Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
I reached over, grabbed the wheel, and snapped it off the door.
Sandra jerked back.
“I talked to you, and you came out on your own,” I told her. “If you say anything different…” I bent the wheel’s spokes with my hands.
She nodded frantically.
In the distance a police siren wailed, getting closer.
The Beast evaporated from my mind, as if swept by a wind. Fatigue took over. I winked at Sandra, took the cat from her arms, and headed outside. I would have to spin a cute story for the cops, convince Leon and Grandma that the door must’ve been damaged by the Brick, and then I would have to call the insurance company. Catalina didn’t need one more headache.
I was the youngest kid in my family, but I was a Baylor. We always pulled our weight.
THE COOL AUNT
Ileaned toward the mirror and traced my lips with Les Beiges Healthy Glow Balm from Chanel. When you had big eyes and plump lips, you had to pick which one you drew attention to. My eyes were a light blue, the color most people achieved with contact lenses, and once I was done with eyeshadow and mascara, they popped. Any bright shade of lipstick took my face from pretty straight to clown. There were no stops in between. But the medium shade of the Chanel’s balm turned out to be my perfect pink. Not too much, not too little, just enough.
Somebody was running down the hall like a small rhino. That was neither new nor unusual in our house. I ignored it and concentrated on contouring my top lip.
Catalina burst into the bathroom. “Nevada’s in labor!”
I dropped my balm into the sink. My oldest sister was due any day. Today was a really bad day. Catalina had found some sort of monster construct in the Pit, a flooded area of Houston. I was reasonably sure that she and Mr. Dreamboat, otherwise known as Alessandro Sagredo, her handsome Italian assassin/not-boyfriend, would go there today to kill it. I planned to help. What’s better than a monster? A bigger monster.
I was also reasonably sure that Stephen Jiang would be there. Which was why I was taking my time putting on my face.
“The thing in the Pit grabbed one of the Primes and is attacking the work site,” Catalina barked. “I have to go. Yesterday, Victoria threatened Nevada and the baby. Go with her and don’t let her out of your sight. If it all goes to shit, I don’t care if you are in the middle of that damn building, you transform, and you get them out of there.”
Change of plans.
This was the first baby for Nevada and for Connor. If I knew anything about my brother-in-law, he would overreact. That meant they wouldn’t take a car. They would take a helicopter. If I didn’t get a move on, he would stuff her into that helicopter and take off without me.
I pushed past Catalina and sprinted to my room to get my shoes and my purse.
In five seconds, I located four shoes. None of them matched. The only matching pair was the hideous pink crocs, which I wore when my feet hurt from high heels and nobody important could see me. Well, if I did transform, none of my good shoes would be ruined. I stuck my feet into the crocs, swiped the tiny purse with my wallet off the door handle, ran back to the bathroom to get my phone, which I had forgotten, because my sister had come in shrieking like a banshee, and dashed outside.
I got there just as Connor half-helped, half-lifted my oldest sister into the Bell AH-3 Cobra. Some people owned luxury cars. Mad Rogan owned the latest model twin engine attack helicopters. Paranoid rich Primes had the best toys.
Connor saw me running toward them and waved for me to hurry up. I made it to the helicopter and climbed inside. Mom was already there, next to Nevada. I wedged into the seat between them. Connor hopped in, made sure we were all strapped in, and then we were off.
The inside of the helicopter was loud. Connor passed out headsets with mics. I had one just like it for Battlefield Glory, so I could hear the people on my squad as we murdered the Alien Crimson Armada. Cool.
My brother-in-law leaned forward toward Nevada. “Does it hurt?”
She shook her head.
It hurt. I could tell it did by the stony expression on her face. It was the patented Baylor family look that meant yes, it fucking hurts, there is nothing to be done, stop asking me about it. Connor recognized it too because his face went flat. He reached out and took her hand.
“Why are we going to the hospital?” I asked. “What happened to the give-birth-at-your-house plan? I liked that plan.”