Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (12 page)

Whatever she had just said to them, Chad had trouble suppressing his desire to scream ecstatically. It was like nothing else, soaring above the city in the warm wind, enveloped by darkness and moonlight. Though at first he was gripped by a paralyzing fear, the next minute he made himself dismiss it, relying on the thin and delicate arm of the girl that carried him higher and higher. Jane looked like she knew what she was doing. After all, the first time the sisters carried them all the way through Brooklyn to bring them to the Headquarters. No matter how weird it felt, it seemed to be a routine for them. So he just relaxed, having trouble now choosing between the infinite sky, full of bright stars, and the city that shimmered red and yellow and blue below them. Down there, in that ordinary and monotonous world, pedestrians were hurrying; cars sliced the streets with their yellow headlights, neon signs made buildings look like enormous Christmas trees… There was no certainty that he would ever have a chance to do this again, so he cut off all thoughts and raised his face to the night sky, once again marveling at the infinity of it.

Dave, on the contrary, was scared beyond death, just like the first time. And it wasn’t really the height that scared him. It was mostly his distrust toward Pain. All those days he avoided her, relaxing only when the others were around. Maybe that was the reason why he felt better every time Marco joined them for meal times or something else. When he showed up, Dave knew he would take upon himself all puns from Pain so he could make fun of it. Staying alone with her, Dave always waited for her to find another stupidity in his actions or words. Or chop his head off with her katana all of a sudden because he dropped or broke something.

To his relief, the flight only lasted a few minutes. They met near the building’s roof, all four of them surrounded by the warm, seething air, troubled by the sisters’ powers.

Pain led them to the windows. In her soul, she hoped the people behind them were asleep or absent. Nothing was visible through the mirrored glass, especially, at night. She counted the frames and then pushed the fifth one. It moved inward, and the window swung open. She exhaled with relief and jerked her head toward it, showing Jane that she should get in first. A moment later Chad was standing on the windowsill. As he jumped to the floor and reached his hand out for Jane, Pain smiled wryly and turned away; she was never able to hold back her amusement. With Dave lowered into the window, she slid inside and closed it in one quick motion.

They ended up in a wide living room with a long white couch in its center and intricate shelves along the walls. Moonlight penetrated through narrow gaps between the curtains to give just enough light so they could find their way inside the room. Across from the couch was a big flat-screen TV; from it and to the couch the ceiling was mirrored glass. There were two low armchairs, too, and a glass coffee table. The apartment was rich, even luxurious. Of the four of them, only Dave was used to this kind of places. The others were gazing around in amazement and disbelief.

“Wow, somehow this is so not what I expected from a corporate apartment,” Jane spoke in the darkness. “Do you think we could have mixed up floors or something? I think we should check the number on the door,” she said to her sister.

“And I think we should check breaking and entering charges, because I’m willing to be punished for this,” Pain responded, drawling the words with pleasure.

Jane smirked, but then her face froze in a frightened mask.

“What if someone just left their window open?” she whispered harshly, and for a moment Pain’s face mirrored hers. Pain waved her hand, dismissing the idea.

“I don’t think so. It’s the right side. Look out the peephole and you’ll see the elevator. Anyway, the building’s half-empty, rich kids don’t stay at one place for long, do they, Curiosity?” She smirked at Dave just as he strode off to the door, looking for the light switch, apparently.

“How do you guys see anything? It’s too dark in here!” he complained, and Pain dashed after him.

“Wait!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Remember what Peter said? No lights at night, nobody should know we’re here. I think the drapes will cover the TV light, just don’t make it too loud.” She gave him a serious look before letting go of his arm and following her sister out of the living room and into the apartment.

Stepping through the door to their left, they got into the kitchen, furnished in the latest style and technologies. It was all black and silver, gleaming faintly in the gray light. They all crowded inside it – the kitchen was small compared to the living room – and looked around with interest. It was difficult to see anything in the darkness, so Pain fished out her flashlight, pressed the button, and ran it across the glass doors of the cabinets and the counter under them.

“Houston, we have cookies and Chinese,” she announced, shaking her head with satisfaction.

At that, the guys perked up like two hungry dogs seeing a bone before them.

“Gosh, I’m starving! I take the cabinets, you check the fridge,” Dave commanded, opening two of the small doors at once.

