My Three Cousins

Chapter Five

Once at the house my nerves and how shaken up I was seemed to take hold.  Even in my cousin's watered-down version of the story we had been in danger, or at least Joan had.  I was shaking by the time I made it up to my room, but in true brother fashion Fitz immediately began with, "do you have to be here?"

I glared at him before fully burying myself under the covers. Despite my terror I was quickly asleep, and I stayed that way until the next morning.  When I woke up everyone else was still asleep, except for mom who I heard moving around downstairs.  I changed out of my stolen boutique clothes and joined her, pouring a cup of coffee before she realized she wasn't alone.  "Did you have a good night's sleep?" She asked.

"Yes, did you let me sleep all day?" I was on the hunt for food as I spoke.

"You seemed tired, and your cousins said you all had food poisoning from lunch," she said it like a statement, but I could feel the question underneath.

I decided not to offer any details in case they contradicted what the girls had said.  "Yeah," I said, "wasn't feeling great."

"How are you feeling now?" She asked before taking a long sip of coffee.

"Good, but hungry.  What about the girls how were they feeling last night?" I asked, wondering how food poisoning explained blood and electrocution.

"Ruth recovered pretty quickly but the other two went to bed early."  She said, but I could still feel her eyes on me.  "What about the rest of the day did you all have fun?"

"Yeah, I'm glad I went," I said, not sure if I was lying or not.  I wasn't glad to be with them when they were attacked but I was glad it reminded me there was something going on with my cousins that I didn't understand yet.  Joan's reaction specifically had given me a bit more confidence in figuring out what it was, because as much as I resented her calling me a child, I knew for certain that my cousins didn't want me to get hurt.

My mom turned back to her crossword just as I heard footsteps on the stairs.  "Goodmorning, Joan." 

"Morning Aunt Liz," she eyed me suspiciously, I could tell she wanted to know what all I had said to my mom before she woke up.  She then nodded in my direction before grabbing coffee with surprisingly uninjured hands.  I couldn't help but staring and it didn't take her long to notice.  She carefully wrapped her palm around the coffee mug and shoved the other one under her when she sat down.  She then determinedly made small talk with my mom in a way I hadn't seen her do since I arrived.  I got the message loud and clear, Joan wasn't willing to leave me alone with my own mom.  Helen might trust me to do what she asked, but Joan didn't.  I had proven myself unreliable yesterday.

"I'm going to get some air," I said.

"Are you feeling alright?" Mom asked.

"Yep," I said with a glare at my cousin and then in a split-second decision I intentionally wobbled while getting up and dumped the rest of my coffee in her direction.  Without thinking Joan caught the cup before the liquid had a chance to spill on her.  She saved herself from being covered in hot coffee, but in doing that she gave me exactly what I wanted: a flash of her perfectly healed palm with only a red line where a gash should have been.  "Nice catch," I said trying to feign surprise, "sorry."

I could tell that my act wasn't fooling her.  I looked carefully at my mom; I didn't need her to think I purposefully tried to drown Joan in coffee on top of my other problems.  She looked furious, but not me, her glare was directed at Joan.  She must have thought that she tripped me, but I didn't care what mom thought as long as she didn't blame me.

I took the opportunity to get outside quickly like I planned.  Once outside I tried to take stock of what I knew.  My cousins can do unexplainable things and they used those things to hurt someone, who may have been trying to hurt them, and to save Vivian.  It wasn't much to go on, but contrary to my previous plan I realized that I wasn't going to gain more information by staying away from my cousins.  Knowing that didn't mean I knew exactly where to start, but I knew Joan wasn't an option and I still felt a sense of unease at the idea of spending time with Helen.  That only left Ruth.