Chapter 4

“You want me to ask your temporary boss if you can come to our meeting and present some numbers about missing persons in Europe?” Elliott was through the kitchen entryway, fridge open as I shot down the hall behind him. Brandon was sitting on the couch with his phone in his hand, and it looked like maybe he and his mother were having a conversation via text. Probably about how stupid his girlfriend is.

“Yeah, I want you to ask someone. It can be Hannah.”

“Hannah ain’t the boss of you.” He moved a few items around inside the fridge before pulling out the milk. I was puzzled until he set it on the counter and opened one of the cabinets to produce a box of Fruity Pebbles. I knew Elliott wasn’t about to guzzle a glass of something potentially nutritious, not unless he also had a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“I know technically she isn’t, but she is in charge of the leadership team, mostly, isn’t she?”

“We all know she is, ‘cept Aurora. She seems to think they’re equals, which is just dumb.” The bowl he used for his cereal was big enough to hold at least half of the box, and I was hoping he’d wait until I left to dig into it because the idea of eating all of that sugar was making me a little queasy. He didn’t. A spoonful of Fred Flinstone’s finest in his mouth didn’t prevent him from saying. “You should wait until your sister gets back.”

It didn’t surprise me that he said that. But it did make me mad. “We don’t have that sort of time, Elliott. We need to get on this before the people who have disappeared are all turned—or until they start turning others. We could have a huge problem on our hands.”

He swirled his spoon around in the mammoth bowl for a moment while I watched his elbow grow dangerously close to the open milk next to him on the counter. “She’ll be back in less than two weeks.”

“A lot can happen in two weeks.”

I didn’t really need to tell him that. He knew it already. But he wasn’t budging. “I’m sorry, lil girl, I am. But they’re not gonna listen to me. No one else does. Why would either of the new boss ladies? You find someone else to get you in front of that team, and I’ll be your biggest supporter, but me asking is just gonna get you a big fat no.”

I sighed at him in frustration because I didn’t think he was right—I thought he just didn’t want to help me. He raised his spoon, his arm knocking against the milk carton, and part of me wanted to just let it spill all over the counter, drip down onto the linoleum floor, but I didn’t. Instead, I caught it and put the lid back on with my powers.

Still chewing, he said, “Thanks. Guess you can use those for good as well as evil.”

I snarled at him, but he ignored me, leaving the milk on the counter and heading back into his bedroom. The conversation was over. I wondered if I would’ve gotten further if I hadn’t hung up on Amanda, but at this point, what was done was done. He could buy some new milk because I wasn’t putting that away.

“Sorry,” Brandon said, squeezing past me into the kitchen and heading for the milk and open cereal box. “I guess that didn’t go as you’d planned.”

It seemed ironic to me that he was the one apologizing when I’d hung up on his mom and made his dad mad, not to mention the fact that I’d hardly paid any attention to him at all since he’d let me in. He put the milk back in the fridge while I closed the cereal and moved it back into the cabinet without unfolding my arms. I wondered if he had to pick up after his dad the way he used to have to clean up after his mom and figured not usually, only when his girlfriend came and caused a big ruckus.

“It’s not your fault,” I said as Brandon stepped back closer to me, seeming unsure about whether or not he should reach out for me again or leave me be. He kept his hands on his hips. “I guess I’ll just have to try someone else.”

“Did you ask Aurora? She likes you.”

“I tried, but she was busy at the gym. Hannah was busy, too. I just figured your dad could get Hannah to listen to him. She doesn’t seem to like to tell him no for some reason. Maybe because he’s loud and overwhelming.”

“Maybe,” Brandon said as though he didn’t quite agree with me. “Well, you could just wait a little while until Roar or Hannah are done and one of them can help you. I’m sure they’ll want to hear what you have to say. It sounds like something’s up over there, and they can’t possibly want to ignore it.”

“Why not?” I asked, turning to walk out of the kitchen. “Your dad just did.”

“That’s different,” Brandon reasoned, following me. I stopped a little short of Elliott’s old recliner and turned to look at him. “He was just mad because you hung up on my mom.”

I tried not to sigh too loudly, but it came out sharper than intended. “I’m not sure if you could hear him, but he was talking about hanging up for, like, five minutes, so I just did it for him.”

“They always do that. It’s kind of cute. Like that episode of Friends with Ross and that girlfriend he dated right after his first divorce? I guess it’s a little fitting since you hung up on Mom the same way Rachel hung up on that chick.”

“Julie. Her name was Julie,” I said, glowering at him. “And this was totally different.” I kind of hated the fact that we’d watched so many episodes of the same sitcoms one of us had a related story for just about everything.