Chapter 19 #2
“I can practically hear the cogs turning in your head. What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything. I just don’t like change.”
“Hmmm…” he hums before falling silent for a few seconds. I watch his brows furrow before he speaks again.
“Do you want us?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly.
Everything has changed in such a short amount of time; my entire life has changed. He goes to say something when I hear the front door open and close. I look at my bedroom door, and Cyrus lets me go.
“Eli is back,” he says, and I nod, about to walk out when Cyrus stops me, pulling me back to him.
He kisses me, his lips molding around my own as he pulls me closer. I kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and standing on my tippy toes. He pulls back before kissing my forehead.
“Just trust us. Trust that we will look after you, Addie, and things will get better, I promise,” he whispers just as Eli walks into the room.
“Are you in a better mood?” Eli asks, stepping behind me, his hands going to my hips.
“I’m sorry I hit you,” I tell him.
“Your sister is downstairs,” he says, and I let go of Cyrus before turning around.
Eli lets me pass, and I walk downstairs. My sister is sitting at the table. She looks horrible, and tears streak her face. Her eyes are all puffy and red from crying, and her clothes are all wrinkled.
“Taylor?” I ask, wondering why she is crying.
“Addie, Ethan is dead,” she says, and I swallow the words I am about to say.
It is clear she is sober, having been in jail for the last two days, but she looks so withdrawn and terrible. Now seeing her like this, though, breaks my heart. She must truly think she loves Ethan.
“Eli took me past his house. It’s gone, Ada. They are all dead,” she says before breaking down again.
“I know. I did tell you. You must have forgotten,” I tell her, walking over and sitting next to her.
“I thought you were lying, so I wouldn’t go back, but he is really gone,” she says, sobbing into my shoulder.
“Where is Maya?” Taylor asks, sniffling.
“Before-school care,” I tell her.
Eli walks into the kitchen to make coffee. When Taylor looks at him, watching him closely, I don’t understand the fear I see on her face.
“They aren’t human, Addie,” she whispers to me.
I know they’ve heard her, but they haven’t acknowledged what she’s said. Instead, Cyrus sits at the table, and Eli hands him a coffee.
“I know that, Taylor,” I tell her, and she looks at me, shocked.
I am more shocked as to how she knows they aren’t human. I look at Cyrus, and he shrugs, uncaring of her knowing.
“How do you know?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.
“They haven’t changed. They are still the same as when dad was alive. I thought I recognized them, I wasn’t sure before, but I am now,” she says, and Cyrus looks at her.
He has an indecipherable expression on his face. Eli places a cup in front of both of us, and I see him glare at my sister. I pick up mine when Taylor snatches it from me and sniffs the cup. I take it from her.
“What are you doing?” I ask her, and she looks at Eli. He growls, and she flinches before shaking her head.
“Can I speak to you privately?” she whispers before her eyes dart to my neck.
She flicks my hair from my shoulder, staring at my mark, her hands going to her mouth. I am suddenly hit by Eli’s anger, making me look at him.
“We haven’t got time for this. We need to go to work. Cyrus, do whatever it is you’re going to do,” Eli says, waving his hand.
Taylor gets up from her seat, a panicked expression on her face as she looks at Cyrus. He pulls his chair out, about to walk around the table toward her.
“Wait!” I tell them, wanting to know what my sister wants to talk to me about.
Eli walks to the other side of the table, blocking my sister from running. I jump to my feet in panic when I feel his anger rushing over me.
“Addie, what’s going on?” Taylor asks, clutching onto my back and using me as a shield.
“Wait, Cyrus, just let me calm her down,” I tell him, but he ignores me, reaching for her.
I slap his hand away, stopping him from grabbing her. Eli growls, making goosebumps rise on my skin. The sound is so menacing that Taylor freaks out, grabbing a lamp from the hall stand and brandishing it as a weapon.
“Taylor, calm down,” I tell her, turning to face her, but her eyes dart to all three of us frantically.
“Addie, you don’t understand. You can’t be with them,” she says.
Eli reaches for her, and she swings the lamp, barely missing him.
“Taylor, calm down! Cyrus is just going to help you.”
