I watched as Vespar punched Dylan and then threw him onto the ground. None of his friends rushed to defend him or even help him from the floor. Then my brother continued on his way, his shoulders seemingly less tense.

I arched an eyebrow. That was interesting. “I just told him that Kellan must be staying away because of him, not me. Kellan and I were fine.”

“What?” Fear sparked in her eyes. “You said that?”

“It’s true. Vespar was out of line, not me. I spoke the truth, and then Vespar called me out. You think that made Kellan happy? Then he called out Kellan later when he asked why he let me talk to him that way. That’s like a slap in Kellan’s face. Then the next morning, he told me Kellan had his hooks in me. He heard him. Vespar’s got a problem, and he knows it. I can’t believe he said half of what he did.”

She froze, and the fear grew. “You’re right. Oh my God.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if she could see Vespar, who had already vanished into another hallway. “What’s he going to do? He didn’t think that out at all.”

I shrugged and exchanged my books. “It’s not my problem.”

As I started to leave, Gus blocked me. “Yes, it is. Our brothers can’t be fighting. Do you know how bad that is?”

Not as bad as it’s going to get, I thought to myself, but gave her a clueless look. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who said this would happen anyway. You said that Vespar would do it now, but he knows Kellan would kick his ass.”

“They could kill each other. And I was joking. Kind of.”

“Or Kellan could kill Vespar. He can’t touch Kellan, and everyone knows it. And why would you joke about that?”

She swallowed tightly. “Come on, Shay. Please do something. Say something to Kellan. Please. I can’t have us broken up. I love Vespar, but I need you two, too. It’s the four of us against everyone else. Don’t let something happen to that. You can stop this.”

“Why not you? Answer my other question.”

“Because…okay. Yes. I think Vespar wanted to fight Kellan last week, but he doesn’t anymore. He’s over it. I’m over it. And I really was joking. I really don’t want us to fight. That would be horrible. And because Kellan loves you more. Everyone knows that. He’s almost obsessed with you. If you weren’t his sister…” She shuddered. “You get my drift.”

I did, and I wasn’t fully comfortable with that. I didn’t have a good feeling about it, but another side was… I wasn’t going to focus on that. It didn’t help anyone. I could also tell that a part of Giuseppa hated admitting that to me.

“Shay.”

I sighed in surrender. “I’ll find him after school and see what’s really going on.”

She relaxed. “Thanks.”

Then I gestured to Dylan, who had gotten back to his feet and stood in a circle of his friends. He was throwing dark looks our way. “What about him? I don’t want to turn someone else into another zombie.”

Gus smiled. “I’ll take care of him.” She didn’t have good intentions from the way she said that, but I needed to pick my battles. The old Gus was back, appeased now that everything was going to be fine.

“Just don’t kill him,” I murmured under my breath before I left for class.

“There are other ways.” My sister sounded more excited than she should’ve been.

Kellan wasn’t at school that day, and I didn’t have hope that he’d show up later in the afternoon. I sent a few text messages to him, but he didn’t respond. When I called, it went straight to voicemail. As I was leaving, trying to figure out where I might start looking, I wasn’t expecting to find Dylan Cavanagh, so I almost bumped into him when I reached for my door. Before I made contact, I managed to jerk backward. “What are you doing?”

He straightened from my car and stood over me, reaching his fullest height. “I have a bone to pick with your family.”

He rubbed a hand over his jaw where Vespar had punched him. I saw it had darkened even more and was now an ugly shade of black and purple. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He puffed up his chest. “It’s not right that you guys get to walk wherever you want, do whatever you want. Kellan’s been gone from school all week, and no one will say anything about it. You guys aren’t special, so you shouldn’t be treated like that. Vespar’s going to get his ass kicked, too.”

“Really?”

His eyes narrowed. “Yeah.” He expected me to cower before him. I wasn’t at all, and that wasn’t adding up to him. “Me and some of my buddies are going to take down your brother. You might want to warn him.”

“Really?” I scoffed for the third time.

“Yeah.”

Then I smiled. “Good luck with that. Now, move.”

He did, but only because he was confused. As I drove away, I saw my sister swaying her way to him in my rearview mirror. Her hand lifted to trail over his shoulders, and he was already entranced by it. Shaking my head, I kept driving. No matter who did it, somehow Dylan would be put down like he was a dog. I had no doubt that he’d come to school the next day with his tail figuratively between his legs.

They always had to learn.

When I got to the house, instead of going to my room, I went to Kellan’s. It felt strange going up there without him there and especially because the last time I’d been there had been when I’d stayed with him. The place seemed to hold his presence in it, even though he wasn’t there. I felt him everywhere. Strongly. Suppressing a shiver, I glanced around and tried to focus on what I needed to do. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was looking for, but I wanted some idea of where he might’ve been. Maybe he had written down some information…maybe not. I doubted it, but I was willing to try. When I didn’t find anything, I wasn’t surprised. My brother was a very clean person/demon. Then I sighed and gave up. As I went to my own room, something was nagging at me, almost tickling the back of my neck. It was like I was forgetting something…