“Rodger that!” Chad smirked, coming up to the fridge. “Hey, the Chinese is still warm! Oh, I missed it so much! Though I don’t think it’s gonna be enough…”

Jane glanced at him sideways with a crooked smile. Pain sighed, turned off her flashlight, and headed to another door, trying not to stumble on anything in the darkness.

“Bo-o-o-y-s… A whole bunch of killers is after them, and all they think about is food…” she muttered to herself, opening the door. Behind it was a big bedroom with a king-size bed and two spread-out armchairs by the walls. It was dimly lit by the moonlight that was coming through the gaps between the heavy drapes. That light was enough to make out the interior: dark wallpapered walls with vertical stripes, a big, strangely twisted chandelier under the ceiling, a long mirror across from the bed. There were big chairs with high backs, too, and a vanity table with a stack of magazines on it. Pain glanced around with appreciation, feeling Jane come up to stand behind her.

“Wow! I wonder if Peter will be okay if we ruin the place? I’m so not gonna pay for it if we get attacked here.” Jane rushed into the bedroom, taking off her backpack with a weary sigh and dropping it onto the bed. “We’re taking the bed!” she announced. Pain shushed her with an irritated gesture, worried that some of the neighbors might hear them. Chad showed up from behind the fridge door, already chewing something, and Dave looked out from a cabinet. “Unless you guys want to sleep on it together,” Jane added in a dreamy voice, sticking her head out from behind the door and winking at them.

“It depends on together with whom!” Chad tried to respond with his mouth full.

Pain was at the kitchen threshold already, rummaging among the bags which Dave had dropped there.

“With each other, sweetheart,” she answered for Jane.

“In this case, I’d prefer to get killed. Several times,” Dave commented. He took out and put on the counter a couple of juice bottles. “Or a simpler option, sleep on the floor.”

Pain smirked, getting up with her bag in hand.

“Donut?” Chad offered cheerfully from behind the fridge door, holding a tray of donuts out for her. She grimaced.

“No, thanks. Leave some Chinese for breakfast,” she said sourly and went to the bedroom. Chad only shrugged, putting the tray back inside just as Jane came up to get a look at whatever he had found there.

“There’s a spread-out armchair, actually,” she said.

“One??” Chad stared at her with scared eyes.

“Two-o-o,” she drawled, reaching under his arm and taking out a banana.

He stepped back a little, opening the upper compartment and looking inside with animation. It was stuffed full of boxes.

“Hey, we even have frozen pizzas here! Somebody up for a pizza?” he asked eagerly.

“I am!” Dave responded right away.

“I better go shower,” Jane said and disappeared in the bedroom again.

“I’ll pass,” Pain said in a flat tone from inside the bedroom.
“Boys, pigging out at two AM, never getting fat, would you all just burn in hell…”
her muttering carried through the darkness.

Chad shrugged carelessly, took out a pizza, cleaned it from the packaging, and put it into the silvery microwave. Eating at two AM was a commonplace for him, considering that sometimes he got so distracted with work that he didn’t notice it was night already. And due to the same reason, he never gained weight, that much was true. Though he doubted that Pain was being serious. He couldn’t imagine a fat Ghost, with their lifestyle and constant training.

About a half-hour later all four gathered in the bedroom. Pain was already sleeping on her side of the bed, Jane was braiding her hair by the vanity table, and the guys were finishing their juice in their armchairs.

“You know what’s strange? Pain was right earlier, there are people trying to kill us, but why do I feel so excited right now?” Chad wondered.

“That’s ’cause you’re an optimist.” Jane smirked. “While I appreciate your faith in us, may I just remind you there is a huge possibility that we’re all gonna end up dead,” she said it matter-of-factly, her voice unconcerned.

“Do
you
think it will happen?” he asked after a moment.

She hesitated, looking at herself in the oval mirror for a moment.

“No, I don’t think so. I have a good feeling about it all. Actually, it’s kind of weird, considering the case.” She gave him a tiny crooked smile. “I just don’t want you to be shocked if anything goes wrong. Like, really, really wrong.”

Chad sighed at that.

“Okay, I get it. But right now, can I just be happy about some pizza and a nice place to live in? Please?” he asked with a smile.

She chuckled, shaking her head.

“Okay. No more death talk.” She made a gesture as if zipping her mouth and went to the bed.

