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“Nah, been in this building since I was five. I know where all the good spots are.” He winked.
“You eavesdropped?” Cord looked at him in approval.
“You think everyone was getting invited and not me?”
“You could have been caught.” Cord shook his head with humour. “It would have been terrible.”
“Relax, the Three knew I was there, pretty sure the Made and Lycans did too.”
“You will have marked Cornelius’s name.” Cord smiled wider.
“I reckon it’s a black mark, don’t you?” Sloane gloated as they arrived at his door. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Top to tail, just as we did as children.” Cord looked at Sloane, feeling a little uncertain. “You may not remember.”
Sloane pushed the door in and grabbed his brother’s arm. “Come on, I get tops.” Laughing, Cord followed him in but quietened when he saw Tegan’s adjoining room door was open. Sloane put his finger to his lips and then crossed quickly to his cousin’s room.
“She isn’t here,” he said as he turned back, closing the door firmly behind him.
“Where is she?” Cord demanded taking a step forward.
“She will be with Michael,” Sloane replied patiently. “He was tired. Maybe we are not the only siblings tonight who need a sense of familiarity.”
Cord was going to say that Michael and Tegan did not have that level of kinship, but seeing his brother’s knowing look, he bit his tongue. “You’re right, they need tobond.”
“An informed, reasonable andadultdecision.” Sloane looked his brother over before he walked into the adjoining bathroom. “Who are you, and where is my brother?”
“Your jokes are never funny,” Cord grumbled as he disrobed. “I want sleep attire.”
“Can’t you conjure something up?” Sloane said around his toothbrush.
“I’m not a parlour magician in a human circus, Sloane.” Cord rolled his eyes as he went to pull his shirt off, then remembered the Mark. He froze for a moment. His brother could not see this. It was not time. Whispering an incantation whilst his brother was in the adjacent bathroom, he felt the warmth of the spell cover him, concealing the “artwork” on his back.
“They make balloon animals,” Sloane said as he came out and crossed to a closet and threw a shirt at his brother. “Why can’t you make cool things?”
“You want a rubber balloon?” Cord stopped in confusion on his way to the bathroom and considered his younger sibling.
“I want a dog one, ooh and a giraffe one.” Sloane was goading him, trying to lighten his brother’s mood.
Cord went into the bathroom and conjured a toothbrush. When he came out, he grinned at his brother. “A dog I can give you. I refuse to upset the giraffes.”
Sloane tipped his head back and laughed loudly as Cord blinked out and back into the room again with a bag of balloons. “Alright, I fear I may be terrible at this.” The Castor pulled back the covers on the bed and, stealing a pillow, lay down with his head at the foot of the bed.
Grinning, Sloane jumped in eagerly, settling into a sitting position, eager for his brother’s tricks. “What about cats? Can I get a cat?”
“You’ll get what I give you and be pleased about it.” Cord failed to hide his grin, lightening his harsh words. Blowing up a balloon, a long thin orange one, he looked at it critically. He then handed it to Sloane with a serious face. “A snake.”
Sloane doubled over, laughing at his brother’s joke, handing it back and demanding his brother use his power.
Elsewhere, the Three stood back from the seeing pool. “He knows laughter,” Agatha said with a small smile.
“He is still full of light,” Ada confirmed.
“The Darkness builds though,” Aryna warned.
“It builds in us all,” Ada reminded her sister. “It is how we deal with and fight it that makes us a vessel of light or dark.”
“He has potential to hold more dark than any other.” Aryna scowled at the scene as the two males tossed balloon animals between themselves. She smiled softly at the sight of Sloane. “He hastoomuch light within, I fear sometimes.”
