Page 73 of The Stone Initiation
Touron blinked sharply. “You had a brother who went here? A pureblood?”
I nodded. “Yes, and his name was Romi Basque.”
Stunned silence greeted my disclosure.
Sharniza was the first to break it. “Fuck. Well, so much makes sense now.” She lowered herself into the dresser chair. “You’re playing with fire, Cameron. Whatever happened to your brother is top secret. Confidential. Trust me.”
“You know something…” I stared at her in dawning comprehension. “Of course, you’re an Aziza, you must know something.”
“All I know is that no one is talking. Whatever happened has been sealed and locked away. They don’t do that with accidents.”
“Then what?” Touron said. “What could have happened?”
“I don’t know,” Sharniza said. “But trust me, you donotwant to poke at this.”
“I don’t have a choice. He was all I had. He was my family and now he’s gone, and I don’t even know why. I deserve to know what happened to him.” I blinked back tears. “Please. Will you help me.”
“Yes,” Touron said. “Whatever you need.”
“Shar?”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “What do you need from us?”
* * *
“Having your energy siphoned sucks,”Touron said. “Sucks… Siphoned…” he giggled, a high-pitched sound that didn’t gel with his regular baritone.
Sharniza snorted softly. “I think he’s experiencing a lack of oxygen to his brain. Are those moths on the ceiling?”
The world was a soft haze, and each breath a bonus as I lay on the bed unable to move. The drapes billowed as cold air blew in through the open windows. Sharniza’s idea to clear our heads. She sat propped up in the corner by the dresser breathing deeply as if that would help her recharge.
“I’m hungry,” Touron said.
“I have some candy bars in my room,” Sharniza replied. “Maybe we should have gotten them before letting the ghost feast on us. Give me a minute and I’ll see if can get them.”
“Cam?” Touron’s face appeared above me. “Are you all right?”
“Mmmm…”
He was wreathed in a halo of soft light. I smiled up at him. “I’m sooo good.”
He grinned goofily at me and reached out to brush a tendril of hair off my face. “I’m going to make you some coff—”
A roar shattered my ear drums as something flew into my room and landed on the rug by the bed.
Serath? Oh shit.
I needed to get up. Now.
Touron let out a yelp as Serath backhanded him across the room.
“Stop!” Sharniza bellowed.
I struggled to sit up. To check on Touron, and in the next instant I was lifted off the bed and crushed to Serath’s powerful chest.
“Mine,” he growled.
“No. Stop. Get off me. You don’t undestaaand—” The world dropped as we shot up into the night air.
