Page 23 of The Beginning (Covert Moon, #1)

They drove about a mile through the city and turned onto a street that curved along the river.

Traffic was heavy. This section of town was home to several dance clubs and bars, also built into the old industrial buildings.

I pulled my car into the lot and parked a few rows away from Silas and his friends.

I waited while they walked together to the club and stepped inside.

They'd bypassed the waiting crowd and been waved through at the door.

I got out of my car and went over to Silas' vehicle. It was a black German car, smooth lines and serious luxury. The whole thing stunk of wet dog. My nose wrinkled. What the hell?

I leaned down and actually sniffed the car.

I had to pull away from the awful smell.

How could Calyx stand it? Then I remembered the smell in Calyx's bedroom.

Her perfume overpowered everything. Everything but this musty smell, this moldering odor…

it had been part of it. If her boyfriend smelled like this…

no wonder. I'd take up wearing perfume, too.

I covered my mouth and headed into the club.

Unlike my sister, I had to wait for the line to get in.

But once inside, it didn't take long to locate Calyx and Silas.

They had an entire roped-off section at the back of the club, raised up from the rest of the floor like a dais.

There were about twenty people hanging out in their VIP section, drinking and dancing.

Many of the girls wore skimpy slip dresses and sipped cocktails from fancy glasses.

Calyx wore jeans and a T-shirt, looking every bit a seventeen-year-old, though she didn't seem to feel out of place.

I watched Silas and his crowd milling around, saying hello to friends.

Calyx was like a puppy, hanging on his arm, making sure if his attention went elsewhere that she touched him, or moved into his vision.

“Oh, Calyx,” I said, my eyes glued to the scene above, ignoring the shuffling of the people around me. This was pathetic.

She clung to him for a moment, looking up at his face, waiting.

Then he nodded and Calyx separated herself from the group and pulled her girlfriend with her to the back of the club, in the direction of the ladies' room.

No sooner had she left the vicinity than Silas had grabbed onto another girl, pulled her into him, and planted a deep kiss on her mouth.

Oh no.

The girl pressed up against his body, her arms wrapping around him, her hands moving with the familiarity that spoke about consent, desire, and history.

Oh boy, Calyx was going to be crushed. One of the guys behind Silas tapped his shoulder, and Silas turned to see Calyx coming out of the ladies' room.

He shoved the girl away, and she smiled, understanding the situation clearly.

Calyx had ditched the jeans and T-shirt and now wore a tiny silver sequined dress that barely covered her ass.

When she made it back to the roped off area, she went straight to Silas, and molded herself against him.

He looked down at her and smiled warmly, glancing away as he kissed her forehead and groped her bottom, welcoming her return.

I'd never told Calyx about that night. I'd never told anyone.

I knew Calyx wouldn't want to hear it. I'd been afraid that she'd cast me off as our parents had if I told her something bad about her new love.

Now, as I drove through the countryside hoping to find a trace of her, I really wished I had said something.

* * *

I pulled into a gas station and got myself a bottle of water while I filled up the tank of my father's car. I tried to piece together what was happening.

Silas was just a player, but was there something more serious going on?

Did my dream vision have something to do with his intentions for Calyx?

God, she was so stupid. No. Stop that. I would not let my anger at our mother spill over to my sister.

She was young. Silas was skilled. He was so sure of her, and himself, that he made out with other girls in public when Calyx was out of view.

This happened in front of a lot of other people who clearly knew what was going on, what Silas was up to.

Apparently, none of them had loyalty to my sister.

Calyx didn't stand a chance against a man like Silas.

And here I was jealous of her for running away? She had no idea she was in trouble.

Did Silas intend to trick my sister into something? Why? He wasn't at all into her. Could it be for money? That made more sense.

Part of me wanted to just let her go. Let her fail. She would deserve whatever she got if she did that. And then Mother would see, without being able to deny a thing, that their favored daughter was not all flawless purity and perfection.

Okay, I could admit it. This train of thought wasn't my finest moment.

But the other side of me, the side that used to be connected to her as a sister, didn't want her to be hurt.

I wanted to protect her, shield her from the ugly nature of the realities of the world.

People sucked. Guys like Silas and his friends?

They didn't respect her. They didn't see anything in her of value. She was just another, stupid girl, too young to be caught up in any of this, and too eager to see the risks, too innocent to see that she didn’t matter to him at all.

I tried to tell myself that she was just another girl to them. That they hadn't picked Calyx for who she was. But that dream-vision... it felt connected. Maybe she was just unlucky, but there was a chance they'd targeted her for her money, or the family connections.

Maybe that was it... With Mother running for office, this was exactly the kind of thing that could ruin her, or force Mother into an arrangement with shady people where promises and deals would be paid back in the future.

As much as I hated my parents and the whole production that was the Blaine family, somebody creeping their way in via manipulation just made me angry.

Your destination is on your left. The robotic voice from my phone purred.

I gripped the steering wheel and pulled across the two-lane onto the shoulder. I let the car idle as I eyed the old church on the hill in the distance. There were no cars around, no signs of people. Except for the tiny glow coming through one of the arched windows.

Someone was definitely there.