A Whispered Darkness by Vanessa Barger Page A

on her wild-child ways.”
    “My house?” I pushed at his chest. “What has it got to do with the house?”
    He rolled his eyes. “That’s what you’re focused on?”
    “Answer my question.”
    “She lived here. They moved right after they buried her. Couldn’t stand to be so close to the boy who killed her.”
    “You say it like you think he did. You live pretty close too, you know.”
    Bryan’s hand closed over my wrist, hard. I winced, and he relaxed his grip. But only a bit. “You don’t know anything about us. Don’t ever compare me to my cousin.”
    “He’s your cousin?” I stared.
    “Yes. And I know him better than you think I do.”
    “I know enough about both of you,” I said. “And what I know about you isn’t turning out to be very flattering.” With a tug, I yanked my hand out of his grasp. “Now leave me alone. I’ve got things to do.”
    “You’ll live to regret this.”
    I recoiled. “Are you threatening me?”
    He blinked. For a second, he almost sounded like someone else. “Of course not. I’m trying to be a good friend and give you fair warning.”
    “Get the hell off my porch, Bryan. You are not my friend.”
    He turned away and marched down the porch, his face flushed red, chest heaving with the effort to control himself. I wondered how often he lost the battle. My knees turned to jelly and I sat down hard on the front steps. My hands shook with delayed adrenaline. I wrapped my arms across my chest, the conversation playing again in my head.
    He disappeared around the corner of the house and into the darkening woods. After a few minutes, I heard the screen door open and close as Grant emerged and sat down beside me.
    “You okay?”
    “How much of that did you hear?”
    He shrugged. “He wasn’t exactly quiet.”
    “Great.” I dropped my forehead to my knees.
    “You’re scared of him.” My brother slid a hand over my shoulder and tugged me back into a sitting position. “Aren’t you?”
    “Yes. No.” I inhaled deep and released it in a steady stream. “I don’t know. He’s so intense one minute and then the next it’s gone. Maybe I’m imagining things.”
    Grant snorted. “That’s what he does. Confuse people. There’s a reason everyone gives in to Bryan. He’s hiding something.”
    “They give in to him because his parents own half the town. Any secrets are irrelevant. He’s got money and enough friends to make him invincible. Unlike you or I. Outside of that, I don’t know what to think of him. Every time I make up my mind, he does something off.”
    “What about reading his mind?”
    “I’m tempted, I admit. But it doesn’t always work. And what if it overwhelms me?” My stomach twisted. “Worse, what if I don’t like what I find?”
    Grant stared out into the darkening twilight. “Better to know it now, rather than later, don’t you think?”
    I shrugged.
    “Try from a distance. Maybe the separation will make it easier.”
    I wanted to protest, but he had a point. I was home, should the worst happen. For the last year, I’d hidden from myself. Now was as good a time as any to try again. After a few deep breaths, I opened my mind and stretched, searching for Bryan. In my mind’s eye, each person appeared as a point of bright light. For a second, I was startled to see the house had a strange glow about it as well. It pulsed, a strange greenish glow like a half-spent glow stick. I didn’t touch it, afraid of what I would find. The girl earlier had been enough of the house for one night. Instead, I pushed it aside to examine later and reached out for the fading light that was Bryan. He was little more than a whisper now, and growing fainter. There was less emotion than I thought. Disappointment, frustration, and a running diatribe about girls being corrupted by Haven’s charms. A few more seconds, and he faded from my range completely.
    “Well?” Grant asked.
    I blinked until he came back into focus and I was certain the shutters were