Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (40 page)

“Kids,” he murmured. Not that he could imagine Skull being someone’s child.

He got back to the living room, carrying with him a tray with bright green cups on it.

“So, what exactly happened with Eugene?” he asked as soon as he returned. He put the tray on the table, grabbing a cookie, and landed back in his armchair.

“He was after me, it’s true, but he died a couple of days ago while trying to kill us in his office. He attacked the Ghosts’ building and took me and Dave- ”

“Dave?? What the hell did he want with Dave?” Richard interrupted him, his face incredulous and his light eyes doubtful.

“Well, it happened so that we were together the first time the Beasts showed up. The girls saw us while patrolling and took us to Peter. Anyway, two days ago, when Eugene attacked the building, he took us to his office, but the girls came after us,” Chad broke off and reached behind his back, taking out Eugene’s knife. He reached out, handing it to his father. “This is his knife, there’s an engraving on the hilt.”

Richard grunted, taking the knife, and murmured,

“Here’s my little boy, bringing me his first bloody trophies…”

Chad made a face. Turning the knife around, Richard looked at the two intricate letters on the hilt and then raised his eyes at his son.

“You did it?”

Chad nodded, his face set.

“Yes.”

“So, Michael was right…” Richard murmured thoughtfully, looking at the knife again.

Chad told his father the story of the last two weeks. Richard seemed to be interested in every detail, so it took much more time than his own story. Two hours passed, and Skull was dozing, his head propped on his palm. Jane was listening with a distracted expression, her thoughts somewhere else. Pain was engaged in the conversation, adding to Chad’s story, at first with short comments, later with full explanations of this and that. She hated when somebody misinterpreted facts, but mostly – she didn’t even realize it herself – she missed normal conversations and some free time without killing or training or waiting to be killed.

Finally, Chad was done talking, and Richard seemed pretty impressed. He sat silent for a minute, thinking over what he had just heard.

“So, I guess they’ve already fired you at that garage, huh?” he said with a smile.

Chad smiled ruefully in return while Pain shot him an intense glance out of a corner of her eye.

“Yeah, maybe. Maybe not, we’ll see. I could come up with something,” he answered, shrugging.

It was quiet for a minute, until Pain broke the silence.

“I think we should head home. We must get back before the dark,” she said, looking at Richard almost apologetically.

He shook his head with understanding, “You’re right. I’m glad you came and told me everything. You didn’t have to, really, but you did, and I appreciate that.”

She and Chad only nodded in response. The sun was setting already. She could see its reddened light through the window behind Richard. It seemed like the day had passed in just an hour, but they still had the long road home ahead.

As Richard got up and headed to the exit, Jane tapped Skull’s shoulder, and he looked at her, fully awake in a moment.

“Let’s go, we’re leaving,” she said to him, watching her sister pick up the katana and follow Chad out of the room.

They came outside and headed for the car. It was much more pleasant without the heat, and the vast fields shone beautifully in the sunlight. Richard walked with them, saying goodbye to everyone as the sisters got into the back and Skull took his place at the driver’s seat.

Chad turned to his father, studying his expression – he seemed much happier than when they arrived. He even looked content, seeing Chad untouched and healthy before him. Was it also because nothing seemed to have changed between them since Chad had found out that Richard wasn’t his real father? He didn’t know, but he was happy to see his father’s eyes smile, a web of small wrinkles around each of them. He wasn’t all tense and strained anymore the way he was before. He didn’t look troubled or worried. Maybe he felt what Chad felt, that trust and friendship toward the Ghosts, that care with which they had surrounded him in the past two weeks. He couldn’t imagine returning to his lonely bachelor apartment after this.

He shook his head and hugged Richard goodbye. He squeezed his son tightly, saying into his ear, “Don’t be too hard on yourself trying to become one of them.” He patted his son’s back. “I’m sure they’re great guys, but I hope you’re not gonna get so many tattoos or lose some of your limbs in a battle,” he added patronizingly.

“Da-ad,” Chad drawled, rolling his eyes. He hadn’t heard this tone for so long. “I’ll be okay,” he said, letting go of his father and opening the door. The car welcomed him with its cool air, and he took a seat beside Pain.

