Over the sound of running water, Defiance's low growl came from the kitchen. "Piss off, Havoc."
I just crossed my arms on the table and watched Mim's profile. She looked especially pretty when she laughed.
"Well, if Defiance won't let me help, I guess I'd better get going," Mim ventured as she glanced at the time on her cell phone.
"You should start home before it gets any later," I agreed, feeling my protective instincts kick into gear. I followed her down to the family room where she'd left her coat earlier. As I helped her slide her arms into the sleeves, Victor came down the steps. He glanced at Reason and looked more hopeful than he had since his brother had arrived the day before. I thought he was going to resume his vigil in the chair but he headed toward the desk in the corner of the room.
"Can one of you give me a hand?" he asked as he sat down at the computer.
"Where are you trying to go?" I asked, assuming that he wanted to get on the Internet.
Victor leaned to the side and turned on the computer. "I thought I'd try to learn some more about CPR."
Mim spoke up before I could answer. "Just go to Google and type in C-P-R."
He scanned the keyboard and hit four keys then looked up at her. "What letters do I need to spell that?"
Mim laughed as if she thought he was kidding. "C-P-R," she repeated, louder this time.
Victor smiled back at her. "That's not what I meant, m'dear. What letters do I need to spell Google?"
A long silence followed as Victor waited for Mim's answer. Instead, she just stared at him. Eventually, I started off on my own though I wasn't too sure about those last two letters. Was in E-L or L-E? Slowly, I recited my best guess to Victor. I must have got it wrong because now Mim was staring at me.
"You…can't read?" she stammered as a wave of heat crawled up behind my ears and spread across my cheekbones.
Victor didn't seem as embarrassed as I was. He gave his head an easy shake. "We can't read nor write. But we're working on it. Dare's the best among us."
Mim returned her gaze to Victor and her violet eyes filled with pity for my golden cousin. I wasn't too happy about the way she was looking at him. Even though I didn't want Mim's pity for myself, I didn't want her wasting it on Victor, either. 'Course I knew what was coming next.
"I could help," she volunteered immediately. "I could help you guys learn to read and write."
"That would be grand," Victor answered and flashed her a lady-killer smile that I didn't appreciate in the least. "MacKenzie's been giving us lessons but I wouldn't mind a little extra, private tutoring. In the meantime, could you help me out with Google? I know the alphabet and can find the letters on the keyboard if you'll just tell me which ones I need."
"What are you gonna do when you get to the website?" I growled. "It's not like you'll be able to read much once you get there."
"I'll look at the pictures," he answered amiably.
We helped Victor find a CPR site with lots of pictures. Then I walked Mim out to her car and closed her inside. I stepped away to let her drive off but she rolled down her window before she started her engine. Leaning forward, I braced my hands on the roof of her car and gazed down at her.
"Dare," she started tentatively. "I've been thinking about your wings. Maybe we could…"
"No!" I cut in before she could get started. "I don't want your pity, Mim."
"But—"
Refusing to listen, I hurtled on. "I don't think I could take it, Mim. I need your acceptance. I need you to accept me for who and what I am."
She looked a little insulted. Mim might be quiet and shy but she isn't a pushover. "I do accept you. That's not the issue, but—"
"But nothing," I interrupted her again, afraid to even start hoping for things like wings. That would lead to nothing but acute disappointment. I didn't want to go there. I refused to go there. "Nothing can be done."
She pursed her lips and took a breath then began again. "You were born to fly, Dare. Without wings, a big chunk of your life is missing. A part of your life that's important to you. I…want to find a way to give that back to you."
"You can't," I insisted firmly. "Nobody can. That part of my life is gone, Mim. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we'll be friends."
Her mouth formed a surprised circle and her dark eyebrows shot upward. "I thought we were friends."
I leaned my face very close to hers, my mouth inches away from her lips. "Let's keep it that way," I growled before giving her a slow smile.
