Momentum (19 page)

“No. Just think of it as modeling.” I grinned.

“Yeah, go on, Harry.” Kellan guffawed. “You’ll enjoy every moment of the longing leers.”

“You do it!” Harry shot back.

I instinctively squeezed Kellan’s hand. There was no way, I thought, as a twinge of… something seared through me. The thought of a bunch of hormonal teens leering at my brother filled me with giggles, but I felt a sense of hurt, of anger, at the same image with Kellan in it. Why was that?

“Harry, I’m hungry,” I said, changing the subject. “Can we get something to eat?”

“Yeah. It’s going to have to be something cheap again.”

We walked into the Fashion Show Mall food court and opted for Subway. I got a veggie delight and dug into it. We sat by a window that faced the strip. Once Harry had finished his Philly cheese steak, he nodded. I raised my eyebrows.

“Thinking about it, it might be fun, and I may get a discount on the clothes. Working at Abercrombie, I mean.”

“You’re going to give it a go?”

“I think I have to. We’re down to our last five dollars or so. What are you and Kellan going to do while I work?”

“Well, we don’t know that you’re going to get a job there for sure, yet.”

Harry smiled his mega-watt grin. Okay. There was absolutely no way they wouldn’t hire him. They would have to be made of stone. I rolled my eyes.

Kellan smirked. “Well, I don’t want to head too far in case you need to get hold of us, since we don’t have cell phones. How about I take Arizona to the balcony overlooking the frog waterfall at the Wynn? We won’t be able to get into the Parasol lounge, but the balcony overlooking the falls has some comfy seats where we can hang out.

“Where is it exactly, if I need to find you?” Harry chugged his coke.

“Right above the lounge, but on the first floor, behind the reception lobby.”

“Okay. I may be a while, especially if they need me to start right away. Let’s decide on a time to meet back up, and I’ll try to get away for a break or something. How about five o’clock? If I don’t get there in time, wait.”

“We will,” I promised, and hugged him before he left.

Kellan, still with my hand in his, pulled me up, and we walked over to the Wynn together. I could feel the electricity from his touch, but tried to ignore it. Thank goodness he couldn’t read my thoughts like David.

The Wynn hotel loomed ahead. I had never stayed there before, never even been inside it. It was so over-the-top fancy–I was amazed as we made our way inside. We walked through the shopping plaza, stopping at the windows to admire the awesome stuff, including a diamond-encrusted cell phone. We walked down, or rather stood on, the curved escalator, which took us down to the Parasol lounge. We weren’t old enough to get in, but we peered at the waterfall through the glass doors.

Kellan nudged me. “Come on. Let’s go back up and sit in the balcony upstairs. It has the best view of the falls.”

It did. We got a great view of the huge curtain waterfall and of the statues peeking out from the water in the shallow manmade lake.

“The show starts at seven. Hopefully, we’ll catch it. It’s free.”

We made ourselves comfortable on the cushion-covered wicker chairs and sipped our water. Kellan moved his chair so that it was touching mine, and he sat down with my hand in his.

I turned to face him. “Kell, do you really think someone’s going to grab me again? Don’t you think this is kind of overkill?” I shook my hand.

 
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Why? Does it bother you?”

“No, but my hand is getting a bit sweaty, or is that yours?” I laughed.

“You’re right. Let’s swap them around.” He stood, and we swapped seats. “Better?”

“Yes.” I squeezed his fresh, unsweaty hand. I felt calm and protected by his touch. I also felt almost… anxious. My heart beat faster, and I felt a tingle. The tingle turned into full-blown trembles of excitement when he put his head on my shoulder. I moved awkwardly, my lips brushing against his forehead. My heart thudded so loudly that I thought my chest would explode.

“You okay?” Kellan suddenly moved his head back so his lips accidentally brushed mine. He didn’t move. I thought I was going to die. So embarrassing! What now?

I froze. I felt something grab my shoulders. I instinctively tightened my grip on Kellan’s hand, hanging on to him for dear life. I felt his hand tighten.

“Kell,” I whispered hoarsely, my lips brushing against his. “I think someone’s trying to grab me. Don’t let go of me. Please.”

He put his arms around me, stiffening his grip. His facial muscles hardened as well, his eyes glaring into mine. The pull at my shoulder intensified, with Kellan immediately increasing his pressure to hang onto me. I felt like a rope caught in the middle of a tug of war. As much as the pressure on my shoulder increased, Kellan’s grip around me was unyielding. Then I heard a whisper–a whisper so soft against my left ear.
I’ll be back
. The pressure lifted, and I slumped against Kellan. The voice had been unmistakable. Simla. “We’ve got to go! She said she’d be back!”

