Page 104 of Caged Bird

Including Fawn’s siblings, standing over me, arms crossed, both of them squinting like I was some sort of weird animal on display at the zoo.

I said nothing. Not because I didn’t want to but because clearly, I’d been sleeping with my mouth open when Scythe had dumped a bucket of water on me, and now half of it was in my lungs.

Ophelia rolled her eyes and tossed me a throw blanket from the back of the couch so I could wipe myself off. She elbowed her brother. “Told you the bucket was a bit much.”

Scythe shrugged. “Hey, that was your idea. I just wanted to put his hand in it, so he’d piss himself—”

“That’s not a thing!” Ophelia argued.

“The seventh-grade sleepover where we did it to Malcolm Jones says otherwise! He soaked that sleeping bag! His mom had to throw it out!”

I wheezed and waved a hand at them. “As much as I really want to hear about the traumatic events you inflicted on other kids in your preteen era, Scythe, do you want to tell me what you’re doing in my house in the middle of the night?”

Scythe scoffed. “It’s literally not even nine-thirty. And we would have been here way earlier if Ophelia didn’t need to pee every hour of the drive down here.”

“Sorry that I don’t want to end up like Malcolm Jones,” she muttered.

I pulled off my soaked work shirt with a wince. “Question still stands.” I eyed them. “I’m assuming from the good mood you aren’t here to kill me?”

Scythe cocked his head. “That’s presumptuous of you. I’ll have you know, killing puts me in party mode. I could very well be about to slit your throat.”

Ophelia shoved him. “But in this case, no, he’s not.” She paused, considering her statement. “Well, not if you stop being such an idiot.”

I raised one wet eyebrow. “What have I done now?”

Scythe folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. “We’re here to find out your intentions in regard to our sister.”

I wasn’t following the conversation at all. “Sorry?”

Ophelia sighed, flopping down on the couch beside me then cringing when she realized she’d sat on a wet spot, courtesy of the drowning her brother had given me. “Zane, what we’re asking is, when are you going to go sweep Fawn off her feet and tell her you love her?”

I eyed them. “She knows I love her.”

Ophelia waved a hand around impatiently. “So why, exactly, aren’t the two of you together?”

“She needed time.”

“She’s had it.”

“I needed to be better. For her.”

Scythe sighed dramatically. “How’s that working out for you? You’re the best employee your boss has. You spend your tiny amount of free time driving around for meals-on-wheels. And I’m pretty sure I saw you doing naked tai chi in the backyard at dawn.”

I squinted at him. “I never did tai chi in the backyard. Naked or otherwise. At any time of the day.”

He grinned and slapped me on the shoulder. “Nah, that was me. You should try it though. Very therapeutic.”

I was pretty sure the face I made matched Ophelia’s cringe of disgust.

She shook her head. “That was a mental image I did not need.” She twisted so she was facing me. “Fawn is lonely. And so are you.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “It’s nice of you both to worry about your sister—”

“It’s not her we’re worried about.” Ophelia eyed me pointedly. “She has friends. Family. A son. She’s surrounded by love and protection and safety. She’s back in night school, and she’s working.”

Scythe poked me in the chest. “In other words, she’s awesome.”

Ophelia nodded. “But you…”

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