Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Thirty

Let's see, the parking lot ramp is here. The sign for the complex, there. I plotted from memory and photograph, to drawing. Shaking out my right hand to loosen a cramp, I readjusted the cushion I was on. Comfortable in my pajama shorts and a fitted tank top, I sat with legs crossed, hunched over my sketch pad, opened to the ongoing drawing. With my gaze going from a photograph I had taken out the apartment window to the newly penciled background behind Spatula Man, I grabbed the water bottle Indy bought for me while shopping and took a swig, grimacing when I discovered the water was gritty.

Yes, what I'd sketched was accurate, right down to the few smokestacks and warehouse no. 5 of the fireworks factory that could be seen across the four-lane interstate.

Blinking away my artist's focus, I set the water bottle on the table and went for my crayons, thinking that the entire composition was finally coming together, thanks in part to details I regained during my nightmares.

Outside, a gust of wind blew a wave of rain into the side of the house, and I grinned despite the inclement weather. Micah was out retrieving his motorcycle, my shoes, and the aura cloak from where we left them on the hillside. The storm booming in the distance couldn't seem to curtail the expectation of my guardian walking through the front door at any moment, soaking wet. Micah with damp, wavy hair? Ah yeah. My toes curled against the cushion, and I lifted the lid on the crayons. I've gotta find an excuse to get my fingers into that!

Shaking my head, I frowned at the crayon box as I second- guessed that last thought. "I've really got to curb this misplaced enthusiasm," I muttered, inspecting what was left of my crayons after Trevor and Aaron got hold of them the other day.

I just had a wonderful, awesome, heart-pounding experience, and I'd come away from it breathless and aching for more. But that didn't mean I was ready for more. Nothing changed the fact I wasn't physically strong enough. Yet. I wish I were.

There were bite marks on the white crayon, and the orange had its point bitten off, but at least they spared me my green, and as I withdrew the crayon from the pack and edged a fingernail under its paper wrapper, loosening and peeling, my gaze rested on the new water bottle.

It was randomly kind of my aunt to get it for me, but she didn't do "random kindness." That she was going out of her way to get me something after Micah had made a show of getting me peach jam made me wonder if the two were starting some sort of gift war. And then there were also the new shoes, also given to me after the jam, but supposedly bought before that in New York...the small detail did smell slightly fishy at the time. Hmm, I tilted my head to one side, reconsidering. Well, whatever the order of it truly was, there were far more detrimental types of wars to be had than combat with presents, but still, things were becoming increasingly strained between them.

I leaned over the sketchpad, using the crayon's smooth side to work a hint of green wax into the sky above the fireworks factory. I pulled the color across the smokestacks, filling them in as a sign of their transparency.

As far as I could tell, devvis that lived together in small groupings weren't unlike pack animals—like wolves—who organized their members by rank. Since returning from the completion of his people's guardianship training, Micah said he had earned the highly revered title of Savior. His new rank surpassed Indy's Human Control Specialist position in their culture, and therein was our problem: he now outranked his elder cousin.

I chewed on my lower lip and dragged the crayon across the page. That she was still holding on to her position as Alpha over our threesome without so much as acknowledging that the group dynamic had changed was troublesome. Especially since I was new to all of this.

Done with the green, I set the crayon aside, and a clap of thunder—closer this time—made me jump. I wondered how long things could go on like this, tense, on edge, until something between Micah and Indy finally snapped.