Wildcat Fireflies (40 page)

I didn’t remember ever hearing my dad say those words before. I didn’t answer him. If I had tried, even to lie, I knew I’d lose what teeny bit of composure I had left.

“Mer-D!” Sammy squealed into the phone. “Miss you. Miss you.”

“Hi, Sammy.” My shoulders relaxed and my soul smiled. I pressed the speaker button so Tens could hear my brother too.

“When are you coming home? We get to share a room! It’s got a view of the dolphins and the manatees. And we can walk to the beach every day.”

“Wow, that sounds fantastic.” I knew they were in Miami from the area code.

“I miss you.”

“I know. I miss you too.”

“Did you get my letter? Jo said he’d give it to you.”

“I did.” I giggled, thinking of Sangre Warrior Josiah answering to the nickname Jo.

“Are you coming soon?”

“I don’t think so, kiddo.”

“Daddy told me you’re a superhero now. Do you have a cape and mask too?”

Tens cracked up into silent guffaws.

“Um, well,” I stuttered.

“ ’Cuz that’s so cool. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“We have to move soon. I hate moving. Maybe we can come to your house?”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Now I understood why Josiah let me have a contact number for my family. They were leaving this address, so no Nocti would be able to use them against me, us, again.

“I get a new name.”

I glanced up at Tens. New names?

“Sammy, that’s enough.” Dad’s voice cut in. “Say goodbye.”

“Bye, Mer-D. Come home.”

“I love you, champ.” I blinked tears out of my eyes and let them swim down my cheeks.

Tens rubbed them clean for me.

“Meridian?”

“Yeah,” I answered my dad.

“We’re going into a protection program of sorts. Josiah’s setting us up.”

“I see.”

“It’s for the best. Safest for your brother to start over. Without knowing about you.”

“I understand.” Were they wiping me out?

“We will remember you but be unable to say your name. When Sammy is ready, Josiah has promised to unveil Sammy’s memories, too. Josiah says when Sammy sees you again he’ll remember everything.”

“Oh.”

“It’s the only way to protect you and us.”

To go back to being a secret? That was the only way?

“I’m sorry.” He ran out of apologies.

“I know.”

“Let me talk to her,” Mom yelled.

“Goodbye, Dad.” I hung up the phone as my mom’s voice continued to plead in the background. I couldn’t handle more. I didn’t need her to feel better right now. I wasn’t ready to absolve her.

“I’m gone?” I looked up at Tens and crumpled.

“I’m so sorry. So sorry. I didn’t know—” Tears dripped down his face and mingled with mine. “I wanted you to have them back.”

I nodded. Me too. “Oh my God, Tens, that’s it!” All at once, I knew what Juliet needed to remember. I grabbed Auntie’s journal to confirm my suspicions.

“N
icole?” I called into the attic. I felt someone watching me, that itchy, uncomfortable feeling that I couldn’t shake.

“Juliet?” Nicole’s voice made me jump and turn around. She wasn’t in the attic at all.

“I thought you were up there?” I asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Let’s go in here.” She motioned and we ducked into the Green Room.

I saw Enid’s head go slack and her breathing even out. I’d watched enough kids try to fake sleep to know what she was doing. “It’s okay, it’s just us,” I said to her.

Her blue eyes twinkled as she cracked them, then sat up. “That terrible woman gave me more pills.”

I held out my hand and she handed them to me. I glanced at them. I’d lived here long enough to know pills by the shape, the print, the color. “This one isn’t for sleeping, it’s for cholesterol.” I picked up one and held it back out to her.

“No pills. What’s the worst-case scenario?” She smiled sadly, resigned.

I respected her acceptance and took the pill back. “Then just cheek them and one of us will come flush them later.”

She nodded. This room seemed so large with only one bed in it.

“What do you need?” Nicole crossed her arms and craned her neck up at me. For the first time I realized how tall I was compared to her.

“I’m really
hungry
,” I said, hoping that Nicole would understand me.

“Oh.” Nicole’s eyes widened and she began to shake her head. “But Mistress and—”

“I have to.” The drive to make eggnog, quiche lorraine, and a chocolate pots de créme was overwhelming. So much so that I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Glee’s favorite foods were clamoring for attention.

