Vex (6 page)

A blast of frigid air cuts sharp into my lungs.

I spit hard in his eye, and ignite a fiery slap against his cheek. When my hand connects I hear him say,
I love you
.

“Liar.” It speeds out of me as the only truth I’ve said all night.

Chapter Eight

Welcome Home

“So, like, were you holed up in some cave?” Drake leans in secretively during breakfast.

I shake my head at him.

“Knew it,” he smirks. “Gage had you stashed away in some seedy hotel. What happened? Ran out of funds? Looks like you ended up with the cash strapped Oliver. Should have stuck it out with the one that owns the bowling alley.”

“I’d rather stick toothpicks in my eyes than saddle myself with him,” I say it mostly to myself.

“I know you’re ticked about him Frenching you in front of the fam, but the guy was worried sick. You would have thought
he
was the one with the missing girlfriend.” He dips his head into his cereal and drinks from the side of the bowl.

Yeah, well, Logan was probably worried about not getting me over to the Counts in time. There’s probably a stipulation that states he gets his balls chopped off at the next ritual if he doesn’t produce me before New Year. It’s no wonder he so suddenly loves me, it saves his ass quite literally. Bastard. 

“We’re glad to have you back, kiddo,” Tad says, ruffling my hair.

I push back in amazement. He almost had me fooled. It’s Christmas, all that peppermint and mistletoe makes people say all sorts of stupid things. Plus, my mother was probably withholding her body from him the entire time I was gone, so, of course, he’s glad to have me back—and by the way—eww.

“Here.” Mom glides a plate with a myriad of grotesque looking leftovers from last night’s dinner at me.

“No thanks,” I push it back in her direction.

“It’s not for you. It’s for the baby. I’m doing it, too. You know, to help get my body ready for when it finally happens.” She pans over the twin plate set before her. “You need lots of protein to help that sweet little baby develop.”

Turkey and gravy with glibbery bits of cranberry dressing smeared over everything does not a Christmas breakfast make.

“I don’t think I can do this.” I slide it even further down the counter. Just the harsh smell makes me gag.

She plops a giant orange pill in front of me and sets a cup of milk down.

“OK, Missy, but you’re not turning this away. Take it.” She’s got that stern look in her eyes. I can tell I’m not getting away with refusing the overgrown vitamin, so I pop it and down the milk just to appease her.

“And by the way, I’m not pregnant,” I say.

“Skyla!” She smiles in exasperation. “Let’s not have this conversation again.”

“No really, I’m not.” The joke is over, it’s gone on far too long. I hate the fact I’m going to have to battle this for the next nine months. She’ll think I’m having one of those barely noticeable pregnancies that cause you to have the baby in the bathroom at prom. “Run upstairs, and grab a pregnancy test. I’ll prove it right now.”

“No.” She places her hands firm on her hips. “You’ll have a confirmation test at the specialist’s,” she leans in. “Listen, I had a normal period with Mia every single month. The doctor said it was far more common than you think. If that’s what has you thinking you’re in the clear, think again.”

Oh, God, she’s serious.

I open my mouth to say something, and it occurs to me she didn’t say anything about her pregnancy with
me
because we both know darn well that it never happened. Just as I’m about to call her out on it, Mia bursts into the room.

“Skyla? Some girl named Chloe is here to see you.”

***

Friends rarely see friends on Christmas. It’s just that way, unless you live nearby, or your families are close, and neither of those happened to be the case. I speed over to the front door with my mother in tow as though she were just as curious to see what in the world Chloe Bishop would be doing at my door on this, the most holy day of the year.

“I have a spare gift you can give, in the event she’s making a delivery,” Mom whispers.

I seriously doubt Chloe picked anything out especially for me, and felt the need to haul it clear across the island Christmas morning. Nope, there’s definitely a misery-inducing trauma waiting on the other side of this visit. Of that I’m sure.

The pale fog emanates from behind her like a spiritual aura. It testifies to her wickedness, giving the illusion she just stepped out of a caldron. She stains the doorway like a shadow until I hit the entry, and see her for what she is, malicious and soulless.

“Merry Christmas, Chloe,” I say it curt.

“Skyla!” My mother swings the door wide, and waves her in.

