Only Shadows

Chapter 8

Izzy

On Saturday morning, Izzy woke up to the incessant barking of a tiny dog. She groaned and rolled over in her bed, burying her head under the covers, but it was no use. The stupid dog wouldn't stop barking, and her mind was racing anyway.

Her mom owned a high-strung Maltese named Beleza that she carried everywhere, otherwise it whined and growled all day. Izzy hated that dog and the feeling was mutual. Still, it usually stopped barking when her mother was around, so something must be up.

Izzy rubbed her eyes and rolled out of bed. 9:21. She hadn't returned home last night until after 3 AM. Luckily, the stupid dog wasn't much of a guard dog, so she'd been able to slip back in through her open window without waking her parents. As soon as she got home, exhaustion set in and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Must have been the aftereffect of the adrenaline, since she still felt weary and a bit shaky.

She pulled on a red cropped crewneck sweater and a pair of white jeans, stuck her earbuds in her pocket, and headed downstairs to investigate the racket. It was obvious when she heard the voices over the barking dog. Her older half-brother, Jack, was here.

Great. She didn't get along with Jack, even though she rarely saw him. He lived in Raleigh, working for some finance company. It wasn't that far, but he usually reserved visiting for holidays, funerals, and other special occasions. At 38, he was over twice her age, with nothing in common besides their father.

Beleza caught her scent and scampered over to Izzy's hiding spot at the bottom of the staircase, barking like a nutjob. So much for slinking back up to her room until Jack left. She sighed and walked across the expansive living room to the open kitchen.

"Too much excitement for one morning, Beleza," her mother said, scooping him up and planting a kiss on his fuzzy forehead. "Good morning, Izzy," she added as an afterthought. Beleza settled down for 5 seconds before starting to bark again.

"Still lounging around in bed all day?" Jack asked.

Izzy crossed through the kitchen to the espresso machine. "It's not even 9:30. Why are you here?"

Her father, Cedric, came in through the patio doors, holding the paper. She caught a headline about a massive power outage last night as he tucked it under his arm. "Good morning," he said to Izzy, kissing the top of her head. "Don't be rude to your brother. He's staying in the guest house for the next few weeks."

"Few weeks!" she said. "Were you fired or something?"

"Very funny," he said. "Actually, I left my job to pursue a better opportunity."

"In our guest house?" She grabbed the coffee beans.

"Ana! Will you take that dog outside or something?" her father said.

"She's just excited," her mother pouted. "Come on, Beleza. We can tell when we're not wanted." She cooed at the dog and flounced out of the room. Her father rubbed his forehead as they left.

"You could always feed it some chocolate when she's not looking," Jack said.

Okay, maybe she had one thing in common with Jack. She pulled the espresso shots and grabbed the sugar-free syrup.

"Where's Camilia this morning, anyway?" Jack asked. Camilia was the family's longtime housekeeper and nanny. She had practically raised Izzy since her mother wasn't around much.

"She's off this week visiting family," her father said.

"A whole week? How are you guys going to survive?"

Her father laughed. "Take out."

Izzy turned around, taking a sip of her vanilla latte. Perfection. Izzy wasn't much of a cook, but she used the espresso machine like a pro.