FOURTEEN
Anthea
The sky was dark,but colorful lights radiated through the dusk from behind us. Laughter and giddy shrieks carried through the air.
The boys and I stopped at the edge of the beach. I pulled off my sandals, digging my toes into the sand still warm from baking under the only recently-departed July sun. The guys chucked off their own sneakers. My stomach was full of Coney Island funnel cake, a lingering sweetness lacing my lips, and my pulse kept thumping at a fast tempo after our whirlwind journey from ride to ride.
The beach-goers had started to clear out as the sun set. Small groups scattered the sand, leaving the way in front of us perfectly open. The lifeguards were no longer on duty this late, but I was too exhilarated to care. I gazed across the expanse to the lapping waves, drinking in the salt in the warm air, and beamed.
“I’m hot. Let’s cool off with a swim.”
Darius, only a tiny bit boyish still at eighteen, gave me a typically imperious look. He didn’t care about the rules, but— “We didn’t bring bathing suits.”
His tone might as well have been a dare. I raised my eyebrows at him with a shrug. “Oh, well.” Then I darted across the sand, daring the three of them in turn.
I dropped my sandals just beyond the reach of the waves and plunged right into the water in my shorts and halter top. The delicious chill surged around me, tugging at the thin fabric.
Felix was the first to follow me, of course. He plunged into the waves in all his clothes and tossed back his already-soaked hair, grinning at me.
Lucan and Darius seemed to feel the need to show a little more maturity, being a whole two and three years older than their younger brother. They pulled off their shirts to leave by the heap of shoes, but they came. I even caught a smile from serious Lucan as the water closed around his shoulders.
Felix splashed Darius, who got a sly glint in his eyes and walloped a bunch of water right back. Lucan paddled around with leisurely strokes. I eased onto my back, gazing up at the hazy night sky as the waves rocked me into a perfect sense of peace.
When Felix poked my shoulder, I pulled myself straight again. The boys had gathered around me. I could still touch the bottom here between waves, but something about having the three of them watching me in the darkness, all of us slick with seawater, made my heart skip in a very different way from the thrill of the rides.
A swell of emotion propelled the words from my throat. “This is always my favorite part of the summer. Not Coney Island, I mean. Coming to Brooklyn. Hanging out with you.”
Smiles lit all of their faces then, Lucan’s broad enough to be easily visible even in the dimness. “It’s our favorite part too.”
He reached for me—and the water seemed to swallow me up. The past fell away with a dull roar of the surf, and then I was jolting out of the dream into a different darkness.
There was a kink in my neck and an ache in my ass from the hard floor I’d been sitting on, disturbingly uncomfortable after the joy of the memory that’d risen up in my sleep. With nothing but black around me, it took me a second to get my bearings.
WhywasI sitting on cold tiles with my back against a cardboard surface?
My argument with the Darius of the present day came flooding back into my head, washing away the last shreds of the dream’s happiness. That joy had been a lie anyway—part of their cruel seduction.
I rubbed my eyes and shook my head, but I didn’t feel much better. If anything, I only felt more disoriented after what I assumed had been a fairly brief doze given the uncomfortable position. While it was dark, I could hear footsteps rapping across the floor upstairs, so it couldn’t be too late at night yet.
I pushed myself to my feet and groped my way to the doorway. In the hall, a thin beam of light streamed down from the stairs around the corner. Shaking off the last shreds of sleep, I hurried toward it.
I should go to sleep properly in my actual bed, and maybe in the morning I’d have a clearer idea of where to go from here.
The activity on the first floor grew louder as I eased up the stairs. It sounded like a dozen people were circulating through the rooms at a brisk pace. I paused while still cloaked in shadow, watching a lackey hustle by with a harried expression.
I hadn’t seen this much commotion in the Rosanos’ house at this hour before. I wasn’t sure I’d seen it even in the middle of the day. What was going on? Had something gone wrong?
Were they gearing up todosomething wrong, even worse than what I’d already witnessed tonight at my family’s former business?
I slunk closer, sticking close to the wall and keeping my ears pricked. A woman who prepared meals for the family darted into view from a nearby room and froze in her tracks. I saw why when Darius advanced on her from the opposite direction.
“Well?” he demanded, his stance tensed and his voice rough.
The woman grimaced. “I’m sorry. I haven’t seen any sign of her.”
“She’s got to be around here somewhere. You checked the pantry?”
“Of course. I can look again.”