Richard waved to them as they drove away, though he couldn’t see Chad wave back through the tinted window. They were driving through the snaking country road in silence when Chad suddenly remembered something.

“Hey, back there you said about the half-breed thing- ”

“Later,” Pain cut him off strictly. Jane opened her mouth to protest, but only stared at Skull, who was guiding the car expertly through the fields. “Everyone’s tired,” Pain added a little softer.

Chad submitted without a word at first, only shook his head slightly. But then he turned to her, his face a resentful scowl.

“Yeah, look who’s talking, the I-kill-ten-people-in-a-minute girl,” he said reproachfully, and Pain glared at him in surprise. “So that’s what wears you off, talking for a few hours! If only I knew it before,” he said and felt better instantly, not letting her get away with this attitude.

Pain stared back at him, leaning on Jane, who was silently shaking with laughter.

“Then what? You’d bore me to death with your babbling?” she retorted crossly.

“Oh, whatever,” Chad waved her off, exasperated.

She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but then closed it and just blew out an angry exhalation, turning away. The rest of the road passed in utter silence.

Once inside the room, Pain leaned with her back against the closed door and looked at him.

“Half-breeds are called ‘bastards’ among Ghosts. It’s insulting, but everyone got used to the word, so if you’re a half-breed, you don’t talk about it. But people will know anyway because you’ll be weaker than them,” she said in a serious voice. Chad froze mid-motion with his T-shirt in his hands and turned to her, listening with a frown.

“Half-breeds have to work two times harder to be at least on one level with average fighters, and three times harder to be like Marco or Ryan or us. They are weaker, they can’t fly at long distances, they get tired sooner, they can’t carry weight in the air. They have to develop their abilities, to focus on them all the time. If you’re a half-breed, you’ll always be a weak link, and nobody likes weak links,” she explained, her black eyes fixed on him. “Half-breeds can’t have partners or marry purebloods.”

“So if you’re born like this, you’ll always be worse than others? No matter how hard you try?” Chad asked, astonished.

“Not necessarily.” Pain shook her head. “Because Skull is a half-breed.”

Chad’s heart gave a jolt. Jane was sitting silently in the recliner, so he turned to her, staring with a question in his eyes – she nodded, confirming her sister’s words. He looked back at Pain.

“No, no, no, you two are kidding me. I’ve seen him fight, it can’t be true,” he said, unable to believe that Skull by any measure could be weaker than the rest of them.

“Yeah, except that it is true,” Pain responded, shrugging. “He’s our best fighter, if you ask me, but only because he’s worked his ass off his whole life. He used to practice for five hours every day. He flew around the city the whole night without a single stop. He struggled while the others were having fun with their power. But eventually, he’s got his results. Now he’s amazing, but again, only because he still works harder than anyone. He doesn’t practice with less than five sparring partners at a time. He became the best, and now nobody would dare to call him a bastard. Actually, I believe that everyone who tried is long gone. Only a few of us know about it, but nobody cares because no one would ever think of him as of a weak link.”

Chad was looking at Pain, shocked, with his heart beating heavily in his chest. He thought back to the Beasts’ roof, to the way Skull fought there, like it was so easy for him, as if his heavy machete was no more than a wooden toy they used as kids.

He lowered his look, and Pain went to the wardrobe, seeing him lost in thought. Chad felt sympathy to the giant, imagining him struggling through his training and enduring the sneers of those who surrounded him. But there was also something strangely comforting in the idea of Skull being a half-breed, and Chad lingered on that thought with suspicion. It seemed to slip away from him as he tried to catch it, and only in a minute he realized what it was. He felt as if he were a half-breed, too. He had never trained, he didn’t know at all how to heal himself, and he still had trouble landing without tumbling over. He was twenty-three, and he had never been in a real fight before these two weeks. Chances for him to become as good as the others seemed almost nonexistent.

But at least he wasn’t born weaker than them. He was Michael’s son, and Michael was a great fighter. He was chosen to be their leader, and that meant something, didn’t it?

Chad’s head whipped up when he snapped out of his thoughts. If a half-breed could become a great fighter, he could do it, too. He turned and found the sisters gone – they must have slipped outside already. So he put his T-shirt back on and left the room.

