“Mum, I just left the house ten minutes ago,” he grumbled. Ever since his dad had died his mother, Mary, had become overprotective and somewhat neurotic. It would have been bad enough for any teenage guy but for a Neith Warrior it was bloody irritating. He tried to understand. Oh how he tried.
“I know,” she sighed. “But I forgot to ask you to pop into your Uncle Neil’s for the monthly cheque.”
“OK.”
“OK. Thanks, darling, I appreciate it.”
“You know you have to speak to Uncle Neil sometime.”
“I do speak to your uncle.”
“You’ve been avoiding him, you know you have.”
Mary sighed again. “I’ll speak to him when he pulls the stick out of his arse, OK. Don’t be later than midnight. Bye.”
For a moment, Cameron just stared at his phone. With a huff he took off again, annoyed now that he had to pick up the money. Another thing that had changed since his dad had died… having to turn to Uncle Neil for financial support. His mum hated being beholden to anyone but with only one income coming in (and his mum refused to let him drop out of school so he could help) they were struggling to make ends meet. So began the monthly cheque from Uncle Neil to tide things over. He felt a horrible tightness in his gut at the thought of collecting it. It wasn’t like he’d ever really liked his uncle. The Councilman was a harsh taskmaster with little or no sense of humour. His own dad had been his greatest friend before that one soul eater had come and stolen him from him. But his cousins, James and Ryan, always seemed scared of their dad. They’d seemed more comfortable around Cameron’s father and had stopped hanging around Cameron so much when his dad had been murdered two years ago.
Brooding a little, Cameron took the steps up to the McLeish home slowly and quietly. As a member of the family he’d always just walked in, and as he stepped inside he was surprised by how quiet the place was. He stood for a minute, feeling a weird chill in the air, and then he froze at the sound of hurried whispering. For some reason his heart began to pound. His intuition told him something wasn’t right, and Mum always said to follow his intuition. Creeping silently down the hallway, Cameron trailed the whispering to the kitchen and pressed against the wall as he heard Eden’s name. Peering quickly around the doorframe, he saw his Uncle Neil on his mobile, his face tight with anxiety.
“Has Cosmina been reached?” he asked coldly.
Cameron shook his head and sprung back before he could be seen. His heart was thudding out of all control now as the implications of that question tormented him.
“Well I want to know when,” Uncle Neil continued. “Once it’s done, I can make a move.”
What the hell was he supposed to do? If he told Cyrus about his uncle, his uncle would face serious consequences, and he might not like the guy but he was the only family he and his mum had left. But if he didn’t tell Cyrus was he leaving Eden in possible danger? He didn’t care what anyone else said, or what anyone who knew about her true heritage thought, Eden was a great girl. More than that he’d never seen Tobe take to someone the way she’d taken to Eden. Tobe would never forgive him if he let something happen to her.
Maybe he had heard wrong or was making more of it than he should. Maybe he should talk to his mum first.
Nah. That would only put his mum in the same difficult position he was in. Cameron couldn’t do that to her. He was the man of the house now. He had to handle this.
He screwed up his face, staring up at the house. He was supposed to spend the night hanging out with Eden and Tobe. Could he really pretend as if he hadn’t heard anything?
It wasn’t like Eden was in dire danger anyway, she had three other Ankh with her including all of the Neith.
Cameron sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. “Bugger.”
***
Even Zach Galifiankis’ hilarious encounter with a tiger couldn’t stop Eden from feeling bummed that Noah had finally gone with Cyrus on patrol with Christopher and a few other Neith. She sat curled up next to Tobe while Cameron sat on an armchair with a faraway look on his face. Mhairi sat on the other armchair cackling away at the comedy on TV. Val had opted to stay behind and was upstairs reading some non-fiction novel that made Eden’s eyes cross over with boredom. She was getting kind of fed up of having to be babysat by the Ankh all the time. The only one she didn’t mind hanging around watching over her was Noah. God, she wished she was out there hunting with him. She felt so wired. So restless, despite her intense day of sword training. Once she got used to the burning in her shoulder muscles and joints, she really began to love the thrill of metal clashing and hissing against metal, the footwork, the coordination, the focus.
After another laugh-out-loud moment in the movie passed by without so much as a smirk from Cameron, Eden began to worry about him. He was acting really weird. As if sensing her frowning gaze, Cameron looked up at her. Something swam in his blue eyes, something dark and anxious, but before she could say anything he shot to his feet.
“You know I’m not feeling great,” he said, looking down at Tobe. “I’ll catch you later.”
“Eh wa-” Tobe cut off as her front door slammed and Cameron was gone. Eden watched her crestfallen gaze and nudged her.
“You OK?”
She nodded glumly. “I’m going to get a glass of water. You want one?”
“Yeah, sure,” Eden replied, wondering what the hell was going on. She turned to Mhairi as Tobe fled to the kitchen. “What was that?”
Tobe’s grandmother smirked. “Trouble in paradise perhaps?”
“I don’t think those two have got close enough to paradise yet for there to be trouble.”
“Well.” Mhairi stood to her feet. “I’ll watch the rest o’ the film later. I think I’ll retire to my bed early tonight, give you some time to do some digging and report back to me in the morning.” Eden laughed at the old woman’s nosiness. “Will do.”
A few minutes later Tobe came back in, still looking sour and annoyed. “Where’s Nana?”
“She went to bed.”
“Great, even the elderly are bored by me.”
The forlorn look on October’s face prompted Eden to ask, “OK, what the hell is going on with you and Cameron?”
Tobe’s eyes widened. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, I’m not believing that anymore.”
Making an exasperated sound, Tobe threw herself on the sofa and slapped a cushion impatiently.
“Believe me, there is absolutely nothing going on between me and Cameron.”
“Yeah but you clearly want there to be.”
“Like you and Noah perhaps.”
Eden glared at her. “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you, stop deflecting.” Eden had to hand it to her, Tobe managed to sit in silence for five whole minutes as Eden stared at her, waiting. “Oh for Christ sakes OK!” Tobe threw her hands up. “I lied before.”
“Aaboouuutt?
“Me and Cameron,” she mumbled, flicking at the tassels on the cushion, refusing to look up at her.
“I did like him. Really liked him. And I thought everything was going really well between us but then Shona
