Authors: A Kirk,E
Matthias flew into the room.
“Aurora?!” He stopped to look at the crowd. “You’re here already? Good. All hands on deck. Where’s Aurora?”
“Here.” I pushed off the wall.
“Bugger!” Startled, Matthias jerked around then scowled. “Quit playing games. This is serious.”
The Aussie stomped over to my dresser and started emptying drawers into a black duffle bag slung over his shoulder. The rest of us stared at each other, bewildered. Helsing, still on the dresser, arched his back and hissed.
“Shut up, cat. The rest of you, don’t just stand there, help!” Matthias ordered as he continued his frantic assault on my wardrobe. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now!”
I marched over, snatched my bra out of his hands, and shoved it back in the drawer. Something
pinged
onto the floor.
“Is that a projectile from a firearm?” Jayden said.
Tristan paled. “Why do you have a bullet in your br—clothes?”
“Because babe is awesome.”
Couldn’t agree with him more. “I’ll tell you later.”
Before I could retrieve the bullet off the floor, Helsing jumped down, grabbed it in his mouth, and raced to tuck it under the purple pillow in his bed, where he also kept Gloria’s feathers. Then he crouched, glowering, as if daring any of us to take it away.
Great. My cat was a hoarder.
I turned to Matthias. “What’s your problem?”
“You talked to my dad.” He said it as if I’d given U.S. nuclear passcodes to North Korea.
“You’re still mad about that? I didn’t give anything away!”
Ayden’s gaze jerked to me. “When did you talk to his dad?”
“Yesterday. At their house.”
Tristan groaned. “What did you tell him?”
“She lied!” Matthias’s eyes were pale and wild as he kept wadding my clothes into the bag. “You
lied
to my dad!”
“What? I didn’t lie.”
“You must have.” Matthias was breathless.
I smirked. “Well, maybe about you being charming.”
All the boys went immediately still. Matthias shot me a sub-zero look.
“You told him I was charming? Are you an idiot?! Never mind.” He jabbed a sharp finger at me. “Stupid question. Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
I smiled grimly. “And there’s the Matthias I’ve come to know and loath. You’re being ridiculous. I’m not going to tell your dad that I think you’re the biggest jerk on the planet.”
“Yes!” Matthias was back scooping up clothes. “That’s exactly what you tell him because it’s the truth.”
The rest of the boys muttered agreement.
“Oh, come on,” I said, exasperated. “That’s just mean. No parent wants to hear that about their kid. Even if it’s true. I like the sheriff. He actually
is
charming.”
“So tell him
he’s
charming. Because it’s the truth. And you always tell my dad the truth, or you don’t tell my dad anything at all.”
“Relax, dude,” Blake said. “Just because he knows babe lied to him doesn’t mean—”
“No!” Matthias cut in, frantic. “He doesn’t know.
That’s
the problem. I mean he does but…he doesn’t.”
“Oh, no.” Ayden rubbed a palm across his face. “Are you saying that he couldn’t
tell
she was lying?”
Matthias looked ill. “Bingo, mate.”
“Oh, no,” Tristan murmured. “This is bad.”
“What’s the big deal? Would you stop?” I yanked my bra away from Matthias again.
“No.” Matthias grabbed it back. “Because you have to get out of town. Out of the country!”
“Why?”
I stole the bra again and stuffed it in the drawer.
“His dad’s a human lie detector,” Ayden said. “That’s his power.”
“Fascinating!” Jayden was almost gleeful. “Yet another one you’re immune to, so it seems. Like Tristan’s hallucinating. And you can hold Matthias’s whips. Perhaps you should try to drown me.”
I looked at him. “Are you crazy? Next you’ll want me to suffocate Logan!”
“Excellent,” Jayden smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“What?” Logan backed away.
I shook my head. “I don’t get the problem with the sheriff.”
“Stupid!” Matthias said. My bra was back in his grip, flinging back and forth.
Ayden sighed. “The thing is the sheriff knows you don’t think Matthias is charming so he knows you lied. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but in this case it is because when people are lying, he gets a reading from his ability—a sense, vibe, whatever you want to call it—that tells him it’s a lie. But, apparently, when you lied his power didn’t kick in. You’re—”
“Immune,” I said quietly.
“And no one’s ever been immune! Now my dad’s asking questions. Questions I can’t lie my way out of. He knows we’re hiding something. He’s coming here to interrogate her. And us. Not good. We all have to disappear, mates. Pack your bags!”
