Page 10 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

After a quick look to make sure Lou was okay, she grabbed one of Xim’s university textbooks from the shelf and handed it to Ryan. “You might like this.”

Both boys seemed satisfied with their distractions. Louis glued to the T.V. as though it was a window, and Ryan pretended he wasn’t interested as he hungrily flipped the pages, absorbing the new information.

“What about me?” Lai pouted.

“Here.” Lucy dug around in her pocketfor a momentand pulled out her middle finger, cheerfully flipping him off. “You’re old enough to entertain yourself.”

“I will sit on that finger if you aren’t careful,” Lai threatened, eyes narrowed at her.

Finally, he picked up a high fashion magazine from the coffee table and began aggressively flipping through the pages.

Lucy imagined he probably would have preferred something a bit more scandalous.

With an exhausted sigh, she sidled back over to Xim, her hands stuffed in her pockets, bumping her best friend’s hip with her own.

“You’re quiet.”

“Yeah, just a big crowd.” Xim smiled. “A bit overwhelming, and slightly intimidating.”

“They’reharmless. I promise.” Lucy kissed Xim’s cheek.

The three men’s eyebrows shot up as theystared at Lucy in surprise.

“I think everyone is confused because of how much cock you got this past week,” Lai helpfully translated the expressions for Lucy, who groaned in exasperation. Could he not show just a little tact, this one time?

Xim made a strangled noise at Lai’s comment, covered her mouth as she snorted, and strode across the room to a large white cabinet against the far wall.

“It’s complicated.” Lucy blushed. “But she already knows, I told her everything.”

Xim laughed as she openedupthe cabinet to reveal alargehidden bar,expensive and exotic liquors lining the doors.“As long as my Lucy had fun,” she teased, impish amusement all over her face as she poured herself a shot and downed it, the morning seemingly too much to handle without a drink.

‘Fun’ wasn’t exactly therightword for her tumble with Aris.

It had been exhilarating, terrifying, strange, and empowering.

Intoxicating. Now, she felt uncomfortably sober.

“I’m going to need some of that, please,” Lucy decided.

She wasn’t a big drinker, but with how tense she was andwithso many eyes on her, she needed somethingstrongerthan coffee.

“Help yourself.” Xim placed a couple of bottles of booze on the coffee table, carefully laying out coasters before setting down glasses and a bowl of crystal clear ice cubes.

“So, how can I help? I’m guessing you’ll need toget in touch withthese other families?

” She looked over to Aris. “My family owns the biggest communication network on the planet.I can connect you to 98% of the worldin a heartbeat.”

He nodded, reaching for a drink. “Problem is I know how to find some of them, but it would require traveling across the globe, and I don’t have my ship.”

“You can’t call them on the phone?”

“Don’t have their phone numbers,” Klein explained glumly, sliding a coaster under Aris’s glass. Lai nodded in support of his brother, picking up an ice cube and chewing on it.

“Can we look them up on Facebook?” Lucy poured herself a splash of rum, topping it up with Coke.

“The Book of Faces ? How would that help?” Ryan frowned, glancing up. “Wait, it might... No. It’s at the house. We can’t access it.” He returned to his textbook without elaborating.

Lucy looked at Lai, then Klein, and then Aris, hoping for clarification. No one bothered to explain.

“Why don’t we just fly over there?” Lai suggested, making Aris tense up instantly.

“Money?” Lucy sat down and took a large swig of her drink.

Lai got up, emptying his pockets full of notes. “I’ve got money. Not that much, but I can get more. Bayan still owes me for the kill.”

Lucy exchanged quick glances with the others, but once again, no one volunteered an explanation.

“Do you want to borrow the jet?”

Lucy and Lai both turned to stare at Xim at the offer, and Lucy was once again forced to face the fact that they really did live in two different worlds.

While Lucy would panic about the cost of taking a domestic flight, Xim would only panic if her family’s private jet was in use when she wanted to go.

