Page 62 of This Blood That Breaks Us

“What about Sirius?” I asked.

“Luke took care of that too. He’s going to be with the queen all morning. And then he’ll be occupied with all the workers coming in and out of the castle.”

“It’s going to work! This is it.” Luke was too stupidly happy about it.

It’s not like I didn’t think he was right. Itcouldwork. Now that we were given more freedom and we only needed a minute or two of really good luck to sneak Thane and Will on the ferry, it was possible. Especially with Will’s and Thane’s mind capabilities. I wasn’t sure I believed, but like every time before this one, he made me want to. It was a shitty curse of believing in unlikely things.

“We could be home in a few days. See everyone, wouldn’t that be great?” My brother’s eyes sparkled from the light of the fire.Fuck.

“Yeah, that would be great.” I took a drink from the bottle and recoiled. “Holy fuck. This is battery acid.”

“It’s good! Come on. Let’s celebrate. Let’s do something fun.” Luke practically vibrated with energy.

I knew that look.

Everyone got to see this tame, fully responsible brother of mine, but the Luke I knew was wild at heart, and though I hadn’t seen it a while, that fire burned in his eyes and took over all his other features. His eyebrows were raised, and his smile overflowed with unbridled optimism.This motherfucker.

“What type of trouble do you have in mind?” I took another swig of the bottle and handed it to Will. My throat burned down to my stomach.

“You’ll see.”

The four of us hunkered down in the hall, and a crack of lightning lit up the hardwood floor. We brought the bottle. We really shouldn’t have brought the bottle. It occurred to me then, we should have tried to jump in the ocean and escape in the storm or something logical like that. Though I wasn’t sure it was logical because we’d probably sink to the bottom.

“Stop pushing me.” I elbowed Thane.

“Sorry,” he said, then moved to lean into Will.

“Ow, fuck off,” William replied.

I elbowed Will. “Be quiet.”

“Scoot over.”’

“You’re supposed to address me as ‘sir’ here. Didn’t we establish this?”

“You never respected my authority, why would I respect your fake cult Chosen One bullshit?”

Thane fell back onto the hardwood, and Will turned his attention to some plant next to us with long tendrils of leaves touching the ground.

“Oh, god. These people are monsters. Why is this here?” He peeked to check the soil. “Dry as a bone and too little light. I’m taking it.”

“Taking it where? Your dark dusty cell?”

“Anywhere is better than this life-sucking hallway with this dated wallpaper.”

“Guys. We have a special mission.” Luke used the doorframe to keep himself steady.

“Why are we here?” I leaned my face against the cool wood of a door.

“Ezra took my stuff, and I want it back.”

“When?”

“When we got on the plane. He took it, and I want it back.”

“It better be good, Calem.” Will hiccuped, and I had to grab him before he fell into my brother.

“Oh, it’s good.”