius glances at the gash on her head but doesn’t say anything. The protector in him would be disagreeing.
Tristan kicks the lifeless body beside him. “Everyone but him. We need to put these guys somewhere Chardis will get the message.”
“We’ll dump them back near the warehouse,” Zarius growls. “He can see what happens when they get too close.”
Tess wraps her arms around herself. “But they’ll be back. They know where we live.”
Zarius’s lips flatline. There’s nothing he can say to that. It’s the truth.
Tristan steps around, shrugging. “Then we’ll move.”
Again.
But Tess shakes her head. “It’ll take time to find somewhere in the area. We need to stay close to the school.”
Because of Brielle. And Cassandra.
Even the Skins believed there are others…
Zarius hoists the Skin’s body over his shoulder. “I’ll get these in the truck. Then I’ll dial up the security. Chardis won’t attack straight away. He’s going to need more men and a better strategy.”
Because when Chardis sees the body count, he’ll start to realize what he’s up against.
Tess nods although Tristan can see the tension pulling down her brows. She follows Zarius to the stairs. “We’ll start the cleaning upstairs.”
Tristan follows her, noting the way Zarius doesn’t even break a sweat as he shoulders the dead Skin. He heads straight to the garage, and Tristan is glad they managed to find somewhere that has an adjoining one. With a door going straight to the enclosed garage, they don’t have to find a rug to roll these guys up in.
And he’s pretty sure people don’t fall for that nowadays, anyway.
Upstairs, the damage is worse than the basement. The living room is in disarray, the bookshelves and coffee table now little more than firewood. Two men lie lifeless on the floor, one right before them, the other by the door.
The first one didn’t get far. The second one must’ve got the better of Zarius enough for the third to get past.
Zarius doesn’t even glance down as he steps over the sprawled body. “I’ll get these next. You two get this place back to normal.”
They don’t need some nosy neighbor knocking on the door and catching sight of a lounge that looks like a woodchipper vomited in it.
Tess turns toward the laundry. “I’ll get the broom.”
Tristan raises a brow. “Grab a bulldozer while you’re there.”
He starts picking up the larger pieces of wood while Zarius collects the other two Skins and Tess sweeps the rest of the debris into piles.
Evening is just creeping over the house when they finally finish. The lounge looks barer, and the basement no longer has a desk, but there’s little sign that a battle between good and evil occurred here.
Tristan flops on the couch. “What a day, huh?”
He glances at the two people who are his parents. Zarius looks tired while Tess looks exhausted. “I’m thinking we order from that place down the road that does the kick-ass koftas.”
Zarius stretches his shoulders. “You do that, I’ll get rid of the Skins.”
Tess moves a little closer to him. “Is it safe?”
Zarius presses a kiss to her forehead. “As safe as it’s ever been, love.”
Tristan rolls his eyes. Of course that’s what Zarius would say—the truth. They’ve always lived with the danger of being found, of having to fight for their lives. But this is the first time it rocked up on their doorstep. But Tess doesn’t need to be reminded of that. She needs the pretense of safety, at least for a little while.
Tristan throws a cushion at Zarius and it bounces off his surprised chest. Zarius spent the first sixteen years of his life on the Gemini planet. It seems subtlety isn’t a strong trait among Tristan’s people.
“At least point out that we kicked their butts.”
Tess picks one up and throws it, too. “Yes, and promise you’ll come back in one piece.”
Zarius catches the second cushion, realization dawning across his face. He approaches Tess, slipping his arms around her waist. “Chardis attacked and lost. That is proof enough of our strength. And as we find each Zodiac Heir, we’ll only get stronger.”
Tess smiles and Tristan can practically see her melt. They lean in and touch lips, winding around each other.
“I want my cushion back so I can suffocate myself,” Tristan calls out, hiding his face in his hands.
Tess and Zarius chuckle, and Tristan isn’t surprised when two cushions pummel him one after another.
Tristan pushes upright, grinning as he heads to the kitchen. “At least the takeout pamphlets were safe,” he calls over his shoulder.
He’s just turned the corner when he freezes. A soft beeping has him spinning around and racing back. The sound is meant to be subtle, enough to let them know intruders are near, but quiet enough that no one outside the house would hear it.
Tess’s stricken face is the first thing Tristan sees. “They’re back.”
Zarius curses. “Chardis regrouped fast. He must’ve decided to attack quickly, thinking we’d be unprepared.”
And vulnerable.
“Well, he was wrong,” mutters Tristan. “And this time, I won’t be lying around thanks to his poison.”
There’s a loud knock on the door and Tess jumps. Tristan is in fighting stance, fists raised, before the rapping is finished. Zarius has done the same.
They look at each other and Tristan shrugs. “At least they’re being polite and knocking.”
It means the Skins want them to know they’re here, alarm or no alarm. Tristan isn’t sure what that means, but he knows it’s bold.
Zarius draws in a slow breath, his body hardening as he exhales. He’s centering. “I’ll open the door. Tristan, I want you behind me. Tess, you move back
.”
Tess nods, not arguing. No one wants to see a repeat of how she got the cut on her head.
A few steps and Zarius is at the door. With a short, sharp movement he jerks it open.
Then, just stands there.
Alarm slams through Tristan. Have they shot Zarius with the same paralyzing poison? He’s about to launch forward when Zarius speaks, his voice full of shock.
“Alden?”
What? Tristan knows that name! His hands drop an inch. “You’ve been to the library, too?”
But Zarius doesn’t answer. Instead, he steps forward and the men clasp, thumping one another on the back.
They pull back and Zarius shakes his head. “It’s good to see you, old man.”
“Does someone want to tell us what’s going on around here?” asks Tristan.
He doubts anyone’s ever been happy to see Alden. He didn’t even think the man could smile!
But smiling is exactly what Alden’s doing. “It took you long enough, soldier.”
Tess steps forward, frowning quizzically. “You two know each other?”
Zarius ushers Alden inside and closes the door. He grins at Tristan and Tess. “Alden is an elder from Gemini I.”
Tristan’s eyes pop open. “He’s what?”
Alden’s eye glitters with far more than crankiness. “I was there on the Gemini station when it was attacked. The King thought Zarius might need a hand so I was sent in my own pod shortly after.”
“King Pharis always liked to think ahead,” says Zarius, his tone saying he shouldn’t be surprised by all this.
Tess steps forward, extending her hand with a smile. “Welcome. It’s lovely to meet another person from Gemini I.”
Alden glances at Zarius. “She knows?”
Slipping an arm around Tess’s waist, Zarius nods. “Without her, I’m not sure I would’ve found Gem.”
