Ghost Perfume | ✔

Epilogue

I walked downstairs, thinking only of a glass of water. I still felt as if I could sleep another day.

Oh, they were all here.

I stopped at the threshold to the living room. They didn't see me.

Michael sat on the armchair that seated one and only one, with his elbows on his knees. His head was bent in thought. His dark curls hung over his forehead, hiding his thoughts.

Alexander lay in half-recline on the couch meant for three, though he took up most of the space with his outstretched legs. His fist propped up his head. His eyes were impatient and dark on Michael.

Lukas leaned against the wall, one leg bent with the foot against the wall, his arms crossed, and he too watched Michael. But there was a bright glint to his merry eye, as if he thought that wherever Michael's thoughts tended, they tended in his favor.

Gabriel stood by the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He would have seen me if he'd looked towards Michael as the others did. But he gazed outside. The calmest of the four. He almost seemed back to himself.

"You know the majority opinion,'' Alexander said.

Michael's hands clenched where they lay between his thighs.

"You all have grown reckless,'' he said, "because you've come to rely on me to restrain you. You know I would never allow the consequences to run out of control. So you push and push, safe in the knowledge that I'll stop you.''

Lukas scoffed. "What are you saying, that we voted yes because we knew you'd vote no?''

"Give us more credit, Michael,'' Gabriel said.

Michael's shoulders curled down further. His hands reached to grip his hair. "When is it my turn to let myself be a little reckless,'' he whispered, "so someone else can stop me?''

"Go ahead,'' Lukas said immediately. "Vote yes.''

Michael's knuckles turned white.

"I'm just going to say this once,'' Alexander said. "I'm not breaking down any more doors.''

Michael's head snapped up. He glared at Alexander.

"But you'll grow more careless, I think,'' he said. "You'll blur more lines. And one day all our patience and restraint will have been for nothing. And we'll lose everything that matters.''

Alexander held up his hand, looking furious as he opened his mouth.

"Give us more credit,'' Gabriel repeated and turned around.

I moved back quickly, out of his sight.

"I'll also admit we may sometimes get carried away, but -''

"How are you,'' Michael said in his scary voice, "going to convince me that you won't get carried away again? And not today, not tomorrow. I mean next month and next year and the next again. How do you convince me that she'll be safe from you?''

I finally guessed that they were talking about whether I could move in with them.

"I swear,'' Lukas said, as serious as I'd ever heard him. "I swear from this point forward and for the next two years, I am the perfect, human big brother.''

"I swear it too,'' Alexander said in his gravelly voice.

"I swear it,'' Gabriel said softly.

I wished I could see their faces.

I wished I knew what was not perfect and not human.

Was I either of those things? If I wasn't either one, did they need to be?

I leaned my head against the wall. My whole soul was an ear, straining for Michael's voice.

A faint sigh.

"Then I swear it too. My vote is yes.''