Chapter 12 #3
“Hold on, you two can’t have a private convo without me. I have FOMO,” Landon whines.
“Well, Deus here was telling me that he was jealous of my attire,” Nolan says as he waves at his sweatpants. “And how he just wouldn’t look as good in them as I do. I feel quite underdressed now that I see Ellison.”
“Ellison sleeps and showers in his suits. I have proof,” I explain.
Ellison’s attention snaps over to me. “You have proof? Were you invisible in the bathroom while I bathed?”
“Not recently,” I assure him.
He looks skeptical.
Landon sighs. “Where the hell is Brandon? I’m getting impatient.”
“Do you think he’s having trouble getting his sex doll through security?” Nolan asks.
“I think she’d fit through the x-ray machine.”
I shake my head. “Not if her arms stick straight out.”
“You’re right. Maybe he had to deflate her to bring her in and is now wasting time inflating her,” Landon says before the door opens and Brandon comes in alone.
“Where the fuck is she? You better have brought her or I’m gonna be pissed, you hear me?” Landon asks, as though he has the energy to get pissed.
“She’s waiting outside but I just… I came in first to remind you guys not to embarrass me in front of her,” Brandon says.
“He… he thinks we’re the embarrassing ones?” Nolan asks, confused.
“Right? We didn’t really understand this either,” August responds.
“Pinky promise,” Brandon says as he holds his pinky out and isn’t pleased until every single one of us has made a pinky promise. He takes a deep breath, like he has to steel himself, and steps out of the room.
“Do we think someone is paying her?” Landon asks.
“I speculated that our mother was,” Nolan says. “I once read her mind when she was thinking about paying someone to go on a date with you, Landon. She really pitied your one-sided love for August.”
Landon’s eyes narrow. “It wasn’t one-sided.” He waves wildly at August. “He loves me.”
“Blink twice if you need help,” Nolan tells August.
Landon pries August’s eyes open so he can’t blink, which is the first thing Brandon’s girlfriend sees when she enters the room.
I think we’re all shocked when we discover that she’s a really cute woman who looks ridiculously normal and not at all made of plastic, silicone, or inflated. She hesitates, then smiles when she looks at us.
“Hi! I’m Paisley.”
“You’re already embarrassing me!” Brandon declares while he forces Landon to let go of August’s eyelids.
“It’s a good hour to you, gentlewoman. The demons smile brightly on your vibrant soul,” I say as I take her hand and kiss it.
“How much are you getting paid?” Landon whispers.
“Uh… for?” she asks, looking bewildered.
“I told you they were embarrassing,” Brandon says. “I’m sorry they’re so weird.”
“I’m Lex, the perfectly normal one, thank you very much.” Lex folds his arms over his chest.
“Nolan,” Nolan says as he gives her a smile and a nod. “I’m Brandon’s older brother.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. Brandon always has the best stories about his family,” she replies. “And August, it’s so exciting getting to meet you.”
“I also have posters of him on my walls,” Landon says by way of greeting.
She laughs. “How embarrassing. Brandon, you weren’t supposed to share that!”
“He shared more than that,” August mutters, quite scarred.
Ellison clears his throat. “I’m Ellison,” he says. “The one who kissed your hand without permission is Asmodeus.”
There’s a knock on the door a moment before it opens and a woman carries in some bags. “Got your food here.”
“Oh perfect, thank you,” Nolan says as he carries them over to the table where an assortment of chairs are stationed around it. “Please make yourself at home. There really isn’t much room, so we’re going to be slightly on top of each other.”
“I can sit on Ellison’s lap if that helps,” I declare.
“I can sit on August’s face if it comes to it,” Landon says.
“Are… are we actually the weird ones?” August whispers.
“No, no, Brandon is,” Landon assures him while looking thoughtful.
“There are enough chairs, I just meant… while eating we only have this small table,” Nolan says as he sits down. I notice Lex quickly grabs the chair next to him before sitting very prim and proper.
Nolan opens up boxes of chicken, mashed potatoes, and other sides. “Go ahead and eat, everyone. It’s nothing fancy but it’s pretty good.”
“So, Paisley,” Landon says as August puts some chicken strips on his plate. “Are you… human?”
“Last I checked.”
“Hmm… suspicious.”
“What do you do for work?” Nolan asks.
“What he means is… do people pay you to go on dates with them?” Landon clarifies.
