Chapter 14

On their way to the bungalow that Tessa and Fiona were staying at, Adam and his mother made a stop at the restaurant. Delilah had put in the call after suggesting that if they stopped by with breakfast it might give them a greater chance of getting in the door. Adam thought that getting a welcome was pretty remote, but it couldn’t hurt. Added to that he was hungry anyway.

So it was that early in the morning — still early enough that most guests hadn’t stirred — Adam carried a tray heavily laden with breakfast foods with his mother leading the way. There were a few people up and about — mostly the staff, who had been roused earlier than they had expected to be so as to search for Kalista. Adam supposed that it wasn’t worth it for most of them to try and get back to bed at this point.

They made their way to the deluxe bungalow that Adam had barely visited since arriving at Serenity Falls. Actually, the last time he had been here had been when he’d spied on his father with Kalista. Adam decided it was somewhat fitting, as he was here this morning to find out if his aunt knew anything of what his father was up to.

Adam tightened his grip on the breakfast tray. He still couldn’t believe this had happened. Last night had ended up being so damn pleasant. Both the bonfire night and then ending up in bed with both his mother and sister. Sure, he’d had some measure of concern at the beginning after he’d gotten a look at the two women that Todd had taken, but it hadn’t been something he’d needed to urgently address.

Now though, he wondered at it.

Adam shivered. What had happened to Kalista could have been so much worse — especially if what he’d feared had indeed come to pass. If his father had been to the Cave, had taken its power...

Inwardly, Adam knew it the likelihood of some unknown person getting the power was so remote as to be easily dismissed. There was only one other person who knew about it. One other person who’d had access to Todd. Adam couldn’t help but shake his head at just how lucky they had gotten; it would have been so easy for last night’s visitors to have accessed the Cave with all of them being none the wiser.

Who could have predicted the chain of events that had led to Kalista quietly sitting on the beach by herself after everyone else had already gone to bed? If she hadn’t been there, if she hadn’t tried to find out what had been going on, the people on the boat would have been to the Cave and left without anyone being aware of it!

Adam shook his head again as he thought about what Kalista had gone through. He’d barely talked to the girl himself, but the others had filled him in. Kendra had looked positively green as she’d whispered to him how Kalista had bitten one of them on the hand so hard that she’d had pieces of him still in her teeth when they’d gotten her back to Delilah’s house.

Adam was just glad that she’d managed to fight them off and escape. Especially after she recounted that they’d wanted a test subject — small mercies that Kalista didn’t actually know what that had meant.

Adam flinched, the tray rattling, as his mother gently nudged him in the side with her elbow. When he glanced down, she was looking at him with concern in her eyes.

“Are you alright, Adam?”

“Yeah, Mom. Sorry, I’m just thinking about ... things.”

Erin sighed. She rubbed her face tiredly. Adam’s mother hadn’t got a great deal of sleep last night either, and she didn’t have her son’s stamina. The two of them had made a quick stop at the apartment to get more suitably dressed, and Erin was currently wearing a loosely flowing pale blue sundress, cinched around the waist with some kind of sash. It truely did suit her, and in other circumstances Adam would have been telling her how lovely she looked — and also making plans to get her alone so that he could strip it off of her.

“Adam, try not to dwell. We’ll find out if my sister knows anything, and then go from there.”

Erin hesitated a moment, squinting up at her son. Her voice was soft as she added.

“You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to. I can probably find out if she knows anything without you.”

Adam squared his shoulders, and gave his mother a faint smile.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. The days when I let someone like Tessa get to me are long gone. I don’t care about seeing her — no matter how unpleasant she is. I’m just...”

Erin nodded. She reached out and put a soft hand on Adam’s arm for a moment.

“Yes. I know.”

They two of them silently looked at each other for a long moment, and then turned as one and walked the rest of the way to the bungalow.

Adam was only mildly surprised when his mother didn’t bother knocking. She just pulled a key out and inserted it into the door. Adam found it easy to forget that this technically had been his mother’s bungalow — she’d stayed here with her husband and sister until the day of the hike that Adam had gone along on.

As his mother opened the door, Adam idly wondered what had happened to the bungalow that Fiona had been staying at with Todd.

Erin unlocked the door, holding it open so that Adam could get in easily with the breakfast tray. As he entered the bungalow, Adam immediately sensed a surge of something wrong — the same sensation he’d felt the last time that he’d seen his aunt. Sure enough, as Adam looked around the bungalow, he locked eyes with Tessa.

Adam’s aunt was standing in the kitchen, looking at Adam with wide and shocked eyes. She had been pouring herself a coffee, and she was so surprised by their letting themselves in that she kept pouring until her cup overflowed and spilt onto her hand.

Tessa cursed, breaking eye contact with her nephew. She hurriedly dashed her mug into the sink, turning the tap on and running her hand under the water. She scowled at Adam over her shoulder — her expression darkening even further when she saw that her sister was with him.

“What the hell are you doing here — just letting yourself in without even knocking!”

Adam didn’t bother answering. He just carried the tray of food over and put it down on the small breakfast table. Adam studied his aunt out of the corner of his eye. Apart from what he could sense, she didn’t look all that different. Or even nervous about their presence.

Tessa was wearing a low-cut tank-top that exposed a great deal of her tanned cleavage. She had nothing on underneath it, as evident by the fact that Adam could easily see her nipples through the thin fabric. Tessa wasn’t wearing pants, just underwear, and while they weren’t overly skimpy in of themselves, they did show off a great deal of Tessa’s rounded cheeks.

Adam wondered at his aunt’s dress sense. Had she been so conditioned in showing off her body that she dressed that way without thinking? Or perhaps she just didn’t own any other type of clothes. Adam had to admit that she looked quite appealing — in a trashy kind of way.

Erin stepped by her son, a faint smile on her face. The contrast between her and her sister couldn’t be more stark. It was obvious they were related, and they even had similar body types. But whereas Tessa dressed as though she’d just woken up in a frat house after a party, Erin looked elegantly beautiful. Definitely as sexy, but far more refined.

Erin put her hand on her hip, widening her smile as she looked challengingly at her younger sister.

“Knocking? Whatever do you mean, Theresa? This is my bungalow. I think my name might even be on the reservation. I have a key and everything.”

Tessa folded her arms under her chest, glowering. Her breasts were pushing up high, threatening to spill out the front of her top and, after a quick glance at her watching nephew, Tessa adjusted her arms so that they were across her chest instead. Covering her see-thru top. She still managed to muster up a sneer though.

“Things change. You can’t just barge in here whenever you want.”

“As I said, I’m not barging in if I have a right to be here.”

Tessa narrowed her eyes.

“Oh, and where have you been exactly? I haven’t seen you around.”

“Nor I you. So perhaps I should be asking where you have been?”

Before Tessa could answer, she was interrupted by her daughter walking out of her bedroom.

Fiona was blinking owlishly and yawning, sleepily scratching at her stomach with one hand. She was wearing a pair of cute cotton pyjamas and was currently exposing a great deal of her pale belly as she rucked up the bottom of her top. Her shorts were hanging rakishly off of one skinny hip, exposing a little more than was appropriate.

When she realised that her aunt and Adam were standing in the living room looking at her, Fiona let out what sounded suspiciously like a squeak. She turned and darted back into her bedroom, and returned wearing a robe. Fiona had readjusted her pyjamas into something more resembling propriety as she cinched the robe shut around herself. Her attempt at covering herself was slightly spoilt by the fact that the robes provided to the guests were tailored towards couples having a romantic getaway. Which is to say that the robe was short enough that it barely came down to Fiona’s mid-thigh.