Mania (6 page)

I moved down the hall, walked around the corner, and ran into Chloe—hard enough that her face hit my chest. She bounced off and knocked a lamp toward the edge of a nearby end table.

“Whoa.” I reached out with my right hand and caught the lamp before wrapping my other arm across Chloe's back, pulling her against my chest to steady her. Just from her being so close, my heart doubled its pace. The side of her face was pressed against my neck and I could feel her warm breath inside the collar of my jacket. She pulled back with an awkward laugh and turned her face up to mine. Her eyes looked like dark and light eddies of gray marble from this close. They were absolutely beautiful.

She was a Taker. Her eyes were deadly.

I pulled away so fast her mouth fell open slightly. Then I acted supremely focused on the lamp I held in my other hand, safely returning it to its spot on the table. When I thought this moment couldn't get more uncomfortable, I turned toward the archway in search of a reason to leave.

Instead, I found Finn and Parker standing there watching us, each with a very different emotion stamped across their faces. Finn's expression was slightly horrified, while my brother was trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

Eight
Parker

“Well, that didn't take long.” I smiled and tried not to look too amused. It was hard not to enjoy the thoroughly uncomfortable expression on Jack's face. Taker or not, ever since I'd gotten her out of Finn's body, Chloe was starting to grow on me. Anyone who could make Jack respond with human emotion was good for him.

Finn managed to slip quickly from shocked right back into natural Finn form. “Agreed. This is definitely in the running for the easiest quest ever.”

“Not quite.” Jack frowned as he walked past us to the dining room and slid into a chair at the table. “Where are Addie and Mia?”

I followed suit, taking the seat across from him. “Mia is taking a painting class and Addie went with her.”

Jack looked surprised. “Oh, that's great.”

“Yep, it is.” I nodded briefly and then got back to the point. “What happened in Logandale?”

Jack studied the wood on the table as Finn sat down on my right. He looked at Finn, out the window, at the floor, anywhere but at me. He was avoiding eye contact with me more and more lately. I just wished I understood why.

“We had a … problem,” Jack said, finally.

I saw a movement behind him and realized that Chloe was the only one who hadn't joined us at the table. She had a tendency to always stick to the shadows around here anyway, probably because of the way Finn reacted to her simply being in the room. But she physically winced at Jack's last word and slipped into a recliner in the living room where she could still see us.

“What kind of problem?” I asked.

“The kind that complicates everything.” Jack's words were stiff, but they softened as he continued. “The problem doesn't matter. What matters is that I have a clue for where to keep searching, but I don't really understand what it means.”

Finn opened his mouth, but I spoke faster. “I might have something that could help too, but let's start with yours. What was the clue?”

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise and actually looked me directly in the eye. He must've decided my suggestion was a good one though, because he kept talking.

“‘The second's skull contains the key,'” Jack said, his gaze searching mine for some kind of recognition … or understanding. I repeated the words under my breath.

“‘The second's skull contains the key' … what second?” I shook my head, shoulders slumping forward a bit with the heavy weight of disappointing him. My brother had finally turned to me. He wanted to let me help … and I had nothing to offer.

“Cryptic,” Finn muttered, raising one eyebrow. “Why isn't anything with your family ever simple?”

I sighed, my brow furrowed. “What am I missing? Do you understand that at all?”

“You.” At my blank stare, Jack continued. “When Dad would talk about you, he referred to you sometimes as ‘the second,' meaning his second son.”

“
I'm
the second?” I sat back in my chair and tried to make sense of the message.

“Wait … so you're saying there's a key in Parker's skull?” Finn's voice went up at the end, and he looked like he couldn't decide if he should put on his best horrified expression or start cracking jokes.

“Yeah … that's the part I don't understand.” Jack leaned his head onto his folded arms. He was starting to show signs of the familiar exhaustion that was the worst part of being a Watcher. I tried to remember if he'd mentioned getting any sleep in Mia's dreams lately. I'd been keeping Addie all to myself.

