“Suspects him for what?” Cameron said. “For killing his brother a thousand years ago? Whoever that was would have aged. He can’t possibly know anything.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I scrutinized him with a dubious expression. “You mean besides the fact that both you and Jared have superhuman abilities? He was there, Cameron. He saw what I saw.”

“His mind will create a scenario that’ll fit with his interpretation of events. Most likely, we were both on some mind-altering drug that gave us super strength.”

I had serious doubts it would be that easy this time, but who was I to argue?

“What is that sound?” Brooke asked, squinting into the darkness outside.

“It’s rain,” I said. “And wind. Again.” I sat up and placed my back against the headboard. “So, what is going on, Cameron? I mean, really? Too many strange things are happening at once. Like a convergence of bizarre activities.”

“I think it’s beginning.”

“What?” Brooke asked. “That war thing you guys keep talking about?”

My stomach lurched just thinking about it. I didn’t want a war. Especially not one that relied heavily on my abilities to stop it. Unless I could convince the invading army to stand still long enough for me to get a vision off it, we were toast. Whole wheat. Extra crunchy.

Then again, what good would a vision do us? I was no Joan of Arc, that was for sure. She may have led men into battle, but I was more of a “lead the school choir in a moving rendition of ‘One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall’” kind of girl.

“If you weren’t stuck guarding me,” I said to Cameron, “you could hunt down that new kid, Vincent, and find out what’s going on.”

“I don’t believe in that game,” he said.

I frowned. “What game?”

“The what-if game. There only is.”

“Okay, Mr. Miyagi,” Brooke said. She sank back into her blankets. “I still think you should get some rest and let me take point for a while.”

The expression on his face turned to one of horror. “And just what would you do if something happened? Moon the enemy?”

“What enemy, exactly?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

I had a feeling he knew precisely what I was asking, but I humored him anyway. “I mean, you and Jared keep watch all the time. For weeks now. Against what? What are we supposed to be on the lookout for?”

“Anything unusual.”

“Like, every single thing that has happened this week? Unusual like that?”

After drawing in a deep breath, he said, “Yeah. Pretty much.”

“And then what?” I asked, pushing for more intel. “You guys get to go do cool guy stuff while I sit here and be all protected, but from what, exactly? From whom? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much my hours at the store have dropped. How often my grandparents send Brooke and me to the church to study the documents of the Order. Funny how there’s always someone there. Always someone on guard duty. It’s suffocating.”

“What’s suffocating,” he said, turning to me with purpose, “is when your enemy has you by the throat and squeezes until the blood stops flowing to your brain, until your lungs feel like they are filled with acid because they can’t get oxygen, until your head feels like it’s going to explode.” He turned back to the window. “But, yeah, I can see where being protected would be suffocating.”

I ground my teeth. “That was uncalled for. I was just trying to make a point.”

“Well, then, I suggest you keep trying,” he said with a soft grin.

I burrowed under my covers again and glared at him. Brooke did the same.

“Glaring doesn’t really affect me, but you can keep at it if it makes you feel better.”

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” I said to him as my lids drifted down.

“You didn’t.” He looked out into the darkness. “Something else did.”

GHOSTLY

I sneaked down to Jared’s room about an hour later, unable to sleep when I found out something was out there. Cameron could feel it, sense it, as he had for days now. Were they taunting him? Trying to get him to come after them as they had Jared? Either way, the realization was enough to push away all thoughts of sleep.

I tiptoed into the room. Granddad lay in the recliner, snoring, and Mrs. Strom sat in a chair by Jared’s bed. She had hooked up an IV and a monitor, probably borrowed from the hospital.

I sat on the bed next to Jared, stroked his hair, ran my fingers along his full mouth.

“Hey, pix,” Grandma said. She’d apparently come in to check on things too.

I tried to bite back the disappointment. “Hey, Grandma.” I wondered how much she knew about my paternal grandparents. Did she know my grandmother was tortured? But, wait. What if she did know? What if she took that very thing into consideration when she took on all that was me after my parents disappeared? What if it kept her awake nights, knowing she could suffer the same fate?

She looked over at Granddad. “First time in years I’ve slept without that buzz saw going, and I can’t sleep. Guess I’m used to it.”

With a smile, I said, “You must be.” I noticed Cameron sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. My constant shadow. “Cameron, you can come in here.”

“I’m good. And there’s a fridge in this room.” He stood and went to raid it.