Ephemeral (The Countenance) (38 page)

“She’s a Count.” Flynn looks down uneasy as if even suggesting Casper were another species of any kind was ludicrous. “I take after my mom, and she takes after my dad. It’s a crapshoot, and that, my friend, is how the crap landed.”

We huddle together on my bed, after he rather unceremoniously wrestled a naked Carter right on this very mattress. There may or may not have been contraceptives involved. I guess we’ll know in nine months.  

“Casper’s a Count?” If that’s true, it refutes the theory on why the Counts themselves would take her. “Not unless…” I try to temper my insane premise with a lengthy pause. “Maybe she’s not related to you. Maybe she really was someone else entirely. There has to be something in you that believes her even a little.” I let the idea simmer a moment.

“You think she’s Celestra.” He deadpans. Flynn knows just what that would mean.

“Why else would they want her gone? To shut her up? They could have done that years ago.” I draw my cell quick as a gun. “I’m going to text Cooper. He needs to be here.”

“Flanders?” He looks dismayed. “No thanks.” He gets up and sits at Casper’s desk. He drags his fingers in a circle over the dark stained wood as though that might somehow conjure her.

“Too late.” I hit send and hope he’s not tucked in bed for the night. The scene with Flynn and Carter goes off in my brain, only this time the clothing deficient boy in question isn’t Flynn—it’s Cooper. I try to shake the image out of my head, but I see us playing out like some pornographic movie—involuntarily recasting Flynn and Carter with Coop and myself. I try to replace him with Wesley but it doesn’t work. Cooper buoys his way to the surface. I watch fascinated as he writhes over me with carnal passion, my legs wrapped around his thighs.

My phone buzzes, startling me to attention.

At the library with your other half. B right over.

“He’ll be here in a minute,” I say, swallowing hard—still bothered by the errant fantasy.

“So, what exactly is it that Super Cooper is going to do?” He lays heavy inflection on the sarcastic moniker. “Check the Spectator observatory to see if she’s in there?” Flynn seethes with annoyance.

“You don’t care for him, do you?” I’m only mildly amused that Flynn finds the existence of Spectators an acceptable reality. These people are all so seemingly normal on the outside—well, as normal as you can get when you’re born into a family that has the ability to stock dollar bills in the bathroom as toilet paper and yet, they have no idea they’re trapped in a horror movie.

Flynn takes a breath as though he were ushering out a bad memory and doesn’t say a word.

I study his face for a reason why he, or anyone else for that matter, would be put off by Coop, but Flynn doesn’t give away his secrets. I consider touching him to pry into his thoughts, but I’m afraid he’ll mistake it for an invitation so I change the subject instead.

“About the incident that permanently defiled my pillow—I bid you to move all future fornicating to your own room or that of your carnal suitor.”

“Sorry.” He blinks a smile. “But I wasn’t going to do it on Casper’s bed.”

“It’s nice that you have ethics.” I don’t mean for it to come out as bitchy as it does. “Just a suggestion, Carter’s room is only two doors down.”

“Been there, done that.” He folds his arms across his chest. “Any other exotic locales you’d like to suggest?”

“Beneath Asterion like some altar sacrifice. Who knows, magical things might happen.” Like I wake up in Kansas. Carter and Flynn could prove to be my surrogate ruby slippers.

“I believe a virgin is needed to invoke the black magic voodoo you insinuate. And trust me,” he growls as he says it, “Carter is no damn virgin.”

“Lovely,” I whisper.  

I take him in like this with the light from the computer casting an anemic glow over his skin. He looks sad, alone. A part of me wishes I could fix things for him. Bring his supposed sister back.

“I want to tell you something.” I pause, reconsidering for a moment. Really I should be concerning myself with the prospect of homework, which I’m still not one hundred percent sold on doing since I’m still not one hundred percent sold on the idea that I’m not locked on a psych unit somewhere having a very bad hallucination. “This is for your ears only, and none of it’s a joke,” I whisper. “You don’t have to believe me, but just know that your sister did.” I start in slow and tell him about Kansas, Tucker and the fact his penis had its compass set to other girls bodies—how I was going to carve my initials in his chest just before I ate a mouthful of broken glass. Finally, I tell him about the angel that submerged me back onto the planet. I take a breath and segue over to the fact I followed Casper into the forest that day and leave it at that.

Flynn doesn’t say a word, just alternates his gaze from me to the blackened glass of the window.

“What about Cooper?” The words strangle out of him. “He going to come here and tell me he’s from New Mexico?”

“Cooper’s mother disappeared years ago. Left with one slipper, took nothing else with her.”

“Sounds like Cinderella syndrome,” he says it wry, but without the proper sarcastic inflection.

“Sounds like that syndrome might be catching.” I nod over at the shoe still firmly embedded in his hand.

“Cooper’s mom was a Celestra?”

Crap. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to spout off about Cooper’s lineage. But there’s something about Flynn I trust and I know he cares about Casper. If Casper had any Celestra in her, it could mean the same people who took Cooper’s mom have her hostage as well. 

Flynn lets it sink in. “I heard something about her taking off, but that was gossip. You think they took her?” He looks dazed. “I thought you’d hightail this news to Wes. Why Coop?”

“Wes.” I breathe his name in a sigh and shake my head.

A light knock erupts at the door.

“Come in,” I say, hoping it’s Cooper and not Jen or, God forbid, Wesley.

Cooper’s sweatshirt covers most of the purple welt on his neck, but not all of it, not by a long shot.

