Eye of the Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

 
    I'm done talking for now. My stomach gurgles, and although I just got up less than an hour and a half ago, I feel like going back to bed.  
    Until we hear from Alamea, we've got plenty of time to hear more about Asher and her relationship with my mother, but for now, I just need food.  
    "Have you eaten?" I ask Asher.
    She shakes her head, and that settles it. Conversation over for now. Breakfast.

    The shades offer Asher the guest room that night when we finally make it through the day.
    I'm not sure what to do or think. For a long time before Mira and I go to bed, Evis sits with me in our bedroom and we look through the album Asher brought. I can hear Asher snoring softly in the guest room; the walls aren't exactly thick.  
    Forty years, she said they were friends. I must have mistaken Asher's age, which makes her pregnancy even more bizarre.  
    "Nothing?" I say to Evis.  
    He shakes his head. For all his stillness, I can almost feel his skin vibrating with agitation. He recognizes our mother in the pictures, of that I have no doubt. But watching his face as he pages through the album from front to back and then back to front, it feels like watching someone with amnesia trying to believe what people are telling them about a life that seems like someone else's.  
    "Why don't you sleep in here with us tonight?" Mira surprises me by suggesting it. I notice she says with us .  
    As much as I hate being hemmed in, I slide into the middle of the bed with Mira on one side and Evis on the other. He's donned shorts, which I know he hates. I may see my brother naked every day, but it seems like he's just as squicked as I am by the idea of any chance encounters of my skin and his nether bits. I push that awkward train of thought right off the rails and pull the covers up to my chin. Evis keeps the photo album clutched tight to his chest and won't put it on the bedside table when Mira mentions it.  
    She looks at me. I shrug. Part of me thinks I'd do the same if he hadn't non-verbally called dibs.
    I can't say I blame him.  
    We're awakened only a few short hours later by the sound of a giant bell ringing out through the cabin.
    I sit straight up in bed.  
    "Wards," I say to Mira, whose black hair is stuck to her face even though her eyes are alert.  
    Evis is already on his feet.
    "Mason!" I holler through the cabin, but he's already at our door, opening it.  
    "North wards, and east."
    Fuck. I scramble out of bed and start yanking my leathers over my sleep-warmed legs. Jax is nowhere to be seen, but Nana snuffles in her cage at the foot of the bed. I hear the guest room door open.  
    "Was that your wards?" Asher asks.
    "Yep," says Mira. "Got anything that might help us?"
    I look to Mason. "If they're coming from two directions, this has to be a coordinated attack."
    "Demon or Mediator, though?" It's a question I hate even before it's out of Mason's mouth.
    Asher's eyes go cloudy, and I feel something, a surge of energy I'm not used to feeling around witches. Must be another side effect of my shade-blood tattoo.  
    "Hellkin," she says after a moment. She points to the north, then moves her arm in an arc. "They're fanning out."
    "They're not thinking too well," I say. "If they'd come from the southwest, they could block our escape."
    "Escape?" Asher frowns.
    I ignore the question and meet Mira's eyes as she buttons her leather pants. We could fight; we both know it. But we don't know how many are there, and if a lucky slummoth takes us out, I don't know what that could mean for the Summit. Or the world. I don't have too many delusions of grandeur, but my cynicism about the Summit's ability to not fuck things up is at an all-time high. Fight or run. I know we need to run. Mira nods.  
    This cabin was a nice home while it lasted.  
    It's past time for us to be where we're really needed. To hell with any Mediators at the Summit who try and get me dead.

CHAPTER FOUR

    It's a damn good thing we've all been living out of