Shadows of Darkness

9. Promise

Cyan took a step back into the room. Luke, in a towel, walked out of the bathroom, a facility he now shared with his brothers and John. Her gasp gave away her presence. Runeville was so quiet that even a yawn wasn't a private thing.

Luke cried out, "Cyan!"

They hadn't talked since the day he and Everett crashed in the Watts Mansion's foyer. Cyan thought Luke was the most trustable Watts boys once, he was her friend, her wishful counsel, but the truth was the Watts boys—all of them— were all unreliable. They were toxic. When he made a step to her, she thought of screaming. She wanted to insult his dishonesty, but she was too tired to speak. She should have run away, but she was severely lonely to move. So she let him catch her shoulders and make her wonder why he looked just like Everett more and more every day.

"Sorry." Cyan turned her face away. "I'm so sorry." She shrank, and he let go of her.

"No, no, it's my fault," Luke retorted. "I forgot that all of us are living together now. I should have been careful."

"I'm sorry that I put all of you in this situation." She looked down, tears escaping her so easily these days. The old Cyan wouldn't cry even if she were knocked off a horse; the new Cyan wept when the wind passed her by.

Luke regressed. "None of this is your fault. Stop apologizing for everything." The little space between them gave her some relief. "And I like this. I like being close to you." Then his words startled her.

"Luke," said Cyan. "Don't talk like that. It scares me. It's wrong, and I don't want you and your brothers to feel like that about me. Angelica already told you that it's not real."

"She can't read my mind," Luke said suddenly as Cyan proceeded into the hallway. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." His voice faded behind her. "But we'll figure everything out."

Cyan spun around and shook her head. Figure everything out? She wanted to scream—there was nothing left.

"Cyan," Another voice grabbed her spine. David, the different feel of the Watts boy, stood before the master bedroom's door. "Can we have a word?"

Cyan fumbled sideways and did what she was asked. David's voice and touches were the commands she couldn't ignore. Shivering, she floated, passing him with her breath held, into the room of his control.

John stiffened on the couch, his eyes trailing after the half-naked Watts boy who was strutting behind Cyan. He frowned at her when she eased down beside him. Cyan nearly reminded John that he wanted her to go out with boys in the first place, so he shouldn't be uncomfortable when one of them was following her with bare-minimum clothing. But the pale and tranquil copy of Bill Watts shifted a little and made everyone shudder. Slumbering under David's compulsion, Will looked ready to snap someone's neck. Simon stood before a window much smaller than the dean's office ones, appearing as grand and powerful, the master of all he surveys, as he always did. Luke turned John's head again when he snatched the coffee from David and flopped on an armchair next to the wall.

Simon veered to Luke. "Idiot!" he snarled and smacked Luke's head.

David glowered at them. "You boys need to learn to get along."

"You want to be a big brother now?" Simon shrieked. "Then you tell him to keep it in his pants until we make it out of this mess alive."

"Says the man who slept with everyone in the university," Luke mumbled and took a sip of coffee. He winced and tried again. "You know there's a name for that." Luke aggravated the older boys because it kept him relevant.

"Gees," David sighed and raised his hand, and the cup flew from Luke's hands to his. Telekinesis seemed to be the usual thing around here. "Just go put on some clothes. You're not living in the mansion anymore. Have some manners!" He glanced at John and Cyan, huffed at the empty cup, and put it on a nightstand. "And John isn't your butler; he's Darkness's father. Don't ask him to cook and do your laundry!"