The Inner Circle, Book 3 of the Glass Wall ( A YA Urban Fantasy Romance ) (19 page)

Packs of tsunamis. I knew that was an
original Al statement. I looked over at him, contentedly attaching
the chicken coop wire to his baseball cap.

“Where did you learn all of this stuff?” I
asked.

“Just a lifetime of curiosity, kiddo,” he
answered with a wide smile. “Keep on reading. I could use a
refresher.”

I scanned the pages, reading that handheld
flares can get hot when they burn down, so you should never hold
one in your hand while in an inflatable raft, as you could
accidentally drop it and burn a hole in your boat. I also learned
that when you boarded a helicopter, you were supposed to wait until
the pilot dropped a grounding cable in order to avoid getting an
electrical shock.

A couple of things seemed particularly
useful, like how to give yourself the Heimlich maneuver by pushing
up against the back of chair, and the tourniquet points to stop
arterial bleeding—namely, the joints, the crook of the elbow, the
upper side of the knee, and the front of the ankle.

There was a tiny note on the margin of the
page that said if body heat is lost slowly, then rewarm slowly, and
if it was lost rapidly, rewarm rapidly.

And then I came across a page titled
‘Snakes’.

“Here it is,” I said, hoping to find
something useful to thwart the Brotherhood. “Don’t put your hands
and feet in places you can’t see since most snakebites are on the
arms, or the unprotected legs. And don’t suck snakebites or apply a
tourniquet to the wound, just immobilize it with a splint, apply
pressure, and hold still.”

That was it.

I frowned.

“There aren’t any poisonous snakes in
Seattle, kiddo,” Al said, catching my expression. “What were you
looking for?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, closing his
notebook and carefully putting it back in the drawer. “I guess some
way to keep them away from me.”

He put his wire clippers down and scratched
his chin thoughtfully, his expression sobering.

I watched him, thinking that what I liked
about Al the most was the fact that he really listened. No matter
how crazy or silly something sounded, he always respected me enough
to really listen to what I was saying, completely and without
judgment.

And then he said, “Well, if you can’t avoid
them, then grab them by their weak spots. Those snake wrestlers on
TV sure know how to do it.”

I imagined grabbing Blondie by the back of
the neck. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t think these
snakes have any weak spots.”

“Nonsense,” Al said with a chuckle as he
turned back to his hat. “Everything has a weak spot, snakes
included.”

And then with a last twist of the wire, he
patted his hat and slapped it on his bald head. Looking down at me,
he winked. “This hat stays on as promised, Sydney.”

I smiled at him and held out my pinky.

“Pinky-promise.” He beamed as we locked pinky
fingers.

We had just finished another Faraday cap when
Ellison’s Volkswagen pulled up into the driveway and he, Grace, and
Betty piled out.

“What’s this, honey?” Betty asked as she came
in and set a bag of groceries down onto the kitchen counter.

“Oh, just an experiment Sydney and I came up
with,” he said, pride evident in his voice. “Actually, more her
idea. This kid has quite the brain on her.”

I smiled. His approval made me feel warm down
to my toes.

As they all began to chatter, I escaped to
the family room with my bags in order to wrap my Christmas
presents.

Al and Betty didn’t have much of a tree, but
they did have one of those tiny ones with a flapping mouth that
blinked its eyes and sang once you hooked it up to an MP3
player.

I’d just finished arranging my presents
around it when everyone came into the family room.

Grace deflated onto the couch and heaved a
loud sigh. “It’s Christmas tomorrow,” she said with a grin. “We can
watch the Christmas Day Parade.”

“And play Monopoly,” Ellison added.

They traded fist bumps.

And then Al settled into his chair and
fiddling with the remote, switched the TV news on.

The news anchors were talking about some
famous reporter who had made a mistake, live, on national TV.

Al fixed his gaze on the television and
frowned deeply.

But as his frown intensified, I turned my
attention to the screen.

“Let’s take another look,” the news anchor
said and sat back.

Footage began to play of a TV reporter
standing in front of the huge Christmas tree in New York Times
Square. She was talking about the enormous Christmas crowds when
suddenly all of her words came out garbled and a look of confusion
crossed her face.

