Chapter 6

SIX

COLLINS

“This would be easier if you weren’t clinging to my arm,” Tallulah grumbled as she tried to unlock my mom’s front door with my key.

“I’m not looking, so I can’t see.”

She cursed. Then the lock clicked. It creaked open like something out of a horror film. I shuddered and opened my eyes so I wouldn’t walk into a wall. The alarm beeped, so I smashed the button to turn it off before it woke the entire family.

“We probably should’ve gone to my house,” Tallulah whispered. “We’re gonna wake everyone here.”

I grimaced and walked forward. “We’ll burn that bridge when we get?—”

Neon lights flashed and a cartoon voice screamed in song. I hadn’t turned the lights on, so I couldn’t see what was on the floor, but clearly my little brothers’ toys were there. I hissed and tapped it with my foot, but that only made the lights flash faster and sing louder.

I bent over to grab it at the exact same time Tallulah stepped on one of their cars with the big wheels. Her feet flew out from under her and slammed into my stomach. We both screamed. We crashed together on the hardwood floor with a curse. Tallulah’s red curls flopped into my face. I tried to hold it in but laughter bubbled up my throat and burst free. Tallulah snorted and fell apart with me. It wasn’t funny, but somehow two little toys taking down two adult women in one step each was too funny for us to keep our cool.

Bright, golden light flashed and filled the room. I looked up and found my mom standing in the doorway of the hallway in her matching fuzzy pink robe and bunny slippers. Her sandy blonde curls were sticking out in every direction. From down here on the living room floor, her blue eyes looked tired and gray.

“This has been a night, bro,” Tallulah said, then cursed. “Hi, Sandra.”

I nodded. “Oh good, you’re seeing this too.”

Tallulah choked and smacked me in the arm. “Brooooo.”

“Too soon, bro?” I giggled and my mom’s brow furrowed.

“Girls . . .” she crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you drunk or something?”

“Definitely or something, ” we both said at the same time.

We both snorted and laughed.

High-pitched giggles echoed down the stairs just out of sight. My mother threw her head back and closed her eyes. My brothers were awake. They’d heard our arrival and weren’t going to miss seeing us. They were wild stallions who needed to run free and crazy.

My mother was gonna kill me.

Tallulah giggled. It sounded almost like theirs. “We’re in so much trouble.”

Mom stepped out of the doorway but shot us a glare.

Their feet running down the steps sounded like a stampede, and the three of us just braced ourselves for impact. Three five-year-old red-headed boys leapt through the doorway like it was a photo-finish race. Their curls were even more disheveled than our mother’s, but that was where the similarities between Mom and them ended. The rest was all my stepdad Philip—and consequently, Tallulah, because her and her older brother, Philip, were practically identical. So, it made sense that her nephews were just carbon copies of them.

They squealed one after the other, like a chorus. I barely had time to take a breath before we were full-on tackled. We both crashed back to the hardwood floor. Yet again a sea of red hair was in my face. It was our own fault. We hadn’t been home in a week or so. I chuckled and ruffled the wild curls of whichever one of the triplets was sitting on my chest.

The triplets were so identical it was like genetics got lazy and just hit control-paste twice. Sure, there were minor differences that I knew as their sister, but with me pinned beneath them, it was a futile effort. Instead, I just let them go wild in squealy delight.

“BOYS! SANDRA, WHAT?—”

I peered around my brother’s head and found my stepfather, Philip, standing shirtless and in his boxers . . . and holding a baseball bat. “Hi, Philly.”

“ Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. ” Philip cursed and ran his free hand through his curly red hair. He dropped his bat on the lounge chair in front of him, then bent over at the waist and sighed. “I am too sleep deprived for this.”

At that, my mother chuckled. She rubbed circles on his bare back and shook her head. “Sorry, love. It appears our girls decided to pop by.”

He stood up straight and arched one eyebrow at us. “Convenient. Thanks.”

Tallulah groaned. “Lighten up, brother bear. It is a Friday night. It ain’t that late.”

Philip pointed one finger at his little sister. “Wait ‘til you have triplets.”

“A HEX!” Tallulah threw herself on the floor and writhed. “ TAKE IT BACK! TAKE IT BACK!”

“A HEX! A HEX!” Brantley screeched. This was his and Tally’s little inside joke, which was the only reason I could tell who had said it from under this pile in the dark. “HEXED BY A WITCH!”

“Really, you two?” Philip grumbled and put his hands on his hips. “Having fun?”