“Calm down,” Ayden said. “Let’s think this through.”
“And stop grabbing my bra.”
“Huh?” Matthias looked down at the lingerie in his hands. His eyes bugged. “Ahhh!” He tossed it in the air and vigorously wiped his palms.
Blake caught the under garment. “Oh, yeah.”
“Blake!” we all yelled.
“Give it back!” Ayden reached for it, but at the last minute pushed a hand through his hair and looked away. “To Aurora.”
Tristan stared at the floor. Logan had his shirt pulled up to his forehead. Matthias kept wiping his hands on his jeans.
Blake held up my bra and studied it. “Babe, this is better than I dreamed. Lace is sexy.”
“Blake!” I snatched the bra, threw it into my closet. “I do
not
want to know what you dream about.”
“And stop dreaming about…any of that,” Ayden added.
I rounded on Matthias. “I can’t just disappear. My family would freak.”
Matthias paled. “Your family. What if they can lie too?”
Tristan swallowed hard, his skin looking greener the more the hysteria rose in his voice. “If your dad figures out we’ve got a Code Olympus, he’ll call in the whole Mandatum. They’ll take us all out of here. Put us in the Sicarius.” He spared a panicked look at me. “Aurora in some lab.”
“That’s not happening,” Ayden said darkly. “Everyone relax.”
“Let’s relax after we get the tracker while everyone’s downstairs for breakfast,” I told him as I grabbed my backpack and headed into the hall. These guys were seriously cramping my burglarizing style. “You can be my partner in crime. I’m calling it Operation Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Given that Bonnie and Clyde died brutally, I have grievous concerns about whatever this operation entails,” Jayden said.
So did I.
As I worked my tools on Aunt M’s bedroom doorknob, the guys clogged the hallway.
“You’re taking too long.”
“Shut up, Aussie,” I said, irritated because he was right. “You don’t have to be here for Operation Butch Cassidy and Sundance.”
“You’re such an idiot,” Matthias said. “They died in a hail of bullets. Which, if your aunt catches us, will happen to us too. Besides, this isn’t a mission. Not that we name them anyway.”
“D.B. Cooper?” I said.
Lucian came around the corner from the stairway and said, “Missing and presumed splattered on some mountain top.” He grinned. “What kind of mission are you guys on?”
“Heyyy, brrrooo.” I stretched out the words to give myself time for a brilliant cover story. Then the lock pick set clattered to the floor so I went with, “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Lucian folded his arms and stared us down. “Looks like you’re breaking into M’s room to find something she doesn’t want you to have.”
I made a mental note to never use that line with my family again.
“Tell you what,” Lucian said. “Promise you’ll look for my nineteen eight-three Nintendo Entertainment System and I’ll cover for you.”
Tristan’s jaw dropped. “That’s a collectible.”
“Why do you think I’m freaking out she took it? But you’ll have to hurry. Mom sent me to get you guys for breakfast.” He hustled downstairs.
Ayden put the fallen tools into my backpack and said, “Blake.” The big guy twirled a finger, there was a click, and Aunt M’s door swung open.
Show off.
At first glance, nothing in the room jumped out as an obvious hiding spot because it didn’t look like anyone lived there. Set between two windows, the bed was made to military perfection, there were no clothes left out, no dust on the end tables. No suitcase. No sign of M.
“You sure she’s staying here?” Blake asked.
“We’ve only got one guest room, not dozens like you, Mr. Native American Real Estate Tycoon.”
“Hey,” Blake protested. “That’s Mr. Swarthy Native American real estate tycoon to you. And for the record, our house only has one. The cabins are for the dude ranch tourists.”
“And any hunters passing through,” Tristan added. “But Blake’s right. Maybe she moved into the garage.”
I opened the closet to show them her signature blouses, skirts, and blazers pressed and hung in neat order. “She just likes to leave a minimal footprint.”
We got busy scouring the room, but after a several minutes of searching, other than a couple of cool flash drives with tiny password keypads on one side and labeled “CLASSIFIED” on the other, we came up empty. Blake had completely given up, choosing to sit cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed like he was meditating. Incredibly helpful.
“Got it.” Logan crawled out from under the bed, but my excitement died when I saw he held only Lucian’s prize gaming toy.
Someone opened the door. I jumped.
“Time’s up,” Lucian said, then beamed. “You found it!”
Glad someone was happy.
