“Back to our conversation?”
“Gladly.”
A man came up behind me before I could talk. His eyes were red which was a good sign for me. His hair was blonde and it was cut short and parted to the side.
“Hello Claire. I’m afraid we’ve met a lot but never properly.” He held out his hand. “I’m Cole.”
I pulled out my hand. “By any chance do you know a man named Thanos?”
“Why yes. How about we sit down and talk. I’ve heard much about you. Many things about you.”
I looked back at Kai then Logan in the doorway.
“Love to.”
He took my hand and led me to the couch. He poured me some wine and I picked up the glass.
“So when have we ever met?”
“Well I was with Ms. Logan Belequa at the tournament. Then I was with you at the mall today. I’ve seen you once at the high school and at the contacts store.”
“Oh…um do you know Logan?”
“Why yes we have known each other for a while now.”
“So is Thanos here?” Please say no please say no!
“Me and Thanos don’t get along well these days but Cecile is here.”
“Oh.”
“So do you know Kai well?”
“I guess he doesn’t tell me much.”
“Well then maybe you should get back to him and get to know him better.”
I nodded and walked back to Kai. He picked me up and looked at me.
“It’s one in the morning and tomorrow is Monday.”
“I’m not tired!”
“Did I ask?”
“That’s not fair! I’m not tired I houldn’t have to go to bed!”
“Claire.”
“Give me one more hour please!”
“One hour exactly no more.”
“Ok!”
My phone rang again and Kai grabbed it before I could. He read the message out loud.
“Get on with it Claire I can’t wait behind a door all day. If you don’t hurry up I’m going to come out and slap you. Get on with it love Logan.”
He smiled and walked to the doorway.
“Logan come out.”
Logan walked out and looked up at me.
“Next time pick up your phone.”
I turned to Kai.
“Well night!”
I kissed his cheek and dropped myself from his arms. I grabbed Logans hand and ran up the steps. She walked into her room and I walked into Kai’s. I got in the bed and flicked off the light. Something shook me and I looked at the clock. Six in the morning. I turned around and faced upwards.
“Wake up darling you have to get ready for school.”
“What?”
I rubbed my eyes and the lights flicked on. I could see Kai and I almost screamed from the surprise.
“Come on get ready.”
I put my head under the blankets.
“I don’t want to go!”
“Too bad.”
He picked me up and I started kicking and screaming. He ignored me and walked down the stairs. Everyone was at the table including Dakota. They all turned to me and I kicked the air harder.
“I don’t want to go to school! I don’t want to go! Let go of me!”
“Stop acting like a spoiled brat.”
“I don’t want to go to school!”
“Stop being fussy.”
Logan got up and wiped the hair from my face.
“If I have to go to the stupid place then so do you.”
I stopped kicking and screaming and Kai dropped me. I ran for the steps but he grabbed me. Paige pulled he hair to the side of her face and looked down. I could tell she was laughing at me. Clyde looked at Kai and walked over to me. He picked me up and turned me to him like I was a cat.
“You don’t have to go to school if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t?”
“Of course not.”
He dropped me and I ran to the staircase. I slowed and turned towards them. I walked to the table and sat next to Logan. Kai looked at Clide.
“How did you do that?”
“You make her feel uncomfortable and you’re very demanding. She’s a child and you have to be patient with her.”
I finished eating and got dressed in some of the clothes I bought last night. I ran down the stairs and Kai picked me up.
“With your tantrum we’re running to school instead of driving.”
“I was tired you can’t blame me.”
He started running and I buried my face in his collar. He was going extremely fast but he slowed and dropped me. He grabbed my hand and walked me into the school. We sat down in Mr. David’s class and Hunter walked over to me.
“Lets just get this straight ok. We don’t know each other. We aren’t cousins or brother and sister barely even aquaintences.”
I nodded and Mikayla quickly took his place. She hugged me tightly.
“Oh my! I thought you were dead!”
“No Mikayla I wasn’t dead.”
“Well you came to school in time for me to invite you to my Halloween party. And we don’t want to look like kids you know so you don’t have to wear a costume.”
“Ok I’ll come.”
“Poor Cath! She’s sick on the day Claire comes back to school.”
I turned to Kai.
“How long have I been gone?”
