“That’s one of the reasons, yes.” His voice was rough, angered. Kellan was going to kill him anyway, even if there had been no threat to us. And he was going to do it because he played with Gus. He hurt her. He hurt one of us.

“When?”

“Now.” He stood and crossed to his closet. I looked away as he changed clothing. He had been in normal attire, jeans and a blue shirt. Now, he pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt that tightly fit him over black sports pants. They were made of soft material. When he moved across the room, I knew why he chose those clothes. I couldn’t hear him. I could barely see him. They were perfect for what he was going to do that night.

After he put his other clothes in a hamper, the ones that were bloodied from the house, he stopped and looked at me. “Are you going to stop me?”

I was torn inside, and I didn’t know what to say, much less do. All I knew was, I couldn’t move or stop him so I remained there while he left, after he left. Then I curled into a ball on his bed with my eyes wide open and waited for him to come back.

Sometime later, my eyes snapped open. I didn’t know how long I had stayed there or been asleep, but I lifted my head and saw someone in the doorway. It wasn’t Kellan, so I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and asked, “How is she?”

Vespar didn’t move from the doorway. He remained on the top step of the stairs. “He went to take care of Cavanagh?”

“You know he did.” I sighed.

He jerked his head up and down in an awkward nod. Guilt seemed to consume him. “Good.”

“Why didn’t you come to help? She must’ve called you first.”

“I can’t do what he can.”

His answer was simple, but I felt there was more to it. “How is she?”

He answered this time. “She’s… I put her out. I put her to sleep. She can’t handle what she did.”

“She’s not as dark as you.”

“Nor you,” he shot back. “You act like you’re above us because you don’t use your powers, but you’d do the same she did. Probably more. You can’t control yourself any better than Gus can—at least she can control her powers on a normal day.”

I stood now. “Do you really want to be threatening me?”

He opened his mouth, but Kellan appeared behind him. He jerked him backward and threw him down the stairs. As Vespar fell over the last step and stopped on the second floor, Kellan stood above him. “Do not say anything more. You should’ve been there, and you know it. Go to her. Take care of her now. At least do that.”

Vespar looked at me, angry, as I stood in Kellan’s bedroom entrance.

“Don’t!” Kellan warned again and then swept back up the stairs. He took my hand, dragged me inside, and locked his door behind us.

“Why are you—” I started to ask.

He threw me onto the bed. “You don’t either. We are going to sleep. Do nothing, say nothing.”

My mouth hung open, but I closed it when I saw his eyes in the moonlight. They were stark, in pain. Then he threw his clothes to the corner and started to come to bed. His eyes caught mine, saw something in them, and then he cursed before he grabbed a pair of boxers. Slipping them on, he crawled underneath his sheets and then lay there. Fatigued.

It didn’t feel right being there, so I started to get up. “I’m going to my room.”

He caught my hand and pulled me back. “Don’t. Please. I need you here tonight.”

A note was in his voice that I’d never heard before. It pulled at me, and I found myself crawling under his sheets with him. His hand held mine, and he turned his head to rest on my shoulder. As his eyes closed, I felt him fall asleep almost immediately. I stayed awake, watching him for the rest of the night.

No one left the house for four days. We weren’t on lockdown, but all of us seemed to respect the need to recuperate before we headed out and assessed the damage, if there was any. Then I broke the uneasy quiet as I packed my bag and headed toward my car.

Kellan stopped me outside the door. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to school.”

Vespar came out behind him at that moment. He passed us by with only a look as he headed down to the river. Gus followed, but she kept her head down when she walked around us. She hadn’t talked to us since that night; neither had Vespar. They sat with us at meals as we ate the little bit of food our human sides needed, but no one spoke. There were a lot of looks. Vespar looked anywhere but at us. Gus mainly only looked at Vespar or at her hands. Then there was Kellan and I. We stared at them, at each other, everywhere, but still no one said anything.

I’d had enough, and the urge to paint was strong. I had taken to drawing in the privacy of my room, but it wasn’t the same. I needed the large canvas. I needed to shut off everything and let the painting come forth. I couldn’t do that in my house, with my siblings there.

I reached for my car handle again, but Kellan took it instead. I glanced up. “What are you doing? I’ll be fine.” I waited to see if he’d say something about my messenger side, but he didn’t. He hadn’t spoken one word about that, and neither had I. With Vespar and Gus around, I was always fearful they could overhear our conversations. I didn’t trust them, especially since Kellan told me they couldn’t find out.

His eyes were trained on our siblings, and he nodded toward them. “What are they doing?”