“No, it’s OK.” Chloe shakes her head. “I brought you a gift,” she looks past my mother at me. It’s probably a python, a demented clown—an entire army of clown Fems. Chloe isn’t the least bit interested in giving me a gift, so already I know this is bad. But nevertheless I have a gift for her.

“Did you hear?” I circle around my mother.

Chloe’s ears peak back as though I had intercepted something malevolent she had been planning since the time of my disappearance.

“I’m having a baby.” I place my hand strategically over my stomach. “Well, Gage and me.” The pleasure of watching Chloe writhe is enough to justify the lie. 

She washes over me wild with disbelief.

“Well, anyway,” she cranes her neck in an effort to look behind me. “Is your dad home?”

Everything in me freezes. She of all people knows damn well my dad is dead, then it dawns on me she might mean Tad.

“It’s sort of a gift for the whole family,” she sneers in my direction.

“Honey!” Mom screeches out behind me.

An entire herd of people drain towards the entry.

“Mr. Landon?” Chloe blinks into him as Tad steps up to the threshold. “I happened to be at the gas station, and I met this guy who asked if I could give him a lift to see you.” Chloe moves to the side exposing a boy about my age leaning on the post at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh, my God,” Tad whispers as he makes his way outside.

I recognize him from the time I was in the Transfer with Gage. It’s the boy from the tank.

Ethan Landon.

Chapter Nine

Hello Again

A bird lets out a cry from somewhere deep in the forest, and the sound resonates in our world as though this hollow place we call home were somehow stretching into life. A frosty breeze blows Chloe’s hair wild into the air—pulls it into the fog, like a shock of black flames.

“Ethan?” Tad nearly misses the first step as he falters down the porch over to the boy with neatly trimmed hair, dressed in a plaid flannel and jeans. “It really is you!” Tad locks him in a hard embrace. You can hear his muffled cries as he chokes out words mixed with tears into his neck. Turns out Tad is human after all, but is Ethan?

A cold shiver runs up my spine. It feels as though I’m watching something right out of a horror movie. Ethan, with his pale gaunt flesh is standing right here in front of me, when I know full well, both Gage and I saw him floating in a vat of blue fluid less than a couple of weeks ago.

Drake bolts down the stairs and knuckle bumps him before pulling him into a man hug.

“Bro, I knew you’d be back.” Drake punches him hard in the arm. “Where’ve you been?”

“Dead.” It takes a minute for him to laugh into it. A decidedly cold gleam in his eyes leaves me staggering with questions.  

Dead is right.

“Lizbeth?” Tad turns around. “Gather everyone into the living room. We’ve got some explaining to do.”

Tad escorts Drake’s doppelganger into the house. Ethan gives a cutthroat grin in my direction as he moves past me.

“Hey, Messenger,” Chloe calls.

I look back to make sure the rest of the family is free from her wrath.

“What?” I seriously doubt the fact she was pumping gas and happened to run into the second coming of Ethan Landon, whoever the hell he is.

“I suggest a paternity mix up with the bastard you’re lugging around in your gut. It’s going to get awkward when people see you with Dudley by your side,” Chloe’s teeth glitter when she says it. “The best part of letting Marshall almost in on the fact that I know his secret? He likes to play games as much as I do.”

“Lucky me.”

“No, Skyla—lucky me.”

***

I send a 911 text to Gage before I hit the family room. The last thing I want is to experience this Countastrophy without him here to view it with me live, and in person.

There’s a knock at the door, and I backtrack to let Gage in.

I bite down a smile before kissing him. I love the fact Gage is able to teleport anywhere, well, just about.

“Merry Christmas.” He pushes out a killer grin before dotting my lips with a bonus kiss. “I have a gift for you,” he says it seductive.

“Is it in your pants?” I don’t hide the sarcastic inflection.

“Funny,” he makes a face. “But yes, it’s literally in my pants.”

“Well, then we’ll have to exchange gifts as soon as this fiasco is over,” I say, pulling him into the family room with me.

We walk in to find Melissa seated next to Ethan with her arms locked tight around his waist. She’s smiling like crazy through tears. Sprinkles, the rat-dog, as Tad now affectionately calls him, humps away on Ethan’s shoe. It makes for a disturbing family picture, but Drake snaps it anyway.