And then the news anchor came back on to
confer with some neurologist who explained that the reporter had
suffered some kind of sudden migraine on camera.

“Look at that,” Al said, shaking his head. “I
think I’ll give Jack a call.”

Grace and Ellison grinned, but I didn’t share
their skeptical humor. I, too, wanted to know what Jack
thought.

Oblivious
to their amused
looks, or at least pretending to be, Al disappeared into the
kitchen.

I followed.

I hung around, petting Tigger and washing
dishes as Al chatted with Jack.

After a few minutes, he hung up the
phone.

“Jack says there’s dozens of these cases,” he
informed me, crossing his arms emphatically to make the point.

“This has happened before?” I asked,
surprised.

He leaned forward and answered in a hushed
tone, “They’ve been testing what they have lately. Jack says these
TV reporters speaking gibberish are all
dry runs
.”

I believed him, except for one thing. “I
don’t think it’s the government doing it, Al,” I said.

I was sure it was the Brotherhood. Maybe it
had something to do with the portal they were trying to open.

“It’s time to do some research,” Al said, his
keen eyes narrowing. “Come on, kiddo.”

I followed him to Betty’s computer and
pulling up a white plastic chair next to his, sat down as he
clicked on a folder titled ‘Top Secret’. In it were a handful of
links.

But we didn’t get far. Almost immediately, we
were interrupted by the doorbell, followed by Betty’s shriek.

I jumped out of my chair in alarm, knocking
it back onto the floor.

But then I heard Betty laughing, and a tall
man dressed in fatigues stepped through the door.

Giving me a reassuring pat on the head, Al
righted the toppled chair and then joined Betty to hug the
newcomer.

“Sydney, come meet Louis,” Al called from the
entryway as Grace ran squealing from the family room to give the
man a hug.

Louis, it turned out, was Al and Betty’s son,
home from the army, just in time for Christmas. He was a big, burly
guy with freckles and bright red hair.

I didn’t think he looked anything like Al or
Betty, but he was just as big-hearted and loving. He gave me a hug
and called me ”little sister”, and then shouldering his duffle bag,
headed to the family room to “make camp”, as he called it.

I hung around the door, listening to everyone
talk, and then Betty decided to clear the corner of the living room
for Christmas. We all pitched in, moving EBay boxes filled with
things like pet vacuum cleaners and devices to exercise double
chins away until we’d revealed a fireplace that I never knew we
had.

It was fun, and they were all laughing pretty
hard. I watched them all, a little jealous. It had been a long time
since I’d really laughed.

Al brought several logs in from the garage
and had a fire crackling in no time. It bathed the room in a cozy
orange glow.

And then Grace ran into the room with a large
package of marshmallows and a few sticks. Gathering around in a
circle, we speared the marshmallows on the sticks and roasted
them.

I’d just had my third marshmallow when the
doorbell rang again and another man arrived. Another son named
Alec, fresh out of boot camp.

He didn’t look like Al or Betty, either.

I watched him wrap Betty in a great big bear
hug, and then suddenly feeling like an intruder, I escaped to my
room.

I really wasn’t too excited to be there.
After all, I still hadn’t recovered from my visit from the evil
tulpa. But the first thing I noticed was Galahad perched on the
edge of the curtain rod.

He had a piece of paper in his beak, and he
spat it at me as I entered.

Catching the fluttering scrap, I read the
words, “Your babysitter.”

I smiled a little at Jareth’s thoughtfulness
even as my heart tugged at the thought that Ajax would no longer be
there because Rafael had gone.

Frowning at myself for thinking of Rafael yet
again, I pulled the baseball cap securely down on my head and
glanced up into Galahad’s creepy unblinking eyes.

He looked super grumpy, and I wondered if all
Fae animals were ornery and anti-human, at least at first. Ajax had
warmed up to me towards the end.

The end.

I scowled and refused to think of it.

Turning to Galahad, I extended the olive
branch of peace. “I can tell you don’t like being here,” I said.
“But thank you, anyway.” I bowed a little.

