First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (12 page)

“We didn’t hear anything,” Victor said. He waved me on. “You go ahead.”

Gabriel’s face reddened some more until his ears were pink. He put an arm around my waist and then urged me on toward the stairs. There was an odd collection of smells, but the thickest was a fresh spray of Kota’s spice scent. Had Gabriel sprayed it on himself just now? “You go, Vic. She should go downstairs.”

I shared a curious look with Victor and then walked away with Gabriel.

“I’m not in a hurry,” Victor said but moved in toward the bathroom.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I can wait...”

“Trust me,” Gabriel said with a stronger tug I couldn’t resist and let him guide me down the stairs. “Remember, Sang. Boys are smelly. You can’t judge.”

It was clicking in what he was referring to when Victor cried out, “Gabriel! Oh my God. You drank too much milk again, didn’t you?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and grimaced. He spoke through his clenched teeth. “Motherfucker needs to shut up right now.”

“You can’t drink milk?” I asked. We’d reached the bottom of the stairs and I pushed the door open, stepping onto the wood floor in my bare feet, feeling the chill compared to the carpeted stairs.

“Not quite as much as I did last night,” he said, landing behind me with a thunk and shutting the door back behind us. “But Luke was trying to eat all the cookies by himself, so I had to hurry to get into the contest. I couldn’t swallow as much cookie without milk.”

“What contest?”

“Who could eat the most cookies,” he said. “We do it every year.”

“When did this happen?” I asked, blinking at him. “Where was I?”

He stopped in the hall, his orange shirt clinging to his body, the flannel pants sagging a little around his hips. He lifted the hem of the pants to adjust them on his narrow waist and looked over my shoulder at Nathan setting the table before returning his gaze to me. “After you went to sleep. When we put out the presents. We ate the cookies that were set out for Santa.”

I remembered they had done that, a whole plate of sugar cookies had been set out on the coffee table. “Aw,” I said and pouted. I had missed things simply by going to sleep.

“Hey, hey,” he said in a stronger tone, and shoved a finger into my lips, pushing them back against my teeth. “Don’t you start.”

“That just sounds fun,” I said. “A cookie-eating contest.”

“Breakfast,” North said in his deep voice, coming out of the kitchen with some paper plates. His face had a night’s growth of beard, and it made him appear a little older and dangerous. He positioned the plates around the table—settings for nine. “No cookies until after breakfast. Or maybe not even until after dinner. I don’t think there’s any left.”

“Fuck, how do you hear us?” Gabriel asked. “Every time...”

“You’re all noisy,” North said. When he was finished setting the plates, he went back into the kitchen.

Gabriel and I padded along behind him into the kitchen, where Nathan was toasting bread, and Kota had the microwave running; I could smell bacon cooking.

“What did she want?” Silas asked from the other side of the kitchen where he was leaning against the doorframe.

“Cookies,” North said. “And the answer is no.”

“Cookie contest,” I said. “Luke and Gabriel had one last night.”

Silas laughed in a boom that echoed through the kitchen. He folded his arms across his broad chest, appearing bigger than usual in his blue tank shirt. His arms bulged as he leaned against the wall. “You couldn’t survive a cookie contest with any of us.”

“I could, too,” I said, even as I doubted it. But I did have an idea how I might be able to although it did require cheating. “It’s whoever eats the most, right?”

“Usually within a minute or two,” Kota said. The microwave beeped and then he pulled out the cooked bacon. “Otherwise, Luke would make himself sick. North, you might as well let her. It won’t be long until they have their Christmas candy anyway.”

“Moot point,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think there’s any cookies left. Luke and I finished them.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll find some,” Kota said.

I used the time to go to the bathroom down the hallway. By the time I returned, Gabriel, Luke, and Victor were sitting in the living room around the Christmas tree. Max was with them, lying on his side in front of them as they examined the gifts piled under and around the tree.

I’d never seen a room so full of gifts before. I could have stacked them into a mountain shape and it would have been taller than the house. Some of the packages even appeared bigger than me. Shiny wrapping paper glittered under the dozens of lights on the tree.