“Bloody failure of a mission. Let’s go.” As Matthias moved past a window, his body suddenly jerked in spastic contortions just before he squealed like a girl and dropped to the floor.
“We’re dead!”
Through the window facing the street, I caught a glimpse of a sheriff’s squad car before Matthias yanked my ankles out from under me.
Great. I could stay and risk getting found out and dumped in a Mandatum prison, or give up the search for the one thing that might get us the drop on the traitor who had me in his crosshairs. Being the Divinicus left a girl with such awesome life choices.
Lucian peered out the window. “Is that your dad?”
Matthias went for Lucian’s ankles too.
I swacked him off course. “Chill out. Lucian, answer the door. Tell him we aren’t here.”
“He’ll know Lucian’s lying,” Matthias ground out. “Or worse.”
“Ah. Yes. That.” I frowned.
Lucian gaped at me. “Did you steal another car?”
“No, I didn’t
borrow
another car,” I said.
“Woulda been cooler. Don’t worry. I owe you.” Lucian patted his game system and wheeled around for the door. “I’ll get rid of the sheriff.”
“No, no, no!” I grabbed at my little brother, but we Laheys are a speedy species, and Lucian had already sprinted out.
Ayden crouched low and waved us out the door. “Out the back! We’ll hide at Tristan’s.”
“Because the sheriff won’t think to look next door?” Tristan said. “Please!”
Matthias slapped Blake’s shoulder as he army crawled past the giant. “We’re going.”
“Uh-huh.” Blake remained in his reflective pose. “Right behind you.”
We raced down the hall and halfway down the stairs before a knock on the front door froze time.
“Coming!” Aunt M pushed her way through the kitchen door and into the foyer. “Don’t they teach you patience at cop school? Or just how to infringe on my inalienable rights?”
Lucian came out of the kitchen beaming. He pointed at M, then himself and gave us a thumbs-up.
At the appearance of my aunt, our group on the stairs had turned to stone.
Because
that
made us so inconspicuous.
But amazingly, M didn’t seem to notice. Helsing met her at the front door and stared out, tail twitching as she cracked it open barely an inch and gave an irritated squint.
“Ick. What are you doing here, Sheriff? You can’t come in without a warrant.”
“No official business today, ma’am,” Sherriff Payne’s polite cheeriness didn’t get Aunt M to budge the door.
“Then you should have no business here at all. Good-bye.”
“I was hoping to talk with Aurora,” Sherriff Payne said quickly.
“Aurora?” Aunt M had started to close the door, but she paused the motion.
Then she turned and stared. At
us
.
Oh, crap.
I sliced my hand back and forth across my throat and spastically shook my head.
She chewed on her lip, then reopened the door a crack, and returned her attention to the sheriff. “Why?”
“She’s been hanging out with my son, Matthias, quite a bit. Thought I should come by so we could all get better acquainted.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Sherriff Payne sounded confused.
“That’s what I said, copper. How’d you become a government enforcer with lousy hearing like that?”
While she spoke, Aunt M moved her hand behind her back, untucked her blouse from her waistband, and very, very slowly pulled out…
A gun.
Oh, crap, crap,
crap!
I made more frantic gestures, but M wouldn’t look at me. The tension from the boys seemed like it was ready to explode.
I told them quietly, “It’s only a tranquilizer gun,” but as it came out of my mouth, I realized the absurdity of thinking that made the situation any better. Because if she shot the sheriff with any kind of gun, all hell would break loose, and it would have nothing to do with a demon army coming through some portal.
Sheriff Payne cleared his throat. “Is there any chance I could speak with Gemma or Clyde?”
Behind the door, Aunt M held the gun up next to her shoulder. “Why don’t you want to talk to me? Is it because I’m fat?”
“You’re not fat.”
“So you’re deaf
and
blind?”
While Sheriff Payne struggled to converse with M, Lucian snickered, and gestured for us to come down. Aunt M gave us a quick sideways glance and an almost imperceptible nod, flicking the gun barrel back and forth to encourage us to move along.
As we approached the kitchen I heard a familiar deep voice. I swung around, collided with the boys, hissing “Bancroft’s here!” then frantically shooed them toward the other end of the house. They disappeared down the hall. I shoved Lucian hard, sending him stumbling through the kitchen door, whispering, “Keep them busy!” I turned around to follow the Hex Boys and make my great escape, but, instead, I uttered a strangled, “Aglck!” and skidded to a halt because my path was blocked.
By Trouble. With a capital T.