“Thanks.” Chad nodded with appreciation. “And you know what?”

“What?” she asked, already from under the covers.

“We’re not leaving until we’ve eaten all those fantastic pizzas.”

She giggled quietly.

“Okay, but that’s mostly on you two,” she replied and rolled onto her side. “Good night.”

The day was dragging awfully slowly. The guys had spent most of the time on the couch watching cable TV. Jane joined them sometimes if the movie was good, but most of the day she spent reading the magazines from the bedroom. There were some really interesting travel ones, aside from Cosmo and others, which she considered useless. Pain seemed perfectly content alone, first with her book and then meditating for at least two hours. Dave was surprised to find her immersed into meditation in the bedroom and asked Jane about it, but she only explained shortly that it was very useful in developing their healing and shielding skills, and even the power of attack depended on how well they could feel and control their energy.

Eventually, when it got dark outside the windows, all of them gathered in the living room where Dave and Chad were watching “Family Guy”. Sprawled on the long couch, their postures weary, their faces dull, they stared at the screen almost without blinking until Chad broke the silence.

“When will this cartoon finally bore you?” he wondered lazily, shoving Dave with his elbow. “You must have been watching it since you were a virgin.”

Dave grimaced and shushed him. He was snickering cheerfully at every joke on the screen, and it seemed he was a fan of the series.

“What?” Chad wondered, uncomprehending. “Like nobody here knows that you were a virgin one day!” He waved his hand.

Dave sighed and rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t know me when I was a virgin,” he muttered.

“You sure? Hey!” A couch pillow smashed into his face suddenly, and Jane grinned at them, catching the pillow for Chad.

“Hey, you know what I don’t understand?” Dave turned to her, eager to change the topic. She only glanced at him questioningly. “Why didn’t Peter send Marco and Ryan with us? We- ” his voice broke off as Pain cut in.

“What do you mean? Like the two of us are not enough for your safety, Richie Rich?”

Dave made a face, but decided to dismiss the Richie Rich issue.

“No, what I mean is if it’s so important right now, what harm would it do if the guys came with us, too? The more the safer, isn’t it?”

Pain shook her head, glancing at her sister. Jane returned her look with a calmer one and turned to Dave.

“It doesn’t work like this;
we
don’t work like this. It’s no big deal, just usual routine where we always work in pairs. Of course, it’s a little different because this time we don’t work on a contract, it’s in our own interest to save you. Usually we don’t stay with our clients for so long, we just accompany them somewhere for a day or two. But still, nobody sends a dozen fighters to guard some client just because it’s safer. We send a couple, and the others are busy at other jobs. It works just fine, and besides, we wouldn’t raise any money if we only focused on a few clients. Our men are always out there in pairs or even alone, guarding somebody, and nobody would ever think that one or two are not enough. Besides, the more of us would go with you, the easier it would be for Beasts to track us down. We’re lucky we have at least a couple of tunnel exits that they don’t know about yet. I bet they’re watching all the others now.”

This explanation seemed simple, but still, it wasn’t good enough for Dave. A hundred of other questions bubbled up in his mind momentarily, but he suppressed them and just said,

“Hm-mm… I see.” He thought there was a spark of surprise in Jane’s expression, which disappeared quickly. So he really did ask too many questions, didn’t he?

A half-hour passed, and Pain was bored beyond measure. She sat on the edge of the couch, her feet on the coffee table, her hands twiddling with the katana idly. Days like this one, empty and pointless, annoyed her more than anything in the world. Who needed that much rest when it was so boring? She sighed. It was too early for sleep and too dark for reading, and the cartoon was beginning to get on her nerves. With an annoyed click of her tongue, she got up and headed to the bedroom. The necessity to be far from home for some obscure circumstances made her feel hung up in space. She missed her routine, fighters, training. The only thing that could help her get rid of this uneasy feeling was the view of the night city from the height of bird’s flight. This was what always helped her if something troubled her mind. Skyscrapers’ roofs were one of her favorite pastime: the New York streets not only looked fantastic from above, but also instilled in her a peaceful feeling of estrangement from everyday routine. Up there she felt different, like someone stripped of feelings, emotions, and worries. A ghost of her real self.

