Eeli: The Brotherhood of Ormarr Book Three

by Rayne, Bobbie

  Surprise flashed on his face. “You have more than one tattoo?”

  “Uh… yes… yep. More than one. Two, in fact. Yep, two tattoos.” Oh my god, why am I rambling like an idiot? I’m not an idiot. I’m not. I’m just a terrible liar.

  “Oh… oh-kay.” He looked down the street, then back at me. “We’re just going to go. Have, uh, fun with… that hawk or whatever.”

  Like the nerd I was, I waved awkwardly, then watched them leave as Slash kept glancing back over his shoulder at me. He was probably afraid that I was unstable and might attack them or something if he took his eyes off me too long. I really couldn’t blame him after the way I’d been acting around him lately. Ugh. Freaking Slash. Why was it always him that was around when I was struggling with Bodhi?

  “Can we go home now, Bo?” I whispered up to the tree, then looked down the street and saw Slash still watching me. Internally rolling my eyes at myself for letting him see me “talk to myself” again, I began walking in the direction of my car.

  You know what, Bo? If you don’t want to come home with me, then stay in the trees forever for all I care.

  Eeli! Eeli!

  I stopped walking at the sound of her panicked voice and turned to glare at her.

  She peeked her head out of a tree and whispered, Don’t leave me, ma’cordhe.

  Sighing, I marched back over and called her into my tattoo, then ran back to my car. I needed to get home and get outside near the water where I could be free of all this mess, free of Slash.

  There was no way I was going to tell my brothers that Slash caught me and Bo again. Azaran would probably throw me off the edge of a cliff if he knew how many times Slash had caught me acting out of my mind. Nope, I was keeping this one all to myself.

  This was a problem between Bodhi and me, anyway. No one else could fix our bond but the two of us.

  I’m sorry, Eeli.

  It’s okay, Bo. I know you want more freedom. We’re almost finished with school. Only a couple more months.

  Eeli?

  Yeah?

  Don’t leave me behind like your brother said. I want to go to school with you.

  I smiled a little and nodded. I want you with me, too.

  I felt her settle into my skin more firmly, and a contented sigh fell from my lips. We’d figure this out somehow.

  * * *

  When I nearly punched Zale in the face, he held up his hands and said, “I’m done.”

  “What? Why? Come on. One more round.”

  Grabbing his water bottle, he shook his head and took a sip, then started walking toward his dragon, Itsaso. “You know we don’t go for the face and that’s the tenth time I’ve had to dodge your fist. I don’t want a black eye.”

  I frowned and walked over to my own water bottle with a loud sigh. “I guess I’ll go back to the punching bags, then.”

  Zale leaned against his dragon’s neck since she was in her warrior form and said, “Why don’t you take a break? You’ve been out here longer than any of us, and I’ve been training for at least four hours. What time did you come out this morning?”

  I muttered, “Around five.” It was closer to four-thirty, but he didn’t need to know that.

  “Okay, yep, break time.” When I opened my mouth to complain, he said, “Take a break or Itsaso will grab you and fly you to Az.”

  Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my drink, towel, and shoes, then headed over to Bodhi.

  “Eeli?”

  “What?” I yelled without turning around.

  “Want to talk about it?” Zale sounded concerned, and for some reason, that made me angry.

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  He was quiet for a moment before he sighed. “I’m always here if you change your mind.”

  I ignored him and jumped onto Bo’s back. Without saying anything to her, she knew to fly us up to our cave so I could shower and grab some food. She shrunk down to her small size as soon as I climbed off her back, and the two of us made our way to our room. Bo jumped on top of the bed and chirped at me, so I walked over, and she immediately nuzzled into my chest. Some of the tension left my body as I pet her and hugged her to me for a few minutes.

  “Want some oil?” I asked her, and she nudged my hand.

  Yes.

  I grabbed a bottle of the calma oil and rubbed some into her scales. It helped calm me a little, but I was still wound up and frustrated. After I finished, I walked into the bathroom with Bo on my tail, and I hopped into the shower while she sat on the floor. She didn’t typically follow me in here, but she knew I was feeling off, so she wanted to offer some support.