The tree itself was dazzling. I’d seen it the night before with the multicolored lights glittering against all the different decorations. While there were a few red and silver balls, a lot of the other ornaments were handmade, or were filled with photos of past Christmases.

There were stockings hung over the small fireplace and more were scattered around—at the base and some on top of the mantel. All were stuffed full.

I’d been surprised people in South Carolina even had fireplaces in their homes. I’d heard a rumor while I was still living in Illinois that people in the south didn’t have them.

I couldn’t see the names on all the stockings, but I counted that there was enough for everyone, including Max.

Gabriel, Luke, and Victor sat quietly together, gazing at all the items. They said nothing, and I watched quietly from behind them, unsure if they even knew I was behind them. Luke, bare-chested and wearing baby blue pajama pants, was gazing sleepily at the tree. Gabriel petted Max absently. Victor was sitting cross-legged near a heap of presents, simply looking over the pile of packages.

Not wanting to disturb them, I snuck away quietly. When I got back to the kitchen, there was a paper plate on the stove, heaped with sugar cookies.

“My mom keeps a stash in a tin in her bedroom,” Kota said. He stood beside the stove, grinning. “It’s so Luke and Gabriel won’t try to eat them all on Christmas Eve.”

“Kota!” Erica’s voice traveled from the kitchen table. “Grab the strawberry jam, will you?”

Kota winked at me and then went to the fridge, getting out a jar and taking it to the table.

Silas remained with me in the kitchen. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. “You couldn’t beat me at eating cookies,” he said.

He was one of the few I was pretty sure I could beat. I smiled slyly and then picked up one of the cookies from the counter. They were glittering with red and white sugar crystals on top. “I only have to eat more than you do in a minute,” I said.

“My mouth is bigger,” he said with a grin. “If you’re going to try, you’re welcome to. You’ll just owe me after.”

I’d almost forgotten that they wanted things when you lost their games. I hadn’t considered that would be part of it though it didn’t deter me from the challenge.

I held the cookie in front of my face, inhaling the sugar. “Who’s got a timer?” I asked, not answering Silas directly.

North appeared in the doorway, found us hovering over the cookies, and then narrowed his dark eyes at Silas. “Don’t encourage her.”

“She started it,” he said.

North shifted his dark eyes to me. With the shadow of a beard on his face and the deepening frown on his lips, he was terrifying. “Sang,” he said. “If you make yourself sick on cookies, you’ll have to go back to bed and then we’ll all have to wait to open our gifts.”

“I’m not going to get sick,” I said. I put the cookie down so I could hop up and sit on the counter. My plan required being able to brace myself, and I could do it better if I was at least almost level with Silas. I brought the plate over to my lap to hold for easy access--the important part of my idea was having control over the plate. “Will you time us?”

North groaned and then shrugged in defeat. “Hang on. Let me get some milk out before you two choke to death.”

Voices from Erica, Jessica, and Nathan drifted from the table as they ate and talked. Kota returned for napkins but then lingered in the doorway to watch.

North placed two cups of milk next to us on the counter and then got his cell phone out. He pushed at the timer to set it up. “One minute only, you two. And that’s it.” He held it up and showed it set to count sixty seconds. Then pushed the button as he said, “Go.”

I let Silas grab a cookie. I held onto the plate with one hand and used the other to take a cookie and took a bite. It was a lot of sugar and more than I would have liked, especially first thing in the morning. I had a fleeting thought that it probably would have been better to do this after breakfast.

Silas was teasing me by eating slowly, slower than I knew him to normally eat. Still, in three bites, the cookie was gone.

I stuffed the rest of the cookie into my mouth, the red and white sugar crystals falling from my lips back onto the plate. Before I’d finished, I grabbed another one.

Silas reached for one more, but I moved the plate away by tucking it almost behind me on the counter, keeping a wide grin on my face as I chewed.

Silas smirked and then stepped closer. “Hey,” he said.

I lifted my foot until it was in the middle of his chest and pressed it against him, holding him and the plate away while trying to finish...and not laugh, choke and die.