She walked through the dark bedroom, her face a floating pale shape in the big mirror, and pulled a chair up to the window, seating herself in it. The heavy curtain covered the glass, letting in only a faint hint of moonlight. She pulled its fringe to the side, peeking out onto the busy streets. The weather seemed perfect out there. She could imagine the warm wind blow in her face as she would soar above Manhattan, the brightly lit streets flashing far below. It had always been like this for her, one day she had something she was used to, and then if she couldn’t have it, she would feel like it was taken from her forever. She sighed, wondering what Marco and Ryan were doing at the moment. Too bad Peter ordered them not to call, except in case of an emergency, so that Eugene wouldn’t track them down.

Back in the living room, another episode began, and Chad realized that he already knew it by heart. He got up and stretched. The only distraction in the room, aside from the TV, was the window. He watched the city for a few minutes, seeing the roads shimmer with cars. They streamed like electricity through wires, bringing the avenues to life. It wasn’t even midnight, and yet he could see apartment windows disappear into darkness every now and then, whole buildings turn dark and eerie. It was fascinating somehow, watching Manhattan go to sleep from above as if he wasn’t a part of it. He felt strangely detached, all his worries left below. All his life seemed insignificant now, as if it didn’t even belong to him. He realized he didn’t miss his work even once in the past few days. He had called there only once to notify his boss that he fell sick and would be absent for a week or so. Usually he got bored after one day without his hands being busy with some wrenched piece of metal. Now he was shocked at how distant it all seemed to him. He grunted uneasily in his mind and wondered what Pain was doing there, in the bedroom. There was only one way to find out, so he headed there, hoping to distract himself with a small chat or by getting some dislocations, in Jerry’s opinion. He wasn’t sure, because it depended on her mood. Anything would be better than watching any more cartoons, though.

He found her sitting by the curtained window and gazing through a narrow gap between the cloth and the window frame. Looking over her dark silhouette that slouched on a chair like a weary phantom, he once again wondered at such a determined mind in such a small form. The thick carpet silenced his footsteps as he neared the window, stepping slowly and wistfully, not wanting to startle her, although he knew it was silly. She wasn’t easily scared or surprised.

As he grabbed a chair for himself, she slewed around. The expression on her face was unreadable in such darkness, but with her weary posture, her chin on her palm and her elbows on her knees, she didn’t seem particularly happy. After a quick glance in his direction, she returned to watching the streets outside. And since his elbows and knees still looked in the same direction as before, he took her silence as – well, not quite an invitation – but as a permission to stay. He put his chair beside hers, spinning it around and flinging himself onto it so that his arms rested on its back. The sleepiness was slowly descending on him already, and the dimly lit room made it even worse, but he stubbornly didn’t want to go to bed.

“So, the TV has got on your nerves, too?” she asked, peering into some object far below.

“It got boring.” Chad shrugged, leaning with his chest against the chair’s back.

She scoffed at that.

“And with me it’s different, that’s why you came here?”

“It depends…” He shrugged again, holding back a smile and watching her. Her expression changed to an ironic half-smirk.

“Oh, come on, no need to pretend. I know that the only person who’s always happy to be around me is Marco. And I think that’s only ’cause there’s something really wrong with him. Like, maybe he’s been dropped on his head as a child. And one time, I think I saw him kick himself in the head during practice, maybe that’s why. I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure about one thing: you two are awfully bored with us and it’s okay. It’s not our job to keep you entertained, after all. And you don’t have to worry about us, either. We’ve been to hell and back more than once, and this mission is practically a vacation so far. So don’t bother trying to keep me company, ’cause I’m better with swords than words,” she said it all in one breath, not letting him even put in a word, and he snapped his mouth closed before anything could slip from his lips. The thoroughly prepared speech got all mixed up in his head, and he sighed, unsure if he should still say what he wanted to say or just jump out of the window sparing himself the humiliation of returning to the living room. He decided not to give up so easily, though.

“Actually, I wanted to ask about something.”

She looked at him skeptically.

“Yeah? About what?”

“How did you get that scar on your back?”

Pain clearly didn’t expect that, because her face expressed pure puzzlement for a second. The pleasure from seeing it was a surprise for Chad – it wasn’t often that he could see her without that tight self-control. She cleared her throat and asked,

“Which one of the dozen?”

“You know which one I’m talking about,” he answered wearily, “that long one.”

