“Let’s go stand by them.” He slid his arm around my torso and helped me down. His broad shoulders squared a path through the line until we caught up with the red-heads.
“This is so cool.” Laura squealed as we approached. “I’m part of some actual New York nightlife.”
“Too bad you’re too short to see any of it.” Lenny’s deep laugh rumbled from his chest. “Not that there’s much to see yet.”
She fluffed her loose curls. “I’m not too short to see Tony coming this way.”
Tony sauntered up to us in his signature black leather jacket. “You guys are easy to pick out of a crowd.”
“And you blend right in.” I curled my lips at the familiar, brother-like banter we shared.
“No vampire jokes.” He smiled back and tugged on his leather lapels. A blonde head peeked over his shoulder.
“Hey, Lucy.” Brooke gave me a shy grin. “I hear you’ve been busy researching in the chapel library. You can always knock on my door if you want some company. I’m a great research partner.”
“Thanks. I could definitely use some help in that department.” My heart lurched at the sincere gesture. Why couldn’t all the Guardians be like that? You’d they would want to help me find my brother. But it seemed like I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
“Great.” Her face lit up like I’d done her a huge favor. Quite the opposite, really.
A cheer erupted from the crowd as the gallery doors opened. The mob herded us into a white-walled room with shiny black floors.
Bryan rested his hand on the small of my back. Butterflies zigzagged up my spine as he led me around the gallery.
We shuffled around the front area of landscapes on one side and photography on the other. Bryan, Tony, and Lenny lingered over the landscapes. Brooke and Laura oohed and ahhed over the trick photography.
Then we hit the impressionist alcove. Each painting was a masterpiece of sheer beauty full of light and color that chinked open the dark corners of my blurry gray world. To me, they spoke volumes. Maybe there was still something in this world I could cling to—life, beauty, love. It was all still there, whether I could see it or not. Suddenly, a wave of calm washed over me until I could barely open my eyes.
“C’mon. Since we’re the only ones here not related, you’ll just have to pretend I’m your big bro.” Tony practically yanked me into the next room, where a fire-engine red wall showcased modern art. Chaos on canvas.
“You’re like five months older than me.” Still, my heart clenched at his words, wanting so badly to cling to the straw of hope he offered. I shoved his leather shoulder. “Ick, get me out of here. I don’t get any of this stuff. That one over there has some cool paint splatters, but c’mon. I could totally do that in art class.”
“With paint-filled balloons. Wouldn’t that be fun? Especially if we could throw darts at Will’s face.” Laura’s giggle echoed around the tiled room.
“Ha! I’d like to see that.” Unbidden, a jolt of electric current shot through my body, waking me up in an instant. I slid my jacket sleeve up an inch to reveal white lighting pulsing in my veins. Quickly, I shoved my sleeves down until they reached my knuckles. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to calm down.
Bryan cleared his throat. “Sorry to break up the Will-haters club, but it’s time for Felicia’s show upstairs.”
With a few more deep breaths for good measure, I followed him up the open staircase, more like a slip-and-slide for my boots. Just my luck, I’d trip and fall on my face.
“You’re such a klutz.” Lenny offered his hand and helped his sister up.
“You try being a girl in heels.” Laura gripped her flowy peasant skirt. “It’s harder than you think.”
“I’ll take your word on that.” Bryan grabbed my elbow, but his rough fingers only sent my inner butterflies into a frenzy, making my legs wobble.
At the top we stood at the back of a crowd huddled around a white curtained entrance. I peeked at my arms, but the electricity was gone. I exhaled a sigh of relief. Why were my powers surfacing out of nowhere? Maybe I should be researching Seer powers, too.
A woman in a silver dress tapped the microphone, and the murmurs silenced. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m honored to have you here for our young artist showcase. Our featured artists are all in high school and were chosen based on their originality and diversity in their subject matter. Montgomery Gallery is proud to showcase these pieces of ingenuity and imagination. Each has a story to tell, so take the time to appreciate each one.” She pulled the curtain’s tassel, and it dropped to the floor.
“Found the food.” Lenny rushed to a table covered with trays of hors d’oeuvres. He managed to balance a tower of food on one tiny plate. “What?”
“Score.” Tony rushed to fill his plate, too.
Laura rolled her eyes at them and followed me and Bryan around the room.
“There’s Felicia.” Bryan pointed to a flash of auburn surrounded by reporters with notepads. They snapped picture after picture, like strobe lights in a nightclub.
I halted in front of a collection of black and white night snapshots. Blurry neon and twinkling stars. Like she might’ve caught a glimpse of some of the weird things I’d seen since coming to Montrose. Yet there was a simple beauty in all the chaos, the way the light streaks blended into something glorious.
“Felicia’s work is fabulous.” Then I moved to her mixed media section, compositions of photo backgrounds with a poem or quote, dried flowers, and fabric overlays. A description of the materials hung on small plaques next to each work. In a
