Masquerade (53 page)

I smiled. Just like that he had
transformed from a sullen kid to a happy one. Maybe this wouldn’t
be so hard after all. I sat there with him for a while and we joked
and laughed about the comic. It felt good to have a brother
again.

After a while he fell
asleep in a candy induced coma with the comic clutched in his
hands. I pulled out a blanket and covered him. I went to the
ladder, planning to go
see Heven.

When I turned to go down Logan’s
sleepy voice stopped me. “Hey, Sam.”

I looked over my shoulder.
“I was just going to go see Heven. Want me to stay?” It would be
the first night I spent away from her in months, but for my
brother, it would be worth it. “No, go ahead.
But…thanks.”

I smiled. “You
sure?”

“
Go away, I’m sleeping.”
Logan mumbled and rolled taking the blanket with him.

I laughed, he always was
grumpy when he was tired. “I’ll be back in a while,
‘kay?”

He murmured something as I
went down the ladder and he was
snoring
before I left the barn.

Heven

It was very late by the time Sam
crawled through my open bedroom window. That all too familiar
feeling of safety enveloped me.

You’re awake.
He was surprised when he slid beneath the sheets
and rolled to face me.

I’ve gotten used to you
being here. It’s hard to sleep without you.

He smiled and caressed the side of my
cheek with the tips of his fingers. I closed my eyes. Every time he
touched me I felt a long sigh throughout my entire body. I snuggled
closer and rested my cheek against his shoulder, pressing a kiss to
the inside of his neck.

I missed you.

Is
Logan okay?

Yeah. Thanks for letting
him stay here. I don’t know what I would have done with him
tonight.

Sam was sort of in limbo tonight
because he’d already given back the keys to his old place and
wouldn’t get the key to his new place until tomorrow. It wasn’t a
problem when it was just him, because he stayed here every night
anyway.

Maybe you should have kept
the old place.

Nah. We’ll make it work
with the new one. There just won’t be as much space.

Or privacy. I couldn’t help but feel a
little upset about that. It made me feel selfish. I should be
thrilled that Sam’s brother was here; thrilled that he was getting
a chance to have some of his family in his life. I couldn’t quite
get there. I wished Logan had an aura. I don’t know why, but I
didn’t completely trust him. I couldn’t tell that to Sam, and I
needed to keep my feelings about it under control. Our Mindbond
made things tricky. It wasn’t always easy to keep our strong
feelings from bleeding to the other. Logan was a kid and most
likely was confused and hurt by what was happening with his body.
Sam was his only link to anything stable. For Sam I would put my
own fears aside and try to be there for Logan. Maybe he and I could
be close.

Is everything okay?
Sam asked, rubbing slow circles across my back. I
worried for a moment that maybe I wasn’t doing the best job I could
at hiding my feelings. Then he said,
Today
has been a lot to deal with.

He meant Airis and the
treasure.

It’s hard to comprehend
that we have possession of something so majorly
important.

Yeah, I know. Where is
it?

Under my
pillow.

Maybe you should let me
hold on to it.

I knew that it would be
perfectly safe with Sam, but I wanted it close to me. I felt like
it belonged to me.
I kind of want to hold
onto it.

I think that you having it
puts you in danger.

You worry too much,
I grumped. If having it put me in danger, then it
would put him in danger as well. Either way, we were both in
danger, so I decided I was keeping it.
Sam? Something Airis said is bothering me.

Just one thing?
He snorted softly.

I smiled.
I guess that makes me crazy.

I felt his hands in my hair
and his lips on my forehead.
It makes you
naïve.

She said that seeing auras
was not my only gift.

Swiftly he pulled out from
beneath me and looked down through the darkness.
Are you feeling okay? Are you getting those
tremors again?

I’m fine. It makes me
nervous though. What else is going to happen?

He stared at me for several
minutes without saying anything. Then, with a deep sigh he returned
to the mattress, lifting me gently and pressing my head back into
his shoulder.
Whatever happens…I’ll be
here.

My defender.
I loved him for wanting to keep me safe, but it
worried me. If Sam was busy protecting me, then who would protect
him?

“
I know what I am doing
this summer,” Kimber declared, waving a flyer over our lunch
table.

It was finally the last day of school.
The halls and lunchroom were buzzing with nothing but plans for the
summer.

“
Well, doesn’t anyone want
to know?” Kimber asked, dropping into a chair next to
Cole.

“
Let me see,” Cole said,
around a mouthful of burger. He grabbed the flyer and looked it
over. “I heard about this trip,” he said, turning the flyer around
so Sam and I could see.

Sam pulled the flyer closer and kicked
me beneath the table. I abandoned my Doritos and looked down. I
sucked in a breath and got a hunk of chip caught in my throat. It
was sharp and I felt it cut into the sensitive skin. I coughed and
grabbed up Sam’s water to take a drink. The chip went down, but it
scraped the whole way.

Sam’s big, warm hand landed on the
back of my neck to rub.

“
Where’d you get this?” I
asked Kimber when I could speak.

“
Mrs. Britt.”

“
You don’t take
French.”

Kimber rolled her eyes. “You don’t
have to take French to go. It’s a school-sponsored trip, Mrs. Britt
is just in charge of it.”

Sam and I glanced at each other then
back down at the flyer. The words seemed to jump right off the
page:

Trip to Italy

Explore Rome and its
surrounding areas

Learn about other
cultures
–
see
stunning architecture and works of art by the most famous artists
in history.

