Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) Page 22
The last couple days have seemed peaceful. Liz had disappeared a few times to do her thing. Luke ignored it. He just asked if she would be home in time for dinner. She always said yes. This morning, he asked her if she could conjure up breakfast with a spell. She’d told him it was inefficient, but fifteen minutes later, we had croissants and jam on the table. Not exactly our usual breakfast, but we ate it. Luke pretended to enjoy it. The thing is, no one knows about faking 'okay' better than me.
“Pick up a new habit,” I asked Luke as I joined him on our back patio. It was funny how he and Liz both had the same tell when they were upset, yet neither one of them ever picked up on it. Back patio: something’s wrong.
He quickly dropped the cigarette to the floor and ground it with his sneaker. “Didn’t know you were home,” he said.
“Yeah, well you didn’t know I was home yesterday around three a.m. or this morning after breakfast either,” I replied. Luke didn’t smoke. He and Liz hassled me constantly about my habit. I knew the only reason he hadn’t forced me to quit was because I’d picked it up after Mom and Dad passed. I’d smoked a few with my friends before that, but I didn’t become a real smoker until the night that officer told Luke our parents were gone. I guess, somehow, that made my habit off limits to him.
“Guess I just wanted to learn what all the fuss was about,” he said as he bent down to pick up the stub. I didn’t know how he could see it with only the light coming out through our kitchen window to break the darkness. But I shouldn’t have been surprised that Luke would find a way to make sure the cancer stick didn’t sit on our porch.
His smoking was more than just a newfound curiosity. He’d lit up every time Liz left the house. But I didn’t call him out on it. Instead, I just pulled out one of my own and studied the long, thin tube. “She is always going to come home,” I said.
Luke turned away and leaned against the post. “How can you know?” he asked. He tried to make it sound as though he didn’t care to hear my answer, but I knew that, deep down, he wanted nothing more than for me to give him some concrete proof that what I said was true.
“He can’t know,” a female voice said. We both looked over to the back fence and saw Liz unlock it. “But I can,” she continued. “I didn’t want to tell you before because I wasn’t sure if I should talk about my magic at all.” Gate unlocked, she strutted through and came to join us on the porch. “But it seems I’ve done enough keeping to myself, and it hasn’t worked.”
“So, how can you know?” Luke challenged.
Liz met his eyes. “When I was out retrieving Naimi, I found myself in a bit of a predicament.” Luke raised his eyebrows. Liz ignored the implied question and continued “To get out of it, I added some fake information about myself to the wizards’ historical databases.”
“And that helped you how?” Luke asked. Remembering the smoke in my hand, I reached into my other pocket for my lighter.
Liz smiled, “I can tell you the full story over dinner. But what I’m getting at is that there was also some real information about me in their system. I didn’t look to see what it said, but…”
“How could you not?” I interrupted. Liz looked past Luke at me and when she saw what I was doing, she stepped around him and took my cigarette from my hand. Not sure what she was up to, I let her have it. I had plenty more where that one came from.
“But,” she said, “I did poke around enough to get a sense of how much information they had on me. And it was a lot. There’s no way I could accomplish enough to fill that many files if I didn’t live a long and very full life.”
“So you know,” Luke said. The lightness of his voice was unmistakable.
“Yes,” she said. “And, if I’m living a full life, I’m making sure you guys are sticking around for it.” She waved the cancer stick she’d taken from me in the air. “Hand them over,” she said.
Wait, what? She held out her hand, palm up. “All of them. Both of you.” Luke and I both stared at her, stunned for a moment, but then Luke reached into his pocket and placed his nearly empty pack in her hand. They both looked at me to do the same.
“But—” I protested.
“No buts,” Liz snapped. “I didn’t let you die on the ship. There is no way I’m letting cancer take you.”
I sighed and relinquished. It seemed my free ride was over. Reluctantly, I pulled my recently purchased pack out of my pocket and slapped it into her palm on top of Luke’s.
“Thank you,” she said.
“When did you become a tyrant?” I grumbled.
Liz leaned back against the post opposite Luke and painted a smug expression on her face. “I threatened god-like beings with the destruction of the universe and won. Do you really think there’s anything out there can touch me?”
Luke beamed with pride. “No, little sis, I guess not. You can go out there and kick all the butt you want.” He pounded her on the back with brotherly affection. “But if you don’t mind, Mark and I will stay home from now on,” he finished.
I rolled my eyes. Oh Lord, I thought. Luke’s on her side. Semi-gods are on her side. My sister is going to be impossible to live with.
As if she had read my thoughts, Liz pushed herself off the post and marched inside to toss our valued possessions in the trash. A few fireflies bounded after her as though she had drawn the glowing bugs to follow in her wake. Somehow, I could feel the stars and the sky all lean in toward her, listening, waiting for her to command them. “Yup,” I said with a definitive nod. “Impossible.”
Table of Contents
Chapter One Mark’s Cooking
Chapter Two Luke’s Decision
Chapter Three Brothers Talk
Chapter Four The Family Business
Chapter Five Ketya’s Secret
Chapter Six Brothers in Space
Chapter Seven The Genocide
Chapter Eight Anton’s Brave Move
Chapter Nine In The Dark
Chapter Ten Agents In Battle
Chapter Eleven Heal
Chapter Twelve Luke’s Plan
Chapter Thirteen The Fire 1: Eln’s Rescue
Chapter Fourteen The Run
Chapter Fifteen The Fire II: Brovkyl’s Sacrifice
Chapter Sixteen The Flu
Chapter Seventeen Brothers’ Watch
Chapter Eighteen Centream Burns
Chapter Nineteen Liz Sleeps
Chapter Twenty Anthe Tells her Story
Chapter Twenty-One Saving Naimi
Chapter Twenty-Two The Ori’s Mistake
Chapter Twenty-Three Anthe’s Plan
Chapter Twenty-Four Ketya’s Goodbye
Chapter Twenty-Five Motherhood
Chapter Twenty-Six Luke’s Techno-Magic Headache
Chapter Twenty-Seven Foreign Land
Chapter Twenty-Eight Cold
Chapter Twenty-Nine Out-gunned
Chapter Thirty Mark Seeks Humor
Chapter Thirty-One Anthe at the Helm
Chapter Thirty-Two Good-Bye
Chapter Thirty-Three Theatrics
Chapter Thirty-Four Anton’s Command
Chapter Thirty-Five She’s Back
Chapter Thirty-Six Rothin’s Revenge
Chapter Thirty-Seven The Fire III: Casualties
Chapter Thirty-Eight Anton’s Crushing Words
Chapter Thirty-Nine Left Behind
Chapter Forty The Empty Library
Chapter Forty-One Savior
Chapter Forty-Two Liz’s Guilt
Chapter Forty-Three Liz Takes a Hostage
Chapter Forty-Four Sister Impossible
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