Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (24 page)

Chad didn’t feel any better, though somewhere deep in his soul he felt excited about getting back at her at least once. But after a few minutes remorse crept over his insides. He kept seeing her face, angry and smitten as he sneered at her. That was so not what he wanted when he had come to the cellar. How the hell did it happen that his perfectly good intentions had turned into
that?
How did she manage to push all the wrong buttons that he didn’t even know were there? He pictured her sitting out there in the dark barn with its chilly air. She might have been mean, but somehow he knew it was just a mask, and he shouldn’t have reacted like a silly, stubborn little boy. He knew better than that, and yet he had fallen for her provocation like a child. And she was the one punished now.

Suddenly, he got sick of the stupid chips and TV.

He got up with a long sigh, making Dave glance at him sideways with his face troubled. Chad ignored him, coming to the wall and grabbing his hooded sweatshirt off the peg. Two pairs of surprised eyes trailed after him again as he walked across the room, stepped out of it, and dropped the hoodie on Pain’s shoulders.

Her eyebrows rose, but she only glanced at him out of a corner of her eye as he sat by her side. Chad turned his look to the floor, gathering his thoughts.

“Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that and flipped out at you. I just hate being this way. I know you don’t care, but… I’m sorry,” he finished with a sigh and got up, coming back into the room. Inside it, he lay down on his armchair, intending to watch the game. The reception was bad, but he barely cared. He just needed something to focus his eyes and mind on.

Outside, in the barn’s blackness, Pain stared at her book, frozen in time. Finally, she sighed and pulled closer the hoodie he gave her, because it really was cold in the barn at night. The book stared back at her with its black lines, but she couldn’t even remember where she had stopped.

An hour and a half later – Dave snoring softly on his improvised bed, Jane showering in the bathroom – Chad got up from the armchair with a grunt. He wondered what Pain was doing, was she still reading her book? It was pretty late and they all had a long day. He walked out of the room, giving her a sideways glance. When she didn’t move, he looked at her directly in the faint light from the lodge. She was asleep, propped up against the wall, her head in the hood of his sweatshirt, too big for her. Her legs were curled up, her hands lost in the folds of cloth. A corner of the “One Day” volume he had given her was visible from under it.

He looked away, swearing under his breath, a rushing wave of guilt seizing him once again. Without thinking, he bent down and took her in his arms. She fit there
so
perfectly, her head resting on his shoulder, her body light as a feather. He carried her into the room and laid her down onto the spread sofa. Even knowing that nobody could sneak up on her, that she could wake up any moment and probably freak about him touching her and break him in two halves – he just didn’t care. She stirred, curling up in his sweatshirt again, but didn’t wake up, and Chad covered her carefully with a blanket. Unable to resist, he knelt down beside her and tucked back a loose strand of black hair that fell into her eyes. His face was strained as he watched her, his mind awfully sad. She had that small wrinkle between her eyes again: even in her sleep she was upset with something.
Someone
, he corrected darkly, getting up with a quiet groan.

He turned around and found Dave watching him, sleepy but awake.

“Wow,” Dave whispered wistfully, “you really
did
get in trouble. And I don’t mean Eugene at all.” He shook his head.

Chad just stared back in surprise, speechless.

“You just couldn’t have picked the normal one, could you?” Dave added, and there was more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice this time.

“Oh, shut up,” Chad whispered back and grabbed a small pillow off the sofa, throwing it at him.

He went to his armchair, lay down, and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, he drifted off, so this crazy day came to its end.

It had been two days since the arrival to the barn. The four of them got used to their new place and routine. The sisters didn’t even have to skip their practice – the wide space of the barn and the semidarkness made it sort of interesting for them, actually. They found a lot of use for the rafters and pillars. Even Dave had showed some enthusiasm in learning fighting techniques by the end of the second day. He still remembered that awful night at the apartment and thought that next time could be less terrifying if he wouldn’t feel completely helpless. However, once he had got a few kicks from the big sister, he declared that only Jane was allowed to train him. She didn’t mind and even showed outstanding patience, never losing her temper through the teaching part. It tended to spin out, considering his habit to talk and ask a lot, but she finally got some results when he learned a few dodges and strikes. He grasped it quickly, she concluded, but got distracted too much, and it affected his results.

At the end of the second day, Peter called to ask how they were doing at the new place. At Pain’s question about the amount of food, he answered that he had stocked it all just in case and didn’t think they would have to stay there longer than a week. Not that Pain was comforted by his words even a little bit. She had known Peter long enough to hear the lack of confidence in his voice.

Peter said they had thrown all the invisible forces they had against Eugene now. Ryan was working on it together with Rooney, their expert at IT and wiretapping, and another group was watching Eugene’s every step. It wasn’t helping that Eugene had sent Peter’s informant somewhere far with some vague task. It made Peter edgy and unsure about whether his man should return or ditch the mission to avoid risk, and there was no way to find out if Eugene had disclosed him or it was just a coincidence. Peter had to watch his own fighters now, too, trying to figure out who was ratting to Eugene, but there were too many people both inside and outside the Headquarters. It could have been one of his close friends or one of their janitors, for crying out loud.

