Page 108 of Shelter Me

I collapse laughing onto the ground, but Hector is already pulling me to my feet, struggling to keep me upright in the middle of all the laughter, to follow Angel and yell “Sisteeeer” into the night with him.

So that’s what we do for the rest of the night. We yell out to the stars that we are each other’s siblings like lunatics. At some point, I switch from yelling “I have brothers” to “I have idiot brothers” which honestly makes me even happier.

Next thing I know, they are picking me off the floor, Hector holding my legs and Angel my shoulders, and carry me to the pool. They swing me into the warm, lit-up water, fully clothed. Then Angel pushes Hector in as well, and Hector somehow manages to push Angel, even though Hector was in the water and Angel was not.

He is now.

And he’s pretty mad, but not as mad as the bodyguards that come running to see who is being murdered.

“No one, man,” Hector spits out water, addressing the head guard from inside the pool. “Now, do you remember that I used to be in this same guard for the princess, and, actually your supervisor? You do? Oh good. You can leave her with me. I can protect her.”

“All due respect, sir—” the guard starts, but he’s not allowed to continue.

“It’s ‘Your Highness’,” Angel corrects him, but not in his usual, arrogant way. He’s talking gently and with respect. Kind of. Will wonders ever cease? “You should address him as ‘Your Highness’ from now on.”

The guard lowers his head. “Your Highness,” he amends, “You are not…”

“I was her bodyguard for years,” Hector spits. “If anyone can keep her safe, it’s me.”

And with that, they leave us alone.

So we take turns dumping each other, and scream our heads off until our throats are scraped raw.

The thought suddenly occurs to me that Bianca might be faking all this drama with one of my brothers. Her supposed crush… and his supposedly hating her. I mean, I did see a bit of coldness or dislike between them, but it wasn’t as intense as she made it out to be.

What if she was faking her ‘crush’, so that I could spend this time alone with my brothers, just the three of us?

I am drenched from head to bottom, swimming in a pool, and yet my eyes water at the thought that she was so thoughtful of me that she denied herself the chance to visit Greece and see Issy Woo in the flesh, so that I could bond with my brothers. I’m such a cry-baby lately.

My throat clogs up with emotion at every little thing. But it’s not my fault.

Every little thing is a miracle lately. How can I not cry with gratitude and wonder? It’s like the emotions fill me up to the rim until they overflow and spill down my cheeks.

“You good, Liv?” Hector asks me as we bob on the water, all three of us out of breath, wiping water out of our eyes.

“Yeah,” I reply, as if I’m cool.

As if this happens to me every day. As if I’m used to playing with my brothers in the pool, and not experiencing it for the first time in my life.

“Good,” he says, and flops onto his back.

Angel and I do the same, and we all finally fall silent and just float there.

Breathing.

…

I wake up disoriented the next morning, thinking that this is the day I will see Issy Woo. We’ve only been on the island for three days, but it has been like a dream. A dream it never even occurred to me to dream.

And then, it gets better.

We head to the airport and are getting ready to board the plane to Athens, when Angel says we need to take a detour.

“I don’t want to be late for the concert,” I fake-whine. I never had the chance to whine to my siblings, and I don’t know when I’ll have it again. I figure I’ll grab it while I can.

Angel bursts out laughing. He could always see right through me. Disgusting.

“We have VIP seats, Liv,” Hector explains. He thinks I’m really whining and he’s trying to calm me down. A thrill travels down my spine. Imagine having this for my whole life. A brother who cares about the things I complain about. “Besides, we’re five hours early. You’re fine.”

---