Authors: Cheryl McIntyre
Nick sighs. He doesn’t have the patience for Lila right now. In fact, he’
s fairly certain his patience
is
all used up for the day. He h
as filled his quota with Keely and he’
s a first come, first served kind of guy. “What are you doing here, Lila?”
Lila clicks her tongue. “I came to check in.” She crosses her arms in front of her. “I wanted to see if you had figured anything out. From what we discussed yesterday, I mean.”
“No, I haven’t.” He raises his brows. Is she really going to bring this up in front of Keely? “You could have called to check
in.” He glances over at Keely,
who happe
ns to be watching them intently,
then back to Lila. Slits his eyes in an obvious glare. Hopes she takes the hint.
Lila plops in between Keely and Nick on the futon. “What are you watching?” she asks.
“Seriously? Nobody is going to bother to elaborate?” Keely asks, her v
oice several octaves higher than normal
from annoyance
.
“Lila is just referrin
g to what I told you about earlier
. About how I think someone may be playing both sides.”
Lila raises a questioning brow. Nick ignores it.
Keely looks at Lila. She looks back to Nick. Her eyebrows crinkle while she thinks. Would Nick say this in front of Lila if he thought she were the traitor? Keely finds this doubtful.
So, if Nick doesn’t think it’
s Lila, then that leaves Bryon and Dustin. Keely cannot imagine either one of them being a traitor. Of course, a few days ago she wouldn’t have b
een able to imagine them as Watchers
either. Not that she knew Watchers
even existed a few days ago.
Keely closes her eyes. Forces herself to concentrate. Bryon just wouldn’t do something like that. Especially after he begged her for another chance. Not unless that was just an act so that she would trust him again. Dustin is much too in love with Lila to betray her. He is always staring at her and never seems the least bit interested in
anything to do with
Keely. However, if Bryon could be acting, then so could Dustin. Keely looks back
to Lila.
If Nick thinks she’s o.k. then she must be. Keely forgets she is staring at Lila as she thinks through this dilemma. Why does Nick tru
st her more than
the others? Keely’s eyes trail over her profile. Then do the same to Nick’s. And that’s when she sees it.
The same shaped chin. Similar irregular
shaped
noses. Although their eyes are different colors,
the shape is identical. How could
she
have
missed it before? It is so obvious no
w. Lila may be pale and petite
and Nick tall and fit,
but she is sure.
“You’re brother and sister.” The wo
rds stumble out of her mouth, c
ome out accusing.
Lila and Nick exchange a look. “Yeah. I thought he would’ve tol
d you that by now,” Lila states dryly.
“I’ve been a little sidetracked. Keeping Keely safe kind of took priority.”
“Well, you would just think that it may have come up in conversation over the past few days is all.”
“You cannot be serious. Your feelings are actually hurt that I didn’t tell Keely you were my sister? It’s not like I avoided it. It just didn’t come up. Our usual topic of conversation is more along the lines of, ‘Your dad is trying to kill you,’ and ‘You can trust that I am
not
trying to kill you.’”
“Except
my dad isn’t trying to kill me,” Keely interrupts before Lila can make a reply.
“What do you mean he isn’t? He sure could have fooled me,” Lila says.
“You know, I nev
er understood—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah
. You’ve never understood that saying. Kee
ly has been making dream visits
and just told me about it,” Nick declares.
Keely glowers at him as her cheeks warm. “It’s a stupid saying,” she murmurs through clenched teeth. “And like you said, there was a lot going on.”
“Dream visiting.
That’s…wow. I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t met anyone
that can do it
. So, you’ve visited your father?”
Keely nods.
“What did he say? Why do yo
u think he wants you alive
?”
“He seemed surprised when I said something about Apophis trying to kill me. He denied wanting me dead. Apparently I’m worth more to him alive. I guess I’m supposed to do something.”
Nick’s jaw tightens. Lila turns and looks at him. Keely can’t see her expression, but guesses what it must look like by the guilt c
lear i
n Nick’s. Confused, she is about to ask
about it
when Lila
speaks.
“
No
, Nick.
That’s why you haven’t called D
ad. You can’t do this. It will ruin you. They will never give you work again.”
“Lila, just shut up,” Nick spits. He clenches his fists. Takes a deep breath. Rearranges his features as he says, “You really should’ve called.”
“Icky-
”
“You’re wrong, Lila. I didn’t find that part out until just a
little bit ago. I didn’t call D
ad because I am still trying to figure ou
t what the right thing to do is
and who can be trusted.”
“What’s going on?” Keely asks.
“If your dad needs you alive, it changes things,” Lila begins.
“
Lila, I said shut up.” Nick’
s voice
booms in the otherwise quiet room.
“Changes things how?” Keely whispers.
“It doesn’t change anything, Keely. I am still your Guardian,” Nick answers firmly.
“That’s not true. She deserves to know the truth, Nick.”
