Resistance (44 page)

“That involves moving.”

I laugh and the shaking of my chest makes her head
pop back up. She huffs and looks over at the clock on her wall;
letting out a relenting sigh when she sees it’s a quarter after
eight. She rubs a hand over her eyes and shakes her head. “Fine,
fine, fine. You’re right.”

“We could tell them in the morning…”

She contemplates this for a minute and gives a look
of longing at my chest before shaking her head and sighing. “No,
it’s best we just get it over with now while we’re all thinking
about it.”

I sigh and nod; grabbing her hand and letting her
stand. She grumbles something about sleep and stretches her arms
above her head as I slowly settle on my own feet. It’s pretty early
to be this tired, but I would like nothing more than to turn in for
the evening. Unfortunately Fi seems determined to talk to the
others, and after the night’s activities I’m not ready to leave her
alone yet.

After she’s done stretching and groaning, she reaches
for my hand and leads me out of the room. We make it up the stairs
to Lu’s bedroom without even bothering to look elsewhere for her
brother. Fi knocks on the door with a tentative look on her face
and Lu calls out, “Come in!”

Fi looks at me and I snort and push the door open.
Eirnin is lying flat on his back with Lu seated by his waist — from
the look on her face, my guess is that she harassed him into the
position. Eir doesn’t even look at us when we come in. His hand is
placed firmly just above Lu’s knee, and his eyes are locked on Lu’s
face like he’s in some sort of trance. One of her hands is on his
chest, but I can’t tell if it’s a soothing gesture or one meant to
keep him still.

“Hi,” she says; smiling and waving her free hand at
Fi. Fi seems to relax a little when the sight she is greeted with
is rated G, and she leans into my arm and waves back.

“You two busy?” I ask. “We need to talk.”

Lumi shakes her head and I see Eirnin huff in
disappointment. “Great. Meet us in Patrick’s office when the kid
can stand.”

Eirnin tries to glare at me, but Lu giggles and he’s
distracted long enough for me to duck out and take his sister with
me. Fi rubs her eyes as we go into the office and I smirk and drop
my head down to kiss her. She jumps but leans in and kisses me
quickly before falling back into an armchair. I take her hand and
pull her to her feet; sitting down first and then pulling her down
onto my lap. Her legs hang between mine and I rest my arm over her
shoulders. She leans into me and takes hold of the hand hanging in
front of her; studying it in her half-asleep state.

Lu comes bouncing in with Eirnin as Fi kisses my palm
and hugs it to her chest. Lu winks at Fi, having caught her, and
Eirnin shakes his head and makes a show of looking at the ceiling.
I’m sure he doesn’t want to think about his sister kissing anyone.
I have to admit I’m glad he likes me.

Lumi motions for Eir to sit first before flopping
down next to him; resting her back against his side. He drapes an
arm around the front of her shoulders and hides his face in her
hair. He has yet to make direct eye contact with anyone.

Fi’s lips curl up in an exhausted smile as she looks
at them. “We need to talk, guys.”

Lumi watches us with a fond expression as she runs
her fingers up and down Eirnin’s forearm. His hand clenches a
little tighter on her arm and I have to wonder if she knows what
she’s doing to the poor kid. Due to her tone, I doubt it. “I agree
with that.”

“I’m assuming Eir told you what happened today?” Fi
asks.

Lumi shakes her head and looks up at Eir, who glances
at her and smiles weakly. He tightens his grip on her shoulder
again as she looks back at Fi. “A little. He was a bit frazzled.
Sean tried to kill Flint?”

Fi’s jaw clenches and she nods and burrows even
closer to me. “Yes he did. We — Eir, Uncle Seamus and I — were
going to execute him. But I screwed up somehow and he got away.”
She pauses and I drop my head and kiss just below her ear; feeling
her shudder and relax a bit in my arms. She shakes her head. “So
now we have to decide what to do next, because it looks like he
might be working with someone more dangerous.”

