The Return of the Gods (Children of the Sun Book 1)

Chapter 4

"Uh, hi?" he said when he got over his shock but didn't go any closer. "You're...awake."

Nira narrowed her eyes at him. "I just woke up. Where were you?"

Nef stayed silent for a little too long, looking at Nira with a look of controlled panic. "Um, a-after Al left, I realized I haven't been outside in like three days, so I went out for a walk."

She didn't need to be good at reading people to know that was a lie, but as much as she didn't want to let this go, she knew Nef wouldn't lie to her unless he absolutely had to. So, instead of calling him out on it, maybe if she pretended to believe him, he would let down his guard, and she would be able to get him to tell her what was going on gradually. She didn't like the idea of having to do this, but she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on, it was bad news.

"You didn't take your phone with you." Nira picked the phone up and showed it to him.

Nef blinked and patted his pockets as if the fact that Nira was holding the phone wasn't evidence enough. Nira almost started laughing at that, despite the tense atmosphere. It was such a typical Nef reaction. At least something was right with the world, still.

Nef looked a little annoyed at Nira's barely hidden amusement, but she knew he didn't mean it. He did still seem a little nervous, though. "Huh, didn't realize I forgot to bring it with me. You called me?" Nira nodded, and he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"It's fine," she said and sighed softly when she saw Nef relax. He didn't seem to think Nira was suspicious of him at all anymore. "You can go to bed if you want. I don't feel like sleeping anymore, but you don't have to stay up with me."

"Nah," Nef said after a second of consideration, waving his hand. "I don't think I'd fall asleep if I tried. Let's go out."

"You were outside a minute ago," Nira deadpanned, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, so I know that the weather's great. You could grab your telescope, and we can check out the galaxy. We haven't done that in a while." His grin was so infectious that Nira couldn't resist it. She sighed and smiled at him fondly.

That actually sounded really nice. Watching the universe always made her problems seem tiny and unimportant, which was probably what she needed right now. Maybe it would help her not worry so much about yesterday's incident, especially if it turned out to be nothing that important. She was probably just being paranoid, anyway.

"All right," she said, laughing when Nef beamed at her. He looked so genuinely happy that Nira almost forgot about her questions. They were still lurking in the back of her mind, though. There was no way she could stop thinking about this.

"Awesome, let me just grab a beer," he said and went to the fridge while Nira shook her head at him.

"I'm starting to think you have a drinking problem," Nira commented, as she went to the bedroom to get the telescope. She wasn't sure when she'd used it last—it must have been a while because it now had a small layer of dust on it.

She'd been so busy studying that she hadn't had the time to look at the thing her studies were about. It was a weird problem, especially since there was no school right now.

"It's not a drinking problem," Nef defended himself from the other room. "Besides, have you ever tried stargazing while a tiny bit drunk? It's so much better." Nira grinned and went back to Nef, who was tidying up the fridge a little, grabbing both of their phones as she went.

"Alcohol kills brain cells," she joked, folding her arms in an overly dramatic way.

She expected him to say one of his fun facts he always had to prove his point, but that wasn't what Nira got. Instead, Nef just reached into the fridge without bothering to look back at her and produced a clear glass bottle with orange liquid inside, which he then handed to her.