Page 59 of Origins
I had expected to see something—anything—show up. But there had been no indication of any kind of paranormal activity. And that was frustrating.
Ever since I first arrived at this house, there had been a steady stream of activity since I had arrived. Yet nothing new had happened since Damen’s spiritual battle. The place was still haunted, I could feel the telltale signs in the air. But outside of that known fact, there was only silence.
“Hey.” Damen pushed my foot with his, and I raised an eyebrow at him. He grinned. “Since we’re having a slumber party, what do you want to do first?”
Titus, who had been drinking from a water bottle, choked and began to cough profusely.
“Titus!” I ignored Damen’s question—even though it caused my heart to beat excitedly. Titus could possibly die. I jumped out of my seat and pounded on his back. “Are you alright?”
After a few heaving breaths, he waved off my concern and watched Damen with watery eyes. “What are you—”
“Haven’t you realized this yet? We are having a slumber party,” Damen replied, his voice stern. “Like we do every time we get together.”
Titus’ confused expression morphed into something else. He grinned, turning toward me. “Of course we are! What do you want to do at this slumber party?”
Was this not a regular activity for them? I narrowed my eyes at his glowing face suspiciously. “Haven’t you all ever been to a slumber party before? All teenagers have slumber parties.”
Titus nodded slowly. “I’m an old man, though. It’s been a while, so I forgot.”
“I’ve never been to one!” Miles replied. “I was out of the country during those years of my life.”
Titus scoffed, but returned to eating as he watched us. Julian and Damen observed as well.
Interesting. Perhaps there were things that I could teach them after all. And how sad was that?
“Alright.” I returned to my seat and pushed away my half-eaten plate of food. There was just no time to waste. “It’s decided then. Time withstanding, we are going to have the best slumber party ever.” I glanced around the room—ignoring the bemused expressions watching me intently—until my eyes landed on Damen’s clipboard.
“Can I use that?” I pointed. “I need to make a list.”
Damen smiled as he reached toward the object, removed some papers, and handed the clipboard to me without argument. Meanwhile, the others stared at him, shocked, as he responded, “Here you go, baby girl. Knock yourself out.”
I hesitated, somewhat alarmed at their weird behavior. Something odd was going on here, and it was beginning to annoy me.
But whatever.
I decided to put that in the back of my mind—I had a mission. I reached for the board and pen and contemplated where to begin...
It was so much easier to visualize things with lists. And considering that this was our first slumber party together, I didn’t want to forget a thing. I had to stay organized. Especially for poor Miles’ sake—he had been deprived of an essential adolescent experience.
And how very strange it was that French teenagers didn’t have slumber parties. In any event, I needed to rectify this terrible oversight.
There were some items that wouldn’t make the list, of course. Such as manicures. I didn’t have any polish with me; and, unless Titus was carrying some, we were out of luck. A shame, but there was always next time.
Then, since this house did not belong to any of us, we couldn’t bake cookies. After all, the obligatory flour party and food fight might destroy the kitchen. It would be rude to make such a mess in someone else’s home.
Then another thought crossed my mind. We have a job to do here.
I paused, glancing at Damen. “How do we have time for this? Who is going to watch the monitors?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Damen shrugged. “The cameras are only there for recording. Even so, we have people on it—just in case.”
This wasn’t the first time he had made such a statement. “What do you mean?”
“What do you want to do at the slumber party?” Damen changed the subject, his grey eyes pointedly looking at the clipboard. “It’s all about what you want.”
Right…
I was less enthused now, but trudged forward for Miles’ sake. After all, he was radiating delight as he read everything over my shoulder. He was probably so excited—I couldn’t let him down now.