“It is the truth. Nothing has changed for me.” Nick runs his hands through h
is hair. His eyes are blazing
when he looks at his sister. “Lila, please.”
After an agonizing minute of Lila staring a
t Nick, she puts her hands up
. “I’
m with you n
o matter what. You know that. But you have to tell her, Icky. She has to know what to expect.
And this just doesn’t sit right with me. Something feels really… off.
” Lila le
aves quickly
without another look in Keely’s direction.
The ticking of the clock is the only noise for longer than Keely can
bear
. She knows something is wrong. Understands it means so
mething bad for Nick and her
. Knows Lila is against it, but will go along with Nick because she’s his sister.
Finally, Keely slides off the couch. Kneels
in front of Nick. “Talk to me
or I’ll assume the worst.”
“It’
s nothing
.”
“
Nothing? No, this is something. What’s going on? What is Lila so upset about? What did she mean when she said it changes things? What things?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“And you deflect a lot of questions.”
Nick stares at her. His hazel eyes penetrating. “It really isn’t anything. Just an overreaction. Lila can be like that,” he answers.
“
You said you wouldn’t lie to me.”
Nick flinches as if she slap
ped him.
“Lila has such a big mouth.” Though he already knows
the answer, he asks her anyway.
“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
Keely shakes her head.
“It may be nothing.”
Keely pu
rses
her lips to keep from screaming at him. How someone can infuriate her to the point of wanting to punch him, and at the exact same time, make her heart pound and her stomach flutter is so unnerving. “Tell me.”
“As long as t
he Hierarchy
doesn’t find out, everything is fine. Or, at least the same as it is now.”
“The Hierarchy? The same Hierarchy
that assigned you as my Guardian?”
Nick nods acknowledgement.
“Finds out what?”
“That your dad needs you alive.”
“I don’t understand. What difference will tha
t make?
”
“
It might not.”
“But?”
Nick smiles sadly. “Can’t we leave it at that?”
“Sure. I’ll just ask Lila. She’ll tell me the truth.”
Keely
turns on her heel and heads for the door. Nick grabs her arm, stopping her.
“You can’t leave.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not safe.”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to come with me then.” She tries to pull her arm away, but
careful not to hurt her,
Nick holds
on
securel
y
.
“It’s not that simple.” His eyes plead with her.
“Just tell me, Nick. None of this has been simple. What is so different now?”
“Now t
he Hierarchy
may want you dead and I’m afraid I am not enough to protect you.” The words
spill out of him, slipping
off his tongue.
Keely is able to pull her arm away from him now with little effort. She opens her mouth, then closes it. Tries again.
“Why?” She recalls a conversation with Nick. One
where he had said t
he Hierarchy
would do w
hatever it took to keep her alive
. Why would they want to kill her now?
“Your dad wants you alive. Needs you alive for some reason.”
That’s right. Back when they thought her father was trying to kill her, he had told he
r they would keep her safe
. So now that he wants her alive… Well, apparently the opposite is true. “I just can’t win. One way or the other, someone is going to kill me.”
“
It may not be that bad. They probably don’t know yet. I don’t see how they can know. Not if
we don’t tell them.
And if they were to find out
,
t
hey may just want to reassign me. But
I am your Guardian. That doesn’t change for me.
And if they were to do anything drastic, I’d be there.
When I took my O
ath, there wasn’t a declaration of who I was guarding you from. I will
do whatever I can to
protect you, Keely.”
He is standing so close to
her now. S
he
look
s up
at his pleading eyes
. “And besides, like I said, if they don’t find out, then there’s nothing to worry about. But no one else can know abou
t this. Don’t tell anybody
.
”
“You’re still not doing what you’re supposed to do. If they find out later, you could lose your job?”
“
You’re worried about my job?” He laughs. “
They won’t find out.”
“But if they did?”
“They won’t.”
“Nick! Just answer the damn question.”
“I might not
be assigned again. But
they won’t find out if we don’t tell them. It’s all right. We have bigger things t
o worry about right now. Like
who is betraying us.”
Yes, there is that. Though Keely wants to argue more,
she is almost glad
she is sucked back in
to figuring out who the traitor
is. Lila is surely out. She wouldn’t betray her brother. At least, Keely doesn’t think so. But she doesn’t think the others would either. Maybe Nick is wrong. Maybe there isn’t a traitor. Maybe Apophis is just that good. He knew where she lived. If he knew her class schedule, which wouldn’t be hard to get, then he would know there is only one bathroom near Mr. Giordano’s class. Mr. Giordano. Keely had forgotten about him. Could he be the one?
“Who do you think it is?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I want to believe my friends wouldn’t do something like this. I want to believe that they are better people than that, but the evidence is there.”
“What about Mr. Giordano?”
“It’s possible.”
Nick moves back to the couch. Sits with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. “He’s a good man. At least, that is how I’ve always perceived him. He’s been like a mentor to me. He was my teacher. He taught me most of what I know. It’s hard to believe he would do this.”