Her eyebrows pulled into a frown as I pushed away from the car. She rolled up her window and started her engine then backed up and steered down the driveway. I watched through the trees until her car disappeared on the road below, never guessing how she would react to my words and what she would do next.
And how it would change my life forever.
Chapter Seven
I'd just stepped out of the shower the next morning when I heard Mim's voice downstairs. Humming a Beatles tune, I dried myself in a hurry and whipped down the hall to my room where I yanked on a pair of black jeans, a dark gray T-shirt and my gray hoodie with the red lining. I took a last glance at my reflection in the mirror and dragged my fingers through my wet hair. When I thought I looked good enough for Mim, I shot out of my room and down the stairs.
I couldn't find her in the living room or kitchen so I checked the family room. "Where's Mim?" I asked as I returned to the living room where Havoc and Defiance were watching television.
Without answering, Havoc's shuttered gaze slid toward Defiance.
Defiance cleared his throat. "She didn't stay long."
I lifted my hands out to my sides. "Didn't stay long? What do you mean?" Why did she come over if she wasn't going to stay?
"She picked up Victor," Havoc admitted reluctantly.
Victor? Mim picked up Victor and left without even speaking to me? Seriously?
I was gobsmacked. And not in a good way. I stumbled out of the house and headed toward the park. I couldn't believe it. After the things we'd shared down by the fire, I thought we'd laid the groundwork for a close relationship. I thought we'd made a connection. A tight connection.
Evidently not. Somehow, I'd screwed my chances with Mim. I kicked out at the crusty snow on the ground and a spray of white jumped into the air.
Maybe after our talk, she decided I came with too much baggage. Or maybe she just thought I looked too old for her. 'Course it probably didn't help that I'd scorned her pity and refused her offer of help. Victor had done neither of those things. Victor had enough sense to let her teach him to read and write.
Right from the start, I'd known he was interested in Mim. Yet, I'd just about chased her into his arms. Worst of all, I didn't think his interest in her could be casual, otherwise he'd never have left Reason's side.
I kicked at the snow again and most of the frozen stuff ended up on my face this time. Angrily, I wiped the crystals from my mouth and nose. With my hands in my pockets and my shoulders slumped, I stared up at the unfriendly sky. I guessed I should have known this would happen. In the end, all the girls fall for Victor. He's not only blond. He's freaking golden. In comparison, I was just…dark. And probably old-looking.
I scuffed back to the house and slouched through the front door.
"You okay?" Havoc asked while Defiance watched me closely.
"Great," I muttered as the door slammed behind me. I climbed the stairs with a pair of scissors and closed myself inside the bathroom. My reflection glared back at me as I cut away the ends of my hair. They would just turn white again in a few days so I couldn't do it too many times before I was bald, but at that point my mood was pretty black. I just wanted the white to be gone.
The rest of the morning crawled by, each minute lasting approximately forever. I polished a bow I'd finished recently and wondered what Victor and Mim were doing together. And when they'd be back. If Mim was teaching Victor to read, he could probably drag that out for several years. And if they were doing m
ore than reading, he could probably make it last even longer. 'Course it didn't help my mood to watch Val cuddle up with MacKenzie on the couch in the living room.
Desperate for a distraction, I joined them with Havoc in front of the television. But after twenty restless minutes, I decided the cooking channel just wasn't doing it for me. "Did you get a local newspaper when you were out yesterday?" I asked MacKenzie.
Jumping to her feet, she shot me a look of apology as she stumped toward the entry. "It's in my backpack. With all the excitement, I forgot about it."
She dug the folded paper from her canvas pack and spread it out on the coffee table. Her finger traveled slowly down the column of ads while I tried to keep up. But MacKenzie reads fast and she soon left me behind.
There appeared to be several houses for sale in her neighborhood but nothing for rent. The rentals available in our price range were a long way from MacKenzie and even farther from the grocery store in Pine Grove. That would be pretty inconvenient for six to nine gargoyles who didn't have a car. If we couldn't live near MacKenzie, we needed to be near the store. But the two rentals she found within walking distance of the store were relatively expensive.
