Chapter Eight

Tristan glared at Gregory for one tense moment before turning around and calmly leaving the room.

I knew I’d have more chance of getting answers – not to mention I’d probably be safer – if I stayed in the kitchen, but before I could stop myself I’d jumped back to my shaky feet and rushed after him.

I didn’t miss the knowing smirk Gregory and Edwin exchanged.

‘Hey,’ I called after him, catching him going upstairs, probably to sulk in his room as usual. He paused on the stairs and looked down at me impassively, waiting. I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly before he sighed, jerked his head upwards, and resumed climbing the stairs. I hurried after him, catching up only once he reached him room, holding the door open for me.

‘So what’s up?’ he sighed, like this was something that happened frequently and he couldn’t possibly imagine what was on my mind this time.

I spluttered indignantly. ‘“What’s up?”’ I demanded. ‘ “What’s up?” What do you think is up?! What the hell just happened to me? Did you do this?!’

One look at him confirmed that he had not, in fact, been responsible.

‘It’s like Edwin said,’ Tristan said, his voice carefully controlled. ‘Your powers are trying to manifest.’

‘So, what does that mean? Do we not have to do the ritual anymore?’

‘We’re not doing it anyway.’

I couldn’t help it; I leaned forward and punched him on the arm, hard. Of course, I knew he had some sort of super-strength going on so it didn’t hurt him, but he still looked surprised.

‘What was that for?’ he asked, touching his arm lightly.

‘I don’t know what gives you the right to think you need to protect me,’ I said hotly, ‘but I’m not actually your responsibility. I don’t know why you’re treating me like some sort of child – worse, a baby, Annabelle is a child and you treat her like an equal, but some reason I’m somehow beneath you, which really isn’t fair, by the way, just because you’re so fucking “special” – but I am sick of it. More than sick of it, I was sick of it last week. This week, obviously, as I demonstrated downstairs, it’s making me want to literally kill you.’

It was really starting to irk me the way these little aggravated speeches were inciting barely hidden smirks from Tristan. Like I really was some sort of toddler that had to be indulged.

‘Stop it!’ I shouted. ‘Stop looking at me like that!’

The smirk disappeared, but there was still amusement in his eyes. I dropped it. You need to know to pick your battles.

‘You’re very articulate when you’re angry, Cody,’ he said carefully, stepping towards me and catching my face in his hands. My heart started beating even faster than it already was and my breath caught. ‘But you’re going to have to learn to control it,’ he whispered, moving my head slightly so I could see my reflection in the mirror across the room. My eyes were darkening; not yet black but a muddy grey, and my skin had a recognisable pallor. ‘Deep breaths,’ Tristan murmured, but calming down was going to be more difficult rather than less with him at such close proximity. I focussed on doing as he’d said, closing my eyes and breathing, trying not to think about the feeling of his hands on my face. Slowly, I felt my heart rate return to normal.

‘Is that why we can’t do it?’ I mumbled, looking up at him as he took his hands away from my face. ‘Because I can’t control it?’

Tristan looked uncomfortable. ‘Actually performing the ritual would give you greater self-control,’ he admitted, and I had to focus on my breathing so as not to get angry again.

‘Then,’ I settled on asking, ‘why can’t we do it?’

Tristan shook his head, agitated. ‘If you knew what it was, what it would mean, you wouldn’t be so eager to put yourself up for it,’ he told me, looking uncertain.

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It was the night before we were supposed to go and “fetch” Kaley, as the others were referring to it, though I thought the verb a little mild for what the situation entailed.

Everybody had refused to be drawn in on the subject of the ritual, though I’d asked everybody, even Maya, who sneered at me in disgust as usual and told me to go away, but in stronger language. Gregory gave me the same impassive look as Tristan whenever I asked him, Edwin only smiled knowingly, and Annabelle went bright red while trying to look reproachful.