She just laughs. “No. I’m currently doing my residency, which means that I’m swamped.”
“You’re a med student?” Nolan asks.
“I am!”
Everyone at the table stops moving and stares at her and then at Brandon, then back at her.
“What?” she asks.
“That’s just… that’s just… really amazing,” Nolan says.
“You see, Paisley, our brother… let’s just say he’s never had much luck with women or really humans in general,” Landon explains.
“He’s such a sweetheart,” she says as she hugs him. “So considerate and nice and funny.”
“Sounds suspicious,” Landon whispers quietly enough I think I’m the only one who hears him.
Ellison holds out the box of chicken strips.
I beam at him as I hold my hands out to receive the gift. “Oh, thank you, my dear.”
He promptly takes them away. Like what did I say wrong now?
“You’re so hard to please!” I realize.
“Really, I’m not,” Ellison says.
“No, you really are. Maybe you’re hungry and that’s the issue.” I aim a spoonful of mashed potatoes toward his mouth, but the look on his face very much tells me that it’s not going to solve our problems and will likely add to them.
The light flickers and I glance up at it, but no one else seems to pay it any mind.
Ellison finally hands the chicken over to me, so I take the box and pull out a couple of pieces before passing it on.
“I was hoping to get to meet Brandon’s parents too, but he said he wanted to take baby steps,” Paisley tells us.
“He should have taken you to a SAVCGEM meeting like I did with August. Get it all done at once,” Landon says.
“Ooh, what’s that?” she asks.
“Our parents’ book club,” Brandon answers.
We all look over at him, eyebrows raised.
“Their… super… secret… book club,” Brandon says, giving us all pleading looks. Like does he not realize he’s a prominent member as well?
“Speaking of books,” Landon says as I begin eating. “Do you like to read?”
“I do!”
Landon’s eyes light right up. “Do you? None of these fools like to read like I do. And Ellison only reads handbooks so he can be all sassy. They’re all so unsophisticated in the fine art of beautiful literature. Please. Give it to me. What’s your favorite book?”
“Well, I really love reading medical books.”
Landon’s hopes and dreams are immediately destroyed. “I… see…”
My attention shifts to the door so I can listen.
“What’s wrong?” Ellison asks.
“Nolan, can you read minds outside this room?” I ask.
Nolan lowers his plastic fork. “I can… why?”
“See if you hear anyone outside the room.”
Nolan is quiet for a moment as he concentrates, but the way his face scrunches a bit makes me stand up.
“I’m… the medication makes it blurry. I can’t hear clearly.”
“What can you hear?”
“A… mind that I’ve never felt before… maybe they’re moving someone in.”
“Or maybe someone got out,” I say right before the door slowly swings inward. No one is standing outside it, making me question if something has malfunctioned with the electronic device that opens the doors. Just as I step toward it, I see a wasp fly in and land on my arm before stinging me.
“Stay in the room,” I demand, rushing through the door and discovering that all of the doors in the facility are open, including the doors keeping the villains locked inside. Movement from my left draws my attention as a man hurries from his room and moves toward me.
I dodge his attack a second before a swarm of wasps descends upon me. I turn invisible as Landon waves his hand through the air, using a tray to push the insects away from the dinner party. I slam my hand into the man’s throat so hard that he falls back, choking for breath.
“What the fuck?” Landon cries while he tries to push all the bugs off them.
Ellison throws out his illusions, creating a barrier between the man controlling the insects and the others.
I really wish I had my gun but the man is used to his insects doing the work, so I have no doubt that the plastic fork in my hand will be enough to end this.
I lift my hand before jerking back fast, pulling away from the man just as something thin and black moves through the air, slicing right through the man while darkness falls on us.
I narrowly missed getting cut in half by a mere second, and now…
now I can’t see anything. Was that a weapon?
Or something the attacker could make up with their power?
It was thin and flat, almost like a small pane of glass instead of a weapon…
but the bigger question is… did it come from the same one who has dropped us into darkness…
or is that someone completely different?
Moving silently, I inch closer to Ellison’s illusions who are in a row between me and the rest of my group.
But after ten steps, I hesitate, well aware that I should have run into something by this point.
I don’t want to say a word, in case the attacker hasn’t located me yet, but can Landon and the others actually go this long without speaking?
I listen carefully, but the longer I stand here, the more I begin to question if the attacker’s power isn’t to drop us into darkness, but to make us believe we are lost in it.