The Grave Shadows

30. Blood Test

Steadily streaming through the wide-open door were the slow clink and clop of John restoring an antique clock on the dining table. Despite many warnings from Grant and Kevin, John liked Everett better than Corinne.

Cyan hunched over her desk and stared at the black fabric on Everett's chest. With his stomach full of John's lamb stew, he lolled on her bed. John had invited him to another dinner. Everett deserved a little treat for his recent generosity. This time, gladly, he dressed down, ditching a blazer and swam in the thinness of his shirt. John asked if Cyan and Everett were dating, and she said no, having no interest in experimenting with the pain in the heart.

Everett now lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. Hopefully, he didn't think they could share a bed like that night. Cyan huffed and returned to her assignment.

"You should try it again," Everett said.

"No!"

"Why not?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Err..." Cyan drummed a highlighter on a paragraph of Eucaryotic Cells May Have Originated as Predators. "What?" She dropped her chin. "Try what?"

"What was the no for, then?" Everett hardened his face.

Blushing, Cyan closed the book and swiveled on the chair. "What should I try?"

Everett stroked his stomach. "Blood test." He rose to a sitting position. They had talked about the procedure earlier at the student cafeteria today.

"I'm scared." Cyan peeked at the door. "And I can't trust anyone to do it."

Cyan studied biochemistry to untangle her own mystery. She had some routine checkups when she was younger, but those examinations were before the healing started.

"Luke," Everett suggested. "He can do it. That frea—umm. That boy is practically a doctor."

Everett was about to say freak. A centaur was a beauty, not an aberration.

"Practically?" Cyan furrowed her brows.

"Yes, he's a certified nerd. When he was little, he read medical books instead of fairy tales. He even spent one summer in a crime lab."

"That sounds promising." Cyan sighed but didn't turn away from Everett.

"He's better than nothing." Everett raised his brows and flopped on the bed again.

Luke was better than everything. If Evil could speak, Luke would reason with it.

Cyan got to her feet and drifted to Everett, carefully resting on the small bed, the one that could accommodate one person. They were side by side, touching, and staring at the ceiling. "What are we going to tell him?" she asked.

"Let me worry about that."

If Everett were midnight, his youngest brother would be a sunrise. Luke, in his tailored Colt's jacket, strutted in the university lab, his hair waving in the air conditioner breeze. People said, out of all Watts boys, Luke was the least damaged and the most expensive. They said he was smarter than the whole campus combined. But the fascinating quality of Lukas Watts wasn't his brain, but his loyalty, and this precious quality tempted Cyan, on several occasions, to tell him about Evil.

***

"Why are you here?" Luke glared at Everett.

"You're late." Everett crossed his arms.

Luke handed Cyan a medical form, his eyes still on Everett. Everett snorted, and Luke sneered. The Watts boys spoke many languages, reading expression included.