Lu’s brow furrows and Eirnin finally looks up; Fi’s
words having finally caught his attention. Fi’s hand comes up and
hooks over my arm and she takes a deep breath. “Lu, have you heard
of anyone named Hugh Kennedy?”

“Hugh?” Eirnin snaps. Lu closes her mouth before she
can answer. She looks at Eirnin with wide eyes at his reaction and
she’s clearly confused. “You think Hugh’s involved? He’s supposed
to be dead!”

Fi tilts her chin up a little and sighs. “Flint saw
someone who fits his description talking to Sean at his post the
other day.”

Eirnin’s eyes get sad and angry at the same time.
“I’m sorry, Fi.” Then he clears his throat and drops her gaze
before she gets the chance to brush him off, and angles his body to
completely face Lumi. He looks like he’s trying not to panic
completely. “Please tell me you’ve never met this jerk.”

Lu frowns and furrows her brow, creating deep lines
in her forehead. She shakes her head and the confusion is clear in
her eyes.
“
No, I met him quite a few
times. He
’
s a friend of my
brother
’
s. He flirted with me all the
time; used to drive Khan
crazy
.”
She pauses and looks between the Dolan siblings. Eirnin looks like
he wants to throw Lu over his shoulder and rush from the room,
while Fi has her eyes closed; her freckles and eyelashes the only
color on her face.
“
How do you guys know
about him?
”
Lumi asks, and looks between
the three of us.

Eirnin takes an unsteady breath and drops his hand
lower on Lu to tug her even closer. Lu flushes but
doesn
’
t protest, nor does she seem to
notice the obsessively protective look on his face. Fi shifts and
puts her legs over both of mine, and I squeeze her knee with the
hand that isn
’
t around her shoulder.
“
He was here
…
a
while ago,
”
Fi begins; answering
Lu
’
s question but talking to my hand on
her leg.
“
He pretended to be interested in
me so he could try to get close to Eir. Sean was supposed to have
executed him months ago.
”

Lu
’
s face contorts in a
scowl at the words and Fi
’
s sudden change
in demeanor. She shakes her head and leans into Eir again.
“
He seems the type. Very impressed with
himself. The only one he showed any respect to was my
father.
”
She puffs out a sigh and clamps
her hands together.
“
As far as I know
he
’
s the opposite of executed. He was
still living in our guest bedroom when you all came to get
me.
”

Fi buries her face in my shoulder and starts
fingering the hem of my shirt. She looks like she’s going to be
sick, and I’d really like to leave Eir and Lu alone and just let
her go to sleep. “You alright?” I whisper in her ear and she looks
up at me. Her usually vibrant green eyes are clouded over with hurt
and fear and it makes my chest ache.

It takes her a second to understand what I’ve said
and then she nods and tries to smile at me. “I guess we were right
after all,” she says; changing the subject. “He’s working with the
Winter Courts.”

I nod. “Figures. Landric is always trying to one-up
everyone else.” I notice Lu looks at me when I say this and I meet
her eyes. “Nothing personal, but I’m not a fan of your
parents.”

She tilts her head at me. “None taken,” she says, and
surprises everyone by adding, “Neither am I.”

Even Eir seems to perk up at that. He snaps out of
whatever realm he was in and lets Lu straighten up only slightly,
although his arm is still wrapped tightly around her waist. “So
we’re one-hundred percent positive that the Winter Court is after
me?”

Fi’s voice is cool and collected, but I feel the
muscles in her back twitching and her thigh is stiff and unmoving
beneath my hand. “It looks like that’s the case. But don’t worry
Eir — no one else will be getting through our borders. I’ll tighten
things up—”

“Hold on, hold on, hold on. After you?” Lu asks in
shock. “Why in the world would you think this is a personal attack
on you specifically?”

“We aren’t sure,” Eirnin says, shaking his head.
“Before my dad left he warned Fi that someone would be coming for
me.”