“Why do you think I want to talk about it?” She touched the curtain lightly, acting as if she was more interested in the view than the topic in hand, but he could feel how she tensed.

“It’s not an idle curiosity,” Chad answered. “I just wondered how somebody managed to sneak behind your back,” he teased her.

“Planning on using his tactics, huh?” She smirked darkly. “Then you’ll have to kill at least three people first, so that everything would be exactly the same.”

Curious about his reaction, she turned to look at him. Moonlight brought out the angularity in his face, and his brown hair looked silvery-black. His nose was a little uneven, but it didn’t spoil his looks. She doubted that anything could spoil
that
look. She envied boys since she became a teenager – if only she could look half that cool without makeup and everything. And they managed to stay perfect even when they just walked out of bed. With his mouth a flat, stern line, he looked like one of those Greek statues now: all angles, his cheekbones high and sharp, and a tousle of curly dark hair, falling into his eyes and on his neck.
Dazzling
, she admitted against her will. Chad was gazing back at her, waiting patiently for her next words, and though his eyes were hidden in the shadows under his eyebrows, she could feel his look almost tangible on her skin.

Finally, a corner of his eyebrow quirked questioningly, so she exhaled and said,

“Fine. At least this story I remember perfectly.”

He only nodded, showing that he was ready to listen.

“It was almost two years ago. That night I took Jane with me for a pilot patrol – back then I was still patrolling, getting some experience. She was only fifteen and did great at training, but testing in a real fight is quite different. You need time to learn how to listen to your mind and the adrenalin at the same time. At first, the adrenalin captures you, and you do really weird stuff.” She smirked, looking out the window all this time. Chad only watched her silently, somehow mesmerized. “We went patrolling with three more boys, which didn’t have much experience before that shift either. I was nineteen. Up until that day I’d had about… I don’t know, a hundred shifts? But Peter sent us to a relatively quiet district, so we were sure everything would go smoothly. I should have known better than that,” her voice got grim on the last sentence, and he tensed without even realizing it.

“Apparently, Beasts had tracked us down and decided to have some fun ambushing five young fighters. Scabby bastards. We were on a roof when they attacked us, seizing the boys and killing them right in the air. Jane got knocked off the roof, and I was thrown into a wall of some warehouse. It all happened in one moment, and I didn’t really have the time to cushion the blow.

“When I came around a minute later, I had a split temple and a broken leg, a bad closed fracture just below the knee. I was seeing red, but I managed to make out Jane. She was fending off four Beasts. I shouted for her to go away, to fly home; but stubborn as she is, she stayed, of course.

“I guess you figured that we can heal minor wounds pretty fast. But serious ones, like a damage of internal organs, and especially, fractures, when a bone is shattered and there are splinters…” Pain shook her head slowly, “Such wounds require enormous energies and focusing, they exhaust us, and often it only helps for a short time. The bones would break again later, and the splinters wouldn’t disappear without surgical intervention. And I had a concussion. Head injuries are the only ones where our powers are mostly useless because they come from our heads. So it wasn’t helping that everything was spinning and I was about to throw up.

“I saw that Jane wasn’t going to make it on her own. Those fighters were too good. She was fast, but she couldn’t finish them all by herself, and eventually they would have caught her. Reinforcements would take at least fifteen minutes to come. So the only thing for me to do was to concentrate on healing my wounds. I was done with the temple pretty fast, but the leg,” she glanced at her left foot involuntarily, wincing, “it was a real mess. The vertigo made it hard to focus. While I was busy with getting my leg together, one of the Beasts must have seen that I was alive, and attacked from above. I noticed him at the last moment before the blow, so I could only duck away from the knife. He got me in the back, not too deep, but he split some of the muscles and the skin all the way down to my waist. It was awful, but the shock must have cleared my head, so in the next second that bastard was on the ground.” She turned her head slightly, focusing her thoughtful gaze on some car down on the street. “I was able to stand by that time, but too weak to use the katana, so I had to go with a knife. I dragged myself to where Jane was fighting – one of the attackers was already down – and called out for them. As they got distracted, Jane beheaded one, and one of them I took down myself. A knife is no katana, but it pierces a heart just fine,” she smiled grimly. “I blacked out after it was over. I barely remember the rest because I was drifting in and out. Jane carried me home. She only had lots of scratches, nothing serious.