And even then, panic was an overstatement; the billionaire heiress wouldn’t panic.

She’d just settle for one of the spares and grumble at her fathers for beating her to the punch.

Lai raised an eyebrow in question. “That’s an option?” He asked, looking impressed despite himself.

“Of course it is. I have my pilot on standby at all times.”

“Would you want to come with us?”Lucy instantly regretted asking. She didn’t want to drag Xim into her mess. It could be dangerous. Thankfully, Xim was as reasonable and clear-headed as always, declining the invitation.

“I can’t, I’ve got college. But if you like, I could have the staff look after the younger ones?”

Lucy frowned, pushing down the instinct to refuse. It probably wasn’t a great idea to take the youngest boys around the world with them.

“Ryan won’t need much taking care of; he’s pretty self-sufficient and can look after Lou too,”Lucy explained, quickly defusing Ryan’s outrage at being called a ‘younger one’before he could explode.

“I’ll stay behind with them,”Aris volunteered, surprising Lucy.

“I’m not leaving you with Xim,”Lucy frowned, crossing her arms, unsure why she was anxious about the idea. Did she think he might try to make advances on Xim? No, that wasn’t it.

Aris wasn’t house-trained. He was rude, foul, and stubborn. If she left him with Xim, Lucy would return to yet another pile of rubble where a house had once stood.

“Oh, it’s not because of your friend,”Lai snickered as he practically read Lucy’s mind, sucking on his ice cube. “It’s his old nemesis.”

“Don’t tell me you have another ex?”Lucy frowned at Aris, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Yeah. Her name is Heights.”Klein joined in the teasing, hiding a smile.

Lucy groaned as she realized what they meant.

Surely not. That mountain of a man who looked down at anyone over any display of weakness couldn’t be afraid of heights, could he?

That would explain so much; his reluctance to get into the elevator, the sudden volunteering to stay behind at the mention of a plane, and. ..

She looked over at him with fresh eyes. Aris stood as far away as he could from the windows, casting worried glances at the glass and the clouds beyond it.

“Too bad. You wanna save your manor, you’re going.”

“Father is terrified of flying. Good luck getting him on a plane,”Ryan said without looking up from his book, already halfway through the heavy text and mulling over one of the exercises, his fingers tracing numbers on the kitchen counter as he puzzled.

“He’ll be fine. He rode a griffin!”Lucy waved Aris’s anxiety off, taking a big gulp of her drink.

“The griffins dragged him out. He didn’t ride them.”Lai smirked and dodged a slap from his father.

Lucy felt herself deflate with a heavy exhale that ended in a groan. Looking after her new family felt like looking after cats; the moment they had a flicker of hope, one of them would unapologetically knock that candle over.

Ryan must have picked up on her despair. He sighed, leaving the book on the table, and joined the family conference. “Okay, we have a few options. None of them are good, so don’t come at me.”

Everyone turned to the boy, taking the lifeline thrown to them.

“Cortes’s descendants are living in Italy; he was in charge of the Spanish family.

There was an article I read about them and a descendant of the people Cortes slaughtered, having a reunion to commemorate five hundred years since the conquistadors invaded South America.

We can try to seek them out, but I honestly doubt they’ll talk to us.

Their egos haven’t shrunk in the slightest in the last half a millennia.

”Ryan grabbed a pencil, noting their options on the piece of paper that Xim helpfully offered out.

“Next option is the Daughters of Babylon, an extremely secretive matriarchal family somewhere in the Middle East. They’ve refused to recognize our legitimacy since our family switched to patriarchal rule a thousand years ago, and we haven’t had contact since.

In that region of the world, there’s also the clan in Egypt.

They mostly keep to themselves, but our families have clashed once or twice, being so close territory-wise.

The Jericho council had to step in and break up the last dust-up. ”

“Okay, seems like y’all haven’t been making any friends,”Lucy commented dryly as their almost non-existent options rapidly dwindled.