He skittered down the stairs to the ground floor. Skull was there, talking to a group of fighters. Chad waited until they were finished and came up to him.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked. Skull turned to him, his face impassive, as always. A single lamp was shining dimly behind his back, and he cast a big shadow on Chad, making him feel like a little boy. But he had to do it, so he shoved back the fear and said, “The sisters told me that you’re a half-breed. I want to know how you did it.” His voice shook a little when Skull’s eyebrows went up slowly and his look darkened. “How you became the best,” Chad added quickly, raising his chin.

Skull stepped to him, and Chad made a huge effort not to step back. Everything tightened inside him, his mind frantic and screaming for him to run for his life.

“Those are some balls of steel you have. You must really be Michael’s son, aren’t you?” Skull rumbled slowly. Chad gaped at him, surprised. “So you want me to train you?” he asked, looking at Chad from above with a serious face.

Chad breathed deeply to keep his voice from shaking.

“Yes,” he answered carefully.

Skull nodded.

“Then it’s settled, I will train you.”

A week passed since the battle, and the life at the Ghosts’ Headquarters had returned to its normal course: the training halls were full of fighters, Peter was receiving calls from clients, the building itself was repaired and renovated. From the outside it looked now as if nothing had happened, though citizens wouldn’t probably look at it twice anyway.

Chad walked through the entrance, nodding to the security guard by the door. The huge man nodded back, following Chad to the elevator with his look. Chad stabbed his finger at the button and paced nervously on the spot. A half-minute passed, and the elevator doors slid open, revealing Doc behind them. He wore a plain white T-shirt, which clung close to his body, and Chad saw that not only his arms were covered in those intricate tattoo patterns, but also his chest. The tattoos’ weaving tendrils were visible from under the collar, ending off just above it. His glasses were gone, and in his T-shirt and trendy blue jeans he looked no more than twenty-five and totally unfamiliar.

He looked at Chad with his thoughtful dark eyes, coming out of the elevator and reaching out to shake his hand. Chad stared at him blankly for a moment, but then took his hand with a nod.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi there,” Doc responded and turned away, heading to the exit at a cheerful pace.

Chad followed him with a curious look until the elevator doors began to slide back together. He slipped inside at the last moment and pressed the third floor button.

Earlier, when he talked to Dave on the phone, Dave had said that most of the injured fighters had already recovered and returned to their rooms. Some of them were even back to patrolling: the city streets had been quiet lately, but for sure, the remaining Beasts would get back to robbing citizens in no time. It was their only trade, after all. Peter had also recruited a number of new fighters, who were expected to move in next week. Some of the new men and even women came to Peter on their own once they heard that Eugene was dead. It seemed there were a lot of Ghosts ready to work for the organization, but afraid of its misfortunes with the Beasts. Many of them had participated in the battle at Eugene’s and decided to join the Headquarters after what they had seen there.

Dave had moved back to the sisters’ room. His shoulder was still healing, and he was bored at the infirmary. The sisters didn’t mind. However, after a few days he had got an offer from Peter to work for him making deals, and now he was spending almost all of his time in Peter’s office, delving into the business. He took this work with excitement, to Chad’s surprise, who had never seen Dave work before. Either there was something else, which Chad didn’t know about, or Dave was really interested in this job.

Marco had almost recovered already, too, and was busied by Peter scheduling patrols and forming shifts. Peter didn’t want him to fight before his wounds would be fully healed, so he had ordered him to do some office work. Of course, Marco wasn’t happy about it, but Peter had persuaded him that it was the most important task at the moment, considering all the new fighters and the alliances that had already begun to form among them.

Skull was back to guarding Peter’s office, and Luke had been assigned to work with him. Nobody knew what happened to Jerry, and mostly they thought he was dead. Skull hadn’t started his training with Chad yet, because Chad had to settle everything at the garage. But he planned on doing so, just as he promised, once Chad would be back.

Ryan was the only one of them still staying at the infirmary, because Doc wanted to be sure that everything was alright with his head. Marco and the sisters had been keeping him company most of the time when they didn’t have any work. Ryan was patient, as always, though it was clear that he wanted to get back to work, like the others.

