Core (7 page)

“A hundred years, almost.”

It was hard for Cale to be excited when Ava wasn’t close by. It made his stomach hurt to be away from her. He leaned against Rory’s computer desk, trying to ignore the emptiness. “So, you like her?”

“Well, she’s not what I expected.
Not for you at least.”

“What do you mean, ‘not for me'?”

Rory stretched out on his bed. It was full sized, but he was still too big for it. His room was a lot like Cale’s, but messier, with clothes and partly-eaten sandwiches strewn across the tile. And darker. Rory wasn’t a fan of bright lights. His sensitivity was literally the only blue dragon trait he inherited.

“You know,” Rory said, already tired of the subject. “You’ve got a lot to live up t
o. I guess we expected someone…better.”

“Well, there isn’t anyone better than Ava,” Cale snapped.

Rory held onto his temper, sat up, and turned on his gaming system. Cale sat beside him on the bed and picked up a controller. The game lit up the screen and Cale went through the motions. Each move of his thumbs resulted in the death of a fictional warfare combatant.

“I’m not going to argue with you, Cale. I trust your instincts.” Rory paused to slaughter another video game character. “Besides, it’s dad who’s having a conniption. I know he
hasn’t mentioned it to you yet–”

 
“He doesn’t have to. I can tell.”

Rory raised an eyebrow at Cale. “
You can? You’re getting creepy good at that, man. You’ve been hanging out with Cameron too much.”

“I spend about as much time with him as I do with you,” Cale replied.

“That’s my point.”

Cale and Rory got along more than well. They trained together, wrestled together, demolished video game avatars together. Whenever they’d eliminated sirens, it was side by side. But where Rory and Cameron were polar opposites, Cale felt like he filled in the gap.

“Dad will warm up,” Rory said. “He doesn’t have much of a choice. You’re kind of his last shot at a reputation.”

Cale didn’t have to look at his brother to hear the bitterness in his voice. Rory’s avatar was merciless as he channeled his anger through it, making it launch grenades at the enemy.
 
Better than him punching the TV again.
 Things hadn’t been the same between Rory and Mac, not since he found out that his eldest would never be able to have red dragonlings. If Cale was disappointed in Rory’s disregard for his birthright, Mac was livid, still unable to talk about it with his eldest. And because Rory had mated outside of marriage, because he’d given up his birthright, most of their father’s expectations fell onto Cale.

Cale put down his remote with a sigh. “I’m going to take a walk,” he said. It wasn’t a lie. Not really.

Rory didn’t try to stop him as he left. He walked past the guest room that Ava and Miriam were sharing. He knew Ava was inside, simply because he could feel the warmth of her, even through the closed door. He headed downstairs and into the basement.

It was dark and cold in the Anders’ basement. The lights were dimmed, the air damp. Cameron was at his computer, his fingers flitting away at the keys. He stopped as Cale entered and pulled up a chair. Then he continued working. No need for greetings. Unlike Karma, Cameron found it useless to practice frivolous etiquette unless it benefitted him in some way.

“What are you working on?” Cale asked, leaning over Cameron’s shoulder.

Cameron gestured to the screen, inviting Cale to take a look. He was researching monastery admission processes.

Cale raised his eyebrows. “Is this for you?”

He watched Cameron for his reaction. Cale was becoming more and more accustomed to speaking with his brother without using words. Cameron’s feelings were often hidden in the most subtle cues.
The change in his skin color, the twitch of a facial muscle, the difference in breathing patterns. Cameron’s eyelids fluttered a fraction of a second slower, giving Cale his answer.

Cale was about to ask Cameron why
, why he would research how to get into a blue dragon monastery, but he stopped himself. It would just annoy Cameron. He hated when people asked questions they could answer themselves if they just took the time to think.

Cameron had been accepted into the blue academy when he was only twelve years old. He stayed there for one of the five years necessary for graduation before he was dismissed in disgrace. And since the academy was Karma’s alma mater, she wouldn’t appreciate her youngest researching the
academy’s greatest rival. But it didn’t quell Cameron’s interest in the monastic institutions. If anything, it fueled it.

“Mom been on y
our case, huh?” Cale asked knowingly.

Cameron sighed, just a little.

“Yeah, I know how it feels.”

The shift in the subject of
conversation happened too quickly for someone like Rory to have kept up with. Cameron had been referencing his mother with his sigh, but Cale had diverted to mean his father, an obvious analogy for Cameron and one that didn’t need further explanation.

Cameron sat back in his chair and looked at Cale. “Your rider hasn’t noticed. If you consider her upbringing and her relationship with her father
and mother, it’s clear that she must think your relationship with our father is perfectly well.”

“Well, it’s not like Dad and I are fighting or anything. And he’ll see soon enough. Same way mom will come around
for you.”

Cameron didn’t disagree out loud, but Cale knew that he didn’t think Karma would ever condone him researching monasteries.

Cale heard a door close and he stood up straight. It was Ava. 
Where’s she going?
 Cale wanted to follow her so badly it stung.

Cameron shook his head. “Remarkable,” he said.

He opened another document, one labeled 
Red Dragon and Rider
, and typed up more notes. Cale sighed but couldn’t help but watch as his brother analyzed his life right in front of him.

Outside, Ava answered her cell phone. It had been on silent, but the constant illumination of the screen was driving her crazy.

“Hey,” she said. What she really wanted to say was, “What is your problem?”

“Ava, finally.” T sighed into the phone. “What is going on? I drove by your house and nobody’s home. And there’s a foreclosure notice on your front door. I know it’s none of my business but–”

“You’re right. It’s absolutely none of your business.”

