Page 4 of The Lost Kings
My phone remained dark beside me, fully charged, with the volume up. No one had called. No one had texted.
They’d just left.
The lights around their patio flickered on, and a light inside their living room turned off.
A sob broke free from my chest because this wasn’t real. They would never just leave…not me. Not ever.
The argument we’d had flashed in my mind, but we always argued, and while I was hurt and they owed me an apology, I still wanted a goodbye.
We were supposed to wake up this morning and go renovate the farmhouse. I was going to give them the silent treatment for a week, and they were going to try and get back into my good graces by visiting the baby Highland cows with me. We had plans next week to go swimming up in the mountains, and we were going to take a tent and camp.
It wasn’t until the patio door opened that I registered I’d been outside for too long. The sky was nothing but inky black and a tiny crescent moon interrupted the darkness above me. Something felt oddly ironic at the lack of stars being out, as if Gio had taken all of them with him.
The man walking toward me was lit up by the string of lights and looked so similar to the twins that my breath hitched. He was gentle with his daughter, wife, and mother but held a razor-sharp edge with everyone else. I always respected that about him.
Juan dropped into a squat in front of me and searched my face.
“Hey, kiddo. You okay?”
No. I wasn’t okay.
“They’re gone?” I asked as another sob crept into my throat.
He nodded, but his eyes were red, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as if he were holding back emotions just like I was. A few stray tears slid down my cheeks as I processed how different things were going to be for all of us.
“You need to get up and go home, Pres.” Juan held his hand out to me, and I numbly accepted it. He pulled me to my feet and then cradled me to his side just like he had done a thousand times since I was a kid.
“They’ll be back before you know it.” His tone was full of encouragement but deep down I knew better.
Deep down I knew things were never going to be the same. My best friends were lost to me and it was all my fault.
Chapter 2
Presley
AGE 7
The center dipped, making Gio roll toward me. I nudged him with my elbow, so he’d give me some space as Kingston crawled next to me.
“At least this place has a cool trampoline,” Kingston said while stealing some of my blanket.
I tugged back, hitting him in the side until he finally let go.
“Gio, find us the twins.” I finally settled and pulled my stuffed cow closer to my neck.
Kingston made some sound then shifted next to me. “Probley can’t cause it’s a different sky.”
We had left the manor, even though I wasn’t sure why. Mom and Dad just said we had to all leave on a trip, and then we packed all of our bags. I tilted my head to the side. “I think it’s the same sky.”
“A different patch of sky.” Kingston sighed like I should have known what he was saying. “Found it.”
Gio raised his finger and then I put mine up, but I must not have pointed in the right place. “You don’t see it, Elvis.”
I cut my gaze over to the boy next to me. “That’s not my name. It’s Presley.”
Gio rolled his eyes while Kingston scoffed. “We knowwww.”
I knew his mouth couldn’t form the R in my name the right way, so he didn’t call me Presley. He called me Elvis, but Kingston called memi reina.He only did that because I made him play dress-up where I got to be the queen, but it didn’t bother me as much as the nickname Gio gave me.
