Boris’ face is turning red, a combination of the headlock and rage. Still, he catches the evening light in a magical way, looking like a hairy disco ball. Kinsley snickers and I aim another discreet glare at him. I know why he did it, but we don’t want to draw any more attention to ourselves right now. Despite my annoyance, we stand by each other no matter what, because our family is all we have left in this world and that means everything to us.
“Shouldn’t have gone price gouging our sister.” I shrug a single shoulder, unrepentant.
His eyes narrow. “She’d already covered the entire path to my house in cooking grease; we were square.”
Snorting as I picture it, the levity in my tone becomes genuine instead of for show. “She forgot to pass along the memo. Whoops.”
Kaiden finally releases him before he passes out, but doesn’t look happy about it. “Just consider it an advance for the next time you try and jerk us around on payments then.”
Boris swipes a hand through his hair, sending a shower of sparkles to the ground. “I’m not taking this one lying down, assholes,” he warns.
Kaiden starts rolling a pocket knife between his fingers to show just how bored the threat makes him. “Bring it on, old man. You want a war, we’re happy to oblige.”
Boris hesitates, knowing that we have way more means at our disposal and are the sort to gladly cut off our noses to spite our faces simply out of boredom. To his credit, he stands straighter and holds his ground. I’d commend him more if a part of me wasn’t freaking out. This wouldn’t have been an issue before, would have been a good way to spice things up in this dull town, but we’re harboring a fugitive. Boris sniffing around just leads to more of a chance of getting caught.
He spits on the ground at Kinsley’s feet. “You made your bed.” Then he turns on his heel and storms off without another word, leaving Kaiden and I glaring at our very slightly younger brother.
“Well, balls,” he says with a sigh. “That kind of backfired.”
Kaiden shoulders past him into the house to pull the others out of the basement and I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, it sure fucking did. What were you thinking, making waves like that?” He shrugs apologetically, looking embarrassed, so I roll my eyes. “Caught it on video?” I hazard on a guess and he nods.
“I thought it might make her laugh,” he admits quietly. “She’s been looking even more depressed these last few days and I was grasping at straws to cheer her up.”
I heat up her plate on our way back to the table, but the mood isn’t as relaxed as before, and it was already tense. At the sound of the staple gun, I glance over my shoulder to see Kaiden stapling the curtains to the wall to ensure they won’t flutter open when someone walks past before rejoining us.
Saige is quiet, keeping her eyes downcast, but still eating swiftly. With as few and far between as her meals came, she never complains or wastes a single bite. I try to engage her in conversation, but I only get noncommittal, distracted answers. Kaiden’s fork bends under his tight grip and Kinsley looks like a kicked puppy.
Dinner ends and she limps back to her room quietly, trying to be invisible. I audibly groan and thump my head on the table after her door closes behind her, hating everything about our situation without a damn clue how to go about fixing it. I can slap some band aids on it, sure, but there’s no actual cure. We can try and make it less miserable for her, though it doesn’t really do anything more than pretend the problem will go away if we all ignore it long enough.
An hour later as I’m sitting in the living room with a beer, I see Eli’s shock of red hair from the corner of my eye, gently knocking on her door with his school book loosely held at his side. I lean forward optimistically, sagging in relief when she lets him in. If she had turned him away, I have no doubt that would have been his one and only attempt at extending an olive branch.
Feeling a little better, I triple check the locks on the doors and head down the hall to bed for the night, leaving the door cracked. Kins took over Ezra’s old room upstairs across from Eli, so that just leaves Kaiden and I down here as a first line of defense if anything happens. It’s not perfect, but it’s all we’ve got. One day at a time, but I have faith things will get better. They have to.
We’re goddamn dragons, and I refuse to spend the rest of our lives cowering.
Chapter 3
