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EIGHT
Decima
My mission tomake my brother more comfortable with the surprise sister who’d fallen into his life currently involved a game of 20 Questions while we basked in the backyard in the warmth of the midday sun. The game meant I had to do a fair bit of lying, but I did want to smooth over any awkwardness between us if I could.
And having Carter on my side would make fishing for information about the family much easier.
“Are you a DC or Marvel girl?” he asked for his eighth question, stretching out his lanky legs in the lawn chair. My mom and grandmother sat at the outdoor dining table a few feet away, carrying on with their own conversation about gardening and cooking, which I couldn’t say I’d have had much more to contribute to.
I thought back to everything I knew about those specific franchises. Noelle had sometimes included superhero movies in the rotation of media available to me, but I’d only watched a few. She’d cautioned me that they gave an over-the-top impression of the world, and that was exactly why I’d never totally connected with them. I knew how nitty and gritty tackling your opponents actually was. And you definitely didn’t get points for flashy costumes.
I didn’t think Carter would appreciate that answer, though. I considered the films I had seen and the bits of pop culture I’d managed to absorb over the years. “DC, I guess. I like Batman.” At least he had the sense to keep his costume black, even if the cape and the pointed ears were a bit much. And he used training and gadgets rather than superpowers.
My brother crinkled his nose. “Really? More than Iron Man? Or Black Panther? Or Thor and Loki?”
I shrugged. “I’m not much of a superhero fan in general. But maybe I’ve missed some good ones. What about you?”
He let out a scoffing sound that had Iris glancing over as if worried she might have to defend me from his teenage scorn. “I’m a Marvel fan, obviously,” he said as if the question wasn’t even worth being asked. “But you know the rules. You have to come up with original questions.”
“Do you prefer baseball or football?” I asked, referencing what seemed to be the two most common sports in the country. From what I’d seen, they appealed to very different people with different temperaments—levels of patience, enjoyment of physical aggression.
He opened his mouth to reply at the same moment as my phone released a loud chime in my pocket. “Baseball,” he said as I reached for the device. “I played in middle school, but Dad didn’t want me to be out in public without bodyguards so much, and it started to feel weird having them tagging along for the games in high school, so I just stopped.”
I made a sympathetic face. Even in this family, my life wouldn’t have been completely my own. At least Damien hadn’t tried to enforce that level of security on me so far.
“That must be really hard,” I said. “Does it bother you?”
“Meh. It was just for fun, not anything really important. I had lots of extracurriculars closer to home. Graduated near the top of my class and got a spot at my top pick college, so it all worked out in the end.”
I would have asked more about his plans for college, except I looked at my phone then, and my heart stopped. Blaze had texted me a brief message. Attack at hotel. Stay alert.
An attack in our hotel? Was it happening now? I had to assume that if Blaze had been doing anything other than fighting for his life when he’d composed that message, he’d have explained in more detail—or outright called me. Shit.
“Hold on a second,” I said to Carter, and dialed Blaze’s number. My heart thumped as the line on the other end rang, but he didn’t pick up. When I tried Julius, I got kicked to voicemail too.
My chest was constricting. The Chaos Crew was under attack while I was sitting here making small talk and sipping lemonade. Who the hell had come at them now?
I stood from my chair with the burst of adrenaline and anger, maybe faster than was wise. Grandma Ruby went quiet as I stepped back and away from the table. “My goodness, Rachel.”
“I need to leave,” I blurted out, and scrambled to compose myself slightly more with an appropriate excuse. “A friend of mine had her boyfriend break up with her suddenly. She’s a mess.” Personal issues, especially dating ones, seemed to get the most sympathy from the average person.
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be all right,” Grandma Ruby said. “At your age, the men come and go.”
Iris shot her a look. “At Rachel’s age, I was engaged to Damien.” She nodded to me. “We’ve been monopolizing a lot of your time. If your friend needs your support, you should be there for her.”
Her understanding response added a pang of guilt to the whirlwind of emotions inside me, but protecting the guys came before anything else. “Thanks. I’ll call when I have the chance.”
I managed to keep a measured pace as I walked around the house, but as soon as I was out of view of the backyard, I bolted down the street and across it. When I spotted a car in a secluded enough spot that I could break in and hotwire it without being seen, I dashed to it. There wasn’t time to wait for an Uber and another driver’s law-abiding approach to the rules of the road.
I had the door open in a matter of seconds and the engine running in several more. As I tore out of the driveway, my teeth gritted.
Who would have attacked the crew here? We were so far from home that none of their usual enemies would have been close enough… although I supposed I didn’t know how many enemies they might have made during their missions across the country.
Was the organization behind the household making another stab at capturing me? But then, why wouldn’t they have come at me here at the Maliks’ rather than attacking the guys?
Whoever it was must have had a death wish, because when I found them, they wouldn’t stand a chance. If they harmed a single hair on the guys’ heads, I would end their lives slowly and painfully.
Nobody messed with my men.