That evening Pain came into the room, leaving her usual place on the bench where she read with no distractions of the TV. Dave and Jane were sitting on the sofa, and Chad in his armchair. On the small screen, the Disney version of “The Little Mermaid” was on. Looking over her companions with boredom, Pain sighed and came to the free space on the couch.

“Don’t we have anything better to watch?” she muttered.

“Nope. Either this or the snowy screen,” Dave answered. “Of course, it’s no decapitation, but it’s still fun.”

She turned her dubious look to him.

“Next time you go to the bathroom, make sure you still have a penis,” she needled, making Jane chuckle beside her.

Dave snorted, “It’s not like we have a choice! This bloody barn is no amusement park.”

“Right, I forgot you’re eight. That’s why you’re hung up on Ariel, not the penis-thing.”

“Can we not talk about penises?” he protested. “A change of topic! How about this: why don’t you Ghosts have a motto or something?”

Pain seemed to choke.

“Like what? ‘Chopping off heads since Alan the Archer?’”

He grimaced, “I was thinking of something more like ‘Sky Ghosts: Keep calm and save the world.’”

Now both sisters snorted.

“What?”

“We don’t save the world,” Pain commented. “And it’s not a motto, it’s a slogan.”

“Okay, okay, but still. You’re cool, you should have a motto. Or a slogan. Anything, really.”

“We’re cool ’cause we don’t have one. It’s lame.”

“No, listen. ‘Sky Ghosts: Because Batman is not enough.’” He turned to look at them, pleased with himself.

Pain only stared back with bland contempt.

“Shut up, because no brain, no talking,” she announced in a solemn voice, making Chad chuckle.

Dave shot him a frowned look. He seemed to be too excited to get offended, though. He murmured to himself for a few seconds and then continued.

“Sky Ghosts: When walking is not an option.”

“Now it just sounds like a taxi ad,” she criticized, and he moaned.

“Hey, I’m doing this for you! Could offer some help, at least.”

She gave him an ironic look before replying.

“Okay. ‘David Forrester: If you ever feel too stupid.’”

Dave rolled his eyes, bolting to his feet.

“I’m going to the cellar, anybody needs anything?”

“Coke,” she answered right away. The others just shook their heads.

“Okay. But I’m still pissed. You guys never support any of my ideas!”

“Oh, come on, I’ve just supported your idea to bring me a drink!” Pain called out after him.

At that, he turned and narrowed his eyes.

“Sky Ghosts: Scaring the shit out of Superman!” he announced with a wave of his hand.

“NO!” two voices sounded in unison, both sisters’ faces annoyed.

He sighed and disappeared behind the wall.

In a half-hour another happy end was due. The four of them stared at the screen with bored expressions, sprawled in their seats in poses that couldn’t by any stretch of the imagination be called comfortable.

“…and they lived happily ever after,” Chad murmured when “The End” caption was shown.

“Until he dumped her for a stripper with huge boobs,” Pain added wearily.

It was the first time since their last fight when she reacted to Chad in any way, and there was so much dark irony in her voice that he suddenly realized it was more than just a joke.

She got up, swooping her jacket off the peg, and left the lodge, followed by two bewildered pairs of eyes. Chad immediately looked at her sister, his eyes full of questions; and Dave, making sure Pain had gone far enough, asked,

“What the hell was that about?”

Jane sighed, leaning back on the sofa.

“What can I say, isn’t it obvious?”

The guys only shook their heads with identically confused faces.

“Okay,” she drawled. “She’d been dating one of our fighters for a year or so, and he got a task in LA where he met some stripper. So he came back and told Pain that he was moving there to live with that whore. And then he left, both of his arms in cast.” Jane grimaced. “It’s been three years, but don’t you ever mention any word that begins with ‘strip’! And don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Dave whistled softly. Chad glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. His mind was too occupied with questions. To swap Pain for some stupid stripper? Who dated strippers, anyway? Who wasn’t even disgusted to sleep with them? Who would choose a stripper over a mature and smart girl, even if she’s got a bad attitude? Maybe this attitude had formed after that bastard dumped her, he thought. He tried to imagine what she was like before that relationship, then. Could she be attentive and kind, more like Jane? Patient, gentle, romantic? He quickly shook his head, as if trying to shake off all those ideas. It just wouldn’t be
her
.