God—and he was just with Wesley. I wonder if he alluded to the fact my lips were responsible for the carnage? What if he secretly
wanted
Wes to see it?

“What’s up?” He glances over at a bare-chested Flynn taking up space beside me, clearly unimpressed. “Looks like you’ve got some refuse you want me to dispose of.” He blinks a smile at his barb.

“What’s the deal with the two of you?” Individually they seem like the nicest guys on the planet. How are they possibly averse to one another? “Flynn found Casper’s shoe. Same one she was wearing the day she disappeared.”

“How do you know?” Cooper seems indifferent like he’s too distracted by his hatred for Flynn to delve into the situation or even care.

“It is,” I say. “I noticed them just before she left the room that day. I know for a fact this is one of them.” I take it from Flynn. A long tear gashes through the leather as a living testament to the horror she went through. “Coop,” I whisper, “we need to find out if Casper had any Celestra in her.”

“Bad news,” Flynn says, “she took all her blood with her.” He digs his arms through his T-shirt before pulling it over his neck. He doesn’t seem all that hot on pursing the lead on his sister anymore.

I’ll have to pry into the tension later, find out for myself what’s really going on here. This all-out hatred has me more than slightly intrigued. Logically, I suspect a girl is at the epicenter of the turmoil, and yet, illogically this can never be the same girl. They seem to polarize when it comes to the female population. I look over at Coop, and my stomach lurches at the thought of him with another girl.

They might have a seething hatred for one another but for now I need to figure out a way to unite them. I’d like nothing more than to gash a wound so deep into the Counts, they’ll regret ever seeing my windshield-battered face.

I pick up Cooper’s hand. “You’re looking for your mom.” It comes out soft like a melody. “And, Flynn, your sister is missing.” I pick his hand up in a unifying gesture. “I, myself, happen to have misplaced my sanity, and I’m interested in hunting down all three.”

Cooper relaxes into me. “I need you, Laken—Marky needs you to help us find our mom. I’ll help you in any way I can.” His forlorn eyes signal he needs more from me than I’m willing to give. “I would do anything for you.”

“Why would
I
need you?” Flynn raises his brows, mocking Cooper’s intent.

“Does your sister ring a bell?” I’m shocked he had to ask.

“I can try to find her on my own,” he shoots back.

“Then you’ll have to infiltrate the Counts,” Cooper tells him with a curt tone. “See what they’re hiding.”

Flynn blows a breath through his cheeks, exasperated at the thought. “Shit. I haven’t witnessed a New Moon howling session since I was forced to slaughter a rooster and eat it for dinner. I’m not into that crap.”

“You don’t need to attend any New Moon ceremonies.” Coop darts it out. “I doubt they spill any secrets there anyway. Besides, Laken has Wes. He’s been around for years.”

I shoot him a look.

“Or not,” he corrects. He looks down lost in thought. “Come to think of it, I met him about a year ago. But Ephemeral’s huge, I don’t know everyone.”

I take in a breath at Cooper’s revelation but decide to leave it for now. “So Flynn?” I start. “You’re going to come to my indoctrination Tuesday, right?” I give him a pleading smile, albeit weak and unconvincing. “Who knows what I might get to slaughter. There might even be a shiny red heifer with my name on it.”

“I’d bring the barbeque sauce, but I’m averse to Counts with bad attitudes.” Flynn says, knitting his hands behind his neck.

“You’re missing the punch line,” Cooper says. “A red heifer would imply Laken here was of a sacred bloodline, so pure she could perform ritualistic sacrifices reserved only for high priests.”

“Wow.” I marvel at Cooper and his intellectual superiority. “Thank you.” I didn’t really mean that at all. But I do remember the red heifer from Sunday school—back before Mom’s drinking was bad, when we engaged in life routinely as a family.  

“The point is, you need Cooper,” I nod into Flynn. “He’s the only one who can tell us whether or not Casper has any of that magical blood in her, and, if so, there’s a good possibility she might be alive.”

“And, if not?” Flynn asks as though he were looking for another viable option other than death. His head drops into a solemn nod. “Where we going to get her blood?”

“We can use tissue, saliva—hair.” Coop is quick with the solution.

“There’s tons of hair on her coats,” I offer.

“What about all those blood drives?” Flynn looks to Coop.

“What blood drives?” I ask as a tiny kernel of excitement pulsates through me. If there’s blood, there’s hope.

“Every three months we’re encouraged to give.” Cooper folds his arms low across his chest. He doesn’t take his gaze off Flynn.

“It’s probably banked somewhere. Cooper, your dad—” I’m interrupted by a hard thump.

Jen bursts through the door red faced and hiccupping, her body convulsing as she ventures full steam ahead with the ugly cry.

“Get the hell out!” She screams in hysterics.

I’ve not yet been privy to Jen’s temper. I guess I would have pegged her more the hissy fit type, and yet here she is going drunk sailor on our asses, wielding her purse through the air like a weapon.

Flynn and Coop jet out the door, and I follow.

“I’ll get Casper’s blood myself.” Cooper looks from me to Flynn. “I don’t want to drag my dad into anything.” He rubs the inside of my palm warm with his thumb.
Thank you for trusting me.

Thank you for helping
. I give a knowing smile. I like our shared secret, our own private universe. Somehow this new bond turns the rest of the world into white noise, the only things that really exist are Cooper and me.

We say good night and I head back into my room to deal with the emotional time bomb that is Jen.

39

Playing Jax