“None at all. No matter where we go, the door is gonna slam in our faces. The iwi in New Zealand cut communication in protest decades ago. The family in Devon- that’s in England, Lucy-are still angry that the stupid magpie moved into our attic, not theirs.

China, nope, Australia, nope...”Ryan wrote down names just to cross them off, looking grim.

“None of them will help except maybe one. Don’t get too excited; they’ll likely refuse as well.

We’ve exaggerated the value of some of the junk we’ve sold to them. ..”

“No.”Aris interrupted him. “Not those harpies!”

“Who?”Lucy waved her hand at Aris to hush him. It worked, but only because he was too stunned by her gall, opening and closing his mouth like a fish freshly yanked out of water.

“The Sirin sisterhood. They’re located in the forests of Russia’s Far East. I don’t know much about them, but I found some old paperwork showing that they’ve traded goods with our family relatively recently.

They were happy to pay a small fortune for some old artifacts, so they might be tempted again if we can make it worth their while. ”

“No. Absolutely not! I forbid it!”Aris slammed his hand down on the coffee table, making the glasses rattle.

“You don’t have any other options.”Ryan wasn’t fazed by his father’s outburst.

Klein folded his arms. “Given the severity of the situation, surely we can put aside our pride and ask for help?”He looked at his siblings for support.

“Ryan is right. We have no other options if we want to get our home back. So if you are going to keep fighting this, I’m going to suggest a vote for a change of leadership. ”

Klein sank into the sofa as his stunned family sat in utter silence. Lucy stared at him, a little bit terrified of how the others might react to his declaration but proud of him for taking a stand. Klein at the helm of the family would make things easier.

“Change of leadership?”Aris slowly rose up with a face like thunder. “Are you challenging me, boy?”

Lucy put down her drink, ready to throw herself between Aris and the kids as a shield.

She had witnessed a few family fights in her time with them, but nothing close to what was brewing now.

Klein’s bid for power had come as a shock.

Lai perked up, excited by the drama, his eyes wide as he greedily drank up the incoming chaos.

Ryan was completely motionless, stunned into silence.

Lucy didn’t know if she should speak up and try to defuse the tension, or if she even had the right to.

She considered them to be her family, but there was no guarantee they felt the same way after the defeat at the manor.

“This is not a mutiny, father.”Ryan slowly stood as his paralysis broke, facing Aris, so fearless it was almost comical.

He barely reached Aris’s chest. “The crew are entitled to a vote if they feel the captain no longer represents their best interests. That’s true on the sea, and that’s what you’ve raised us to believe. ”

Lucy watched, tense, trying to gauge Aris’s reaction. He looked murderous, but he didn’t say a word in argument.

“You need to do what’s best for the family. If you want our home back, you have to be prepared for seas you might not wish to sail,”Ryan added, softening his voice.

“We’re asking the witches for help. Since you’re not with us, daddy, you’re being voted off the island.”Lai crossed his legs, leaning on the soft cushion. “Those in favor of putting Lucy in charge, say aye!”He raised his hand, casting the first vote.

Lucy stared at Lai as though he had just suggested they should elect Eleanore to the head of the pack.

She wasn’t alone in her alarm. Everyone turned to him at the bold suggestion, the shock-waves reverberating across their expressions.

Lai was basking in it, an enormous grin on his face.

He’d unleashed chaos, and he was proud of it.

“Nay.”Aris shook his head. “Are you mad?”

“Nay.”Klein echoed his confusion. “Lucy shouldn’t be saddled with that responsibility.”

“Aye,”Ryan whispered. He looked surprised by his own answer.

Everyone looked over to Lucy as the vote tied, then to Louis, the baby of the family. Still entitled to a vote.

“Aye!”Louis settled the vote without looking away from the T.V.

The head of the family was officially dethroned.

Lai sighed in delight.