Page 90 of Avelina

“To save my brother,” Ellis said.

“Ours too,” said Shane.

“And the girl,” I added. “Seleca will know we’re coming.”

Aaron nodded. “Yes. We’ll figure it out. We need to save them.”

We probably didn’t need to save Ward from Aaron’s perspective, but he knew what it meant to me. I hugged him tightly.

“She took Axel’s body,” Ellis said. “Why would she do that?”

I looked up into Aaron’s face. Can we trust them?

I think it’s all or nothing, Aaron thought. We can’t do this alone. Trust may be the most dangerous thing we can do, but without it, we risk losing everything.

I gave him a small smile. “That does make sense. You are very wise.”

Aaron reflected my expression back at me, a heat growing in his eyes. That’s what I had said to him just before we slept together for the first time. I knew he remembered. Aaron never forgot anything. He lifted one hand to rub his thumb over my one dimple, a gesture I had learned signaled his desire for me. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to scratch that itch under the circumstances.

Suppressing a groan, I got to my feet and faced “the crew,” as I’d begun to think of them. “You all know that I have multiple greater reservoirs, but I haven’t told you what they are. Two are Noble and three are Unspeakable. Among those, the rarest is Conjuration.” I searched the crew’s expressions for signs of recognition. I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Falon and Markus looked at each other meaningfully.

“Are you saying you talk to ghosts?” Falon asked doubtfully.

“You don’t believe me? Come here,” I demanded, exasperated. I held out my hand. Falon hesitated to meet my request, instead helping his brother up from the floor. His eyes flicked up to Aaron for an instant, then back down to me. I sighed, then stepped close to them both and grasped Falon’s forearm, connecting to him brusquely. He jumped at the sudden sensation and then stilled, gazing down at me intently. His boyish face relaxed to a bland expression, but through our link I could feel his keen interest. This was not a man accustomed to being grabbed by girls, and he liked it. What’s more, he knew I could feel how much he liked it, and he made no attempt to hide it. He inhaled slowly through his nose, taking in my scent.

Startled, I took a half step back but didn’t let go. I hadn’t meant to attract that kind of interest, I just wanted to prove a point, though I’d forgotten what that point was for the moment. I was surprised not only by Falon’s obvious attraction to me, but also by the boldness with which he conveyed this through my own Connection.

In a flash of insight, I realized I had misjudged his age. He was older than he looked, and as he was also more than two feet taller than me, I now felt like a silly child trying to get a grown-up’s attention by pulling on his sleeve. I averted my gaze, but I could feel my face flush. I swallowed, then I grabbed Markus’s forearm and said, “The rest, too, if you would. I want to show you all.”

Ellis, Fitch, and Shane shot nervous looks over my shoulder at Aaron, who must have nodded because they gathered in reluctantly to lay a finger on the top of my hand or wrist. I pushed Connection into the group with some effort. I hadn’t attempted such a wide link before. It was a bit like trying to blow out candles on opposite sides of a birthday cake without turning your head. It was harder than I thought, but I did it.

Aaron sighed heavily, then positioned himself closer behind me as if he might need to quickly pull me away again. I wasn’t sure if he noticed Falon’s reaction to my touch, but it was clear that he considered something like that a possibility from at least one of these men.

“Spirit,” I said, trying to shake off my anxiety. “Say hello to the crew.”

“Hello, crew!” Spirit yelled needlessly loud. Everyone jerked, tugging their hands away from me like they’d been burned. Aaron laughed, and Spirit joined him, giggling in her girly way.

“Jarring, isn’t it?” Aaron commented.

“Who the Rhoya was that?” Shane asked.

“That was my friend, Spirit. Seleca murdered her. Now she’s helping me. Us, I should say.”

Us, I repeated to myself. There’s an us now.

“You have a ghost following you around?” Markus asked, his face pinched.

“Yes,” I said, “but that’s not all you can do with Conjuration. If you have someone’s body, there’s a way to bring them back. I’m not sure how long the body is good for, if there’s a sort of expiration date, so to speak. God, I hope so.”

“The term über-zombie just took on new meaning,” Spirit commented, still giggling.

“Anyway,” I continued. “Seleca has Conjuration, too, so she can probably bring Axel back. You need Protection for that, which Seleca doesn’t have, but she can probably use someone else’s.” Ellis stilled, staring at me hard. The rest of the crew fell silent, their eyes wide.

“And,” Aaron added, “there’s someone else she might be able to bring back as well.”

“Anick,” Fitch guessed. His gravelly voice somehow mirrored the roughness I think we all felt. I nodded, surprised a little. Fitch didn’t say much, but what he did say was spot on.

“That’s why she took my brother?” Ellis asked. “To use his body?”

---