Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (10 page)

“Yes.”

“No,” Pain said at the same time as her sister. “Why did I never know that we had a corporate apartment?”

Peter rolled his eyes and got up, coming to his office door.

“That’s exactly why I’m sending you there – this place has never come up.”

“How are we going to live there? What if we have to stay there for a long time?”

“This morning I’ll organize the groceries delivery. We’ll stuff the cabinets and fridges. If it’s not enough, then you’ll order something. The rest you’ll have to bring with you.”

Out of questions, Pain sighed and got up, stretching. The day was beginning to feel endless, and she knew she would have the same feeling in the morning. It made her disoriented, and she hated it. Following her sister, she turned and headed to the exit, but at the threshold she stopped and looked at Peter.

“And what are we gonna do in that apartment all day?” she drawled in a resentful voice. “Play Scrabble and Twister?”

For a change, his face didn’t look stressed when he answered. Only irony colored his eyes.

“Exactly,” he said and pushed the door behind him with his back. “At this time of darkness and chaos, you could use some simple Scrabble-joy.” He thought for a moment, then added, his voice serious again. “Go to sleep. You’re leaving tomorrow at midnight.”

The sisters nodded at that and vanished behind the doors.

“God, I’d play Twister with her,” Dave muttered, following them outside, and Chad chuckled quietly behind his back.

Marco fell in step after them. The building was quiet and deserted, as if nothing had happened. They walked to their rooms in silence, nobody seeming to be in the mood for talking. The bodies were already gone, and the fighters were back in their rooms, doors closed, lights low. Chad wondered if any of this actually bothered the Ghosts: they seemed to have got back to sleep too soon, too easily. Or was it just the order of things here, and behind each of those doors two worried fighters were stressing over the situation? Blaming him and Dave for the danger that was now hanging over their heads? No one at Peter’s office mentioned or even hinted on it, and he wondered if they regretted helping them in the first place. But there was something in all this that made him think the Ghosts actually put their mission first, actually believed they
had
to save them. And not only them; their whole life was dedicated to protecting civilians, so maybe it was just another of their rules or something?

The door banged shut behind them, bringing him back to reality, and Pain cursed, shooting Dave a stinging look.

“No banging doors,” she snapped, reminding him of the rule.

He cringed.

“Sorry,” he said, and then added, “What’s with that rule, anyway?”

Jane decided to interfere before anyone got hurt.

“Fighters sleep after patrols or before them, so it has to be quiet here,” she explained, and Dave gave an understanding nod before taking his shirt off and getting back to his bunk.

When the others seemed to have drifted off, Jane couldn’t sleep. An hour passed, and nothing changed for her. She was too alert, and thoughts were swarming in her head like restless wild bees. One thought repeated more often than the others: that Eugene was always one step ahead of them. She had long ago accepted the fact that he could easily kill them all if he decided so. And now he was the only one who knew the rules of the game once again. Peter had always been a good chief, and people loved and respected him. But he hardly took any action against Eugene, only maintained the defense. And Michael was so different during his time.

Eventually, she got up with a grunt, looked over Pain, Chad, and Dave, peaceful in their sleep, and jumped off her bed. She came out of the room barefoot, wearing only her tank-top and shorts again, and came up to the window at the end of the hallway. It was about three in the morning, and the streets far away were dark and deserted. In the distance, she could see skyscrapers and rare city lights that seemed to wander in the moonlight. She could go for a flight right now, reach those lights in a few minutes, just slide over the city thoughtlessly and enjoy the warm weather. But she was too tired, and it was childish, and they weren’t alone out there, she knew. She would have to bring weapons and gear, and it was so not funny or relaxing. Not to mention that in the morning Pain would find out, of course, and get mad and bug her about how reckless of her it was, how she puts herself in danger and
blah, blah, blah…

“Can’t sleep?” a voice sounded from behind, and she flinched.

