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Dad would probably still parent me when I turned fifty.
Throwing my bags down, I took stock of my room. Nobody had touched anything since I left.
My bookshelf burst with sea creature and insect books, along with the one romantic comedy Kira had gotten me for a birthday that I’d never touched.
The boy band posters peeled off the walls, but I wouldn’t take them down until they fell off themselves. All my playlists were still packed with guilty pleasures.
I showered in my en suite, washing away two days’ worth of sweat from fearing the mortality of myself and my family. Who needed workouts when impending doom would do?
As I reached to turn off the shower, a jolting sensation rocketed up my legs. I stumbled against the wall and pressed my back against it to steady myself.
Weird. I slapped a hand to my left thigh as the sensation subsided. A dull urgency remained, seeping into my core.
I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. Maybe it was some leftover panic from earlier in the day. That was all.
Once I had changed into my pyjamas, I pounced on Sammie. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he rolled over for tummy rubs.
“Silly pup.” I scratched his belly as I fell onto my back on the bed.
Today could have gone so differently.
In some ways, I had expected it to. The curse had no rhyme or reason. It was like a blindfolded executioner while we all stood on the firing line waiting for it to fire at random until it killed someone.
The Arrowoods took care of their own, and I knew how lucky I was to have such a large family. But if Dad had died today, would I have even wanted to stay? What else really tied me here besides my friends?
I rolled onto my stomach to rearrange my pillows.
I couldn’t dwell on what could have been. The point of coming home had been to reconnect with everyone. Who knew, maybe after a few shifts at Dad’s scuba business, I might feel at home again.
My skin prickled. Working was all well and good, but I would have to return to looking over my shoulder for Everharts. Especially if they were all as eager to rub our loss in our faces as Adrian was.
I folded my hands on my stomach. At least with the baby born, the only way we could die was if an Everhart or two broke in and murdered us.
Sammie sat bolt upright on the bed and stared at the window.
I stiffened. “What is it?”
I followed Sammie’s gaze just in time to watch someone pry open my window from the outside.
Sammie scrambled toward the window, barking.
“Sammie, no!” I vaulted off the bed and took off after him.
Whoever dared break into a house after dark likely wouldn’t think twice about harming him.
“Oh, give over!” Kira cried and squeaked as she tripped on the windowsill and toppled toward the floor.
But half a second before she hit the ground, Kira beat her silver wings and hovered in place. I threw my hands over my face as iridescent dust billowed across the carpet.
Sammie let out an almighty sneeze and with another squeak, Kira plummeted the final few inches to the ground.
“What are you doing, you psycho?” I grabbed her arm and helped her stagger upright.
As if nearly giving me a heart attack wasn’t bad enough, now I had to vacuum my bedroom.
“Uh, psychos, thank you very much.” Kira jerked a thumb at the window, running a hand through her blond ringlets.
I squinted into the night in time to see a pair of green eyes peeking above the windowsill.