“And you think it’s my father?” She shakes her head.
“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do we,” Fi says; sounding completely
defeated. I tangle my hand in her hair and massage the back of her
head; watching as her eyes fall closed. Lumi asks Eir another
question, so I lean down and whisper to her, “Maybe we should
follow those maps your Gran left us and take them with us. Get them
out of here.”

Fi’s eyes snap open wide and she looks up at me.
“That’s a fantastic idea!” she says; leaning in and kissing me
suddenly. She beams at me like I’m the most brilliant person in the
world before she looks at the two very confused people on the
couch. “We found the journals! Or, rather, we know where they are.
Anyway, according to a letter Gran left for me, the answers are in
her journals. And Flint just suggested that we all go get them so
we can try and get ahead of this.”

“I think you guys are right,” Eir says. “We should go
get the journals. I don’t want him coming here and other people
getting hurt trying to protect me.”

His tone catches me off-guard. He almost sounds like
he’d rather give himself over to Landric than to fight it. I’m
trying to think of something to say to that when I see Lumi’s head
turn very slowly in his direction; her usually jolly and childlike
eyes narrowed in an angry, protective manner. “No one is going to
get hurt. Including you.”

I quirk a brow at both of them and look at Fi as
Eirnin cringes at her tone. I speak before someone can start an
argument. “We should leave sooner rather than later, and we should
leave quietly.”

“I agree,” Fi says with a nod, also trying to tamp
down Lu’s irritation. “We should leave the morning after next.
We’re only going to the house in the Catskills, and we can stay
there for a few days after, too.” Her eyes shoot between Eir and
Lu. “Does that sound all right with you all?”

Lu finally stops glaring at Eirnin long enough to nod
and smile at Fi. “I’m in.”

Fi waits for Eirnin to nod as well before puffing up
a little. “Well then. Tomorrow we pack, and we’ll leave first thing
the next morning.”

Not long after that, Fi’s head lolls onto my shoulder
and she nearly falls asleep in the middle of her statement. I don’t
even get the chance to voice my concerns before Lu starts wagging a
finger at her. “You need sleep, young lady.”

Fi gives her a weird look before she remembers Lu’s
actual age. She opens her mouth to speak but only manages a few
unintelligible noises, and I bite my lip so I don’t laugh at her. I
push out from under her and take both of her hands. “Alright, up.
Let’s go.”

She growls something like “I’m fine”, but lets me
help her anyway. Her eyes are far away when she looks up at me,
leans forward and takes my mouth with hers in a sultry kiss; like
we’re the only two people in the world. Lumi coos about how cute we
are while Eirnin gags and says, “That’s my sister!” but Fi doesn’t
seem to care. I, on the other hand, feel flushed.

“Let’s go to sleep,” Fi says, sounding a little
breathless and looking up at me. “Lots of work tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Lu says, standing up. “Eirnin, would you take
Fi to her room? I’d like a word with Flint.”

“Oh, um.” Eirnin’s face turns a deep red but he nods
and doesn’t argue. “Yeah, sure.” Before he can stand, Lu crosses
her hands behind her back and bends over to kiss his cheek. His
face turns so red it’s almost purple, and he smiles dopily up at
her. I wonder if that’s how I look when Fi touches me?

“Come along, sister dear!” he bellows; suddenly
wide-awake. He lurches forward and grabs Fi around the waist. Her
squinted eyes snap open and she shrieks and punches Eir in the back
as she’s thrown over his shoulder and he skips —
skips!
—
out of the room. I hear Fi yelling at him to ‘put me down, demon
child!’, but Lumi’s burst of laughter drowns out the response. “I
love those two.”

I can’t help but chuckle over them, too. Eirnin
clunks down the stairs and the floor between us muffles Fi’s
scolding and shouting. If they weren’t siblings I’d be worried for
Eir’s safety. I give Lu a minute to catch her breath before asking,
“What did you want to talk to me about?”