Page 20 of The Lost Kings
Gio slid my paper closer and then took my pencil. He started marking the white sky with little dots and a large moon. “Now, it’s for stargazing. Your spider can live up there, but so can a pig if it wants…”
King laughed while shaking his head. “You and your stars.”
Sometimes the fact that they were twins made me look at them longer just to piece out the differences. They both had black hair that made me think of raven feathers. Their skin was the warmest brown that was most similar to their dad’s and grandmother’s. I once overheard Gio’s mother saying that when he was born, he had stars in his eyes. His were more silver and grayer than blue. It looked like trapped starlight.
King’s eyes were amber, like a muted fire, trapped behind glass.
I turned around and watched Kingston who was now eating his apple. The boys were almost thirteen, and I found new pieces of them that had started changing. Like the way their jaws looked different, making a ridge along their faces, pulling their smiles wider. I heard their mom talking about braces and how they’d both be getting them soon. It made me want to go back in time to when we were younger, when the boys would play pretend with me.
My memories had me asking, “What would you use the window for, King?”
His amber gaze landed on me in a way that made me feel like he wasn’t going to answer. He was starting to do that more. Instead of being all laughter and smiles, like he used to be… he’d suddenly become so serious. Something dark had found a way to crawl into his heart and it seemed to rot there.
“It looks like a good place to…” he hesitated, then with a flutter of his lashes, continued, “shove someone…I’d call it the murder window, and no one would ever question me because it would be easy to fall from that big of a gap.”
Our eyes locked in a game of who would break first. This was his new game with me, and I didn’t like it. He wanted to bring clouds over what slices of sunshine I could find. I hated it. So did his brother.
“Someone’s gonna push you out of a window if you don’t stop being so serious. Have you considered maybe going for a walk, seeing if you can find a girl to flirt with?”
My eyes were back on my drawing, ignoring the brothers talk, but when Gio mentioned Kingston finding a girl to flirt with, something strange pricked at my chest. Like a weird awareness that had never been there before, a pain that had always been inside me but chose this moment to alert me of its dreadful existence.
“Dad is coming back soon, asked that we all stay here.” Kingston tossed the core of his apple and then turned to leave.
Gio picked up an extra pencil from my little canvas bag and then started filling in more of my picture while leaving me room to draw on the other half.
“Come on, Pres, finish our farm. What else is on it?”
He always knew how to draw me back, like a light in the storm. I also loved that he always called it our farm, not mine but ours. We’d wanted the farm next to the manor to one day belong to all of us, and while I liked to draw it and even pretend I lived on it, deep down, I believed that maybe one day we’d really live there. “Chickens.”
Gio’s laugh was infectious. “I can’t draw chickens to save my life, what else?”
“Marigolds.”
His laugh made me laugh. “Aren’t those just flowers? Why do they have to be specific?”
Kingston suddenly returned, grabbing a glass for water as he watched us.
“Anyone ever tell you that your laugh sounds like a tinkling bell? Like something from a book or some land with fairies?”
Gio and I stared at him from across the kitchen, confused. I moved on, ignoring him.
“Marigolds aren’t like every other flower.”
Gio shook his head but started drawing the shape of a marigold and I smiled, realizing he already knew what they looked like. I continued to draw with my best friend, feeling sunshine invade my heart like I always did with Gio, but there, lingering around that odd prick of pain in my chest, was worry about the shadows that lingered over his twin.
My eyes lifted again, only to find Kingston’s already on me. He stared long enough that Gio finally kicked me under the table, forcing my attention back on the drawing. When I finally looked up again, Kingston was gone.
Mom and Dadwere cuddled up on the couch watching a movie when I tiptoed past the hall. I knew Uncle Scotty’s routine, and since it was well past ten, he was already in bed, likely reading, but he wouldn’t come back out until five in the morning to prepare us for our trip. I should have been clear of anyone noticing my departure, but Reaper padded over to me, his steps quiet on the carpet. His snout was in my face, his tongue lapping at my cheek as he whined, probably to play.
I pet him, while trying to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Go lay down, Reap,” I whispered.
His tongue came back out in a few swipes over my face.
I was never going to sneak out at this rate. I just wanted the chance to go see the moon over the farmhouse. Tonight, we had what Gio called a Hunter’s Moon, and I knew it just had to be beautiful seeing it from the hayloft over that empty field.
Remembering that I hid treats near the foyer table, I gently slid it open and pulled out a small bag of elk jerky and tossed a piece as faraway from the door as possible. As soon as I found my window, I ran for the door and slipped outside of it. Cold wood floors ran beneath my feet as I exited the wing of our family home and ventured toward the main artery of the house that connected us all.