  I’d barely slept at all last night, and when I’d tossed and turned for at least an hour, I got up and went down to the arena where we trained since it was Saturday, which meant no school to keep me occupied. I’d been going at it for hours, so my whole body was sore and tired, but I knew if I tried to take a nap, I’d end up with my mind racing.

  And I didn’t like where my mind kept taking me.

  Every time I closed my eyes, I’d see those hazel ones flash behind my eyelids, and when I’d try to think of something else, the only thing my mind could conjure up was Austin… with Slash. No matter what I tried to think about, only a second would go by before he popped up again. Why was he hanging out with Austin, anyway? And what was with him asking if I needed help the other day? Had he only said that because he’d wanted to make fun of me or something? Or had he really been offering? And why was he always around when Bo was out of control? He was everywhere, and nothing I was doing was making him go away.

  Eeli?

  Yeah, Bo?

  Go see him.

  I opened the shower curtain a little to look at her. “What? See who?”

  See Slash.

  “What?”

  See him.

  “Uh, no thanks.”

  Eeli.

  “I don’t even know where he lives.”

  She tilted her head and blinked at me with knowing eyes.

  “Okay, so I know where he’s going to be in an hour.” If anyone asked, I’d never admit that I’d looked up the skatepark Slash and Austin had been talking about and found out that there was a tournament going on this afternoon. “You really think we should go?”

  All she did was stare at me, but I took it as a yes and hurried up to get ready. I didn’t need much convincing because I hoped that seeing them would put my mind at ease, and getting away from my nosy brothers was an added bonus.

  Instead of taking my car, Bo and I decided to fly there, so when we arrived, she landed a bit away and once she was in her tattoo, I walked to the park. I’d never been there before, but it seemed like a pretty cool place. It was like a giant obstacle course with halfpipes, railings, ramps, hills, and walls. The place was a lot bigger than I was expecting.

  There were tons of people there, but somehow, I didn’t have trouble finding Slash in the crowd. It shouldn’t have surprised me that Austin was there with him, but it made me irrationally angry.

  When Austin elbowed Slash in the ribs, I felt like my entire face was on fire. I was even angrier than I’d been earlier. Why were they touching like that? I ground my teeth together when Slash smiled up at Austin. Seriously, no one else ever made him smile. What was Austin saying to make Slash light up like that?

  I spoke to Bo in my head, I don’t think this was a good idea. I feel worse, not better. Let’s go home.

  No! Mine!

  My eyes widened and panic gripped me when I realized she was going to jump out of her tattoo again. No! Bodhi! No!

  She didn’t listen, she hopped off my arm and ran off in the middle of the crowd. Since people weren’t screaming, I knew she at the very least was using her cloaking magic, which made me breathe easier. Still, I needed to catch her and probably pay for whatever candy she’d stolen. My room was going to be covered in even more trash.

  Not trash; pretties!

  My eyes widened in horror when I saw Bodhi on the fence right be
hind Slash and Austin. She was doing her butt wiggle thing, and I just knew she was about to pounce on someone.

  So I ran as fast as I could and caught her right before she landed on Slash. Unfortunately, her momentum knocked me sideways and I crashed right into him. I couldn’t even apologize because I was wrestling a small dragon and attempting to force her into my tattoo.

  A small, invisible-to-humans dragon.

  “Eeli?” Slash said. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, hi, Slash. Didn’t see you there. Don’t mind me. I’m leaving now.” I had Bodhi securely tucked under my left arm, and thank goodness, she seemed to have calmed down a little. Or she had until I took a step back. I wiggled like an idiot, trying to keep her under my arm, and I silently begged her, Please please please go back inside your tattoo. Please, Bo.

  Of course, she didn’t listen. And Slash was staring at me with wide eyes full of concern. Ugh.

