“Who knows or cares?” Sloane muttered.
“But why do they learn it, is it a form of spell?” Her eyes searching Cord’s for the answer.
“It is a dark magic, called algebra,” Cord answered, Sloane chuckled at his answer, and a perplexed Tegan looked between the two of them.
“Can we find Zahra now?” Sloane asked.
“She is at physical education,” Cord answered as he strolled down the hall.
“If you knew that, why didn’t you take us to the playing fields?” Sloane grumbled, turning and heading back the way they had came.
“Oh, it’s notthatkind of physical education,” Cord grinned at his brother. Then with great flair, he opened a door with the wordjanitoron it.
“Hey, I’m in here!” came a disgruntled male voice and female yelp of surprise.
“Zahra myfriend, be a dear and come out, make sure you are clothed, you have visitors.”
“What the fuck man, who is this? We’re busy in here!” The male voice demanded as it got closer. Tegan stepped back in surprise when a shirtless human male of average height appeared in the door. He was slender for his height, black hair, average looking, Tegan mused, he had no abdominal muscles at all. He reached up and grabbed the door frame as he looked at the three of them. “Who the hell are you?”
“Cord? Are you joking?” Zahra’s fury was evident before she even appeared. Fixing what seemed to be a strap and straightening her skirt she looked up at Cord as she ducked under the human’s arm. She froze when she saw Sloane, looking guiltily at the human, before her attention was caught by Tegan and her eyes narrowed. “What doyouwant?”
“You’ve been called home,” Cord said watching her with amusement.
“No.”
“Not interested, Zahra, tell your plaything goodbye,” Cord reached for her arm and yanked her completely out of the way, nodding at Sloane as he did so. As Zahra cried out in protest, Sloane quickly punched the human, who dropped down at his feet. “Be right back,” Cord said as he vanished.
“Wow,” Tegan murmured, her head trying to catch up on the last few moments. “What will we do with him?”
“I say put him back in the closet,” Sloane grinned as he bent down to lift the unconscious male and walked into the closet with him.
Curiously, Tegan followed. It was quite cramped and had hardly any room to move. “It’s so tight in here, what’s the attraction?”
Sloane grunted as he dropped the human. “You have to be with the right person to understand the appeal.”
“Oh,” Tegan didn’t understand that therewasappeal as she looked at industrial sized bottles of detergent and other liquids. “I don’t understand.”
“Be thankful you will never have to,” Sloane turned her, giving a gentle shove to leave.
“I’m sorry,” Tegan offered lamely.
“For?”
“What you saw,” Tegan shifted her feet uncomfortably.
“That’s just Zahra,” Sloane shrugged as he closed the door, leaving the human inside. “It stopped bothering me a long time ago.”
“It shouldn’t,” Tegan said to him, reaching out and squeezing his hand. Sloane smiled at her in surprise that she was initiating contact, his smile turning sad as he squeezed back.
“I believe that seven minutes of heaven, happensinsidethe closet,” Cord said from behind them, his tone as always, mocking.
“Seriously? She’s my cousin,” Sloane glared at his brother.
“What’s seven minutes of heaven?” Tegan asked.
“Want me to show you, little tiger?” Cord’s voice dropped dangerously soft and Tegan found herself dropping her gaze away from his intimate stare.
“You’re such a son of a Drakhyn,” Sloane punched his brother’s shoulder as he moved off the wall. “Where are the others?”