loping along through the cosmos

33: JADE COULD HAVE HAD A TRIGGER WARNING

"Are you sure about this, Jade?" Kieran asked for the nth time as he drove the car.

"Fino, can you tell your brother to shut up?"

"Don't drag me into this. I, myself, am not sure if you're in the right state of mind right now," the other bodyguard said from the passenger seat.

Jade crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sure you can also feel how my aunt is suddenly acting suspicious."

Kieran quickly glanced at her. "How so?"

"She didn't even want me to touch any food in their unit!"

"That's because you can't cook, Young Miss," Fino said.

Jade stomped her foot. "Stop acting like you two can't sense anything different!"

Fino and Kieran exchanged looks, something they do when they're silently debating on who's going to tell Jade about what they know. Fortunately for Jade, she gets her answers at the end of those exchanges.

"You should really tone down that temper," Kieran reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," she said, although it sounded forced.

"We think she's behind what Ira experienced last weekend," Fino said. "Theodore said we should gather in one place to talk about it."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "We? Who's we? And where?"

"We as in you, your bodyguards, Mercer, Justin, Rev, Theodore's friends, and two others we haven't talked to yet," Fino enumerated, raising his fingers as he did so. "We're not sure about the place either but Theodore said he'll take care of it."

"Why so many? It can be just us four."

"That's what we proposed," Kieran said as he turned the car to the left. "T didn't budge. His friend said that we needed to have a meeting with all the others involved." He saw Jade making a face with his nickname for Theodore. "Excluding Ira too. In fact, he said you should stay away from your cousin."

She snorted. "Why would I do that? My cousin needs me."

"Are you sure, though?" Fino asked. "Now that we're on the topic, I'm going to be honest. I'm starting to doubt Ira's intentions."

Jade's eyes softened. She felt like she should believe Fino but this was Ira they were talking about. Ira, her cousin. Ira, who grew up with her until they were 17, when she was transferred to New York because Astra found a client from that place. Ira was one of the people who knew about Jinx, the person who mourned with her through constant calls since they were apart.

She has a small family with her. She had minimal people who she could talk to. Why would she start doubting her cousin now?

"But I could be wrong." Fino raised a hand in defense, looking at his brother, who was glaring at him, nervously. "Don't take it seriously, Jade. It's maybe because I'm not close with your cousin. I'm not a good judge of character."

Jade looked outside the window, nodding silently. "That's alright. I won't take it seriously then."

Kieran cleared his throat. "What does Theodore's mother have to do with this?"

"She knew me before the accident," she replied. "She gave me this key that can open something important but I don't know what is it yet."

Fino looked at her. "Theodore didn't tell us about this one."

"Maybe we shouldn't involve her in this, Jade," Kieran added.

"But she might know something," she insisted. "I want to know something."