  7

  Slash

  Kyla had been spending a lot of time with Jessa at their house, so it was cool when I got a chance to talk to Austin. He told me the things he’d overheard them talking about, and when he described their conversations, he adopted this squeaky, high-pitched teenage girls voice that was hilarious. It cracked me up, actually making me smile, every time.

  I hated that Kyla couldn’t invite Jessa to our apartment and that I was missing out on seeing this for myself, but that was why I’d arranged with my co-worker to switch shifts so I could be at the skatepark for the tournament today. Austin had overheard the girls talking about one of the boys who was competing in a category for fourteen to fifteen year olds. He couldn’t figure out which of the girls was crushing, but one of them definitely was. Their mom wouldn’t let the girls come without him, and I was happy he’d asked me to tag along.

  The last person I expected to see today, though, was Eeli. My body seemed to have an internal Eeli homing device because I spotted him hurrying toward us immediately. He was in a rush, which would make sense if he didn’t want to miss someone who was competing, and I was relieved to see he wasn’t doing that weird wiggle thing, but after almost taking us both out and crashing us to the ground, it started; squirm, jerk, squirm, squirm. He looked like he was trying to keep from dropping something, but there was nothing in his arms but air.

  I was so concentrated on Eeli, I’d already forgotten Austin was there when I heard him say, “Eeli, are sure you’re okay, man? Do you need help?”

  And just like that, Eeli was his old, cool as ice self. He stood straight and tall—which I had to admit was kinda cute since he was even shorter than me—and very nonchalantly, like he hadn’t minutes ago run over here like his ass was on fire, crashed into me, then started doing some freaky wiggle dance, said, “I’m great, Austin. I was bored, so I thought I’d check out the tournament. You guys having a good time?”

  Austin’s eyes narrowed, probably as confused as I was, before he said, “Yeah, I’ve actually never been to one of these competitions. It’s way cooler than I expected. Some of these guys are freaking amazing.”

  “I noticed that, too,” Eeli said as he turned to check out the different sections of ramps set up behind us. I could tell by the way his eyes widened a couple of times that he hadn’t had a chance to watch any of the kids on their boards. It made me wonder why he was lying. Which was honestly a welcome thought after how much it hurt my feelings that he was always so weird and awkward with me, but perfectly normal with Austin. It figured that he’d put on a show for Austin since he obviously liked him; and now my stomach hurt. Ugh.

  “You here by yourself?” I asked Eeli. As far as I knew, Eeli didn’t run around with anyone from school. Ever since he got his car, he generally came to the supermarket by himself, and before that, he’d always been with one of his siblings. Not that the store was overrun with huge groups of teenagers hanging out anyway, but even in the halls at school he walked by himself, and he studied at a table alone while he ate his lunch. Maybe that’s what was wrong. It was the end of our senior year, if he’d been this intense about his grades the whole time, it would cause anyone to crack from the pressure. When I realized my thoughts had wandered, and he still hadn’t answered me, I said, “Uh, Eeli?”

  He turned back in my direction, and I tried to see what behind him he’d been so focused on, but I couldn’t see anything of real interest going on. “Um, yeah? Did you say something?” he asked. He blinked up at me, causing my mind to stutter out. I’d forgotten the other day—before I’d gotten distracted by his tattoo not having the vibrant colors that I’d sworn it did—I’d been captivated by his eyes. They were gorgeous. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen anyone’s so clear and crystal blue. In the sunlight they sparkled, leaving me spellbound. He blinked again, and I had to swallow back a chuckle. He looked so serious with his eyes wide and confused; he kinda resembled an owl.

  Austin cleared his throat, jerking me out of my head. “Are you both okay?” he asked. “What’s up with you two?”

  As I quickly said, “Nothing,” Eeli said, “What do you mean? We don’t even talk.”

  “Rude much?” I asked sharply. I couldn’t help myself. After Mrs. Eldrid told me he’d lost his parents, too, a part of me had wanted to... I didn’t know, talk to him more, maybe be friends. It seriously bothered me that until Austin asked today, no one else had noticed Eeli wasn’t acting right, but as of now, I was over it. In three years, we’d only spoken on rare occasions; suddenly he was in my space all the time and kinda mean. Plus, he was a thief. I had enough drama in my own life with my Uncle Larry without getting wrapped up in some guy who had no use for me.

