Thirty-eight

So, Rae's coming. Fan-fucking-tastic. I trust her about as far as I can throw her, actually, no, I could probably throw her quite far. I trust her as much as I trust Tori. As if things couldn't get more complicated, Rae could destroy everything. After a heated discussion with Simon, I managed to convince him that they should go tonight, that will give them less time for them to get suspicious. If they move fast things will work out, they won't see it coming, and hopefully, God I hope, we will pull this off. Simon will find Dad and Chloe will return to her normal life and continue attending art schools and directing her little heart out, and Rae, well who cares about Rae.

The point was this was about to be over. And I was sick with worry. Or just sick.

My face burned with fever, and the thought of not knowing where they were or what they were doing, if they were okay or not. Well, I just didn't know if I could handle that. I didn't know if I could live with it if something happened to my brother, and I don't know when it happened or why but I was starting to, I don't know, care or something about Chloe. She was in a shitty situation, a seriously shitty situation, she had suffered a tonne of crap since she landed in this place and she wasn't a bitch or whining constantly, she didn't throw tantrums or flirt in that asinine way that stupid blonde girls tended to flirt around Simon. More importantly, she didn't appear to hate my guts in spite of me forcibly making her realise her necromancer capabilities and almost her wrenching her fucking arm off. I can't decide if she is incredibly brave or stupid. Possibly both.

Fuck, I hoped everything worked out. The last few days were spent discussing logistics, obtaining money and packing. Simon and I argued almost constantly, I love my brother but he cannot pack for shit. He tried to take hair gel and I almost fell of the bed laughing, I was so incredulous. "Are you insane?" I half-yelled, half-guffawed. I mean, he had to be joking. I had taken an hour long cold shower that morning to try and rid myself of the fever that had been bothering me for over a week now. The muscle spasms had subsided for several hours now, so I was cautiously optimistic. I must be the only teenage boy in the world that takes cold showers for any other reason than raging teenage hormones. It boggled my mind, how people even had time for stuff like that. My mind works one hundred miles a minute, adding anything else to that would possibly bring me to boiling point, I doubted I had that kind of brain capacity, but Simon he could find romance in the desert. He should be on The Hills, he would really be great.

"What? I thought it was a good idea, I could, you know, use it a disguise . . .," Simon mumbled as he rummaged underneath his mattress to dig out long forgotten socks. Yuck.

"Si, you have the most distinctive hair in the entire world, in fact everything about you is distinctive, you really think gelling your hair into some surfer dude style is going to suddenly turn you into some kind of comedian. Honestly?" My eyebrows were arching in disbelief. "You need warm clothes, water, something with a hood, clean fucking socks, and an invisibility cloak if you have one to hand." I paced around the room. "Fuck," I shoved my hands through my slightly damp hair, "We should have got hair dye. You and Chloe have the brightest fucking hair in the world. Shit, we are so unprepared for this." I sat on the edge of my bed, suddenly furious at myself for not thinking of it, how many tiny girls had strawberry blonde hair with red cherry streaks. Fuck. I cursed again, they would find them in seconds.

"Bro," Simon sat down next to me, looking sad and concerned. "Just come with us. Please," he implored, his own eyes with dark with worry that mirrored my own. "It's always going to be safer if we're altogether, I don't think about half the stuff that you do, and your crazy wolf senses will be invaluable, you know it." He tried for a smile and managed to conjure a weak simulation of one. "I don't know how to do this. Chloe doesn't know how to do this. And Rae, well, we don't even know why she wants to go. No comic book or movie has ever covered this scenario, it's that bizarre. Please just come with us."

"No." I clenched my jaw, I was intractable on this, I stood up and plucked the hair gel from his backpack and tossed it onto his bed. "You won't need it." I reached into my nightstand to grab several Power Bars that I stored for myself because I was always hungry and replaced the gel with four of those. I sat down on Simon's bed, trying to clear my mind and think of what else they could possibly need, should I talk to Chloe and make sure she had packed everything she needed. Ha. I had no clue what a girl would need. I hope she had the sense not to pack straighteners and summer dresses. I smiled. I bet Chloe didn't even have hair straighteners, she was so unlike any other girl I had ever encountered, and it made me wonder. Did the schools we went to only accept bitches or was it that Simon only attracted bitches? One of life's deepest questions.

"it's gonna be okay, Derek. You'll see. And you'll join us, right? As soon as you can?"

Simon. Simon's smart. He'll be fine. "Remember to pack your insulin," I barked.

He grinned wide. Tapping the side pocket. "Already got it," he saluted and leaned back. Abruptly he sat up and swiped a towel from the pile of laundry on the shared desk. "I'm going to have my tenth shower of today, don't know when my next one is going to be." Simon weakly smiled again.

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day." Simon laughed. "I'll try and sneak some food and water from the kitchen."

"Ooh apples. I want apples," he called as the door slammed shut behind him.

Idiot. Apples bruised and rotted. I was getting him oranges. I made the mistake of looking in the mirror on my way out, my flushed face and wild eyes were not helping, I didn't think I could quell it any longer and a rapid burst of sheer panic ignited inside me. Fuck. This was the worst timing. I was shattered, my skin burned and my body was completely out of control, I felt entirely too uncomfortable in my own skin, to the point of pain. I needed to stay away from Simon before they left. If he saw, he would know, and if he knew, he wouldn't leave. They had to leave tonight.

In a daze, I headed to the kitchen. I took a few painkillers and chugged a large glass of ice cold water. I casually filched two oranges from the fruit bowl and filled a bottle of water for Simon, too wary to take more. I stuffed them in his backpack, got rid of some random crap that he didn't need. Smiled lazily when I saw a deck of cards and art pencils hidden inside a pair of grey boxers. He could keep those. I didn't want him to die of boredom with a bunch of girls but then, who knew, maybe that was Simon's idea of heaven.

I lay down in bed, in spite of the sweltering heat I felt I tucked myself under the covers and purposefully covered my head with my arm and breathed deeply feigning sleep and silently hoping the painkillers would kick in. I needed to be alert tonight. Shit was going to get real.