“You know girls, I haven’t been hungry in ages, but what I wouldn’t give for my sister’s secret-recipe eggnog. Oh, and her quiche lorraine was the best in the world. She never would tell me what she put in that eggnog, though.”

“Bailey’s,” I answered without thinking.

“What, dear?” Enid perked up.

“Bailey’s Irish Cream. In the eggnog. That was the secret part.” I bit my lip. How did I explain the inexplicable?

“I won’t ask how you know that because I can see the truth in your eyes.”

Nicole reached out and touched my arm. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Really?”

“With my life. You’re scaring me.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“What?” I asked, as we heard the familiar chug of the kid transport van turn into the drive. “Is it one of Ms. Asura’s days to visit?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Nicole joined me at the window. Outside black clouds rolled along the horizon, breaking like whitecaps in the stormy sky. “Are we supposed to get a storm?”

“Maybe—” I started to answer her.

“Juliet, is it time?” Bodie ran into the room and threw himself at me, latching onto my waist with his tiny but manacle-strong arms.

“Time?”

“Is it your birthday? Is she here to take you away?”

“No, honey. I don’t think so. Not yet.” I didn’t know.

“What’s this? Take you where?” Enid piped up. “Why is the little boy so upset?”

“Who’s in the car with her?” I leaned against the window
and peered down into the van below. “It’s Kirian!” My heart raced and my feet followed.

“You won’t leave?” Bodie gasped sobs, grabbing my leg.

“Bodie, let go of me. I have to go downstairs,” I snapped at him.

“But—”

I peeled him off and thrust him at Nicole.

Mistress bellowed up the stairs, but I was already halfway down the back ones. I skidded out of the kitchen, into the foyer.

“There you are.” Mistress glared. “Where’s Nicole?”

“Right here.” She came down the stairs with the blank, serene face I’d learned hid numerous talents.

Ms. Asura poked her head around the front door. “Girls, girls, how are you?”

“We need to talk,” Mistress snapped at Ms. Asura. She didn’t pretend to be nice, which surprised me. I thought they were best girlfriends.

“Yes, we do. Juliet, begin to pack your things, please. Your birthday is right around the corner.”

“She’s not sixteen yet,” Mistress barked.

“We’ll see.” Ms. Asura smiled in a way that completely dismissed Mistress. “Be lovely and bring up coffee to the office?” She asked like she owned the place. I saw Mistress narrow her eyes, but she said nothing as she started up the steps.

Ms. Asura pointed to the side yard and mouthed to me,
Kirian
.

“He’s outside in our spot,” I said to Nicole. “He has to be, he was in the car.”

“I’ll take up the coffee, but I don’t think you should—”

“Thanks!” I kissed her cheek, but didn’t wait to hear her suggest caution. Nicole didn’t trust anyone.

I closed the back door and leaned against it, wishing I had lip gloss, or a nice haircut, or pretty clothes.

“Hello, jewel in my crown.” Kirian peeked out from between the hedges. From a boy to a man, the transformation was spectacular. He stood a head taller than me, with broad shoulders and bulging biceps. His dirty-blond hair had been shaved in a tight crew cut that drew attention to the chiseled look of his jaw and the strength of his chin. A tan kissed his skin golden. A hoop dangled from one earlobe and a thumb ring glinted in the sunlight. Sunglasses covered his eyes and mirrored my own back at me.

As he wrestled through the foliage, I wondered for a minute if he’d forgotten about the poison ivy growing in there. But then his charisma shoved all thought from my head and I didn’t try to hide my smile. He’d come back to me.

“Romeo.”

He swept me up in his arms and held me tight. So tight I almost couldn’t breathe.

“I missed you, my sweet.”

“Me too.”

“You’ve grown up. Let me look at you.” He held me at arm’s length and inspected me from all angles until I felt a quiver of discomfort.

“You sound different,” I said. I struggled to see the little boy who’d been everything to me and the young man who’d taken beatings to protect me. All I saw was a man who could have walked off a movie screen.

“I’ve grown up. Traveling the world will do that to a person. Come sit with me.” He pulled me through the hedges toward the woods, where I realized he’d set up a picnic along a fallen log. A breeze ruffled my hair and reminded me it was only February. Not summer. He wrapped me in a blanket and poured hot chocolate. There were chocolate-covered strawberries and pastries.

“Marshmallows, right?” he asked, popping a couple into my mug.

