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“Love you guys too.”
They leave and then it’s just Kalen and I, standing graveside, alone.
“You know,” I say, turning to Kalen. “It’s not a competition, Kalen. They loved me first, deal with it.”
“Well, I love you most.” He pouts.
“Not a competition,” I repeat.
“Look around, Amelie. There’s less competition now. It’s just you and me, babygirl.”
“Ugh. Don’t call me that.”
“You didn’t say that to him.”
“Smalls has been calling me that almost my entire life. Stop with the jealous act. And your earlier comment was in poor taste,” I scold him. And then I sag into his arms, unable to keep the sobs at bay any longer. They echo off the gravestones and my body shakes with the force of them.
“Shh, sis, it’s okay.”
“D-d-don’t let Aadi hear you call m-m-me t-that,” I squeeze out between sobs.
“Pah! I’m not scared of him.”
“You should be.”
“You’re telling me. There were some right dodgy types here today. Way worse than The Order.”
I nod in agreement. I’ll be having words with Smalls about that later. They owe me some answers. “So, why are you crying?”
“Because today could so easily have been for Onyx…”
“But it wasn’t. He’s f—”
“Do not say he’s fine, Kalen! He is definitely not fine.”
“I know. But he’s waiting back home for you. They all are.”
“I know but—”
“No buts.”
“I’m really worried about Baxter. Will we be doing this all over again when we get home?”
“I know. But I promise that we have the best of The Order searching for him. They’ll find him. Alive.”
“And when they do, I’ll kill him,” I vow.
“Atta girl. Now, are we done crying by the grave of some dude you didn’t even know? Can we go to the party now?”
“It’s called a wake, you asshole.”
“I think you mean arsehole.” He grins and winks at me, then pouts. “That’s no fun. I was hoping it would be called something different down under.”
“Please don’t ever say that again. In fact, don’t try to do an Aussie accent again ‘cause you’ll get your arse kicked. And I won’t defend you.”
“Harsh. We’re family. We’re supposed to stick together.”
“Let’s go, Kalen.” I shake my head at how incorrigible he is, but I guess his plan worked. I stopped crying, put my Onyx and Baxter demons back in their box, and even managed a joke and a smile.
“I think this is going to be good for me,” I tell him.
“What is?”
“This. Being here, in Australia, with you.”
“Two whole weeks to live it up, Aussie style?! Fuck yeah! Let’s do this!”