  “Wait. No,” Eeli said. His face got red and blotchy, and I grew alarmed as he went into a full body wiggle while bending his left elbow up and bringing his right arm over to clutch… air? I’d observed parents holding their squirming babies in similar ways in the store while they tried to grab something off the shelf. He’d have been doing a great impersonation of that if we were playing charades at a party, but standing out here in the middle of the skatepark with people bustling by around us and a guy announcing events and scores over the loudspeaker, I decided it was time to talk to Mrs. Eldrid. I was seriously worried about this guy.

  Before Eeli could say more, a toddler almost ran into the front of Austin. The little guy was concentrating so hard on opening a fudge pop from the ice cream vendor who was set up to the side he wasn’t watching where he was going. The silver wrapper caught the light of the sun and Austin was able to jump back before the kid covered his thighs in his gooey treat. As Austin moved back from the kid into the fence, Eeli pressed forward down toward the child. Holy crap, was he going to steal the kid’s fudge pop right out of his hand? Luckily, the father’s arm appeared out of nowhere, and he redirected his toddler back to the walkway.

  Eeli must have realized what he was doing because his hands went out in front of him as if he were grabbing a rope, but again, his hands were cupped around air, and he said, “You know what? I better go. Sorry I bothered—yep, leaving now.”

  Then he turned and with his arms at shoulder height, hands still positioned to drag something, much as I’d pictured Santa Claus carrying his bag of toys, he stumbled back through the crowd. I didn’t stop watching him retreat until he was out of sight. As he moved through families and groups milling around together, I saw I wasn’t the only one to stand transfixed while he shuffled through. I saw a couple of adults turn to each other shaking their heads. They probably thought he was whacked out on something.

  Turning back to Austin, I was going to ask him if he thought Eeli was on something, but felt my temper spike when I found him doubled-over laughing with tears streaming down his face. “Hey, I know Eeli was acting kinda freaky, but you don’t have to be a dick about it,” I muttered, not even trying to hide how irritated I was.

  He waved a hand out in front of himself toward me. “N… no.” He couldn’t catch his breath, and when he finally collected himself enough to start to stand and face me,
he cackled and bent over again.

  I got angrier the longer it went on, and I was rethinking the whole being friends with Austin thing. Something was wrong with Eeli, I hadn’t thought that Austin was the type to make fun of other kids. I guess all popular guys really did act the same. By the time Jessa and Kyla approached us, Austin had his hands planted on his knees while he took deep breaths trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard for so long. “What’s with him?” Kyla asked.

  I rolled my eyes, but didn’t say a word. The girls were friends and I wasn’t going to criticize Austin in front of his sister. Austin finally stood up and said, “You guys missed it. This guy from school has a crush on your brother, Kyla, and he couldn’t get it together. It was the funniest sh—stuff I’ve ever seen. It was the cutest.” He ended with the sing-songy, girlie pitch he did when he imitated the girls.

  “What?” Kyla asked, bouncing on her toes. “You didn’t tell me someone liked you. I can’t believe you’re holding out on me.”

  I threw up my arm and waved my hand in her face to calm her down. “No. Wait. What? No. Eeli does not like me. I promise you.”

  “Slash, are you kidding me? He was totally geeking out. I’ve known Eeli for years. He’s never acted like that. Little dude is totally crushing on you.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong, Austin. I promise you.” Even as I said it, a pain shot into my chest. It hurt enough I had to rub the spot over my heart. Austin may be right that Eeli was acting all strange today from having a crush on someone, but it wasn’t me. It was definitely Austin. Suddenly, how he’d launched toward the kid with the fudge pop who was about to hit Austin’s thighs made sense. A chance to cop a feel, maybe, in the name of helping. I glanced down at Austin’s thighs and had to admit I didn’t blame him. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as my temper flared again.