Opal Read Free Page A

given me a wide berth, so I was unsure what was about to go down. Probably a lynching. I knew I’d want one for whoever had been responsible for the death of someone I loved.
    Hands shoved into his pockets, Dawson pressed his forehead against the window by where the Christmas tree had once stood, his back to the room. He’d said nothing since the bat signal had been sent out and the aliens had come a-running.
    Dee sat perched on the couch, her eyes fixed on her brother’s back. She looked wired, her cheeks flushed with anger. I think it bothered her being in this house. Or just being near me. We hadn’t had a chance to really talk after…everything.
    My gaze slid to the other occupants. The evil wonder twins, Ash and Andrew, were seated beside Dee, their gazes locked onto the spot where their brother, Adam, had last stood…and died.
    Part of me hated being in the living room since it reminded me of what had happened when Blake finally fessed up to his true purpose. When I had to come in here, which wasn’t often since I moved all my books out of the living room, I looked right at the spot to the left of the throw carpet under the coffee table. The pine floors were bare and shiny now, but I could still see the pool of bluish liquid that I’d mopped up along with Matthew on New Year’s Eve.
    I wrapped my arms around my waist to try to suppress the shudder.
    Two sets of footfalls came down the steps, and I turned, finding Daemon and his guardian, Matthew. Earlier, they’d gotten rid of… it , incinerating it outside, deep in the woods, after doing a quick run of the area.
    Walking to my side, Daemon tugged on the edge of my hoodie. “It’s been taken care of.”
    Matthew and Daemon had gone upstairs no more than ten minutes ago with a tarp, a hammer, and a bunch of nails. “Thank you.”
    He nodded as his gaze slid to his brother. “Did anyone find a vehicle?”
    “There was an Expedition near the access road,” Andrew said, blinking. “I torched it.”
    Matthew sat on the edge of the recliner, looking like he needed some liquor. “That’s good, but it’s not good.”
    “No shit,” Ash snapped. Upon a closer look, she wasn’t the picture perfect ice princess today. Her hair hung limply around her face, and she wore sweats. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her in sweats. “That’s another dead DOD Officer. How many does that make it? Two?”
    Well, actually, that made it number four, but they didn’t need to know that.
    She tucked her hair back, her chipped fingernails pressing into her cheeks. “They’re going to wonder where they are, you know? People don’t disappear.”
    “People disappear all the time,” Dawson said quietly without turning around, his words sucking the oxygen from the air.
    Ash’s bright sapphire eyes slid to him. Well, everyone pretty much looked at Dawson, since that was the first time he’d spoken since we all gathered. She shook her head but wisely remained quiet.
    “What about the camera?” Matthew asked.
    I picked up the melted thing, turning it over. Warmth still radiated from it. “If there’re pictures, they’re gone now.”
    Dawson turned around. “He was watching this house.”
    “We know,” Daemon said, moving closer to me.
    His brother tilted his head to the side and when he spoke, his voice was empty. “Does it matter what was on the camera? They were watching you— her . All of us.”
    Another shudder rolled through me. It was his tone more than anything that got to me.
    “But next time, we need to kind of…oh, I don’t know, talk first and then throw people through windows later.” Daemon crossed his arms. “Can we try that?”
    “And we can just let killers go?” Dee said, voice shaking as her eyes darkened, flashing with fury. “Because that’s apparently what should happen. I mean, that Officer could’ve killed one of us, and you would have just let him go.”
    Oh, no. My stomach sank.
    “Dee,” Daemon said, stepping forward. “I