The Grave Shadows

48. Family History

There were three realizations the Watts boys had to endure. First: Cyan was alone, scared, and possibly tortured. Second: Life wasn't a party. Third: Craziness ran deep in the Watts family.

Silken darkness fell upon the grim woods. The night froze through perturbation. Cicadas cried, and the winds purled through the leaves of oaks and cedar elms. It felt like the Watts backyard, but it wasn't. Everett once thought the Watts Mansion was a fortress of snobs who were too disdainful for the real world. In reality, the Watts Clan dug that big hole to bury their sins.

Without Bill Watts, privileges and powers alienated Prime Branch boys. Being homeless now, the brothers took shelter in the bilious forest they hated. There was no fresh sheet, no room service, and no comfort. Their current mansion was a cabin made of woods glued together, its size less than Everett's old bathroom's. The former residents had furnished the living space with garbage. Everett slapped his nose when the reek of old mattresses in one corner hit his face. Some notes and books spread on a table made of old crates. With a glance, Everett concluded that David had been self-efficiently living under Bill Watts's nose for a while.

In a kitchen—a congested corner stuffed with cereal boxes—David, Angelica, and John whispered. Everett couldn't make out their conversation, but David was stroking John's forehead.

Truthfully, David's transformation was impressive. The new outfit and the more acceptable hairdo turned David into a personality, but the remarkable thing was the way he talked and walked—and broke things. The lunatic even comforted another human being, although his approach was peculiarly intrusive. David patted John as if he was consoling a child while Angelica gave John something to drink. A moment later, John slid inside a small room, one of the two awful hollows in the cabin. Perhaps David's odd act of compassion was effective. Everett, however, felt sick to his stomach, for he couldn't offer John anything. The man trusted him, and he was supposed to take care of Cyan. Everett wished the Coopers left last night. If he weren't so selfish, they would have been safe and far away from this toxic land.

"I can't believe he froze every account!" Will threw a cell phone on the crate table.

"Bill Watts has been watching all of you." Angelica lifted the phone. "You need to get rid of this. And all the phones." She cast a glance at Simon, Everett, and Luke.

"It's begun." David strutted to the window where blackness was a pane. "You've been cut off."

"I can't sit here and do nothing." Simon jolted up from a wooden chair that nearly crumbled at his sudden movement. "What if those psychos cut her up as Hector did?"

"She heals," Angelica said and turned to David. "And hidden. They make sure of that. But the night of the ritual is when we'll know exactly where she and Hector will be."

"What do you want us to do, David?" asked Luke.

Currently, the crazy brother took control. The Watts boys needed him to lead. He was the oldest among them after all.

"I'll seal the whole place up." Angelica grabbed two empty jars from the kitchen counter. "You tell them about your precious great-grandparents, David."

***

In front of the cabin, the Watts boys gathered around a fire. David settled on a chair, staring at the flames. Several occasions, Everett wished David was sane, so he would know what it was like to have five brothers. The Watts boys had never imagined that they could share alcohol with Dark Prince. David never drank. At least, they thought he didn't.

"More than a hundred years ago," David said. "Colt and Rosalind built Dawn Cathedral." A sentence purled into the fire. The last time he spoke on the phone, a ten-minute pause swam between phrases. "I bet none of you know what it was for." He sneered.