“OH! Fun?” One little red head popped up next to me. He grinned and I saw a missing front tooth. Brandon. “Wanna see our fort? It’s in our room.”

Which meant the one lying on top of me was Bradyn. “We built a racetrack too,” he said with his raspy voice that he always got from screaming too loud.

“Yeah, we got three new cars!” Brantley bounced up and down. “I got a red race car.”

“We made smores tonight.” Bradyn jumped around. “Let’s make more!”

Brandon giggled. “How about nerf guns?”

“Oh, video games!”

“No, wait, charades!”

“Let’s do chalk!”

“Boys, boys, boys,” I said with a barely suppressed giggled. “Oh my.”

“All right, baby cubs,” Mom yelled in her mom voice, which made the boys freeze in place. “Back to bed for you three.”

“Awwwwwww, Mooooooooom,” they said in perfect unison.

She shook her head and pointed to the hallway that led to the stairs. “The girls will be here in the morning to play with you . . . unless you don’t go to bed. Right now.”

They gasped.

I sat up straight and pulled my long hair out from under my own ass. “We’ll make breakfast together and then you can show us your fort?”

“I bet we can make it bigger.” Tallulah wagged her eyebrows. “But you gotta go back to sleep.”

The boys gasped again. Their little faces snapped back and forth between us and their parents. Their green eyes were wide with excitement. Mom arched one eyebrow, snapped her fingers, then pointed to the stairs again.

Brantley bit his bottom lip and nodded. He turned to his brothers. “Bigger fort.”

“We sleep now.” Bradyn charged forward, leading the way with Brantley right behind him. “SLEEP TEAM!”

Brandon frowned and looked to me. “Breakfast?”

I nodded. “Pancakes?”

He grinned that toothless grin. “Okay.” Without another word, he skipped after the other two.

Philip shook his head at us. “We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

“Well, not the morning. ” Mom shrugged. “After all, the girls are taking the morning shift for breakfast so we can sleep in.”

I cursed and nodded.

He huffed. “Fine. Night, girls.” He waved and followed after his sons.

“NIGHT, PHILLY CHEESE STEAK!” Tallulah called out.

Mom hadn’t moved. She glanced back and forth between the two of us.

I held my hands up. “It’s a long story, Ma. Tell you tomorrow. We’re just gonna sleep.”

“I’m gonna eat.”

My stomach turned and I groaned. “I’m not hungry anymore.” The boys’ happy energy helped soothe some of my panic, but now I just wanted to sleep.

Mom narrowed her eyes at me, then looked me up and down. I knew we hadn’t heard the last of this. Breakfast was gonna be a doozy. “Tallulah, take her to bed. I’ll bring you food. Just get her to sleep.”

Tallulah grinned and saluted her. “Thanks, you gonna tell Mom I’m here?”

“Oh, I think we both know your brother already has by now.” Mom chuckled. “I’m sure she’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.” Tallulah shrugged. “That’s fair.”

Is it?

But then I looked to my mother and the questions in her green eyes told me I ought to rest up for the conversation over breakfast. My brothers were going to wake us up bright and early to play and make pancakes, so I needed all the sleep I could get. I didn’t even know what time it was. I was just trying not to think about what happened before we got here so that I might not have nightmares all night, which meant it was straight to bed for me.

“Come on, bro.” Tallulah yanked me to my feet.

Mom waited in the doorway. As we passed, she squeezed my arm and smiled. “Night, love.”

“Night, Mom.” I paused. “Sorry for all?—”

“Don’t be. Something made you come home tonight, and now you’re safe, so that’s all that matters.” She reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Turn on your old lights. Your tray of sleep crystals are in the windowsill. Put them under your pillow.”

“Thanks.”

I didn’t miss the fact that Mom and Tallulah exchanged some kind of silent communication as I walked away. I knew both of their faces too well. Mom knew something was up if we rolled in unannounced in the middle of a Friday night not drunk. She knew I was acting weird, that something was off, otherwise she wouldn’t have told me to put crystals under my pillow.

Our house wasn’t very big, so it only took about fifteen seconds of walking in the dark for us to reach my old room. Technically, Tallulah lived next door with her mother, Victoria, but there was no way I was letting her leave my side after— no, don’t think about that.

