Visible Ghosts

35

My nerves increase ten-fold at the sight of my living room and kitchen filled to capacity. There are people everywhere, leaning against walls or sitting on the floor. And the sound. Although no one is shouting, the combined voices of so many people talking is overwhelming to my senses, our home has never been this full. But I cannot help the warmth making its way through me.

"There you two are!" Gabe forces his way between us to guide us to the kitchen. North is prepping some type of food even though lunch was only a few hours ago. "This house is lovely, although I think you need more decor, your walls are bland." Gabe continues, shoving Luke off a stool and offering it to me. "Sit, you got a lot of explaining to do."

"Shouldn't we wait until everyone is here? We're missing Sean at the very least?" I fidget as I sit down, giving Luke an apologetic smile. His answering one is genuine as he hops up to sit on the counter closest to him. Zane makes his way around the kitchen inspecting what North and Silas are making.

"Shit. But he won't get here until like midnight, I want to know now." Gabe complains, blowing hair out of his face as he looks down at me.

"Mr. Coleman, please leave Miss Sang alone. We called a full family meeting and we are still missing a handful of us." Owen remarks, standing by the door that leads to the back patio. That's my cue to actually look around to see who is here.

All of the Toma team was here, most of them crowding the dining room table playing some type of card game. Silas, Luke, and North were in the kitchen and Victor and Corey watched some video on the TV with the volume off. That meant Kota, Sean, and Nathan still haven't arrived. "What time are Nathan and Kota arriving?"

"Most likely around the same time as Dr. Green. They are preparing to go to one of the parties hosted by the group we're interested in." Owen explains, his gray eyes assessing the room around him.

"Not one hosted by Greg?" Zane asks, his arms crossing. "If it's at that goddamn warehouse again I might have a heart attack." He turns to me, "And don't even think about going to help, buttercup. You're on house arrest until you're cleared by a doctor."

I open my mouth to argue but Brandon beats me to it. "What's wrong with the warehouse, why do you know Greg hosts parties there?" The conversations around us quiets until everyone is waiting for Zane to answer.

As my brother does best, he evades the question. "What time did the glitter change?" He turns to me instead.

"Close to 10:30, maybe a tad earlier." My mind whirls as it processes why Zane is going down that line of thinking. It's almost 7 o'clock, if I remember correctly doors open at 8:00. If Nathan and Kota don't want to have drugs involuntarily then they need to be out of there by 10:00 at the latest. "Owen, you should tell them to leave by 9:45pm."

"What's going on?" Brandon asks again, abandoning the card game to stand by the kitchen island.

"It would be easier to explain during the meeting - it has to do with the mission." Zane avoids answering again. "Just trust us on this one, we want to keep both Kota and Nathan safe."

Brandon lets out a scoff but doesn't push further, he just turns his glare to Axel and Owen. "Are we just going to go with whatever they say? No pushback or questions? Just lay over like a good dog?"

"As much as it might surprise you. The Roberts kids do have experience with these types of things. Probably more than the rest of us." Axel sighs, pushing some of his dark hair behind his ear. "As you found out last night, they are full fledged academy members. We should trust them, no questions asked." Axel looks exhausted, the nap he has earlier today doesn't seem like it did much to soothe the dark circles under his almond eyes.