She turned her head and found Ryan standing a few feet away from her. He didn’t look like he had any trouble during his mission. On the contrary, he was wearing a perfect gray suit and looked calm and confident, as always. She had never seen him like this before, without the habitual gear or his khaki pants and a T-shirt. She almost felt like it was a stranger before her, like she didn’t know him at all, like this Ryan was a Ryan from some other planet.

Suddenly, she realized two things – she was holding her breath all this time and had stared at him for too long. She exhaled unevenly and looked down at her feet. They were awfully pale. She should have put something on before coming out.

“Did you manage to find out anything?” she replied with a question, breaking the awkward silence.

Ryan shook his head, his lips pursed.

“Not even one of the Beasts knows why Eugene wanted to kidnap the guys. It’s likely he keeps it a secret. We’ll have to get to him to find out something.”

Jane pulled herself up to sit on the windowsill and folded her arms on her chest, shivering.

“Have you reported to Peter already? Do you know we were attacked an hour ago?”

Ryan frowned and stepped closer, his posture tensing instinctively, his look alert and sharp. It was dim in the hallway at night, and in this light his eyes looked unfamiliarly dark and piercing. He really did look dangerous, she realized with a surprise, with his size, scowl, and that jaguar-like grace of his. She wondered why she had never noticed it before. For her he had always been just Ryan, the guy next door, polite and careful at all times. Once she saw him dispatch three opponents with one blow, but even then she didn’t feel threatened by him. And now she did. Actually, she was more than threatened, but she couldn’t quite define what else was bothering her.

“What do you mean, ‘attacked’? Here, in the building?”

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice and cleared her throat for an answer.

“Yes. Two Beasts. The guards were killed. Elizabeth…” she broke off with a grimace. “Marco got the Beasts right here, you can ask him about it. Tomorrow we’ll leave. Peter said you’ll walk us through the tunnels.”

Ryan got even paler than usual.

“That’s why there are doubled guards,” he said grimly, half to himself.

He sighed and reached for the doorknob, and Jane followed his movement with her eyes.

“Good night, Ryan.”

He turned to look at her and paused.

“Wait a minute.” He disappeared in the room for a moment, then got back. In his right hand he had his gray sweater.

“Here, take this,” he wrapped it around her bare shoulders, averting his eyes. It was at least three times bigger than her slim frame. “You’ll catch a cold.”

She looked up at him, smiling involuntarily, and for a moment their gazes locked.

“Jane, I…” he began, but then frowned and fell silent, his pale face defined sharply in the moonlight inches away from hers.

She raised her eyebrows, waiting for his next words, but he just dropped his gaze and stepped back.

“Good night,” he exhaled finally and disappeared inside the room with an amazing swiftness for such a tall man.

She blinked in confusion, and only when the door had already closed, did she reply.

“Good night,” she whispered barely audible and stared at his door. She wrapped herself up in the sweater, immediately getting so comfortable that she didn’t feel like going back to the room at all. No wonder she had always liked this sweater of his, she thought idly, and got back to watching the night city.

*

The sorrow for the killed fighters hung over the place the whole day. There was no laughter in the canteen in the morning, no rowdy greetings and conversations, and the line of fighters by the counter moved slowly in grim silence. Chad, Dave, and the sisters woke up later than usual, and they were among the last ones to have breakfast. Nobody joined them this time, and they ate in silence, watching the room get emptier with every minute until they were the last in there, bathed in the summer sun that streamed through the big windows like a warm yellow veil.

The sisters skipped their usual workout so not to waste their energy in case of probable troubles at night. So at noon, Jane and the guys decided to pay a visit to the cinema hall. Pain preferred to stay in the room, explaining it with a horrible headache and waving away Jane’s concerns about following Peter’s order.

“For God’s sake, leave me alone for an hour, will you? You’ll be one floor away. Trust me, if anything happens, Curiosity will squeal so loud, I’ll hear it up here. Now get out,” and she shoved them out of the room, ignoring Dave’s resentful glare.

The three of them, bored and gloomy, headed to the second floor. In a twice smaller room than the canteen, a few rows of chairs were placed, and there was a big screen on the wall, on which “Eight Below” was playing at the moment. There were also small couches for two along the wall, but they were all taken. Jane paused in the aisle, looking over the place. Marco and Ryan were already there, sitting by the wall with soda and popcorn. All three headed to them without a word.

