I nodded.
His whole mouth went flat, and I took that as permission. More like resignation, but same thing.
“Do you age?”
His blink was the same speed as his answer. “Slowly.”
So vague. Fine. “What’s your favorite power?” I asked.
“Telepathy,” he answered immediately.
My eyes went wide in disbelief. “Fuck off.” He couldn’t be. Could he?
His eyebrows rose a little. “Do you know how many people tell me to fuck off?”
“Not enough?” I whispered sarcastically, but actually really relieved. Son of a bitch, I knew he’d been lying. He’d almost gotten me. “No, seriously. What is it?”
“Fl—” he started to say before cutting himself off.
But I knew. We both did. The elephant in the room.
Better yet, the spaceship in the room.
I pressed my lips together. Shut the hell up, Gracie. He might leave you here if you annoy him enough.
“Telekinesis,” he offered after a moment.
That was enough to make me forget about the f-word. “You’re telekinetic? As in, you can move things with your mind?” I had no idea it was possible to be this jealous.
It was, apparently.
“That’s what telekinesis means.”
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
“On a low scale, and it isn’t something we’ve chosen to advertise.”
“We?” I gasped. This almost felt like learning Area 51 was real.
He blinked. He wasn’t joking. Oh shit.
“How many times have you changed your name?” he asked suddenly.
Okay, that was going to be something to think about for a while. “Legally, just the once. I lied about my other ones. Some places where we lived, no one asked for identification, so it was easy to lie. Why don’t you have a significant other?” I asked, on a roll, taking advantage of this. Maybe tomorrow he would wake up in a bad mood and never answer another one of my questions. Who knew?
That got me a long, long glare, and that said a lot because he’d given me some impressive ones already.
I tried to look innocent.
It didn’t work.
Alexander’s head suddenly tilted up, and his eyes flicked to the door before he shot to his feet so fast that I didn’t actually see the process. “Wait here.” There was something off, something wrong. “I think everything is fine, but if it’s not…” He shook his head. “There’s nothing you’d be able to do anyway.”
“Someone’s here?” I squawked.
“My sister.”
His sister?
And why the hell was he telling me this? Was I suddenly not the bad guy? Was his sister the bad guy? Was she who had hurt him? How the hell had anyone gotten here so quickly?
He moved toward the door so fast, I didn’t see it open, but I did hear it slam shut behind him.
I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but…
Let’s get real. I loved secrets. Not having to keep my own, but I loved hearing other people’s. I knew things about some of my students that had almost made my jaw drop.
Anyway, if she was like him, she’d be able to tell I was inside even if I didn’t go out there. And he’d basically said there was nothing I could do to protect myself against her, hadn’t he?
Did that mean she was strong?
A sinking feeling suddenly took over my stomach. Not a nauseous, squeezing one like when something bad was going to happen but a different one. A knowing one, maybe?
Moving toward the window beside the door, I pulled the curtain aside.
And I gasped.
Because I must have been a fucking idiot to not put the pieces together. How the hell hadn’t I? My skin prickled, my armpits got damp. Even my heart fluttered. A few people in forums had guessed, but…
I squeaked.
Because standing directly in front of Alex, who was in the yard just a few feet away from the porch, was none other than THE FUCKING PRIMORDIAL.
OHHH SHIT.
I made an unholy noise in my throat, and I really, really hoped they couldn’t— Alexander glanced over his shoulder, giving me that familiar, exasperated face, confirming that my hopes were in vain.
But I was so excited and overwhelmed and in awe over the woman in the yard, that my shame had packed up and moved away. Somewhere very, very far, from the shit-eating grin on my face that made my cheeks hurt.
It was her!
The most legendary woman on the planet. The dark red suit she had on could only be pulled off by her statuesque form. Anyone else would look like a giant spicy Cheeto wearing it.
THE PRIMORDIAL WAS HIS SISTER.
My knees went weak.
I squawked again, and I guess at some point, he must have turned back toward her, because he glanced over his shoulder one more time, holding his arms out at his sides in a “what the fuck” expression aimed at me. I shrugged at him, surprised out of my mind.
His sister!
They didn’t even… they didn’t even look alike!
Well…
I squinted, trying to take in their opposing bodies. They were both tall. He had to be a little over six-feet tall, and she was just about the same. They both had wide shoulders and athletic, muscular frames that were graceful and long. Their cheekbones were kind of similar, so were their eyes: at a slight angle and roundish-shaped. They both had straight, brown hair.
His skin was a luminous gold, and hers was a bronzy brown.
On second thought, they had the same jawline too.
Now that I paid attention, The Centurion looked the least like them. His skin color was the lightest, and he wasn’t built as muscularly as they were. I didn’t think he was as tall as they were either, and his hair was short and dark blond. They were spread across the rainbow.
HE WAS THEIR BROTHER. I just knew it. Alex had said he had siblings. Plural. He had to be. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
I was going to faint.
There were people who believed they were related, but most thought that they couldn’t be because of their varying skin colors, like genetics didn’t do what genetics wanted to do.
Like their existence even made sense in the first place.
But they were. If you looked hard enough. They had never appeared at the same place and time, for a reason, I was pretty sure now.
And my mouth was open in surprise right when the woman, The Woman, looked over in my direction at the same time that Alex did. They were talking about me, or about the situation, that was for sure. But she was looking at me.
I lifted my hand and waved.
The Primordial—THE PRIMORDIAL—waved back. She didn’t hesitate. And it wasn’t a half-assed wave either. It was a real one.
She was waving at me.
Oh man. Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool.
The Defender shook his head and rolled his eyes before his mouth started moving and he said who knew what to his sister.
I couldn’t believe it. If I asked about The Centurion would he tell me the truth? Why was he telling me all this in the first place?
She turned her attention back to Alexander and said a few more things, crossing her arms over her chest.
She really was magnificent. I wanted to be her when I grew up.
I kept watching as Alex talked, and they went back and forth, a frown forming as she listened and staying there even as she spoke. At one point, she put her hand on his shoulder, then around the back of his neck, her expression growing more distressed.