“That depends.I have an assignment due Sunday night.”And I didn’t want to get roped into something I’d end up regretting.
“Your dad and I would like to go out to dinner.Can you look after Taya for a few hours?”
Ah…I was the free sitter now that I live there.“Is your regular babysitter busy?”
I knew she had one because Dad often complained about her not being available.
She blinks as if shocked that I’d ask.
“Dad told you to ask me, didn’t he?”Coward.
“Since we’re family?—”
I glare at her as I scoop my now overcooked eggs out of the water.She isn’t married to my father; she’s just living here the same as me.This wasn’t a happy family, no matter how hard she and Dad pretended.
It would be better for them, and me, if I wasn’t living there, but then they’d have no babysitter.Perhaps Dad had been waiting for an excuse to summon me home for that exact reason.
She sighed.“Tim?—”
“Timothy.”
“Timothy, this is a big change for all of us.Taya’s never had a sibling, and this is exciting for her.”
She wasn’t my sister.“Is that why she keeps trying to come into my room to fiddle with my models?Someone was in my room when I took Bunny for a walk.”
Her eyes widened.“It wasn’t Taya.I was getting her ready for bed and reading to her.She’s been having nightmares since we moved in.”
Same.“Tell Dad not to go into my room.He can wait until I’m home to ask me.You wouldn’t like it if I riffled through the stuff in your room.”I forced a smile, grabbed some cutlery, and stood in front of her, eating my snack.
I got through two bites before she spoke.“He’s worried about you.”
The snort of disbelief escaped my nose before I could stop it.“I’ll babysit, but if anyone goes in my room again, don’t bother asking, as you know what my answer will be.”
She considered me for several seconds, then nodded.“I’ll speak to him.”
“Good luck with that.”I shoved another bite into my mouth.
“We’ll be back before midnight.”
I nodded and pulled my headphones back on, wishing I could’ve refused without seeming like an asshole.That I didn’t care about being an asshole.It wasn’t Taya’s fault our parents had started banging, or that this house gave her nightmares.It had given me plenty as a kid.
Mom always said any monster in the closet was more afraid of me than I was of it.I found it hard to believe back then, and I don’t believe it now.
Not that I believe in monsters.
I smiled as I took my plate to my room to finish my snack.Perhaps the monster ate my briefs.
Chapter5
Farrow
For the last three nights,all I’d done was watch the human man sleep—which wasn’t very exciting.I’d ended up cutting the video from the other night and posting it as a teaser on my shiny new account to test if anyone was interested.I’d almost deleted it immediately because if no one liked it and followed me, I’d die of embarrassment.But people had seen it, and they wanted more…now my problem was that I didn’t have more.
Not of anything exciting, anyway.
I had recorded him sleeping in bed after I’d checked that the ink on his arm wasn’t visible.I still needed to do something with that information, but I wasn’t sure what, as I didn’t want to report him as a sorcerer when he wasn’t one.And he didn’t appear to be, as there were no magic or magical paraphernalia in his room.Nor did I want to go digging around the archives for more information on sorcerers, as that might raise some questions.
So now I had people waiting on content, and if I didn’t give them anything, they’d move on.I didn’t like this kind of pressure, and I hated Crispin for convincing me it was a good idea.
