Page 140 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Don’t be mad,” Presley said.

“I’m not . . . I’m mad at myself.”

He shook his head. “You don’t get it. You couldn’t prevent this. It’s our destiny.”

“Both of you, be quiet. Answer Luke’s question.” Zach nudged me again.

“I just explained it.”

“Explain it again.” Luke pushed me too. There was a lot more pushing than I’d anticipated.

I knew what this looked like to them. Their little brother who didn’t understand what we were up against came with no plan. To them, I was still too young to understand anything, but that boy was long gone. I understood the darkness. Even if I hadn’t experienced all they’d witnessed, I could sense theirprotectiveness and see it in the fear in their eyes. They were afraid, but they didn’t have to protect me anymore. I had more than a half-baked Calem plan.

“He said he came for us,” Zach said.

Luke looked at me with a mixture of fear and anger swirling. He was calculating it in his head of a way to get us out of this, crafting another plan, but he had changed too. He looked like he’d had the flu for weeks. Thin in the cheeks, even though I wasn’t sure that was possible for us.

“You don’t have to protect me anymore. I’m here to save you. We’re going to leave together.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I do! It’s just like you’ve always said. We don’t give up. There’s always a way to turn things around. And now you don’t have to do it alone. I can help you now like I wasn’t able to before. We can fix this.”

“You were supposed to stay home and enjoy your life with Kimberly and Pres and Mom. Everything was fine until Presley and you showed up.”

Presley interjected. “Hey.”

“No talking,” Zach said.

“Liar,” I said. Bile built in my throat. Luke wasn’t a liar, and the fact he said the words led me to believe he thought it was true. “We felt your pain every day. You left, and everything got worse. We missed you so much. Like it or not, because we drank Akira’s blood, we could feel everything you felt. We were connected the whole time.”

Luke spoke to Zach with his twin telepathy. I’d missed how annoying it was.

Luke’s once warm irises were dark. “This is the prophecy coming true. It’s all true. Everything She said.”

I expected Zach to protest, but he, too, had that same look of fear.

What had happened to my brothers? I remembered Presley’s sobbing on the floor of Mom’s cabin and how badly he’d hurt. That pain came from Zach and Luke. I felt guilty for not shouldering the weight, but now I knew why. Because of the bond I had with Kimberly, we had an opening.“I was the opening. And you were the key.”

“We have to get out of here. Do it for our family. Do it for yourself. For Sarah.”

Luke flinched like I’d hit him, then looked at Zach. Zach’s harder exterior cracked for a moment and anguish flashed on his face.

“What?”

“Nothing. He . . . he doesn’t remember.”

“You don’t remember Sarah . . . How?”

“Long story,” Zach said, averting his eyes.

She’d taken his memory of Sarah. No wonder he was acting so strange. Something had happened. Something terrible.

Luke closed his eyes and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We aren’t going anywhere.”

“We can fix this. Kilian is coming, and there’s going to be a fight.”

“We know,” Zach growled.