“God!” Drake muses staring into the image on his phone. “You look totally the same, like you haven’t aged a day.”

That’s because he hasn’t.

“Does he have to be here for this?” Tad points over at Gage standing innocently by my side.

“He’s family,” my mother admonishes before pulling out a chair for me.

“You are,” I whisper in his ear and watch the apples of his cheeks darken a shade as he pulls me in. It’s strange how the entire world can unravel, people can come back from the dead and inject themselves into our lives, but none of it impacts our love for one another.

“OK,” Tad claps his hands together. “Mia, Skyla—Gage,” he says his name with disdain. “There is something I haven’t shared with you. About a month after my wife passed away, my oldest son, Ethan,” he pats his hand in his direction, “disappeared from our lives. We’ve had sporadic communication, and just when we thought he was coming back, we didn’t hear from him again, until this wonderful morning.”

“It’s a Christmas miracle!” Melissa belts out the words in his face as she squeezes her arms around him. He plucks her off in haste and averts his eyes to the ceiling.

It’s a miracle all right.

“So please, Ethan,” Tad plucks a chair from the dining room and flips it backwards before sitting. “Tell us everything, and for God’s sake tell me you’re home for good.”

“Oh, I’m fucking home,” Ethan gives Tad a hard look, and I gasp into Gage. Ethan’s really painting himself to be the devil Landon. Who knew they could get worse than Tad?

He must have really took it hard when his mom died to run away like that
, Gage says, rubbing my arm.
If I were Tad’s son I’d probably consider the same thing.
But then again, he was killed, so things didn’t really work out that great for him.  

“Where’ve you been?” Tad tries unsuccessfully to siphon information out of him.

“Here and there.” Ethan is a stone. His entire face is frozen in a hard stare. He’s not even really warming up to Melissa who hasn’t stopped pawing him.

Sprinkles trots over to his other foot, and Ethan swiftly launches him across the room.

“Hey!” Mia barks.

“He didn’t mean it,” Melissa is quick to defend. “Sprinkles can be totally annoying sometimes.”

“So,” Tad continues his quest for knowledge, “are you enrolled in school? It’s your senior year, you should be living it up.”

“Nope.” His hands stretch across the back of the sofa, and he openly belches in Melissa’s face.

Gross.

Melissa wretches as she jumps off the couch.

“Ethan, I demand you tell me something. How did you find us? Will you stay with us? You’re a part of our family. I really think you should consider this.”

“Stop hounding me alright,
Pops
?” Ethan roars over to Tad. “I’ve been hanging with a couple friends, and no, I haven’t been to school, but yes, I will get my ass back to class.” He closes his eyes momentarily as though he already regrets his decision to come back. “I’ll crash here,” he gives a sly look in my direction. “I like the company.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay with us,” the words tremble from my mother’s lips. Obviously this guy is in serious need of, more than a few, anger management sessions with Dr. Booth.

“Of course, you’ll stay here,” Tad offers. “You can have the den. You’ll have to adhere to my rules though, like keeping up your grades and getting a job.”

“Rules?” Ethan cuts me a look as though I were somehow responsible. “I’ve got a rule. Call me by my new name—Holden.”

Chapter Ten

Body      

I take Gage by the hand and bolt out the front door so fast I don’t even rectify the mad dash by way of an excuse.

A violent spike of nausea rolls through me, and I yak right over the railing.

“Skyla? Is everything OK?” My mother speeds out the door. “You’re sick! Oh, Hon, I’ll make you some ginger tea.”

“No,” I spit the rancid taste out of my mouth. “I’m fine. I just needed some fresh air. Gage is here. I’ll be OK.”

“I’ll take her for a walk,” Gage offers, helping me down the stairs and into the street.

“What are we going to do?” I bounce on my heels in a panic.

His eyes darken as he stares out at some invisible horizon behind me.

“I don’t know. I need some time to think.” His dimples depress. “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you. We’ll figure something out as soon as I can get over the fact you’re living with that psychotic monster.”

His cell goes off, and he turns to the side.

“Hey you guys!” Brielle hobbles down her driveway as she makes her way over.

Brielle is the last living soul I ever care to see. Well, maybe Holden tops her on that one, but just by a little. She and Logan are tied for number one on my ever-growing shit list.