Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter 21: No One Was Silent

Lyn's shadow shifted. "It's hard on your eyes, but it's worse on the rest of your body." She tipped her chin his way. "Just look at him. I mean, really look at him."

I didn't move because I couldn't move. I didn't want to see him. I wanted to pretend he wasn't there, that he had never been there, that I didn't know he existed.

"Does he look sixteen to you?" Lyn continued, though I hadn't turned around. I didn't have to look at him to know the answer to her question. He looked older, maybe nineteen. He only seemed younger when he laughed. I hadn't even realized his age until now.

"That's the tomo," Lyn said. "It ages you. It wears you out. It damages your senses, and I mean all of them." She tapped her head.

I closed my eyes like I could erase her gesture from my mind. "Why do people take it, then?"

"Because they justify it," she said. "The reward is worth more than the risk."

My eyes popped open. "Have you ever taken it?"

Lyn froze, then glanced between Lily and me. She nodded once. "Before I was pregnant," she clarified. "It does weird things to unborn babies." She sucked in a breath like she could inhale her words.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Nothing." She shook her head and sprang to her feet. When she rubbed her tattoos, I knew she had lied. It was definitely not nothing.

Noah groaned, causing Lyn to turn her attention to him.

"He should wake up soon," she said. "There are withdrawal effects."

"Good to know," I grumbled just as the front door opened.

Everyone leapt up at the sudden intrusion. I hadn't heard him coming, and neither had anyone else. But there Broden stood, covered head-to-toe in thick mud.

"Where is he?" Broden bellowed.

"Broden," I hissed, standing up. Argos only opened one eye. He never reacted to Broden.

He slammed the door behind him as his eyes shot behind me. His shoulders rose, and he opened his mouth like he would scream, but Lyn shot him down. "Be quiet," she ordered. "All of you."

It was the mother in her. She could always control us.

Broden turned away as he shook off his jacket. Dried mud fluttered to the ground as he kicked off his shoes. I could smell nature's rot on him from a distance.

"What's going on?" Miles asked, walking out of the kitchen. When he saw Broden, he chuckled. "What happened to you?"

"I had to hide in the trees," he said. "In them," he emphasized.

Miles continued to laugh, still intoxicated. I couldn't wait for him to sober up.

"The cops were everywhere," Broden ranted. "They saw us, and I have to bet that someone called them on us." His eyes were all over Noah.

"He's asleep," I said. "He showed up here last night."

I didn't have a chance to explain how he was on drugs. Broden had already snapped, "And you're his watch guard since when?"

I stepped back. My friend had never glared at me, but he did now, and he wasn't calming down.

"I'm making sure he doesn't stop breathing," I said.