I felt a little guilty for that, but I still had a touch of jealousy that welled up at the idea of Addie and Jack sharing dreams. It wasn't fair of me, and the logical part of me understood that—he needed her dreams as much as I did. But we all knew she'd chosen me, and Jack respected that. However, I would need to stop being selfish and share if Jack agreed to stay with us long-term like Mom and I both wanted.

I shook off the distraction, refocusing my attention on the task at hand. I needed to up my game if I wanted him to keep letting me help. I tried repeating the clue again to myself.

“The second's skull contains the key … ”

Then I stood up so fast I knocked my chair over. Those words … ‘the skull'? Of course!

“Parker?” Jack lifted his head and watched me.

I turned, stepped over my chair, and ran to my bedroom shouting, “I'll be right back!” over my shoulder.

I wasn't even down the hall before I could hear Finn picking up my chair and muttering something about “Ungrateful kids never cleaning up after themselves.”

The door to my room was shut, and I twisted the handle and ran into it with my shoulder at full speed, flinging it open. I flipped on the light switch and dove for the wallet I'd placed on my desk when Jack hadn't answered my text earlier.

It might not be what the clue was talking about, but it was definitely my best guess.

Springing to my feet, I caught my reflection in the mirror. My breath stopped in my chest for just an instant when I felt an awful sensation screaming that something wasn't quite right.

Every time this happened, I followed the same steps. It was the only thing that could work to set my world back in place again. I closed my eyes, waited for my heart to stop pounding, and listened inside my head for any indication that he was back. For any sign that Darkness had somehow separated from me and we'd become Divided again.

There was none.

It was only me … and my fear.

I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror. Everything was normal.

He was gone—and I seriously needed to get a grip.

I caught my breath as I walked back down the hall. When I rounded the corner, I saw Jack kneeling down by Chloe's recliner. They were speaking quietly enough that I couldn't make out any words.

My eyebrows shot up. This conversation already looked more juicy and personal than anything I'd ever seen from Jack. I felt like I was eavesdropping on something even though I couldn't hear them. Still, I couldn't help smiling a little to myself. Wasn't this kind of what younger brothers were supposed to do? Find ways to gather dirt on their brothers for blackmail purposes down the road? I could totally use some blackmail on Jack. Although I suspected he would be impervious to anything so … mortal.

Jack's eyes caught mine. He stood up immediately and walked over to the table to meet me.

“What's going on?” His brow was deeply furrowed and he watched me close.

“This came in the mail today.” I held the wallet out toward him, but he sucked in a quick breath of air and a couple seconds passed before he reached out and took it.

“Dad's wallet?” He slipped down into his seat and touched the worn leather gently, reverently.

I sat down next to him, somehow relieved his reaction to the wallet wasn't much different than mine. Maybe deep inside we weren't so different after all. I reached out and turned the wallet over, exposing the opposite side where the NWS symbol was embroidered. It was strange to be staring at it with Jack, when “Blind Skull” had been the nickname I'd given him when he kept following me, before we'd officially met. That felt like a lifetime ago.

“‘The second's skull'?” I smiled, hoping the wallet was somehow tied to the clue like my gut was telling me it was. “Maybe this is the one he meant.”

“Good,” Finn said. “This option sounds much better than trying to dig out something that's been hidden in Parker's head. It seems like a mess in there.”

“You're one to talk … ” I barely heard Chloe's words from her spot in the recliner, but I hid my grin when Finn threw a slightly offended glance in her direction.

Jack grunted with the slightest hint of a smile, checking the various pockets of the wallet for any kind of clue or hint that this was what we were looking for. “It just showed up today?”

“Yes. It's empty now, but there was something in it … ” My words trailed off. Reading the message from Dad could hurt Jack, and I really didn't want that. Maybe I should just tell him what it said?

“Show me.” Jack put the wallet gently down but kept his eyes on it.

There went that option. Reluctantly, I reached into my back pocket and carefully pulled out and unfolded the note before handing it over.

Jack read through it carefully. Except for the slightest muscle twitching in his jaw, there was no indication that it bothered him.