Laughter erupted from the two doorways to the kitchen. Nathan had was standing next to Kota in the dining room entryway, his face reddening as he snorted with laughter. Victor stood at the opposite end on the living room side. He chuckled and his fire eyes sparked to life.

North rolled his eyes but still smirked.

Kota crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “Come on, Silas. You can get more if you want.”

I quickly braced my foot and leg against Silas’s chest and then tucked the plate more behind me, out of his reach. Then I lifted another cookie and shoved it into my mouth.

Silas leaned against my foot, smirking, but then started pressing against my leg a little at a time using his strength and weight. He was testing me, but I put every ounce of energy I had into holding him off.

I laughed and then choked a little on the cookie in my throat. I coughed but didn’t give up the fight.

Silas froze immediately and then eased off of my leg. “Give me some.”

I passed him a cookie and then picked up another two. Again I grinned, and coughed, a bit of sugar stuck in my throat.

Victor moved around so he could pick up the milk and hand it to me. “Drink,” he said.

I put the cookies onto the plate and then took up the milk, drinking, eyeballing Silas with a wary gaze over the glass. He finished his second cookie but then held his hand out, but I was busy drinking. I gave him a piece of a broken one before I picked up more for myself.

Kota rolled his eyes. “You’re going to let her cheat like that?”

“She almost choked,” Silas said, holding his ground. My foot was still on his chest, but he wasn’t fighting anymore. He looked at me with pleading eyes. “Come on, Sang. Let me have a few.”

“No-o-o,” I said with a chuckle, but then stuffed another cookie in my mouth.

North looked at the timer. “Fifteen seconds left.”

With that, I ate one and a half more cookies. I offered Silas another half.

He rolled his eyes, but then leaned down and let me feed him the cookie from my hand.

North said stop when the time was up. I’d eaten four and a half cookies and Silas had eaten three.

North shook his head. “Well, at least you didn’t puke.”

“I didn’t have to get sick if Silas didn’t actually eat them all while trying to win,” I said and slid off the counter. “Besides, there’s still some cookies left over for everyone else.”

North smirked and poked me in the shoulder. “Smart ass.”

Kota groaned and shook his head. “Silas,” he said. “You let her cheat and get away with it.”

Silas lifted his shoulders in a heavy sigh. “Look at her face,” he said. “She wanted to win.”

I grinned, offering around the plate of cookies freely now that the contest was over.

Silas turned to Kota. “Are you telling me you can resist her?”

The way he said it, made me still because I wanted to hear Kota’s answer.

“You can’t baby her,” Kota said, although he said it with a smile. He gave me a different look than I was used to. It reminded me of Mr. Blackbourne: challenging, making me want to sit up straighter. “Make her play fair,” Kota said, keeping his eyes on me.

“It was just cookies,” Silas said. “Besides, now she has to ask me a favor.”

I reached for the glass of milk to give myself a moment to think because I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to what sort of favor I’d ask of Silas.

“Do you want to give them to her, or have her earn them?” Kota asked.

He was smiling, but the way he straightened his stance and sent a challenging look my way told me he was talking about more than a cookie-eating contest. “Play time is fine; I’ll give that to you. You might not always be around us, though. You might need to play by the rules. Not everyone will understand or be accepting of your cheating.”

His suggestion hinted at my future within the Academy and possibly a future that put me on another team. I put the glass down, looking for someone else—anyone—to provide a little reassurance.

However, the others kept their heads down, looking at their feet, or the counter, or something else—anything that wasn’t me. Clearly the possibility of me being on another team was something they all knew about and considered to be a possibility. Were they worried about the outcome at the end?

The playful mood was broken. Somberly, I put the plate down on the counter. How could I believe if they didn’t?

“Sang!” Gabriel cried out from the other room. “Did you eat yet? Come see.” 

KOTA’S FEARS

N
orth begged me to eat some bacon and drink more milk. He suggested I avoid toast since that was just more carbs on top of the sugar I’d already had. He sat next to me at the table, eating his own bacon and sliced peaches. “You’re going to crash hard in an hour and sleep through the whole thing.”