The elevator doors slid apart, rousing Chad out of his reverie. Behind them was the brightly lit hall, empty at the moment. He came out, heading for the girls’ room with long strides. He was wearing his own clothes for a change – a white vest with a green plaid flannel, its sleeves rolled up, and blue jeans with sneakers. It was good to feel like himself again, but at the same time, somewhat weird. He didn’t feel like his old life belonged to him anymore. The idea of combining it with his new goals seemed surreal, and he felt like hanging somewhere in between.

He reached the door and grabbed the knob – it was closed. Chad yanked at it again, surprised: where was everybody in the middle of the day?

He turned around, deciding to check the infirmary. The sisters must have been down there with Ryan. He got inside the elevator again, stabbing at the ground floor button impatiently.
Stupid rules,
he thought, and chuckled at how easily he had got used to following them without thinking.

A few seconds later Chad was already walking across the hall to the infirmary. The place looked completely different from how it had looked a week ago. It was still dim down here, but the chairs were gone, the smashed lamps had been replaced, as if nothing had happened and Chad had just dreamed the whole thing. He glanced at the new door to the street: there was fresh paint around it, concealing the repaired doorjamb.

He reached the wall and rapped sharply on it. There was no sound, but in a few seconds a nurse opened it. She had curly blond hair and clear blue eyes, and he remembered her name was Tiffany. She gave him a questioning look, and he asked,

“Hi. Is Jane or Pain here?”

“Yes.” She nodded and stepped aside so he could come in.

Jane was there, sitting on Ryan’s bed. Her laptop was perched on her knee with a movie sounding from it. Ryan lay on his side to make space for her, holding a big pack of M&M’s in his hand. He gazed at the screen, looking peaceful and content, and there was something more to his expression, but Chad couldn’t really pin it down.

Jane looked up, surprised, when he approached them. She touched the space button, her eyebrows going up, her face becoming smitten somehow. There was something in her look, some thought troubling her eyes, but Chad wasn’t that good at reading her expressions. She was no Pain, whose feelings were always written on her face, if you knew what to look for.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt.” He reached out to shake Ryan’s hand.

“It’s okay.” Jane waved her hand. “Are you back already?”

“Yeah. Have you seen Pain?”

“She must be in our room.”

“No, it’s closed,” Chad said, biting his bottom lip.

Jane speculated for a second.

“Well, I don’t really know, but ask Marco and make sure to check the roof if you don’t find her anywhere else,” she advised finally.

“Okay.”

He wasn’t sure where to go first, the training hall or Marco’s room, but something in Jane’s idea about the roof was calling out to him. So he headed there, leaving behind the elevator just once and throwing open the staircase door.

He ran up the stairs, breathing unevenly by the time he reached the attic. Then he crossed it and opened the door with a creak – Pain really was there, sitting on the roof edge across from the door. She was wearing the gear bottoms and a white tank top, her katana gone for a change. It was so bright outside that for a moment he got blinded – too bad he had left his sunglasses in the truck. Pain didn’t wear any, and she stared at him thoughtfully with slitted eyes, so Chad closed the door and went to her slowly, restoring his breath. She watched him walk across the roof and then sighed, standing up.

“Hi there,” he said quietly, approaching the edge.

“Hi,” she responded, pursing her lips.

He halted in front of her, not sure how to say what he wanted to say. Instead, he only gazed at her: she was frowning a little, her look alert and heavy, her hair flying wildly in the wind.

“Did you come here to stare at me like an idiot?” she said crossly after a minute. “Because you can go do it to someone else. Try Dave, he must have missed you all these days,” she added in a voice that tasted like sweet poison.

“Stop it.” Chad shook his head, stepping closer and reaching out for her. She raised her eyebrows when he closed his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. “I came here to see you.
I
missed you all these days,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers.

She scoffed, pulling away from him.

“What are you talking about?? You don’t think I’ve been sitting here waiting for your return all this time, do you?” she asked irritably, though in fact it was exactly what she had been doing all these days, waiting for him to get back any moment, somewhere deep in her soul. For everything to get back to her the way it was the last two weeks. Now she only thought,
Could have called at least, asshole.