I was getting nowhere fast; there were only twenty four hours til go time; and I was essentially going into this blind. Aside from getting angry with Tristan I was basically defenceless, and was beginning to wonder whether it would be best if I stayed home. Despite the fact that they seemed to think I could help them in some way, I didn’t want to be a burden; the lone human who couldn’t protect himself and would need their supervision if anything went wrong.

Everyone was sitting together in the living room, taking part in their own preparations. Gregory and Edwin were pouring over maps and blueprints that I didn’t even want to look at for fear of having a nervous breakdown; Annabelle was, as usual, focussing intently on a jigsaw puzzle; Tristan and Maya were, to my own wariness, practicing their magic or whatever they called it. I couldn’t see any actual results of what they were doing, but they were sitting side by side on the couch, stock still, their eyes black, seemingly focussed on something in the middle distance. It was unnerving.

‘Hey,’ Annabelle whispered, and I glanced at her. She wasn’t looking at me, but I knew she couldn’t be talking to the puzzle. ‘You should ask him now. About the ritual.’

I scowled against my better judgement. ‘He’s not going to tell me.’

‘He’s not paying attention to you now. And he’s excited about tomorrow, which is as close to a good mood as you’ll ever find him. You’ll never get an answer if you don’t get one now.’

I studied her for a moment, still basically ignoring me, then decided that out of everyone in the house, I probably trusted her the most. Taking a deep breath, I looked up and glanced around the room.

‘Hey,’ I said authoritatively, and everyone looked at me, even Tristan and Maya, their eyes gradually returning to normal. ‘Somebody needs to tell me about the freaking ritual already.’

Edwin grinned and gave me a subtle thumbs up, while Gregory crossed his arms and sighed, switching his attention to Tristan.

Sure enough, Tristan looked unsure, like he was actually contemplating telling me this time. I was shocked, but I hid it.

‘Oh, just tell him already,’ Edwin blurted impatiently after a few moments of silence. ‘Christ, Tristan, he’s not a child, he can handle being told about it.’

This, miraculously, seemed to be all Tristan needed to hear. His body un-tensed and he leaned back slightly on the couch, looking at me. He even seemed a little relieved, though he still chose his words carefully.

‘It’s kind of a coming-of-age thing,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘For lack of a better phrase, you need to become a man.’

I laughed in disbelief. ‘That’s what you couldn’t tell me? What do I have to do? A bar mitzvah? Spend a year in the woods? Kill a boar?’ I listed off some of the cultural coming-of-age rituals I knew about.

‘Nothing quite so dramatic,’ Tristan said, and the smirk was firmly back in place now that he’d given in and allowed himself to tell me.

I looked around at the others expectantly but for some reason they were all studiously avoiding my gaze. ‘Well, that then?’

‘You have to lose your virginity, Cody,’ he said, and I’m sure I detected a hint of smugness in his voice.

I stared at him for a full fifteen seconds in surprise before allowing myself to look around again. Annabelle was staring firmly at the ground, red in the face, and Edwin was laughing quietly at my reaction.

I shifted uncomfortably. ‘How do you know I-?’

‘We know,’ Tristan interrupted, sparing me from embarrassing myself further.

‘Well then, what? You’ve left it kind of late, haven’t you, how am I supposed to find somebody before tomorrow night? I mean I want to help, honestly, but I’m not having sex a prostitute, I’m just not.’

‘Relax, Cody,’ Tristan said mildly. ‘That’s not how it works. You’d have to have sex with, well, somebody who already has these powers.’

I stared at him again for a moment until my gaze landed, horrified, on Maya.

‘Ew!’ she shrieked, actually curling her body up on the couch, disgusted. ‘Stay away from me, loser!’

Gregory and Tristan both joined Edwin in laughing at me now.

‘Well, who then?’ I demanded huffily, too embarrassed to put up with this much longer.

Tristan looked at me, amused. ‘Me,’ he said patiently. ‘Obviously, you would have to have sex with me.’

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A/N: Don't ask about Cody thinking it would be Maya. That's coming in the next chapter :)