THE MAYFAIR MOON - The Darkmoon Saga I

Chapter 9 - Starting Over

My body was stiff; my hands pressed firmly between my knees. I realized that the colorful specks swirling in my vision were from staring at a lamp too intensely. I didn't notice that Zia never answered my question. I think I had forgotten I had asked one.

There was a knock at the bedroom door, which instantly pulled me out of my reverie.

"You may enter," Zia commanded regally. I would've laughed at that if I hadn't been so numb at the moment.

In walked Isaac. "She thinks she's royalty," he said, then turned to Zia. "He needs you to stay with Aramei for a while."

I could feel Isaac's secret glance pass over me without actually having to see it, and I struggled to keep from looking up at him.

"For how long?" Zia asked as she stood from the bed.

Isaac shrugged. "No idea. He just told me to tell you."

He? He who?

Isaac looked straight at me then. "Did Zia tell you to stay away from the Vargas Family?"

I nodded.

"And do you believe her enough to listen?"

I wanted to throw him a contemptuous glare for thinking he had the right to talk to me like I was a child, but I simply nodded again.

"And did she explain that if your sister shows back at home, you should call us before you do anything else? And that you and the rest of your family shouldn't do anything to anger her?"

"Umm...no. And what?" My brows bunched in my forehead. I turned to Zia for answers.

"I didn't get that far," Zia told him. "But thanks for covering that part for me." Her smile was cheerily sarcastic.

I stood beside Zia and crossed my arms tight against my body. "Why don't you two tell me what's really going on with my sister? I don't appreciate the weird hesitations and the covert glances between you." I'd meant for it to sound as harsh as it did, no longer caring if it came off insulting.

They exchanged another suspicious glance, and I threw my hands into the air.

"You can't expect me just to ignore that my sister has run off to live with some...cult. Who, according to Zia, could kill me if I tried to get her to come home." I put my back to them and gazed out the window. The trees looked cold; naked, frightening branches jutted stiffly into the sky.

"You told her they would kill her?" Isaac said with reprimand.

I swung around, hands moving straight to my hips. "Hey, don't slam her for that. I think that's pretty important information, thank-you-very-much."

Isaac smiled faintly at Zia—and me? Zia tried to stifle laughter by biting down on the inside of her cheek.

"You're right," Isaac said. "I just think you should be careful. Stay away from all of them, and keep your family away too."

"None of this makes any sense," I said. "In fact, it sounds crazy. I should just go to the police."

"Their dad's...a criminal," Zia said, though it felt made up. "Suspected of being involved in the murders of three people. They threw it out of court because there wasn't enough evidence. And his kids—well, like father like sons, y'know."

My eyes tapered downward. I didn't believe her, but I ignored my doubts for now. Obviously, she wasn't going to give me the whole story—or the real story—no matter how much I asked or demanded. But I knew she was lying.