“He must have had this set up and ready to send. Some sort of last resort plan in case he … he … ” Jack stopped, looking embarrassed for a second before even that flash of emotion and weakness was gone.

My voice shook, sounding frail next to his strength. I hated both of us for it. “Yeah, that's probably how it got mailed, but why send the wallet? Why not just the note? Is it something to remember him by?”

“No … he wasn't ever what I'd call sentimental.” Jack studied the stitching in the wallet for more than thirty seconds. I was almost ready to rip it out of his hands in frustration when he finally smiled and said, “There. I found it.”

Standing, I came around the table. He showed me one corner of the wallet where the stitching didn't quite match the rest of it.

“I never would have seen that … ” The stitches were nearly identical. You almost had to be looking for the mismatch, or know what to look for. “How?”

Jack gave me a tight smile. “It's nothing. Just a trick Dad taught me a long time ago.”

I waited as hope filled me like a giant bubble too hard to swallow or breathe around, but Jack didn't go on. After a second, he turned back to the wallet and started picking at the stitching again.

I pushed aside the pain of knowing just how much better this near-stranger knew our dad than I did. Clapping him on the back, only slightly harder than necessary, I grabbed him some scissors out of a drawer in the kitchen. As Jack carefully unstitched the mismatched section, Finn asked if anyone else wanted food. I didn't respond, but Finn never really needed a consensus when it came to the prospect of food. A few beeps later, I heard the sound of popcorn popping.

“Jack?” I asked, forcing my voice not to sound tentative even though this felt like the millionth time I'd made this request. Finn stood silently behind me, and I could feel his support even though he didn't move or say a word. “I have to know more … ”

Jack kept picking at the stitches and for a second I wondered if he hadn't heard, or didn't understand what I meant.

“More about him—”

“
I know.
You're going to have to keep waiting, Parker. This still isn't the time.” Jack's voice was sharp enough to slice without the aid of the scissors in his hands. He looked up at my eyes and then literally ducked away, turning his back on me. His voice was softer when he went on, but he'd already inflicted enough pain to leave me reeling. “I'm just not … there's a lot going on. You have to learn to be patient.”

It wasn't the first time since I'd become one with Darkness again that I wished I still had the power to unleash my double at will. His anger was still my anger. And now I had a massive dose of hurt, frustration, guilt, and embarrassment to go with it. Was it wrong for me to want to know my dad? He was dead—I would never have the chance that Jack did. We were flip sides of the same coin, different choices one man had made in his life that now collided and kept ricocheting off one another. With each impact we only continued to pick up speed.

And I didn't know how to slow us down, let alone even begin to understand him.

The worst part of it all was the pain. My own brother couldn't look me in the eye. Was he ashamed of me? Did he think I was soft because I wasn't a robot? Everyone was soft compared to him. Did he still hate or resent me because Dad left his mom for mine?

Did he blame me for Dad's death?

Did I blame him?

I hadn't moved, but I could tell from the way Finn was shifting his weight that he was getting ready to jump to my defense, and I honestly couldn't think of anything I wanted him to do less at the moment.

“Dad said to tell me everything,” I stated simply, hoping Dad's words would give me the leverage I seemed to need.

Jack raised his eyes and squinted at me. “He meant everything about our
world
, Parker. About what we're facing, about our enemies—not what he was like to be around or what his favorite color was. Knowing those things won't help you now … they never helped me, anyway.”

And then his eyes and focus were back on the stitching, and there was very little left I could say.

“Right … well, someday then,” I grunted, stepping over to the microwave to watch the rapidly expanding popcorn bag. Fighting to calm down, I couldn't deny that with each day, the gulf between us grew.

By the time the microwave beeped, the room had filled with the smell of buttery goodness and Jack was pulling out the last stitch. I watched from a few feet behind him, holding my breath as Jack reached inside and pulled out a single slip of paper like a fortune from a fortune cookie. I hoped it would at least attempt to tell us what would happen next. Instead, it held a simple message:

You're together now. That's the best gift I could give to either of you. Value that above all else, my sons. I'm so proud of you and I love you both more than anything.

—Dad