Dance in Shadow and Whisper (Marionettes of Myth #1)

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

 

Toivo wasn’t simply our chauffeur.

He was the third member in our team.

And how was he to get away with his silver hair? Our court of officials had borrowed a trinket from the fae to enact glamour for him. His hair turned to a convincing shade of black and his ponytail shrank to a more reasonable length. It was a simple spell, because aside from his manly silver hair and his football player physique, he blended right in with everyone else.

And he acclimated seamlessly.

He didn’t do the awkward shuffles that I did. He didn’t dodge the smell of hairspray and cologne like I did. He didn’t break down into tiny pieces when the bell screamed. Unlike me, he’d been around people all his life. He’d attended a public, multi-species college, had many jobs, and had friends and parties. He had come home many a time smelling of alcohol and sex.

And he looked good. He knew he looked good. With his hair blackened, in fact, he looked more like dads than he should have for sharing no genetic connection.

I felt the hot stares of human girls as we walked side-by-side. I felt the sudden grinding halt of their conversations so that they could watch him walk past in his jeans and simple shirt stretched tight across his chest.

The clouds of sticky, too-sweet pheromones made me plug my nose. This was my brother, after all, and I didn’t need to know that there wasn’t a single girl—or boy, it seemed—who couldn’t hold back their own attraction upon sighting him.

When we reached our lockers, I swiveled around to face him. “I don’t like this. This was a bad idea.”

Yuuhi snorted behind me as he popped open his locker and reached for his book. Toivo, on the other hand, shoved his fingers into the pockets of his pants. “What now?”

Yuuhi knew. Yuuhi was aware of my rage, because he took sick pleasure in sneaking sips of my thoughts when I wasn’t paying enough attention to block him out. I could feel his knowledge burning into my backside like a blazing ten-foot fire.

“Because! Look, everyone’s paying attention to you. So much for covertness, right, Mr. Triangle?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s not what you’re upset about.”

“Of course it is! I—” The bell shattered my skull and I fell against the lockers. Toivo and Yuuhi exchanged looks as the flow of teens shifted. While everyone filed in throngs into nearby classrooms, Toivo reached out and zipped through my own locker digits. In a matter of seconds, he had my book pressed into my arms.

And then we maneuvered our way into English class.

The professor’s eyes glazed over the faux transfer document, but she didn’t care much for the writing when she could assess Toivo instead. “Ohhh, a late transfer? Well, then, until you get your own book, why don’t you sit next to…”

I headed to my seat behind Jason. He glanced me as I passed, but that remained the extent of our greeting. He still hated me. I didn’t blame him for it, either. I’d hate me too if my life had been uneventful up until this strange girl in pigtails stepped in and screwed everything up.

But the weight of his hating me hacked at my will to sit upright throughout class. I had little desire to talk about the passage of John Steinback in our book, so instead I focused on the back of his head and contemplated how to apologize for all the shit that had happened.

I gnawed on my thumb. How was I supposed to do it? ‘Hey, listen, I’m sorry that you caught me about to spy on you, and I’m sorry that my estranged sister showed up, and I’m sorry she pointed a gun at me and we had to escape into your house and piss your bizarre mother off, and I’m sorry Rajy has your cellular telephone number, and I’m sorry that I have so many apologies.’