A pause. “Are you okay?”

“This is what you’ve been calling me about?”

T hesitated again. Ava could practically hear his frustration in the silence. “You weren’t at the gym today.”

“I needed a day off.”

“You never take a day off.”

“I’m going to hang up now.”

“Wait….” He sighed again. “Look, I know, okay. I know I irritate you. I just…someone’s got to look out for you.”

“And you seem to think that that someone is you.”

“I’d volunteer if you let me.”

“Why do you insist on making me your problem?”

When T spoke again, his voice was clouded with resignation. “You want me to leave you alone.”

Ava felt a twinge of guilt. He wasn’t a bad guy.
 
I just have no patience. None.
 “I’ll see you around, T. How’s that?”

“I give up, Ava. Okay?
That make you feel better?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “See, this is the crap, T. This is the crap I don’t have time for.”

“Caring about people? Being human?”

Silence.
Angry silence. Then, “I thought you gave up.”

He hung up the phone and Ava pocketed hers. She was about to head inside until she thought she felt a chill. It was late summer in Miami. No cold fronts, no ice wind. She rubbed the goose bumps from the back of her neck. Karma had insured her that no sirens would dare come so close to a dragon nest
, so she pushed fear aside. She was about to go back when she thought she heard her name. Just a whisper.

***

By the next evening, Ava wanted to let Mac know where he could shove his favor. Her scalp was raw from hours of tugging and steaming until, finally, her hair hung soft and straight down her back. The black dress she wore was long, sweeping the ground as she walked, but the neck was cut low. Embarrassingly low.

“Not bad, considering” Onna said.

She was a red dragon friend of the family that Mac had called in to torture Ava. She had plucked Ava’s eyebrows, waxed her arms and legs, and pulled every single one of her curls straight. Ava stood in the mirror, ashamed that it had taken so many hours to make her look presentable.

“I can’t believe Cale chose a girl,” Onna said to her mother.
“
This
girl.”

Dana had broug
ht along both of her daughters–twins, which were common in red nests. Onna, with dark hair and a perfectly straight nose, had arms so toned she looked like she’d been sculpted out of stone. She was one of those perfect people, and she knew it.

“What was Cale
thinking?” Onna said.

“It’s not his fault, Onna. He hasn’t had the upbringing you’ve had.”

Dana was putting on her own mascara in the mirror. Her long, thick, straight blonde hair was very much like Myra’s. Myra, her other daughter, stayed quiet, but she didn’t look remorseful for her family’s incredible insensitivity. Instead, she glared at Ava like she was the scum of the dragon world.

“Ava, do you have any idea how to present yourself tonight? Or did Karma fail to explain that as well?” Dana asked.

“Why would Karma be the one to tell me about a red dragon dance?”

Onna rolled her eyes.
“Because she knows everything.”

Ava crossed her arms. They had been picking at Karma behind her back all day and Ava had had enough of the cattiness.
“Watch your mouth.”

Onna stood up, red rushing to her neck instantly. She crossed the room until she was face to face with Ava. “How about you know your place? You think I couldn’t snap you in half?” Onna pressed her finger into Av
a’s shoulder. “A girl. A weak, sad, human little girl. Cale must have lost his mind.”

Ava didn’t care what Onna was. She’d fight her if it came to it, not because she thought she’d win, but because she wasn’t a coward.

“That’s no way to welcome our newest addition,” Dana said, flapping her hand at Onna as she continued to apply her mascara. “Besides, Cale hasn’t made the pact yet. He could be wrong about her.”

Ava sighed. She had endured hours of their passive aggressive insults. “Can I have a minute?” she asked.

“You’re not anywhere near ready yet and the guests are arriving,” Dana argued.

Ava stood up and
pointed at the door. “Get out.”

Dana and her girls left the room with a huff and Ava locked the door behind them. “Send Cale in,” she said through the door. She could hear the music starting, people filling up the back yard. The smell of steaks filled the air. There would be no grilled peppers for Ava out there.

“You can’t see him until the dance,” Dana answered. “If you’re getting cold feet, we can bring your mother in. Or the blue dragon.”

Why does this feel like a wedding? Why
does this feel so…wrong?
 “I want Cale.”

“
It’s tradition, hun. You can’t see him. Why don’t you come on out?”

“If I don’t
see Cale in thirty seconds, I’m coming out naked. It’ll be a new tradition.”

Silence.
Then finally, a voice she knew, with a tint of amusement to it.  “Ava? Are you threatening nudity on these people?”

Ava opened the door, pulled Cale inside,
then shut it before Dana could get her manicured fingers in. Cale stared at Ava with his mouth open. He was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but Ava was in her gown, like some sort of princess of the night.

“Shut up,” Ava said, blushing despite herself,
 her arms crossed.

“No, you don’t look bad,” he said. “You just look different. They changed your hair.”

Ava groaned and sat on the edge of the bed. The guest room had been turned into a salon, hair straighteners, spray bottles, and waxing gels were scattered everywhere.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

Ava looked in the mirror again. “I feel like somebody else. But it’s pretty, I guess.”

Cale disappeared into the bathroom and when he returned, he splashed her with a handful of water. She shrieked and threw her fist at him. Cale laughed and grabbed her head under his arm. She punched him in the kidney,
then flipped him to the ground, knocking the lamp and about a million spray bottles onto the tile floor. The lamp shattered and Ava sat up quickly, pulling Cale off the ground.

“Are y
ou okay?” she asked. “You landed on a pile of glass.”

Cale was still laughing. “No, I’m fine. See for yourself.”