Her finger stopped at the end of a column. "Here's the ad that Mim's mother placed." She checked my face just to make sure I hadn't changed my mind about moving into Mim's basement.
If she'd asked yesterday evening, my response might have been different. Today, I just sent her a scowl.
"I guess that's a no," she said flatly and returned to her search.
"Maybe we should just try to buy a place," Valor suggested as he played with the ends of her hair, rubbing the copper strands through his fingers. "The place next door would be ideal."
MacKenzie's neighbor had moved out after cutting down most of the trees on his lot. Mac was pissed about the way he'd leveled the forest around his home. As far as we could tell, he cut down the trees just to be destructive. But it could have been worse, he could have turned his violence on MacKenzie.
We'd found him sneaking around the house one night. It scared the crap out of Valor. We all knew what sort of guy he was and what he'd do to a girl like MacKenzie if he got his hands on her. Fortunately for all of us—and the forest around Pine Grove—a tree had fallen on him and he'd lost his appetite for cutting wood. He'd moved away after listing the house for sale.
MacKenzie turned and stared at her boyfriend. "Buy a place? These homes are going for two and three hundred thousand, Valor. You guys don't have that many coins."
Valor lifted his shoulder in an offhand shrug. "We might be able to get our hands on some more old stuff in England. Stuff we could sell for money."
He was talking about harpy treasure, like the large hoard at the back of that cave in Scotland. Grotchka's stuff. Harpies like pretty things that sparkle. They collect treasure like ravens gather things that shine.
But harpy treasure wasn't the only potential source of gold and jewels. Over the centuries we were trapped, we'd also heard stories about people who'd buried their valuables for safekeeping…then had failed to outlive their hidden riches. 'Course there was no guarantee that the stuff was still there.
"You can't go to England," MacKenzie exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "It's too dangerous. There'll be more harpies in England! Besides, you need identification to get on a plane."
We didn't point out that an airplane wasn't the only way to get to the United Kingdom. There were boats that traveled across the Atlantic, as well.
"How about your stepfather?" Valor suggested. "Maybe we could tell him where to look."
"Not a good idea," MacKenzie argued immediately. "He might find your treasure and you might never see any of it. If we gotta go that route, I'd rather ask one of my cousins to help."
"How much do you think we could get for my rings?" Havoc asked, surprising us with his question. We'd thought he was focused on the television chef who was demonstrating how to stuff a dead bird. Havoc made a fist and gazed down at his fingers. His rings flashed gold and blue and orange in the pale light that filtered through the window.
Valor's mouth pulled into an affectionate smile. "We wouldn't ask you to sell your rings, Havoc. No more than we'd ask Victor to give up his silver wristbands. We wouldn't expect you to part with the few personal things you brought from home."
"We'll think of something else," I agreed, knowing how attached Havoc was to his jewelry.
Valor leaned back with his hands locked behind his head and gave MacKenzie a thoughtful look. "Just for argument's sake, how much is he asking for the place next door?"
Mac turned a few pages to the real estate section and we leaned over the paper looking for a picture of the neighboring house.
Valor pointed to an ad in the top right corner.
MacKenzie whistled. "Four hundred thousand? He'll never get that much. Not in this economy. Let's keep looking for a rental."
"Okay," Valor gave in. "But we don't have all the time in the world, Kenz. Your mom will be home in ten days. We have to be in our own place before then."
When MacKenzie pulled her cell phone from her pocket and checked the calendar, I peered over her shoulder and looked at the time. Was it really only noon?
Agitated and edgy as the afternoon plodded on, I joined MacKenzie in the kitchen when Valor took Hooli for a run in the park. She was mixing up a batch of chocolate cupcakes, her thick red hair pulled back in a large knot at the base of her neck. I slid onto a barstool and watched her for a while before asking, "How much does a guitar cost?"