He looked down at her, his eyes a bit angry.

“Well, maybe you weren’t, but I was. I had to sort things out at work, but at least I can admit that all I think about is you,” he said with challenge.

She pushed him in the chest, stepping around, and made a few steps away from him.

“Okay, I see you misunderstood everything that happened,” she said, making an effort to keep her voice even and sure.

Chad turned to her, his eyebrows arching. He waited for her to continue with an expression of theatrical politeness, his hands in the pockets, his hair flying in the wind. It was still long, but not the way it used to be, Pain realized suddenly.
Did he cut it?
She grunted disappointedly in her mind. Out loud she said,

“Maybe there was something between us, but there isn’t anymore. I’m not playing any games, Chad, I’m different. It’s not gonna work out for us the way I need it, so let’s just forget about the whole thing, okay?” She hoped she sounded like she intended to, impassive and confident. There was no reason for him to know that she needed him so much, she couldn’t let herself even think about it.

Chad stared at her in disbelief, trying to understand where all this came from.

“But I’m not playing any games, either. I’m serious about you!” He stepped closer, and she made a step back. And then he realized. “O-o-oh,” he breathed out. “I see.”

“What do you see?” she snapped.

He smiled ruefully, shaking his head.

“What are you afraid of, Pain?”

She froze, gazing back at him. Surprise and confusion made her look so much younger, he thought.

“What are you talking about?” she retorted.

“You’re afraid of me. Of starting anything with me, more precisely. Am I wrong?” He narrowed his eyes, watching the expression on her face waver. He could see her chest rise and fall heavily as she struggled to stay calm, but it was boiling inside her. He had pushed the right button, and now she was at least sincerely mad at him.

“Afraid?”
she finally drawled the word with menace, her voice rising. “I’m not ‘afraid’, Chad!” she mimicked his voice, grimacing. “I’m scared to death!” She threw up her hands and dropped them in despair. “I’m scared of being ready to die a dozen times for somebody I’ve known for a couple of weeks! I’m scared to death of losing you in one of those battles, because I don’t know how I would live after that! I’ve never been afraid of death; I was ready for it to come after me or my friends. With you it’s all
so
different. I don’t want to even think about losing you, living without you now! And when the Beasts took you away, I never thought of getting out of there alive. I just wanted to go there and kill Eugene or at least be there with you, because there was no point in living for me anymore! I’m still scared to death to let you out of my sight for more than fifteen minutes, because I got used so much to watching out for you, to being sure you’re alright, always wondering if anything happened to you while I’m not around! And now I feel like hanging in the air, not knowing how to live further and what to do next, because you’re going to get back to your life, and I’m no part of it! So if you’re asking if I’m afraid, no! But I’m terrified! I’m terrified of how I’m going to live now, and of what has become of me in just a few days!” she spilled it all in one furious, desperate tirade and took a ragged breath, stifling back a sob.
Stupid, stupid!
She met his gaze across the roof – he just stared at her all this time with his face changing from surprised to shocked and then to bewildered.

“But I’m not going anywhere, Pain!” he almost shouted. “I could never leave you now, don’t you see anything?? I would be around even if you didn’t want me! You could despise me or mock me all the time, for all I care! Because all I think about is you, and I could never get away from you even if I wanted to!” he said in bitter exasperation. He saw the expression on her face, angry and dazed at the same time, and wondered if he had said too much. She was breathing hard, and her hands were shaking.

He swore under his breath, coming up to her in three long strides and weaving his arms around her. Her body felt like marble once again, and he remembered that first time he held her in the cellar under the barn: held her and kissed her, thinking that it was their one and only time together, that maybe not all of them, but he certainly would die soon. And now everything was so much simpler, it almost left him lightheaded. Why couldn’t she see it, too?? Why couldn’t she just let things happen?

She tipped her head back and looked up at him, her eyes amber in the sunlight.

“But you said you hated all this…” she almost whispered. “You said after what you had seen, you didn’t want any part of this life for all the money in the world.” She dropped her gaze, and he wondered if she was trying to hide the glistening in her eyes.