Page 60 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

Five-years-old.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll always find out and take care of them. It would only be quicker if you’d share it with us,” I said, and pulled my sketch from my pocket. “Now, can you make something like these?”

Lucia reviewed the designs I’d drawn and tapped on two points where steel buckles connected the leather pieces together. “It’s not going to work. These parts will restrict movement. But I can make it work with a few adjustments.” She pulled a pencil from the drawer below the counter and scribbled on a few changes. “Now, what color do you want for each?”

I inspected the improved design. Truly, her talent was unparalleled. “Black. How soon can you make it?”

“This I can do in two weeks.” She indicated the smaller of the two designs. “But the other one will take me a couple of months. I’ll need the measurements to make sure everything fits snugly and yet stays in place and comfortable without impacting motions.”

“Deal. I’ll send someone over with everything.”

Lucia trusted me not to ask for an advance payment, and I exited her shop, pondering about requesting a new set of chains. The collection I had was in great condition, but there couldn’t be too many, could it?

Heavy air drenching the passerby in sweat attacked me, unfurling an image of how the leather I’d designed would wrap around Kali’s body, black in stark contrast with her fair skin, her dark messy waves a crown of sorts, and her clutching the glinting steel I’d gifted her, the edge of the blade dripping crimson.

Knee-buckling.

The shadowsat the end of the long hallway obscured me from her sight as she once again opened her bedroom door and paused. Groaning, Kali hit the door frame with her palm and stomped back inside. The door closed without a sound, hiding her midnight contemplation.

Eight.

Five minutes ticked by, and she ripped the door open. The door handle hit the wall, and a thud reverberated in the space, the echoes causing her to flinch. Her head swiveled to both sides, but not a single door creaked open for a head to peek out despite her noisiness.

She didn’t know the people residing on this floor occupied the apartments in all the hallways but this one. Gedeon and I had made sure of it. Our own little corner of peace and quiet.

With another grunt, she slunk back into her bedroom and slammed the door.

Nine.

How long was she planning to keep going like that?

Minutes ticked by. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty. An hour. Her door stayed closed. She must’ve exhausted herself with her incessant pacing, back and forth, out and back in.

My sneakers silent, I stalked to her door and stuck my head inside. She’d tucked herself under the thick duvet, curled up in a ball, her lips parted. Faint mumbles filled the room as a restless dream had snatched her from reality.

A tap on my shoulder sent me leaping backward and hitting my head on the door frame. I cursed at the sharp pain blooming behind my eyes.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I muttered, massaging the tender spot at the back of my head, a bump sure to swell in the next hour. Not the first, and definitely not the last.

Gedeon leaned against the hallway wall painted in gray—the compromise between Jayla and Eislyn insisting on colors—to be exact, any color whatsoever, as they’d put it—and him arguing for black—and folded his arms over his chest. “What are you doing?”

I winced from accidentally rubbing the bruised spot too roughly. “I wanted to see if she’d run. She tried to leave, but then went back in. And repeated it nine times. She’s passed out now.”

Chuckling, he pushed off the wall and peeked inside her bedroom, lingering in the doorway for far longer than a normal person should. Except I wouldn’t call myself decent, so stating he was abnormal would be hypocritical.

He closed the door, the faintest click the sole sign it’d been opened in the first place, and smirked. “I have an idea.”

21

GEDEON

Not a single feather cloud floated in the bright blue sky. As if the heat from the sun had incinerated any and all fluffy intruders who could potentially mess with my plan.

I ripped off my t-shirt and tossed it on the beach blanket spread out in the shade of a cliff where the temperature bordered a tolerable level. Seagulls soared the sky, not daring to seek the land, and their cries pierced the roar of the waves crashing on the shore and surrendering to the sea, pulling them back into its depths.

“Smart.” Sadira came to a stand at my left.

A breeze ruffled Zion’s hair as he lounged on his back, hands hooked behind his head. He had made his refusal to leave Kali’s side until she awakened painstakingly clear, and now hogged the majority of the white-and-blue-striped blanket.