Chapter 6
BONES
“Sometimes I feel stupid standing here, talking to an empty grave.” Last night’s rain has made the air crisper, the soil darker, and the leaves slicker with fresh dew. But nothing ever changes the fact that my brother’s body was never found.
My sister lets out an ardent sigh. She shifts back and forth on her designer boots, annoyed that they are getting muddy. “We talk to Sonny’s spirit. It doesn’t matter where his body is.”
Lettie always sees the good in everything and everyone. I wish I could be more like her sometimes. Other times, I wish I could be more like our brother Felix, self-avoidant. He has a way of detaching and disassociating that appeals to me the most when the nightmares keep me awake.
I rub some of the dirt off his headstone. “It’s not right, you know? How can he rest in peace if his body is lost?”
“Abuelita Carmen says he was claimed by the land. That he’s—”
“I know, I know. That he’s freer in the wind than he’d ever be six feet underground. Still… it would’ve been nice to know for sure.” Lettie doesn’t remember Sonny like Felix and I do. She was just a baby when he died. She doesn’t know who she’s supposed to miss.
But I remember him better than I do the day before last. Sonny was a happy kid, always giggling at everything. But he was too curious for his own good. If we didn’t watch him like hawks, he would wander off, and we’d find him in the oddest places.
Once, my ma caught him feeding the pigeons on the roof of our abuela’s villa. He could’ve fallen and broken every bone in his body. But that didn’t scare him. Nothing did. He was fearless.
But his luck ran out. It ran out for all of us. Because just as we had feared, one day he wandered off too far. So far, we’ve never found him. Ma never gave up. She never stopped searching. But Papa told us to let him go.
Felix and I were to blame. They won’t admit it, but they’ve never looked at us the same since. Everyone but Abuelita Carmen blamed us. We were supposed to be watching him. The two of us went down some dark paths after that day. Felix especially. He always internalized everything.
And my parents… well, they smothered Lettie instead.
She was—is—our little princessa. I would take a thousand bullets for her.
I may have hovered too much when she was a kid, but I swore I’d never make the mistake of turning my back again.
I would’ve for sure ended my life if something had happened to her too.
I barely survived Sonny… It’s still a struggle.
She puts her hand on my shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. How many times do I have to remind you it’s not your fault? It was an accident. You’re the best brother anyone could ask for.”
I squeeze her hand. She’s perfect, and I don’t deserve her forgiveness or understanding. But that’s one of the things I love about her the most. Her heart. It’s pure and big and beautiful. “If you say so, it must be true.”
She tilts her head and gazes up at me with big brown eyes. “Si, hermano. I cannot tell a lie. Not to you.”
I kiss her forehead and lean against her. “Everything okay with you? How’s school?”
She sighs and looks away. “Um… It’s…”
Lettie has always been easy to read. She wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions on her face.
Although lately, something’s been off. I’m not foolish enough to think she doesn’t have secrets.
She’s a grown woman. But it’s not like her to act so withdrawn.
I thought it had to do with us and Mia at first, but now I’m starting to suspect it stretches way beyond that.
“Lettie, what’s wrong? You can tell me,” I urge.
“I don’t think I’m going back to Tenebrose this fall. I-I shouldn’t have left Ever Graves.” Her eyes well with tears as she gazes past the headstones and into the shadowy woods.
“But I thought you loved Tenebrose. What about your friends? Maureen and Libra will be so upset if you don’t go back.
” I was never a fan of my baby sister moving all the way to Raven’s Gate for school.
Especially knowing that Nocturnus had its hooks in everything there.
But Aries promised me that Atlas and Libra would look out for her.
In time, I saw her thriving. Her grades were perfect, and she was staying out of trouble. Then, when Felix got a job as a professor there, we were able to keep even more of an eye on her. I thought she was happy there. So why the sudden change?
Lettie shakes her head. “It’s complicated. I will miss them, but… I left some things unfinished here.”
My stomach knots. We all saw a very different side to Lettie after she graduated high school.
A darkness that I thought only ran through the blood of the Crane men, a darkness that we’d hoped skipped her.
Until she enrolled in Hemlock Prep and fell in with a group there who were always at the center of every drama and controversy.
“Lettie… is this about those girls? Did Skyler contact you again?” I light a cigarette, my fingers trembling around the silver-plated lighter. If anything, this new shift in conversation has distracted me from the haunted sounds of the graveyard.
She paces back and forth. “You have your own shit to worry about, Bones. I gotta deal with mine. Otherwise, it will eat me alive. Don’t worry about Skyler. I can handle her.”
I brush a piece of hair out of her eyes. “Lettie, you might have Ma and Papa fooled. I think you even pulled the wool over Abuelita Carmen’s eyes. But I saw how it destroyed you. What exactly happened at Hemlock Prep?”
She shrugs me off. “Nothing. Trust me, Bones… You’re better off not knowing. I’m not the angel you think I am.”
“Whatever it is you did or think you did, doesn’t matter. I know my baby sister’s heart. You’re pure, Lettie. Good and pure and full of light. You’re the only one who is in this fucked-up town.”
She blinks back tears and pinches her eyes shut. “You’re wrong. I’m sorry, but you have no idea.”
“Then tell me,” I beg. As I tally up all the fucked-up shit I’ve done, I know there’s absolutely nothing she could tell me that would make me love her any less. I’m the last person to judge.
“Please, drop it, Bones… I don’t want to talk about it. I just need to fix it. Trust that I know what I’m doing.”
I nod. “All right. But if you need anything. Like literally fucking anything, Lettie. You tell me right away. I’m your ferocious big brother for a reason. I don’t care if you murder someone for fun, and you need me to hide the body. I will never judge you. Never. Lo entiendes?”
Another sigh releases from her glossy lips. “Si. I understand. Now, can we please not talk about this anymore?”
“Fine. For now. I gotta get back to the garage anyway. Mia’s meeting me there.
” The only person who could tear me away from anything family-related is my unhinged little lamb.
It’s been a couple of nights without her, and if I have to fall asleep fisting my own cock again, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
Lettie grins, finally chasing away the black cloud that was seemingly hanging over our heads. “You guys are so obsessed with her. Let me know when you can pencil me in for some time with my friend.”
I snort and tousle her hair, messing it up. “Your friend?” I tease. “Mia was mine first. But maybe I’ll let you hang out with her sometime in the next year.”
She playfully punches me in the arm as we stalk back to my yellow muscle car. “You are delusional. Mia will drop all four of you for me in a heartbeat if I ask her to.”
She’s not wrong. Mia loves us, but she’s a girl’s girl through and through.
And I love that about her as much as I tease otherwise.
“Okay, you win. C’mon, I’ll drop you back at the Crane Estate unless there’s somewhere else you want to go?
I got the parts for your car this morning.
I should have it fixed by the end of the week. ”
“Yeah, actually, could you take me into town? I need to grab a few things at the market.” She types furiously on her phone. I hear the woosh of a sent text message four times in a row.
The engine roars to life, drowning out my response.
But she’s not paying attention to me anyway.
This girl is up to something dark again.
I can feel it. But while still trying to figure out Mia, Nox, and where we all fit in together…
And with all the Wild Hunt festivities coming up, I don’t have time to keep tabs on Lettie too.
She’s a grown woman. I need to take her word and trust she can handle herself.