“Don’t talk to me, look at me, and I’m sure you’re such a freak to follow me! Leave me alone!”
I turned back to Mikayla.
“How long was it!”
“About three weeks.”
“Three weeks! I haven’t been at school for three weeks!”
“Mr. David is coming got to go see ya at lunch!”
She skipped off and I turned my head away from Kai. I pulled my hair down as a curtain. He lifted it up and looked at me.
“What is your problem? Sorry that I had to drag you to school but you had to go.”
“What was with the big show that you gave me when we first met?! The leave me alone thing?! And three weeks?! Kai why didn’t you tell me?! How come no one warned me about that! Endless partying and getting drunk all the time is for you not me!”
“Calm down Claire. Sorry I didn’t tell you I didn’t think you would care. And the thing about me hating you was an act. Don’t take everything so seriously!”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day. He didn’t say anything when he drove me home or walked me into my house. I ran up to my room and past Hunter. I slammed the door and layed down on the bed. I took out my cellphone and called Catherine. She wasn’t there so I left a message that I came back to school today. I called Logan who picked up on the first ring.
“What did I do Logan? He hates me now!”
“What do you mean he’s perfect here.”
“Well he didn’t talk to me at all today and he wouldn’t look at me.”
“You’re making too big of a deal out of this. He’ll be better tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“Of course not! You got the worst of it! He treats me like an angel here!”
“Like he didn’t already.”
“Good point. I’ll talk to him.”
“You’re a life saver Logan! Can you do it now?”
“Nope! Daddy payed me a massage and a thousand dollars to not bother him!”
“Let me guess you’re getting a massage right now.”
“Yep! I’ll gather as much information as possible and come to your house in thirty minutes! Bye Bye!”
I layed on my bed and watched the seconds go by. There was a knock on the door and Logan walked in escorted by Hunter of course. She closed the door and locked it. She sat next to me in the bed.
“Well I have some theories.”
“Tell me!”
“Well he either is hungry, is mad at you, or hates you.”
“Can we go with the first one?”
“I checked his eyes and I think he has a problem. They’re green and he won’t talk to anyone. He just looks over a bunch of papers and stares at the ceiling.”
“We have to go to your house and look at those papers.”
“That room! I have it! No one is allowed in his room! He must love you! The room is full of clues that he needed you to find. The clues will help you get away before it’s too late! We have to hurry!”
She grabbed my hand and we ran all the way to her house. She threw me in the house and roughly followed. We ran up the steps and into Kai’s room. He was sitting on the bed looking at papers. He had a ruby dagger in front of him. Logan ran in grabbed the dagger and paper and ran. She grabbed my arm and we ran nto her room. She closed the door and clicked a button near the wall. Locks covered the door and she locked them all. Two iron gates covered the door afterwards. She ran to the bed and I followed. We sat down and sprawled the papers in front of us.
“Omg look at this!”
“What!”
“Adoption papers for every kid he ever had! Look there is one for me and Sophie and omg you! You’re my sister!”
“That is impossible! Court wouldn’t allow it.”
“The papers say you were adopted in Brazil. Maybe he kidnapped you. Believe me he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with kidnapping!”
“No! No! No! I’m not his child! He isn’t my father!”
“This is a total Nancy Drew moment!”
“Logan!”
“Look at some of these other papers. Adoption, birth certifacates, divorce sheets, marrige papers, why does he have these?”
“Give me the marriage sheets the birth certificates and the divorce papers.”
“Ok?”
She handed me the papers and I looked them over. I was right.
“Look at these,” I sprawled out the papers. “One marriage sheet says he was married to Paige. Then the birth cetificate says Logan. Then another marriage sheet says he married Debra. The birth certifacate says Claire. Full sisters? Half sister? I really don’t get what he is trying to do!”
“He wants you to be his daughter! I have a clue! There is a reason he wants you to be his daughter right now. He could of cared less! He loves you but yet he hurts you. Another clue! This house is full of them. We just need papers and all of Paige’s old stuff!”
“Let’s go then!”
We ran back to Kai’s room. He wasn’t in so we ran into the room and locked the door behind us.
“Lets get to work!”
She grabbed box after box from under the bed. She undid the lids and dumped the paper on the bed. She took out her cell phone and took pictures.