“Who? Who was that?”

“Simla!”

“Simla?” He sounded shocked. “She must have learned to wander….”

“No kidding! Please, Kell, let’s go!”

He nodded. “Okay. Don’t let go of my hand, even for a second. If you feel anything at all, yell.”

“I will.”

We stood, still entwined in each other. I was afraid to let go; Kellan seemed to be, as well. He brought his right arm around my back and grabbed my right hand while still holding on to my left with his. I felt protected as we ran out the Wynn toward the Fashion Show mall. We ran up the escalator and tore into Abercrombie looking for Harry.

Kellan spotted him first. “Over there, by the changing rooms.”

I looked over to see my beaming brother surrounded by a pack of teenage girls, one of them holding a dress up against herself, clearly asking for his opinion. Snort. Like he
ever
had opinions about dresses! Still, whatever he was saying had her drinking in every word, her mouth set in an inviting pout, and her eyes spellbound by his. “Hurry, before I hurl.”

Kellan managed a smile, but I could tell it was forced. He was feeling the stress of having to keep me safe. I was as well. We walked over to where Harry was.

His flirty demeanor changed immediately when he saw us. He grabbed some stuff from the rack beside him. “Mr. Fox, I have your things right here. Please follow me. Ladies, I’ll be back soon.” He smiled at them and led us into a storage room at the back of the store. “The store manager’s on vacation at the moment. In fact, I was lucky to get hired at all! Good thing they were so short-staffed. But it’s only for the day, and they’re paying me in cash to get around the paperwork. You can hide out in here. What’s up?” he asked, as soon as he closed and locked the door behind us.

We sat down and I hurriedly described what had happened at the Wynn.

“I’m guessing that’s why you have her in that grip? Let me take over for a while. He swapped places with Kellan, who looked relieved. Kellan stretched his arms over his head and paced about, shaking out his muscles.

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

Harry shook his head. “Not sure. Did you
see
Simla?”

“No, I just felt her and
heard
her.”

“You’re sure it was her?”

“Yeah.”

“And she said she’d be back.”

“Yes.”

“Question is, how did she find you?”

“How do you think?”

“I’m assuming she’s been hanging out around here since she killed Rowena, looking for you,” Harry mused. “And she must have spotted us and followed you, waiting for an opportunity to strike.”

“You think she killed Rowena?” I was having a totally impossible time believing that meek, little Simla could hurt anyone. Why would she?

“Not just that,” Kellan said. “But now we also know that she can wander! How the heck did that come about? I mean, just a few days ago, she was claiming that she couldn’t, that she’d been abandoned by Potomal….”

Harry ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. She’s quite the little actress. It looks like this might be another one of Potomal’s schemes. Maybe that whole thing was a hoax, just a plan to lull us into a false sense of security so that he could strike again.”

I had no idea what they were talking about.
Again?
“Care to update me?” I snapped. I was, after all, the one that they seemed to be after.

“Potomal wants control of the Sigma-W. He wants you as leverage to take control. We’re not exactly sure how, but Raj and Simla seem to be involved in his scheme,” Harry explained.

“Why me?”

“You’re one of the grandchildren of the Sigma-W leader.”

I closed my eyes. This was a minefield. I decided for now to accept it, just so we could move on. But I did have to know one more thing. “Why me? Why not you or Ella?”

He shrugged. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think it
is
just you. I’m guessing it’s just been more convenient for them to take you.”

“How?”

“According to Gramadea, Potomal isn’t out to hurt anyone. He simply wants power and needs leverage to take it from Granddad. Taking a little kid like Ella would present him with a bunch of problems he wouldn’t have to deal with if he took someone older like you or me. Between you and me... you’re easier, that’s all.”

“But they’d take you, if they can’t get to me.” That made sense. “So, we both have to be really careful. Simla did say that she was going to be back. She might have gone to get help.”

“Yeah, but it means that for now she’s not tracking us, so we need to make a run for it,” Kellan said.

“I want to finish my shift first. We need the money,” Harry added. “You two can hide out here for now. I’ll keep a low profile.”

I snorted.

“What, Shrimp?”

I shook my head. Harry keeping a low profile in a store full of hormonal teens was beyond laughable.

He rolled his eyes. “Kell, ready to take over?”

As Harry and Kellan swapped me over, I felt my heartbeat quicken again. Was it in response to a feeling of impending doom? Was I scared that once Harry let go of me and walked back outside Potomal’s group would take him away? Or was it in response to Kellan being so close again?

Whatever it was, I didn’t want to let go of Kellan. I held on, resting my face on his chest while he supported his own on my head. I closed my eyes.