"It depends," she answered, guiding the electric beaters around the glass mixing bowl. "You can get a cheap acoustic for fifty dollars but it won't be very good. An inexpensive electric guitar with an amplifier probably costs at least a few hundred."
I sighed, not really understanding the difference between acoustic and electric. "Which would be better?"
MacKenzie shrugged and set the beaters aside. "I'm not really the right person to ask. Maybe Mim—"
"What did John Lennon play?" I cut in before she could say anything more about Mim.
"Electric," she answered as she leaned over and pulled some baking pans from the cupboard below the counter. "Are you interested in learning to play?"
I braced my elbow on the counter and rested my chin on my fist. "Maybe," I admitted, hoping she wouldn't think it was a stupid idea.
"I think that sounds like fun," she exclaimed. "Can you sing?"
I felt a burn of heat travel across my cheekbones. "I dunno. Maybe."
"If you could sing, maybe you could get a band together. Cut some CDs and make a music video. Go on tour."
I didn't know how she expected me to do all that without any identification or social security number. Or how she expected us to maintain the sort of privacy we needed as gargoyles if I was a famous rock star.
"You're good looking enough," she pointed out cheerfully.
I slanted my skeptical gaze at her. "You don't think I look…old?"
She glanced at me and smiled. "You look older than your brothers. But then, you are older than your brothers."
"Not technically," I informed her in a low mutter. "Do I look like I'm thirty?"
A snort of laughter exploded across her lips. "No!" she insisted as she poured the chocolate batter into the cups in the baking pan. "You look about eighteen. Nineteen at the most."
"You're sure? You're not just saying that?"
"I'm not just saying that," she assured me. She licked the long wooden spoon and offered me one of the beaters from the mixer.
I sighed and nodded as I took the beater and cleaned it with my tongue. Mac and I had forged a tight friendship in the months since I'd arrived in America. I thought I could trust her to be honest with me.
"You should smile more," she suggested before sliding the pans into the oven.
"You think so?" I grunted.
"You look younger when you smile," she offered quietly.
I'd have to smile more, I decided. "Any news about
the missing crates?" I asked halfheartedly. So far, we'd received no information that would tell us where Chaos, Courage and Force had ended up.
"The shipping company has promised me some news tomorrow," she said, and sent me a hopeful look.
I was less hopeful. We'd heard similar promises before.
The mudroom door banged open and Valor burst into the house with Hooligan on his heels. Rushing into the kitchen, the friendly wolfhound buried his cold nose in my hand then greeted Mac the same way. Val wasted no time getting to his girlfriend. From the length and intensity of their kiss, you'd have thought he hadn't seen her in months.
"You're cold," she giggled, pretending to push him away.
"And you're hot," he growled. He tightened his grip on her and squeezed a burst of laughter from her throat.
As I watched them with no small amount of envy, Hooligan's low woof warned us that someone was approaching the house. I recognized the rattle of Mim's car as it climbed the driveway, and my heart started pounding heavily.
"I'll get the dishes," I told MacKenzie. I didn't want to be standing around doing nothing when Mim walked in. I collected the things on the counter and strode quickly to the kitchen sink, filling it with hot soapy water. But Victor stepped through the mudroom door alone. Outside, I heard the sound of tires on gravel as Mim's car made its way slowly back down to the road.
"Where's Mim?" MacKenzie asked, saving me from asking the same question, which would have made my interest in Mim more pathetically obvious than it already was.
Victor looked into the family room at his brother. "She didn't want to come in," he murmured absently.
A dull ache grew in my chest. How could she not want to see me? "Why not?" I demanded as I spun to face him, the bowl in my hand dripping a thin stream of water onto the kitchen floor.
As though surprised by the edge in my voice, Victor turned his head and his gaze connected with mine. "She's…busy right now. And a little…distracted."
Distracted? What did that mean? That she didn't want to see me? That she was trying to decide if she liked Victor better than me? Maybe she'd already decided she preferred my cousin. After a day alone with the golden gargoyle, that wasn't hard to believe.
The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4) Page 27
