The Year of the Tiger (Book 3 of The Almair Series) (Completed)

Chapter 9

I took a sip of coffee as I stared at the unattended building in front of me. The lawn was clear of debris and clean from overgrown bushes and grass.

The building, however, looked to be worse of wear and tear. Shingles were falling off of the roof, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that there were remains of flooding in there. The doors and windows were boarded up to keep people from going into this old building.

Brody rubbed against my legs, feeling my emotions as if he was feeling them himself. "Martha?" he asked, looking up at me. Worry and guilt filled his eyes, and I knew that he was feeling guilty for not being there for me when I had lost my best friend, my teacher. "Are you alright?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head. "I will be, though," I said. I shook my head, again and walked to the front door, knowing that I was early. "I can't believe that you made me take you with me," I said, setting my coffee cup down before grabbing the piece of wood in front of the front door and pulling it off with ease.

"You aren't meeting these Snakestons without someone," Brody replied. "And, I had a feeling that the Snakeston wasn't going to come alone."

I silently agreed with him as I took the keys from my belt to open the door. My hand shook as I looked for the right key from all the keys that were here. Nerves and fear filled my body because it had been a while since I had been here.

Brody again rubbed up against me. He did not say a word, knowing that I needed comfort more than anything else. He stood guard and watched the place around us, making sure that we were safe and alone.

I sighed and opened the door before flicking the lights on. I wasn't surprised that they turned on because in the will Master Yin had left me told me that I didn't have to worry about the lights nor water bill if I ever decided to open the place back up or decide to live in the basement living area underneath.

Brody nuzzled my clenched fist before walking in. He sneezed and shook his head. "It's dusty," he commented, and I nodded. "Has anyone been in here?" He sniffed once more before sneezing at all the dust.

I shook my head and took a step in. "Not since he died," I replied. "It has been boarded up to prevent anyone to get in."

"Someone could have," Brody replied. He looked around, his ears twitching every so often to hear anything. "It is empty."

"I think Master Yin has someone watching over the building," I replied, scrunching up my brows. "I don't know who, but I have a feeling that he knew it would take me a while to go back to this place."

"When are they supposed to be here?" Brody asked, looking at me.

I looked at my phone. "8:30," I replied. "We have 30 minutes."

"Good, thirty minutes to explore and make sure that we survive."

I stayed silent as I walked around with Brody. I knew this place like the back of my hand and knew that if need be, then I would be able to kill that Snakeston before he even had a chance to hurt me.

Let's just hope that it would not have to come to that...

***

I stood at the front door around 8:30 and watched as Ryan came up with someone beside him. "I thought you were coming alone," I said, looking at the older female before looking at him.

"I thought you were coming alone, alsssso, Almaire," Ryan replied, spying Brody beside me. His lip curled up in a smirk, showing sharpened teeth.

"Bastard wouldn't have given me my bras nor socks if I didn't take him," I replied, glaring at my younger brother. "And, I did try to get some of my sisters' bras but all of them threw me out of the room. Apparently, I am too destructive with clothes."