Page 75 of Medium
Okay, that was enough of this shit. “He’s my best friend,” I snapped.
Arch raised an arrogant eyebrow at me. “Best friend must mean something different to you than it does to me, based on what I saw you two doing when I drove up.”
“What an asshole!” Grandfather grumped. He reached out a translucent hand and swatted Arch on the back of his bald head. Except his hand didn’t go through. It connected.
Arch ducked and whirled to the side, unerringly facing Grandfather even though he couldn’t possibly see him. “Who’s there?” His gaze bounced around the street. He had a knife and a gun in his hands that he’d pulled out of nowhere.
Manny backed up into the Range Rover. “The fuck?”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Sorry about that. My grandfather’s ghost took exception to your comment. Um, usually you would only feel a cold spot, if anything.”
Arch continued to stare around suspiciously for another moment before the knife vanished and he tucked the gunaway at the small of his back. I caught a glimpse of a leather holster under his pants.
“Your grandfather’s ghost packs a wallop.” He rubbed the back of his head.
Grandfather was staring at his hand. “Rory, I felt it. I felt my hand touch his head!”
“That’s... weird. I hope you’re not turning into a poltergeist.”
Grandfather scoffed. “Hardly. I still have my wits about me. I think it’s all that magic you and the other two started sparking off.”
Arch was eyeing me skeptically, so I waved Grandfather off. “Why don’t you go check on Garfield and Mercy or something? We’ll test your new abilities when we get back to Houston.”
I turned to our visitor. “Come on. I’m sure you’re anxious to see Ellis.”
“Yeah. Is he okay?” We started walking across the lawn to the front door.
I weighed my response. I’d never had a brother, but I wasn’t sure I’d want my boyfriend spilling all my secrets to one.
“He’s doing a hell of a lot better than I think I would in his shoes.” I opened the front door. “Ellis, you have a visitor!”
I was suddenly certain Ellis was tired and hungry and didn’t want to delay lunch to deal with yet another person stopping by.
“In the den!”
I waved Arch forward. He knew the way.
“Hey, squirt!”
Ellis, who’d been watching from the couch as Shane and Pia chose their avatars for a video game, stood up. His face looked blank, but I could tell he was astonished. Absolutely shocked to see his brother.
“Arch? What are you doing here?”
“Are you kidding? My baby brother gets kidnapped by vampires, and you think I’m not gonna come check on you?”
Based on Ellis’ expression, that was actually exactly what he’d thought.
“You’re usually so busy saving people. I already got saved.”
“Yeah? You wanna tell me about it? Shit, your neck!”
That’s when I realized Ellis and Arch hadn’t hugged. Hadn’t even touched each other. Ellis was still standing in front of the couch, and Arch was just inside the door to the den. Manny and I hovered outside the room like spectators, and Pia and Shane weren’t any better. Ms. Jackson was still in their stuffed tiger form at the other end of the couch, but their plastic-like eyes looked pretty judgy to me.
“Um, yeah. It’s healing. Oh! Um, this is Shane, and this is Pia. And that’s Ms. Jackson.”
Arch barely glanced at the stuffed tiger, but he greeted Shane and Pia pleasantly enough. He was obviously curious about Pia’s presence.
Manny cleared his throat. “Arch, would you like something to drink? We’ve got lunch coming, and thereshouldbe enough for you to join us.”