“
This is a school trip?” I
asked Kimber.

“
Yep. Isn’t it
cool?”

“
Yeah, it is.”
This could be our way to get to the scroll to
Rome.

I’d say it’s our only
chance,
Sam said.

We’d been trying to brainstorm ways to
get the scroll to Rome ever since our meeting with Airis. This was
perfect.

“
I’ve already filled out
the consent forms, and my dad has already signed the check. All I
have to do is pack.”

“
When is the trip?” I
asked. Kimber named off the dates. It was the exact same dates of
that camp my mother was trying to send me off to. “How much?” I
asked. Kimber gave me an odd sort of look. Her aura flared all
different hues. I tried to ignore it.

“
Are you interested in
going?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.” Then, “It might
be nice to get away for a while.”

Kimber’s eyes softened, and she
nodded. Likely, she was thinking of the issues with my mother.
“It’s fifteen hundred dollars.”

I sputtered. “Fifteen
hundred!”

Cole whistled between his
teeth.

“
I doubt my job at the ice
cream shop will pay that much,” I muttered, knowing for sure that I
would never be able to come up with that much money…Sam
either.

“
Maybe your Gran would help
you out,” Kimber suggested.

“
Maybe.” But even if she
would I couldn’t leave Sam behind.

“
Go talk to Mrs. Britt. Get
the permission forms. It would be so cool if you could come,”
Kimber said.

“
Maybe I should come too,”
Cole said, grabbing up the flyer to look at it again.

“
Really?” Kimber asked, a
smile taking over her face. “We should all go!”

I faked my enthusiasm. I did want to
go. Not for shopping and fun like Kimber, but for reasons that she
would never understand.

“
Just turn the forms in,” I
pleaded with Sam. He was being very stubborn.

“
I don’t want to turn them
in until we know if you can go or not.”

Right after lunch Sam and I went to
see Mrs. Britt. There were still spots open for the trip and when I
voiced my concern over the price she told us that there were
scholarships for three students. The school would pay for them to
go. There was one left. I immediately offered up Sam’s name. Being
that he was emancipated and worked so many jobs, Mrs. Britt helped
to fill out the scholarship form and told us he would definitely be
accepted.

Sam was not happy with me. In fact, I
thought he might explode. So I took the permission forms from her
and promised to turn them in as soon as possible. As soon as we
were down the hall, Sam yanked me into a supply closet.

“
What were you thinking?”
he whisper-yelled at me.

“
That there was one
scholarship left, and you needed it!” I matched his whisper-yell
with my own.

“
We have no idea if you’re
going to be able to go.”

I sighed. “Even if I can’t, you have
to. It’s our only way to get the scroll to Rome.”

“
I will not go without
you,” he said through gritted teeth.

“
We made a promise,
Sam.”

“
You
made a promise,” he growled.

He was right. I was the one who told
Airis I would do this. This was my responsibility. I should be the
one to go. Sam grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned down close to
my ear. His breath was warm and tickled my ear.

“
I don’t like when you’re
that quiet. I didn’t mean to yell at you, honey. It makes my skin
crawl to think of leaving you here while I go to another
country.”

I shivered. The scent of him was
surrounding me and his shaggy hair brushed against my cheek.
“Uh-huh.”

He pulled back, just slightly, his
lips pulling into a knowing smile. “Are you listening?”

I nodded.

He kissed me. I buried my hands in his
hair and pulled him even closer. His tongue was the perfect
combination of rough and sweet. My stomach fluttered.

After he pulled back I
rested my forehead on his chest to catch my breath. Soon, reality
came rushing back.
It’s not definite that
I can’t go. I’ll convince my mother to sign the papers. Yours are
already filled out. You don’t need a parent’s signature, you have
the scholarship. Just turn in the forms. I’ll turn mine in
soon.

You’re going to convince
your mother to let you go? Especially during those two
weeks?
Sam was doubtful. So was I, but I
didn’t have a choice. There was no other option. Our lives and the
lives of everyone on that Treasure Map depended on it. I would
trick her if I had to.

Chapter
Thirty-One

Heven

Of course it was rainy and chilly on
the day Sam and I were supposed to fix up his new place. But I
refused to wait another day. He had already moved most his stuff in
yesterday, but we hadn’t fixed it up yet because school sucked up
most of the day and then he had to work.

I was sitting on the front porch of
Gran’s, under cover from the falling rain. My hands were tucked in
the front pocket of my blue hoodie and wrapped around the bronze
tube that held the scroll. I heard the deep rumble of the truck’s
engine before I saw it and my heart picked up.

Moments later Sam was jumping down
from the truck and running through the rain to meet me. He was
laughing and his eyes were warm and the color of honey. He shook
his head and drops of rainwater sprinkled around us. His blond hair
was wet, making it a darker color than usual and framing his eyes
and beautiful face in a wild, playful manner.

“
Hey, beautiful.” He
grabbed me up and smacked a big, wet kiss on me.

I laughed and went for
another.

“
You’re supposed to be all
girly and grossed out that I got you wet.”

“
I will never push you
away. Even when you stink like wet dog.” I laughed.

He made a few barking
sounds and lunged, pulling me closer. He leaned in to kiss me but
at the last second his tongue shot out and he licked me across the
lips. I squealed and stumbled backward, knocking
over a box that was behind me.