Origin (Lux #4)(101)

There were a few nods. Ash still looked like we’d lost our damn minds, but Dawson tugged her out of the SUV. “I need you to do something big for me, okay? A huge favor,” he said.

Ash nodded seriously. “What?”

“I need you to stay with Beth. Keep her out of the way and safe if anything starts to go wrong. Can you do that for me? She’s my life. If anything happens to her, it happens to me. You understand?”

“Of course I can,” Ash said, taking a deep breath. “I can keep her out of trouble while you guys run around glowing like a bunch of fireflies.”

Beth scowled. “I can help, Dawson. I’m not—”

“I know you can help, baby.” He placed his hands on her cheeks. “I don’t think you’re weak, but I need you to be careful.”

She looked like she was about to argue, and I was starting to get antsy and feel bad for my brother. God knew I’d spent way too much time arguing with Kat about not running in front of a firing squad. Speaking of which…

“Don’t even say it,” Kat said without looking at me.

I chuckled. “You know me too well, Kitten.”

Beth relented and was handed off to Ash. Thank God, because people were starting to follow our trend, getting out of their cars and milling around. Some guy opened a can of beer and plopped down on the hood of his car, watching dusk deepen into a dark blue. I could go for a beer right about now.

“Ready?” I said to Andrew.

Andrew cracked his neck. “This is going to be awesome.”

“Please be careful,” Ash pleaded.

He nodded. “I’m cool.” Then he swaggered past where I stood. “Cause a scene? Got it.”

Turning around, I felt the need to hold my breath. There was no going back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ash usher Beth through the backed-up lane and to the median. They stopped under a cluster of palm trees.

“Stay close to me,” I told Kat.

She nodded as she watched Andrew easily navigating the cars. “Not going anywhere.” Pausing, she bit down on her lower lip. “I almost can’t believe you guys are going to do this.”

“Me neither.”

Kat looked at me, and then she laughed. “Are you having second thoughts?”

I grinned wryly. “A little late for that.”

And it was. Andrew stepped up on the sidewalk, heading toward a ginormous pirate ship. Dozens of people were behind him. Many of them had cameras hanging from around their necks. Perfect.

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Kat asked, still nibbling on her lower lip.

I had to give it to her. She was trying so hard to be brave, but I could see her hands shaking and the way she kept glancing up toward the bend, where Daedalus would surely be making their way toward us. She was strong, and I was constantly in awe of her.

“How do you say it?” I said, drawing her attention. “He’s going to go all Lite-Brite on us.”

Her eyes lit up. “This should be fun.”

Andrew hopped up on the retaining wall of the pool the boat was rigged over. I tensed as several of the humans turned to him. It seemed like time froze for a full minute, and then, with that shit-eating grin on his face, Andrew spread out his arms.

The edges of his body blurred.

I heard Kat’s sharp inhale.

No one noticed the minute difference at first, but then the haze shifted over Andrew’s white shirt and down the rest of his body.

A low murmur rose from the crowd.

Then Andrew faded out. Gone. Poof.

Shouts of surprise were a crescendo, a symphony of excited squeals and sounds of confusion. Motorists gawked from inside their cars. People stopped mid-step on the crowded sidewalk, creating a domino effect.

Andrew reappeared in his true form. Nearly six and a half feet, his body shone brighter than any star in the sky or light on the Strip. A pure white light with edges tinged in blue. His light was like a beacon, forcing everyone and anyone on the street to look at him.

Silence.

Man, it was so quiet you could hear a grasshopper karate chop a fly.

And then thunderous applause drowned out my expletive. Andrew was up there, standing in front of a damn pirate ship, glowing like someone shoved a nuclear weapon up his ass, and people were cheering?

Paris chuckled as he stepped up beside me. “Guess they’ve seen weirder stuff on the streets of Vegas.”

Huh. He had a good point.

Soft flashes of light from cameras flickered all through the crowd. Andrew, who apparently was a showman at heart, bowed and then straightened. He did a little jig.

I rolled my eyes. Seriously?

“Wow,” Kat said, her arms falling to her sides. “He didn’t just do that.”

“Time for me to join the fun,” Paris said, striding forward. He made it to the car in the next lane, a red BMW driven by a middle-age man, and then slipped into his true form.

The man jumped out of his car, shuffling backward. “What the…?” he said, staring at Paris. “What the hell is going on?”

In his true form, Paris drifted among the cars, heading toward the crowd gathered in front of the pirate ship and Andrew. He stopped just short, and his light pulsed once, bright and intense. A wave of heat blew off him, forcing several of the gawkers to take a hurried step back.

Dee hopped up on one of the cars several feet back and stood tall and straight, the slight breeze picking up her long hair, tossing it around her face. Within seconds, she was in her true form.