Page 10 of Ravenous Prophecy
“Yes.” I tried to smile. It was nearly midnight. Surely everyone would be asleep at this hour.
We could take a cab, if I had the funds…
“Master Bradley,” a voice called out.
From the expression on Griffin’s face, he was too amused to care that I felt exactly like a small child caught with a shattered cookie jar and crumbs all over my face.
Wincing, I turned slowly to see Nathan, standing still as he held the door to the Rolls Royce open pointedly. When I didn’t move, he raised both eyebrows nearly to his gray hairline. “Your father wants a word.”
“I’m sure he does.” I sighed. “It looks like you’ll be getting your check sooner rather than later.”
The car ride was excruciating, Griffin examining the entire back seat with interest. Out of sheer awkwardness, I made small talk with Nathan, who gracefully kept theconversation on some of the household minutiae I’d missed over the past few weeks—a rabbit getting in the garden, one of Mother’s favorite watches going missing, only to be found in the butter dish.
We pulled through the wrought iron gates, the gravel of the circular drive crunching under the car tires. Griffin whistled as he slid from the car, staring up at the stone manor.
“So, this whole starving academic look you have going on, is that just a front or a phase, like when every teenager wears black for a few months?”
Nathan opened the front door before I had to answer the question that everyone else seemed to have an opinion on. As we walked through the entryway, I heard heels on the stairs, and Mother practically threw herself down the last few steps.
I had years to practice catching her during these dramatic descents, and she enveloped me in an enormous hug as I did, her slender arms scented with her favorite perfume.
“Bradley! MEA lockup! I almost fainted. Didn’t I, dear?” Mother turned and reached her hand out for Father, who was coming downstairs at a much more staid pace.
“You did, Charlotte, and I told you that Lambert would handle it. Why else are we paying them so much money?” Father opened his arms awkwardly, and I gave him a brief hug. He was still wearing a suit despite the hour. Even Mother had put on a dressing gown, her face bare of makeup and a band holding her graying curls back.
“I’m sorry to have worried you both,” I said, looking away.
“It’s alright, son,” Father said. He coughed, clearing his throat. “And who’s this? Lambert said you asked him to get the both of you out.”
“Griffin Gallows,” my former cellmate said, extending his hand. “It’s great to meet you, Mr. Brooks.”
“Yes, yes,” Mother said. “Now, it’s late. I’ve had Bernadette prepare your old room, Bradley, and the blue room for your guest. We’ll talk in the morning. Come, dear.”
“Of course, Charlotte.” Father nodded to me, and I watched them go up, Mother resting her hand on Father’s arm affectionately.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “I’m sure Bernadette could make you something.”
“I’m fine,” Griffin said. “The blue room? Like, how many guest rooms does this place actually have?”
“I’ll show you,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This way.”
Once Griffin had settled into the blue room, I walked across the hall to my own room. It was the same as it had been for years. In movies, that would mean posters from high school on the walls, but Mother would have had a heart attack if I’d dared put pins or, god forbid,tapeon her walls. Instead, the prints of ancient texts were framed and hung by professionals, with earthquake-proof attachments.
I fell asleep and dreamed of nothing, which was a relief after the relentless dreams of the Hive I’d been having for years.
When I woke from a dream of endless gray, sunlight was streaming in the window, and the clock said it was nine. I got up, finding a fresh set of clothes in the closet. Iwas almost positive that, at some point in the last year, Mother had sent Bernadette to my apartment and then purchased identical clothes on the chance I came home.
As I walked downstairs after freshening up in the en suite bathroom, I could hear loud laughter coming from the dining room. For a moment, I thought about running away, but the smell of bacon and eggs drew me in.
Griffin was sitting to my father’s right, across from Mother, with Elaine on his right side. He was using a piece of toast to gesture.
“Then the wizard yells down that he will burn the entire mountain if I don’t give him the opal, and I told him good luck, because opals crack when exposed to flame, so he’d be left with a handful of charred pebbles and a murder charge.” He grinned. “Needless to say, he let me off the mountain.”
My father laughed, the morning paper abandoned to the side. Even Mother had a delighted smile, looking across to Elaine, who was smirking into her coffee.
Father, at the head of the table, saw me first. “Bradley! Good to see you up. Your mother had Bernadette check on you earlier, but you were out cold.”
“Thanks for letting us stay the night. We’ll be out of your hair today.” I sat down and served myself from the platters in the middle of the table.