I’d never liked them, but he loved them. I shrugged it off. It had been years. “I can’t really stay.” The trees around us billowed and clapped, like an audience at a play. While my hair struggled to untangle itself from my braid, not even the collar on his jacket seemed to move.

He shrugged me off. “We have time. All the time in the world.”

“But Mistress …” Maybe he didn’t remember how bad this place was. It had been three years.

His mouth thinned. “Trust me. The meeting will take a while.”

I fell silent, sipping from my porcelain cup. The hot chocolate tasted bitter. My tongue begged for eggnog instead.

“I came back for you. Only you.” He smiled, flashing perfectly white, straight teeth. I didn’t remember him having straight teeth. Hadn’t they been crooked?

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“All over the world. You’ll love Paris. You got my cards, right?”

The three of them. “Yes.” I nodded.

Clearly I hadn’t shown enough enthusiasm, because
Kirian put down his cup. “I had to make money for us, didn’t I?”

“You were adopted, right?” I pressed.

“No, I joined—” He broke off. “After I turned eighteen, then I traveled.”

“Where is your family?”

“They’re everywhere.”

“Would you have stayed?”

“Here? At DG? Why would I have wanted to do that?” He seemed genuinely poleaxed that I might suggest it. “Besides, no one ever stays.”

“But why do we have to leave on our sixteenth birthdays? Why not eighteen?” I pressed.

“Well … it’s an opportunity, Jewel. Trust me, you won’t have to clean another bedpan or teach a kid to use the toilet.”

“But—”

“What’s with all the questions? I had to take the deal. For you. For us. But I’m back now and we can be together.”

I fell silent. That wasn’t all he took before he left. And what deal? “Why do you still have your sunglasses on?”

“It’s bright out here.” He waved me off.

“But—”

“Jewel, get off my back.” His tone stung, but he dove into a croissant, not noticing my reaction to his words.

I clammed up. Then tried again. “How much was in your savings account?” I asked, hoping he might shed light on what was going to happen to me on my birthday.

“What?” he grumbled, his forehead creased, but I couldn’t see his eyes.

“The savings account? Ms. Asura says we get paid—” I broke off when it became clear Kirian had no idea what I was talking about.

“Oh, yeah, that,” he said, trying to brush off his evident ignorance. “Look, just do what Ms. Asura tells you to do. It’s not that hard to be what they want. And all of it I did so we can be together.”

“What are you talking about? Be what? What did you do?” I wanted to scream in frustration. I felt like we were having two different conversations. One where I asked questions and one where he answered questions I hadn’t asked.

Mini meowed and pranced out from behind a tree. She came up and wound around my back, leaning against my shins.

Kirian leaned forward. “Who is this beauty?” He started to reach a hand out as if to pet her.

Mini hissed and swiped the back of his hand with her claws. Dark blood immediately welled up in the tracks across his flesh.

“Mini!” Horrified, I swooped her up, dropping the blanket at my feet.

“What the hell? You should drown that cat.” Kirian grabbed a cloth napkin and held it to his hand.

“She’s never done anything like that before. I swear—”

“A stray? Really, Jewel, I thought you were better than that. If you want a pet, I can buy you a pet.”

“She’s—” I broke off.
She’s my friend. She comforts me and loves me and keeps the dark at bay. If you’d stayed, I wouldn’t need a cat to be my family
.

“Kirian?” Ms. Asura called from the front of the house. “Time to go.”

“Crap.”

I started to clean up the picnic, keeping Mini behind me, away from Kirian.

“Leave it. You’re not a servant.” Kirian stilled my hands and pulled me away from the mess. “It’s just, I love you, you waited for me, and now we can be together. Trust me. I’ll take care of everything.”

“But—”

“Kirian!” Her tone was shrill and demanding.

“I’ll come back. Trust me? We’ll be together soon.” He leaned into me, pulled my hips tight against his, flattened my breasts against his chest, and kissed me. My teeth felt too big for my mouth and in the way.
This is how he always kisses you. He takes, not gives
.

He bounded away. “Soon.”

I peered around the corner of the house, my fingers on my bruised lips. I watched him get into the van with Ms. Asura. They seemed to argue before driving off. I picked up the remains of the picnic and stuffed them deep into the hedge. I’d be the one beaten for the mess if Mistress found it.