Illusion

Chapter Seven

Brooke’s POV

Kyle led me down alleys, over bridges, and through tunnels. For a while, we raced a subway, easily beating it at a leisure pace.

We came upon an abandoned hotel, the door boarded over and the windows broken in. He jumped up onto the side of the building, holding on with his hands and running up the side like a spider. I followed him with a grin, feeling like a comic book character as we jumped in through a hole in the roof.

We dropped into a dark room, where spotlights were instantly trained on us. I squinted into them with a hand over my eyes, seeming about four or five armed vampires with glares on their faces that broke into grins as they recognized Kyle. The lights were lowered and I put my hand back at my side.

"You made it back!" a young boy shouted, running up to Kyle and hugging him. The boy looked like he was ten, maybe eleven or twelve. Thirteen was being generous.

"Hey, Austin!” Kyle said with a smile, ruffling the small boy’s hair. The boy, Austin, ran around Kyle and came up in front of me. He had hazel eyes and natural blond highlights streaked in his brown hair. “Who are you?” he asked.

“That’s Brooke, isn’t it?” a boy asked, stepping out of the shadows. Kyle nodded, but I didn’t really notice. The boy was tall, dark, and handsome, in every sense of the terms. He had mousy brown hair and striking blue eyes, sky blue. He was wearing jeans and a fitted black shirt, the type of shirt that leaves little to the imagination in the way of muscles.

He looked over at me. “Hey, I’m Jesse.” He said with a smile, offering me his hand. I shook it with a smile I hoped wasn’t too dopey. He glanced past my shoulder, motioning with his hand. I turned to see a petite girl walked up to me with a boy who looked startlingly like her two steps behind her. They both had pale blond hair and stormy gray eyes. She wore black combat boots, tight black jeans, a black halter top and a black leather jacket. Um, colorless much? She had on a ton of makeup (like, a ton), about eight piercings I could see, and a frown on her face. The boy was wearing all black as well, though he was piercing-less and had on no makeup (thank goodness).

The girl stood about six feet in front of me and stood there with her arms crossed. “So you’re her.”

“I guess so,” I replied, glancing at Kyle nervously. He just gave me an encouraging smile.

“You don’t seem like much.” she said.

“Lucy!” Jesse scolded.

“What?” she asked innocently, giving him puppy eyes. “I was just sayin’ my thoughts.”

“Be nice, Lucy.” The boy said from behind her. Lucy gave a dramatic sigh.

She looked back at me, giving me a near-believable smile. “Hi Brooke! I’m Lucy! You probably know nothing about me, but I’d reckon I know more about you than you’re comfortable with!” I could tell she was trying to be energetic, but it just came across as fake; as fake as a green-screened video.

“It’s probably true.” Jesse said with a grimace. He was looking at Kyle. “You’re reputation has preceded you, Brooke.”  I looked back at Kyle, raising my eyebrows.

“Eh, so what? You’re my baby sister; I had to talk about you.”

“You’re his-“

“Not by blood.” I cut in. Kyle grimaced at my poor choice of words.

“I see.” Jesse said with a crooked smile. I looked down at my feet, suddenly uncomfortable in the presence of all these unfamiliar vampires.

Kyle came over and threw his arms around me, pinning my arms to my side in a crushing bear-hug. I squealed. He was so unpredictable. He laughed, and I felt slightly more comfortable. His laugh was the same, even if everything else had changed.

When he released me I jumped around him with my newfound speed and jumped on his back nimbly. I locked my arms together around his shoulders as he twisted trying to get me off. Now I laughed at his failed attempts, and he eventually gave up.

“Surrender?” I asked him. His bright red hair was in my face, and it was very distracting. He nodded with a sigh and I slipped off his back with a giggle. I had never managed to stay on his back before.

“Well, what now?” The boy behind Lucy asked.

“Patience, Luke. We’ll get to that eventually. Let them have their odd little reunion.” Lucy stage-whispered back. Luke rolled his eyes behind her and smirked. He seemed like the person who’s quietly angry at everybody. Not very loud, but he didn’t look like he was an instant friend to everyone.

“Lucy, can you go see if Andy and Danny are awake yet? I want them to meet Brooke.” Kyle said, nearly giddy. Uhoh. He was only like this when he had a really big secret to tell.

“They won’t be happy if you make me wake them up…” Lucy grumbled, walking off into the shadows of the warehouse. Luke followed, leaving me with Kyle, Austin, and Jesse.

Jesse looked over at me and I met his gaze boldly. Just because he was really cute did not mean I had to be all girly about it. I was a warrior now. Kyle began to talk about how awesome it was here, and how cool everybody was, and the twins I was going to meet, and lots of other meager comments that slipped in one ear and out the other. But throughout it all, Jesse’s eyes never left mine.

After a while of Kyle’s rambling, I raised an eyebrow. Jesse mimicked my expression. I scowled at his child-like move, but he just copied that too.

Well, I thought, two can play at this game.

I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out at him. He did the same. I looked over at Kyle, who was still talking (though now, he was mainly talking to Austin) and then looked back at Jesse. He winked at me.

“Hey Kyle?” Jesse asked as Kyle stopped to take a breath. “When can we show Brooke her room? The twins may take a while. You know, waking up.”

“Um, I guess we can go now, if you want.” Kyle said with a grin in my direction. Austin lit up, grabbing my hand and tugging me off towards the area in the warehouse that was probably once used for offices. Jesse walked on my other side and Kyle followed behind us as I was led through the warehouse and its mainly empty rooms.

We stopped at a lavender door, and Austin opened it slowly with a grand sweeping gesture. I stepped inside, and it was like I’d stepped into another world. I gasped. “This is my room?” I asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. This place has really high ceilings, and a lot of empty space. It was pretty fun to build, actually.” Jesse said with a smile.

The ceiling was high, and on the right side of the room a small wooden loft was tucked high above the rest of the room. A vertical ladder led up to it, and a little pulley was installed on the side. In the rest of the room, there was an assortment of furniture. There was a queen size bed with a light purple duvet, a modern-looking desk with a laptop and a couple notebooks. There was a dresser and a walk-in closet, full of clothes my size. I was grinning from ear to ear. Kyle knew my size- he was always the one who went shopping with me, before all hell broke loose.

Inside the room, I forgot I was in a dusty old warehouse. The walls were the same pale purple as the door and duvet, and as I flew up the ladder of the loft I let out a laugh. I sat with my legs dangling over the edge.

“How did you guys do this? This is the best freaking room ever!” I yelled down to them with another laugh. Kyle and Jesse were watching my response with pride- I got the feeling my reaction was exactly what they'd hoped for. Austin was staring at my room, mainly my loft, in awe. I guess he hadn't been in here before. I smiled down at the boys, and they grinned back. This was awesome!