Page 5

“Ugh. Where it rains all the time?” Zee grimaced. “How far north?”

“Oh, just a few hours.”

“Why are you being so cagey? Is it a surprise—wait, don’t tell me! Don’t ruin it.”

“Uhm . . . yeah?” A surprise for all of us. Even me. “There’s this thing . . . a uhm portal . . . you know, they keep popping up everywhere . . . and Agent Leomaris said we should uh . . . go take a look . . . because we’re heroes now. So I thought we’d . . . you know . . . do that, and take a break?” Had he bought it? I peeked and found him frowning, but just when I figured I’d already been rumbled, he brightened.

“Business and pleasure. I am here for that.” He shuffled deeper into the seat, propped his boots up on the dash, and turned his head so his purple bangs fell between his horns and over his eyes. “Wake me when we get there.”

“Sure.” At least he wouldn’t be asking any more questions.

A quick look in the rearview mirror showed that Victor had observed the entire exchange, and he was not so easily placated. He held my gaze a few seconds too long—long enough to let me know he knew something wasn’t right—then dipped his chin in a short, affirming nod. If I told him why this had to happen, he’d want to stay. And so would Zee. But they didn’t understand. They didn’t know what having my brother nearby meant.

I couldn’t risk it.

But I was on borrowed time with Victor.

Better he be mad than dead.

As the sun dipped below the endless spiky treeline, and the minivan’s tires droned, my eyelids drooped. If I could just keep going a little while longer . . .

The road ahead got real fuzzy . . .

I snatched the wheel, yanked the van back between the lines, narrowly avoiding a detour onto the verge.

“Adam, there’s a gas station up ahead,” Victor said cooly from the back. “I suggest you stop. I shall drive, henceforth.”

I couldn’t argue when moments ago I’d nearly wrecked us. Zee, of course, snored softly from the passenger seat, oblivious to having been seconds from disaster.

After pulling the van off the road into a gas station flanked by towering pines, I cut the engine and hopped out to pay and pump gas. A family SUV pulled up on the other side of the pumps. The dad got out to fill the tank of their shiny car, and two kids in the back seat fought with plastic dinosaurs.

The sun had set behind towering fir trees, but our van and the SUV were spotlit by the pumps. Exposed . . . We’d been on the road all day, but the miles we’d travelled didn’t feel like enough.

I’d moved from one world to another, and that hadn’t been enough to lose Syros, so why did I think a few miles would be?

“Adam—”

I jumped so hard at Victor’s voice the pump nozzle in my hand almost leaped from the van’s tank. I pulled it free anyway, set it back in its cradle and swiped my card, keeping busy so I didn’t have to meet his gaze. “Almost done.”

“Adam, my dear?” His tone meant business with a hint of empathy. Slowly, I lifted my eyes. He’d removed his jacket, and his shirt was all creased from the ride. His expression was soft and sympathetic, and when he looked at me like that all I wanted to do was fall into his arms . . . He would let it happen, and he wouldn’t even ask why. That was one of the many, many reasons I had to keep him safe.

“I understand that whatever is happening is difficult for you,” he said. “When you are ready to tell us, we are ready to listen.”

My heart wanted to curl up and hide from his kindness and understanding. “It’s uh . . . It’s nothing. Like I said, it’s just uhm . . . the thing . . . for Leomaris. Because we’re heroes now.” Whenever my gaze met his, it skipped away, like two opposing magnets.

“Of course.”

“I’ll just . . . get some snacks.”

Zee poofed behind Victor in a blast of purple sparks. “Did someone say snacks?”

Victor sighed. “Be careful around the gasoline. I’m certain you’re flammable.”

“Fancy Fangs, you wish you were as sparkly as me.” He hair-flicked and strutted past the pumps, pausing to flutter a wave at the kids in the car.

I hurried after him, catching up as he loaded his arms with chips, dips, and soda. “That’s probably enough,” I told him.

“Don’t you want anything?”