Cian

I shuffled back into my house close to—but not at—midnight. Lucie's taste was still on my tongue, her touch remaining on my skin, each one of her words clinging to my eardrums. Sand dusted my hair and clothes, a reminder of the time we'd spent together. It had been a successful trip, I'd thought, considering she was no longer pissed at me. Was it that she really did trust me to handle this, however, or had she just given up on fighting me?

I tried not to think about it.

The chandelier was off, as was every other light in the house. With a sigh, I climbed the solemn staircase and headed down the hall, in the direction of my bedroom. Vinny and my parents were both likely asleep by now, and I didn't mind drifting off myself; the night was stretching long.

My hand was on the doorknob to my bedroom when I heard the front door click open. I froze for a second, wondering if it was an intruder. I hesitated there, watching the shadows dancing across the walls, listening to the unbroken silence that the night hours brought.

When I stopped, that was when I heard it. The jingle of a pair of keys.

My tension only released a little.

I risked a trip to the banister to investigate, and shivered with unease. It was my father who had walked in the door, hours later than normal. From my vantage point, I could see how rumpled his suit was, as if he'd thrown it on hastily.

He rarely worked late, and when he did, he told us first. My heart palpitated a little; I tried to convince myself it was nothing more than coincidence. An accident. Maybe he'd just forgotten to mention it to us.

Dad's head lifted towards the banister I clung to.

I slipped into the shadows.

Before Lucie had taken me, Whole Foods was the last place you'd find me. It had always seemed to competitive, as if you didn't belong if you were not obsessed with kale, quinoa, or the orange lemons Lucie always had to remind me were not actually orange lemons. Now, however, I came at least once a week. Not because Lucie dragged me there or anything; I had too much dignity for that.

They just had good cookies.

"It wouldn't kill you to gain some weight," Lucie had told me once, after I'd picked her up from school once, earlier this year. "You're practically a stick."

To which I'd replied, "Well, I'm one sexy stick." She hadn't denied it, either.

What I hadn't said was that I'd been more meaty once, had more muscle on my bones. After Vinny had died, in that dim time when I'd been trying to convince myself I still grasped that futile thing called normality, I stopped eating. It was like pulling teeth to get me to eat a piece of fruit back then, and I hadn't exactly gained the weight back. Not that it matters anymore, now that I have my brother back.

I stepped out of the Whole Foods with a chocolate chip cookie in my hand, still warm. The chocolate melted in my mouth as I took a bite; as I rounded the corner towards my Escalade, I made a mental note to buy Vince one of these sometime. He was devouring practically everything recently—I guess two years without an operating stomach had certainly built up his appetite.

Just as I was reaching into my pocket to search around for my keys, I thought I caught a flash of night black hair, disappearing behind my car. I slowed my approach, my throat feeling tight. It couldn't be her, could it? I hadn't seen her since...

"Eden?" I said. She was leaned against the backseat's exterior door, her arms folded across her chest, cascades of dark hair like a curtain around her shoulders. She looked the same as she had that day in the cave: intense midnight eyes, pensive frown, her arms folded across her chest as if she were a sentry. She was nothing like the Eden I'd known before, but I'd realized that a long time ago. "What are you doing here?"

She lifted her eyes from the ground; sunlight reflected off her inky eyelashes, making them glimmer like gems. "We need to talk, Cian," she told me coolly, centering her weight away from the Escalade.

"I haven't seen you, talked to you, in two months, and that's all you have to say?" I replied, then added a small smile. "You're not going to at least act like you missed me?"

"Cian," she snapped. "Don't act like we have any sort of relationship anymore. Sure, I was your best friend once, but we left that behind. You left that behind."

"I'm not the one who went off the record right after the accident. I'm not the one who tried to exorcise Vinny, either, and I'm certainly not the one who drugged me and kidnapped Lucie! So how am I the one that left that behind?"

Something in her expression flickered towards guilt, but it was so brisk that I could have imagined it. "Cian—"

"You know what," I said, "I don't care. While you're here, I guess I should thank you."

Now she looked openly surprised. Her arms fell to her sides. "Thank...me?"

I averted my gaze, instead paying attention to a stone I was kicking at underneath me. "If you hadn't let Lucie and me go, Vinny would have died again. So I owe you that," I admitted, then took a bite of the cookie she'd interrupted me from eating. Speaking around it, I asked, "What are you here for, anyway? If you're so intense on how it's not like it was before, why do we even 'need to talk?'"

She opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by another voice, one that made me want to throw up the stupid cookie. "Jesus, Miss King. I told you to find him for me, not make small talk. That's not what we're here for."

Nick appeared from around the front of the car, his emerald eyes hidden behind black-tinted shades, hair swept back from his face with likely fifteen bottles of gel. The sight of him repulsed me; I guess I should have known Eden would be working with him. How could I be so stupid?

I looked to Eden, half-hoping for some sort of apologetic glance, but she was avoiding my gaze. "What do you want, Nick?"

"A piece of that cookie would be nice."

I stared at him.

"I'm joking!" he exclaimed a moment later, a laugh escaping him. "Ha! See, I'm laughing!"

"I'm not," I muttered. "If you're here because of your stupid proposal, you can forget about it."

I saw Eden wince, but Nick only feigned a chuckle. Removing his sunglasses, he shot me a dagger glare, shoving his hands into the pockets of his annoyingly bright patterned shorts. "Oh? Is that so? Have you even tried thinking about it, Mr. Horne?"

"I don't need to. Joining you is the last thing I'm going to do; I'm not like you. I don't need your power, not if it's only for hurting people."

Nick frowned. "It's upsetting how you think so little of us; I guess the best way is not to tell you, but to show you, isn't it?"

I clicked my teeth. "There's nothing for you to show! I told you, Nick. You're just wasting my time and yours."

"What would you rather be doing? Maybe...spending time with that fragile brother of yours?"

Eden spoke for the first time since Nick had appeared. To my surprise, she sounded concerned. "Nick, you—"

He shushed her scornfully, then looked back towards me. A cold feeling had began to spread through me. "What do you care about Vinny?" I asked, cautious. I kept flicking my gaze fleetingly towards Eden; it was definite there was something bothering her, but what?

Nick waved my question off, then turned and started waltzing away, as if this had been no more than a pleasant running-into. "I'm just saying. If you're so busy, you should go check on him."

He stopped to look at me over his shoulder. "And I'd rethink your decision if I were you, young Cian."

With nothing more than a call for Eden to follow him, he left me standing there in the parking lot, anxiety slowly snaking its way through my veins. The pained look on Eden's face as Nick had spoke, his cryptic words...

No.

No, it couldn't be, could it?

My heartbeat speeding, I hurried into the car's driver seat, feeling too much like I'd never get home fast enough.

With hope quickly draining from me, I whipped out my cell phone, punching numbers with as much speed as my fingers would allow.