I opened my door and the scent of lavender washed over me, chipping away at the tension inside. With a soft smile, I hurried over to my old king-sized bed tucked into the far corner and collapsed onto it. The turquoise, velvet duvet was so soft I actually sighed. Turn on your lights. I rolled over and grabbed the remote off the nightstand. A quick three clicks and soft, warm turquoise glow filled the room from a strip of light that followed the crown molding on the ceiling.

“I think we need to invest in these lights for our place.” Tallulah skipped over to the windowsill and picked up a small silver tray full of crystals. “I love that your mom still does this for you even when you’re not here.”

I smiled. “You have to charge your crystals. You know that.”

She walked over with the tray and sat it on the nightstand. “Well load up for the tooth fairy, bro.”

I chuckled and rolled onto my side as Tallulah climbed onto the bed with me. She was the reason I even had a king-sized bed. It was because we liked sleepovers too much. My hand hovered over the tray and warm energy radiated into my palms. Without looking, I let myself pick up three stones—whichever ones my fingers felt drawn to.

The first was a nice little chunk of amethyst. The best crystal for peaceful sleep. The second was a vibrant, smoky quartz that was amazing for grounding. The third was howlite, which made sense since it helped relieve a racing mind and combat insomnia. I squeezed the three crystals in my palm and closed my eyes, then took a few deep breaths. Once my pulse calmed down a few notches, I reached under my pillow and placed the three stones— wait. There was already a stone under there.

I pulled it out and my heart stopped.

Moonstone.

Mr. Moonstone.

I groaned and wrapped my fingers around the stone. Sleep, Collins. Just go to sleep.

“Bro, you really should eat.”

I nestled into my warm pillow and yanked the covers over me, ignoring the growl of my stomach. “I’m a cocoon. Butterfly tomorrow.”

Tallulah said something but I was out before my ears could process the words. Everything went black, except unlike earlier, this felt comfortable. This darkness was warm and inviting. It smelled like vanilla and roses. Suddenly, I was in a garden with a bright blue sky over my head. I felt myself smile, which was a weird feeling to feel in a dream.

The ground warmed beneath my bare feet. Around me, the flowers all seemed to be craning their little green necks to soak in the sunshine. Their bright, colorful petals fluttered in the gentle breeze. I ran my fingers over the leaves and stems, grinning at the tingle of each of their energies. It was like they were saying hello.

But then the flowers shuddered and curled in on themselves, folding back up into buds. The ground rumbled and thick, dark clouds rolled in over my head. The air pulsed and made the hairs on my bare arms stand tall. A gust of wind slammed into my back, and it was ice cold. I hissed and wrapped my arms around my waist as shivers ripped down my spine.

And then I smelled it again, that vanilla and rose smell. It was kind of spicy like . . . like . . . my eyes widened. I knew that smell. Warmth slid down my back. I spun around and gasped.

Mr. Moonstone.

He stood right in front of me, his pale blue hair blowing in the bitter, ice-cold breeze that had arrived on his heels. He wasn’t in the same outfit as before. Now he wore a thick white fur coat. If he lay down in the snow, he would be camouflaged for sure. Those bluish-white eyes sparkled like moonstones.

My breath caught in my throat. The last few times I’d seen him after my first fainting spell, I’d been terrified . . . but right now, standing so close I felt the heat radiating off his body, there was no fear. That smell was him. It was soothing and relaxing, but it was also enticing. My mouth watered. My body leaned into him, and I didn’t stop it. Those eyes looking down at me held no contempt, no violence. He looked me up and down like he was searching for something.

His hands squeezed mine, then he lifted them to his mouth . . . and gently kissed my knuckles.

I licked my lips. “Hello . . .”

He smiled and lowered my hands back to my sides, yet still he didn’t speak. I watched him in riveted silence. If he wasn’t going to speak, then I sure as hell wasn’t gonna be able to. He reached up and pulled a necklace up and over his head—then hooked it over mine. I looked down and immediately recognized it as the same piece of raw black tourmaline he’d been wearing at The Sapphire. It almost looked like a rock or a painted chunk of wood. As unassuming as it appeared, it was the best for all types of protection, and I desperately needed it.

I looked into his eyes and smiled. “Thank you.”

He nodded once and carefully tucked the stone under my shirt, like he wanted me to hide it. Then he reached up and brushed my hair back, tucking the long dark strands behind my ear. His thumb grazed my cheekbone and rubbed gentle circles. My whole body warmed and tingled. That scent wrapped around me like a cocoon . . . and then everything went black.

Except this time, I went willingly.