After a couple of minutes he abandoned the attempt to focus on some action movie that started on the TV and came out into the dark space of the barn. He spotted a dim outline of Pain’s hovering figure near the small window high above, just where the rafters were. Something tightened inside his chest at the realization that at times like that he couldn’t even reach her. She was always out of reach for him, and she always would be. He let out a quiet sigh, intending to head back to the lodge, but suddenly someone tapped on his shoulder. He whirled, finding Pain standing in front of him. A split second ago she was at the window, he could have sworn it! She had her jacket on, unzipped, and a white T-shirt with some print stood out from under it, as if glowing in the darkness. As usual, she was wearing gear and boots, with a dozen short daggers in their countless pockets and sheathes. She looked at him with those fathomless black eyes, and there was something new for him flickering in her look, some excitement, agitation…
joy?
Chad blinked, not believing his eyes.

“Come,” she said quietly, reaching out mechanically to take him by the sleeve, but dropping her hand at the last moment. “I’ve got something interesting,” she added, apparently noticing the surprise on his face.

All the words seemed to have mixed in his head. For a moment he just gazed at her strangely wide dark eyes, her black hair, spilled around her shoulders; her lips, quirking in annoyance...
Oh,
the change in her face roused him out of his musing.

“Where?” he asked in a hoarse voice, perplexed.

With a noise of irritation, she reached out for him again.

“Give me your hand,” she said unsurely, as if it was hard for her to ask him about it.

He took her palm, small and cold to the touch, with incomprehension written all over his face.

“No,” she muttered, pulling her hand free and clenching his big palm in hers, “like this,” and then she jumped off the floor, carrying him to the ceiling with her.

Chad gasped, surprised, but in a second they were already near the window. She hovered beside one of the rafters for him to sit on it. He looked down cautiously as he did so – there was only infinite darkness below him, nothing visible from his spot. To his right was the window, and Pain flew close to it.

“Look, look!”

She pointed outside, at the night sky and fields. Chad raised his eyebrows and peered through the stained glass obediently.

It was beautiful there, so familiar to him due to his childhood at the farm. The sky was blue-black, spangled with billions of stars, and the moon was bright, illuminating the fields below that shimmered slowly in the wind like an infinite silver-blue sea. He enjoyed the view for a half-minute and moved closer to the window on his rafter.

“Wow, it’s amazing out there,” he commented, and there was an exasperated noise from his left.

“No, look there!”

She almost pressed into the glass and pointed with her finger at something dark lying in the tall moon-saturated grass. Chad looked closer. Actually, it wasn’t lying, it was… rolling?

A shape rose to its feet, shaking off grass and soil.

“A horse??” he asked, surprised. Pain nodded enthusiastically.

The horse trotted in a small circle around the field, apparently enjoying its occasional freedom. Then it stopped, raising its head and smelling the air.

“It must have got loose somewhere near. I saw it gallop to the field from the left, and since that moment it’s been trotting around like this.”

There was such happiness in her voice. Chad had never heard her talk like this. She had never shared any of her positive feelings with him around. He guessed she was used to sharing with Jane, but not with some strangers near them, and he wondered if she didn’t consider him a stranger anymore.

He glanced at her with surprise, but turned to the window right away, not wanting to let her know that he had paid attention to her mood. The horse disappeared behind the window’s edge, and Pain gave a quiet
oh
of disappointment. She reached the rafter and sat down beside him while he could only stare out the window, feeling too nervous from sitting with her – this unfamiliar side of her – alone like this. He breathed in and out slowly, watching the shimmering fields outside.

“I had a horse just like this one, you know?” he said, relaxing a little as his voice came out even. “I was fourteen when my father got her. She was too old to be any help to his friend, and he didn’t have time to watch after her, so he sold her to my dad. She had the same brown fur, only her muzzle was a little gray by that time,” he smiled and looked down. “Her name was Lolita.”

He heard her snort, “Lolita?? For a horse, really?” She grinned.

“Yes,” he nodded with a crooked smile. “It’s awful, I know. I called her Lola,” he said. “She was always by my side from the first day at the farm. When I woke up and came outside, she did, too. And sometimes, when I went to bed and the weather was good, she would wander around the yard and stare into my window. So I’d go outside again, bringing a carrot or a sugar cube for her, and walk her to the barn. It was the only way that I could fall asleep. I couldn’t bear the idea of her standing out there and waiting for me. She was like a dog,” he chuckled, and Pain laughed soundlessly beside him. “I moved to the city when I turned twenty-one, and I really missed her. She died of old age a year later. But I still feel kind of guilty, like I abandoned her and that’s why she passed away too early…” He glanced at Pain, his face sad and wistful.

A spark of sympathy glistened in her eyes.

“But you did visit her,” she prompted.

“Yeah, I know, but it was only once in a month… ”

“It was enough for her,” she interrupted, shaking her head. “If she was like a dog,” she smiled, “it was enough for her to know that you remembered,” she said, and there was kindness in her voice, something he hadn’t heard before. But he didn’t show, again, only looked at her with irony.

“How do you know?” he asked.

“I had a dog when I was a kid. No matter how long I’d be absent, he always met me at the door. So, I know,” she shrugged, looking out the window again. “Look who’s back,” she pointed with her chin and smiled.