Page 19 of My Master
Esmeralda finished tying her shoes and reached for her own sweater, pulling her arms through it and zipped it up. She tied her hair into a ponytail and stared at him incredulously. “How do you suppose we find her? I’ve called her a bunch of times and it tells me she’s out of range each time.”
“That’s why we have to ask all of her friends if they’ve seen her recently,” he said in frustration. “We need to figure this out; we need to figure out what it is that’s going on!”
“Maybe we should call Agent Phillipe and ask her to help us.” Ezzy worried at her bottom lip. “I still have her number…”
Antonio thought about this for a moment then shook his head. “We don’t know the extent of the problem yet; we can’t drag the FBSI into this and inconvenience them. Plus, I wouldn’t trust anything Damien says.” And with that, he turned on his heel and marched out the front door, leaving Ezzy scurrying after him.
“But, maybe he’s right.” Ezzy caught up to him and looped her arm through his to keep up.
The night air was chilly, making Ezzy glad she had brought a sweatshirt. The sky was cloudy, blocking out the view of the stars and the moon, leaving nothing but lampposts illuminating the way down the street so that they could hail a cab.
“What if thisissomething on a larger scale? Wouldn’t it be best to get help sooner rather than later?”
“Yes, that would be the case,ifDamien were correct, and I don’t trust him enough to take his word on this matter.”
“I don’t know.” Ezzy felt uncertain. “He seemed pretty convincing.”
“Of course he did, Ez,” Antonio snapped in annoyance. “He’s a liar, and that’s what liars do…they lie. And heisan expert at lying.”
Esmeralda stopped walking and Antonio stopped walking with her. She turned him to face her, her head just reaching his chest; she looked up at him, frowning. Apparently a few punches from her parents’ spirits hadn’t done him any good. He was still acting like a big old jerk.
“Stop,” she demanded stern and upset. “Stop acting like that. I know you’re mad, and I know what you’re mad about. I’ve seen your thoughts, and I’ve seen the experience you had with your mother.” His eyes widened but he just stared. “But just because you’re angry at yourself for killing Damien stop taking it out on me. I never did anything wrong and just in case you’ve forgotten, Damien tried tokill meandchange meand he tried to kill you, too! Twice! You saved my life; you were willing to go to such extremesfor love, Antonio. You seem to be forgetting about what really matters between us.”
Antonio just stared at her and suddenly, he looked very, very sad, and old. He shook his head back and forth, his curls bouncing against his forehead. “It’s childish to assume that love conquers all, Ezzy. Did you ever stop and think that Ilovedmy brother, too? He isn’t just somethingthat can be replaced. He was mytwin, Esmeralda!” He paused when his voice rose to a shout, swallowed then turned his head to the side. “Love isn’t the only thing that’s important, Ezzy. And every time I look into a mirror, I can only see ‘that vampire that killed his brother,’ and I ask myself if I’m even worth living.”
And with that last strained word, he walked away from Ez, yet again, leaving her to follow at his heels, tears falling down her cheeks.
* * *
“So,you haven’t seen Isis at all?” Antonio asked Maria. She shook her head, her long black curls bobbing around her flushed cheeks.
“Not for a while now, actually.” Maria said, still flushing deeply. Antonio ignored it and tried not to be mad. When they had gotten to Santiago Mansion he had gone straight to Maria’s room and had obviously interrupted an intimate moment with her and some guy that he didn’t know. The guy had left the room, letting Antonio and Esmeralda have a moment with Maria.
“When was the last time you saw her?” Esmeralda asked, her voice soft, a whisper, barely audible. Her eyes were swollen and red, proof that she had been crying, though Antonio ignored it. He knew when he walked away from her that she had been hurting but he couldn’t find the energy to comfort her. He was too focused on Isis and getting these problems over with.
Maria eyed her thoughtfully, obviously she knew that Ezzy had been crying but she didn’t ask, knowing that it was none of her business. “About a week ago,” Maria said, eyes thoughtful. “We went out for lunch that night and then the next day, she seemed kind of distracted; almost freaked out. She said she had things to do and wouldn’t be able to hang out for a while.”
Antonio thought for a moment. It sounded an awful lot like what she had told Esmeralda when she called them on the phone. In fact, it was the exact same phrasing. Something wasdefinitelygoing on. He ran a hand across his face.
“What’s going on?” Maria asked, looking from Antonio to Ezzy, a questioning look in her eyes. “Is something wrong with Isis or something? I’m sure she’s just busy working, like she said.”
Antonio shook his head. “It’s more than that…I think she’s missing.”
Maria raised an eyebrow. “I highly doubt she’smissing.I bet she’s just taking a vacation and doesn’t want to be bothered.”
“I’m telling you, it’s more than that!” Antonio regretted snapping like that. Maria’s face went from light to angry in almost a flash and she opened her mouth to yell at him. He had almost forgotten who he was talking to.
She wasn’t like Ezzy, who just took what he dished out with patience and tried to talk to him. This was his sister, and if he yelled at her he could expect full hell-fire to come back at him.
“Maria,” Esmeralda’s soft voice intercepted before the siblings could start arguing. “You don’t happen to know what it was that Isis was working on, do you? Assuming she was working on something…”
Maria tapped her forefinger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. “Hmm, I don’t remember much. She didn’t say anything specifically…”
Antonio tried to have patience with his sister. Her mind was obviously somewhere else, and she had no clue what was going on. He calmed down a little bit by taking deep breaths.Think, Maria, think,he thought.
Esmeralda sighed. “I guess that keeps us in square one.” She shook her head. “We’re going to have to dig deeper if we want to put these puzzle pieces together.”
“That’s it!” Maria snapped her fingers, her face animating excitedly. “I remember after she told me that I had asked her how much time it was going to take for her to finish working because there was this totally awesome jazz band coming into town and I could totally get us tickets because I know the guy that works in lighting and—”