There were two empty seats by each of them and one more in between, filled with Coke cans and popcorn bowls. Jane took the seat to the right of Ryan, and Dave to the left of Marco. Chad stood in front of the seat between them and looked at Marco, raising his eyebrows. The fighter glanced at him with a frown, but after a couple of seconds took the popcorn with a discontented sigh and put it on his lap. Ryan had already taken away the cans, putting them under his seat. Chad nodded, his grateful half-smile a little ironic, and got seated, seeing that the movie had already begun.

It was about the middle of it when Marco had drunk most of the soda, reaching under Ryan’s seat and getting the cans from there. And when Ryan found the last one and picked it up, Marco reached out for it.

“Give it to me, I got popcorn stuck in my throat,” he whispered hoarsely. Ryan drew his hand away, opening the сan and looking at him with his light eyebrows arched.

“When will you explode finally? You’ve drunk, like, six cans. This one is mine,” he said. “Go and bring some more if you want.”

“I don’t wanna go!” Marco protested freakishly, screwing his face into a grimace. “Give me that damn Coke!”

He reached out for the can abruptly, and this time Ryan wasn’t fast enough. Marco grabbed the can and pulled it to him, but Ryan didn’t let go. Between them, Chad pressed into the wall, staring at the can cautiously from above.

“Let go! People are trying to watch the movie!” Ryan scolded him in a harsh whisper.

“You let go!” Marco retorted. He squeezed Ryan’s fingers, trying to hurt him. Ryan cursed out loud in surprise – at that, half of the room glanced in their direction – and jerked his hand back. Marco’s huge hand squashed the can instantly, making its contents spill all over Chad’s black T-shirt.

“Nice!” he drawled sourly, rolling his eyes.

“Damn!” Marco boomed. “Well,
now
I have to go get a new Coke!” he gave Ryan an angry glare.

“You could have apologized at least,” Chad muttered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, bud,” Marco replied, unashamed, and then wiggled his fingers at him with an impish spark in his eyes. “At least you’re all so sweet now!”

Chad only waved him away, turning to Jane.

“I’m gonna go change,” he whispered.

“You’re not going alone,” she said as she got up from her chair.

“You sit, I’ll go with him. I was going to get more Coke anyway,” Marco muttered and got up with a groan.

Chad couldn’t help but wonder how it felt to be as huge as Marco. Did he ever get on a city bus? Did he find any room in there?

Jane nodded and sat down, returning her gaze to the screen where six fuzzy dogs were trotting through a snowy desert. Chad went to the doors with Marco pushing him in the back impatiently, and when they got to the room, Marco hurried him inside.

“Quickly, quickly, I just love that movie,” he pleaded. Chad held back a wry smile, disappearing behind the door.

And then blinked in surprise as he took in the inside of the room.

Pain was sitting in the recliner, curled up and asleep with her head leaned against the chair’s back. Her legs were drawn up, and a book lay in her lap. The window was open, and the light curtain was flying in the wind like a sail, brushing over her knees every now and then. It got chilly outside, and the blue expanse of the sky was covered with thick gray clouds, the sun hidden behind them. She seemed cold in her thin clothes, her posture giving away that she tried to get warmer before she fell asleep. For the first time in these few days, Chad saw her like this, harmless and defenseless, and he froze at the door for a moment, his attention compelled by the sight, his hand still on the knob. Then he shut the door without a sound and came closer, looking at her book so just to tear his eyes away from her face – it was a romance novel, “One Day”. There was a young couple on the cover, a boy and a girl kissing in the middle of a street.
Surprising choice for a cold-blooded Beasts-hunter
, he thought. He’d expected something more like “how-to-punch-a-hole-in-a-man-with-one-blow-manual” or “where-to-hide-the-bodies-of-those-who-annoy-you” stuff. Well, he guessed he didn’t know her at all, did he?