Galahad just looked at me and then ruffled
his feathers.

I didn’t know what it meant, but I pretended
it was a bird-version of “thank you, I like you, too.”

Kicking my shoes under the bed, I played with
Jerry a little before plopping down on my mattress. But I was
restless, and I didn’t want to fall asleep. I didn’t want the tulpa
to come back.

I still had Al’s night-vision goggles on my
dresser. Taking them up, I peered out the window. I didn’t see
anything. I wondered if that meant the Fae had truly gone.

It was beyond depressing to think that Rafael
was no longer here and that I’d never see him again. And then for a
brief moment, I thought I saw him, an impressive sight dressed in
black body armor. But then he was gone, and I was left wondering if
I had seen only what I’d wanted to see.

I put Al’s night-vision goggles away and sat
back on the bed.

I knew better than to even try to sleep when
feeling depressed. Apparently, that had drawn the mutant tulpa
straight to me.

But then, I hadn’t been wearing Al’s Faraday
cap.

Pulling the cap even more down over my ears,
I laid down and attempted to work on my Pikachu tulpa.

It was very hard, and gradually, my eyes grew
heavy.

Scooting down under the covers, I drew a
blanket over my head. The Brotherhood might be sending the mutant
tulpa my way, and I might not be able to stop it. But I sure didn’t
want to see it.

Morning couldn’t come fast enough for me.

Finally, pure exhaustion overcame me, and I
closed my burning eyes.

My heart was heavy.

Already, I missed Rafael. I knew that I’d
never recover from losing him. There was no doubt that I’d carry a
great big hole in my heart for the rest of my days.

And then I felt it. A feather-light kiss on
my cheek.

Tiredly, I opened my eyes.

For one glorious moment, I saw Rafael bending
over me, tall and handsome in his black body armor.

I felt a heady rush of feeling.

And then raising two fingers to his cheek in
farewell, he disappeared in a mist.

I knew then that it had to be a dream. He
couldn’t shift.

Depressed, I turned to face the wall. Right
now, I didn’t care about anything else but how much my heart was
hurting.

It was a long night. I only slept in fits and
starts, and when the next morning came, I straggled into the
kitchen, feeling exhausted.

Another newcomer had arrived during the
night. David.

“I didn’t know you had so many brothers,” I
mumbled to Grace. It was strange. They all looked about the same
age, and I couldn’t see any family resemblance. I wondered if they
were kids from previous marriages.

But then Grace broke into my thoughts.

“Yep,” she said over a mouthful of cereal.
“I’ve got three brothers. Louis just got out of the army, and Alec
and David just joined.”

Alec was short with dark brown hair, and
David was blond and lanky.

I figured they must be adopted, but then
Betty must have seen the curiosity on my face because she gave me
my answer.

“I could never physically have children, you
see,” she explained with a warm smile. And then her eyes misted as
she surveyed the three men towering around her. “All of my kids
arrived in unique ways, but they’re my kids all the same.”

My brows lifted in surprise, and then I
looked at Grace. I’d always thought she was a biological kid.

“I’m adopted,” she said, chomping down her
last bite of cereal. “One of those foster-to-adopt deals.” She gave
me a wide grin.

“I wanted a girl,” Betty explained, looking a
little embarrassed. “Not that I don’t love you boys. All three of
you.”

Their laughter made the kitchen floor
vibrate.

And then Betty started flipping pancakes and
everyone pitched in to help.

I watched Betty and her kids, and I was awed
by the love in the room. And suddenly, I was a little jealous.

I think Betty saw it on my face.

Glancing over at me, she said, “We still have
room in our family. I’ve always thought ten kids would be a good
number.”

Al just laughed.

“I certainly wouldn’t mind having two
daughters,” Betty continued, giving my arm a gentle squeeze. “I
know you have a mother, honey. I’m not trying to take her place.
But if you want, you can always think of me as a backup.”

My throat tightened with emotion. And then I
managed a sort of garbled shy laugh. “Who says you can’t have more
than one mom?” I asked, tightly squeezing her hand.

I’d called her “Mom” to myself already, but I
couldn’t bring myself to tell her that.