“Help me? Help me, Addie? I don’t need help, especially from the likes of them,” she screams, swinging the lamp again, but this time Eli grabs it, ripping it from her hands and placing it on the bench behind him. He advances on her, and I step in his way, blocking him from her.
“Move, Adeline!” he snaps at me.
“No, just let me explain to her.”
“Explain what?” Taylor shrieks just as Cyrus grabs her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She shrieks and starts struggling, kicking her legs and trying to fight him off.
I grab her face, trying to calm her. Instead, I get kicked in the stomach, knocking me back and onto the floor.
“He is just going to help, help so you can be a better mother to Maya, Taylor,” I tell her, getting up off the ground.
“I’ll be good, Addie. I will be good, I promise,” she cries, struggling against Cyrus.
She throws her head back, the back of her head connecting with his face. He grunts at the impact before Taylor screams as his grip becomes tighter, and I see her face turning purple as she struggles to breathe as he crushes her chest in his arms.
“Let her go. You’re fucking killing her!” I scream at him, trying to pry his arms away from her, when suddenly Eli grabs my waist, ripping me away from her.
“Deal with her,” Eli screams at Cyrus, and I watch, horrified, as he starts dragging my sister from the room while she screams for me. I thrash in Eli’s arms, trying to help her, the panicked look on her face breaking my heart. Eli rips me into the hallway toward the living room.
“Addie, enough! He won’t hurt her,” Eli snaps at me.
“He already is. Just let me calm her,” I scream at him, turning in his arms and pushing on his chest.
Eli trips over the coffee table as we crash to the floor; he pivots, and I land on top of him.
I sit up, about to make a dash for my sister, when Eli grips my ankle, ripping me back to the ground.
A terrifying noise leaves him, making me scream as I am jerked back to him by my foot.
I start kicking, trying to get away from him.
I watch, petrified, as his canines protrude and his eyes turn into demonic, never-ending pools of darkness.
I can see my scared expression mirrored in his eyes as he pushes between my legs, pinning my arms to the floor.
“Stop, Addie,” he growls as I thrash, trying to escape him.
“Let me go, Eli. Let me fucking go!” I scream, tears rolling down my face and into my hairline.
“Addie, stop. We had an agreement. He helps her, and you come with us. He is doing what he promised. Now, fucking stop struggling!” Eli yells at me before slamming me down on the carpet, his grip on my arms tightening painfully.
“It’s done,” Cyrus says, making me look up.
I see him looking down at us, his arms folded across his chest, an annoyed expression on his face. Eli lets me up, sitting back on his knees and releasing me. I scramble to my feet, racing toward the kitchen, when I see my sister sitting at the table, staring off vacantly at the wall.
“Taylor?” I ask before rushing to her side.
She looks at me, her face lighting up like it is the first time she has seen me today.
“Ada…” she says before standing and hugging me.
I pullback, holding her at arm’s length, looking at her.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, and she looks at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I look at Cyrus as he walks in, leaning on the bench and watching us. Eli walks in behind him, and I glare at him.
“What did you want to tell me?” I ask her, trying to get some reaction out of her.
She seems fine, but something is off. She almost seems happy, something I haven’t seen on her face in years. Her brows furrow in confusion.
“I… hmm… oh right. Cyrus said he could get me a job where you work,” she says.
I look at him, and he shrugs.
“No, you were going to tell me something about them, something about seeing them,” I tell her, and she shakes her head.
“No, I don’t know what you are talking about. What time do I pick up Maya?” she asks.
I let her go, stepping back. I look at Cyrus, confused.
“What did you say to her?” I ask as she walks off up to her old room.
She stops on the stairs looking down over the banister. “Ada, can I borrow your clothes?”
I look up at her. “Yes, of course, just help yourself,” I tell her, confused by the complete personality change.
Cyrus waits for her to be out of sight before talking.
“I erased all memories of her using drugs. I erased Ethan, so I will probably have to erase him from your mother’s thoughts, too,” he says, talking to himself.
“Wait, my mother? My sister has no memory of the last four years of her life and no memory of Ethan at all. She grew up with him,” I tell him, finding it hard to believe he could just erase a huge part of her life like it was nothing.
“You wanted your sister fixed. I fixed her. Now, get ready for work,” he says, turning on his heel and walking up the stairs.