62. Taste of Danger
“My pizza tastes funny,” Thomas said to me through a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni.
My seven siblings and I were all sitting on the floor of my living room, blankets and pillows laid out beneath us, eating pizza in front of the TV.
Wes was sitting on my lap, chewing small bites from a plastic plate, while Felix used my thigh as his personal pillow, their eyes glued to Toy Story playing on the screen.
Despite the conversation I had with my dad over the phone earlier that day, I ended up babysitting my brothers on my own. Madoc never turned up after disappearing behind the school.
I still had his phone so I couldn’t text him to find out what happened. It was quite strange, really, and very out of character.
I might’ve been worried about him if it weren’t for some boy named Josh telling me Madoc had to leave due to an emergency and that he would give me a ride home at the end of the day instead.
This bothered me to no end, so I told Josh to beat it and asked Marta to give me a ride home instead.
Still, Ace had his other minions, and I felt eyes on me for the rest of the school day.
So, when I got home, it was nice to be alone with my brothers. Where no one was watching me. Where no one was trying to control me.
I was still mad at my dad for how he spoke to me earlier. I was so sick of people assuming what I could and could not handle without affording me even the smallest bit of trust.
Maybe going against his orders and watching my brothers on my own wasn’t the best way to prove my maturity, but I wanted everyone to see how they underestimated me. I was just as capable as anyone.
I looked at Thomas who was still glaring down at his slice of pizza. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It tastes like sour fish,” he replied. He scrunched his nose when he smelled the crust.
I frowned. Thomas was the furthest thing from a picky eater. Anything even remotely edible usually ended up in his mouth.
He once made himself violently ill because he wouldn’t stop eating worms from the garden every time he played outside.
Thomas wasn’t the only one either. All my brothers were growing like weeds and needed plenty of food to keep them going.
Thomas and Elliot were gaining on me in height and they were only eleven years old.
“Did you put veggies in the sauce?” Elliot accused. “I hate when mom puts veggies in the sauce. She thinks we can’t tell, but we can.”
Our mom sometimes blended carrots and broccoli and things of that nature into our pasta sauce or stew when she made dinner. A trick to get reluctant children to eat their vegetables.
“I ordered the pizza from Lucy’s, your favorite,” I replied. “Vegetables in the sauce aren’t even an option.” I took a big bite of my own slice and smiled to prove my point. It tasted fine to me.
Thomas made a face, dropped his slice on his plate, and shoved it away from him.
Elliot quickly followed suit.
This might’ve bothered me if it weren’t for the fact that both had already finished an entire pizza each.
“More for us, right, Wes?” I said as I grabbed another piece. I looked down at my youngest brother on
my lap who continued to chew his food happily. “You like your pizza, huh?”
Wes absently nodded in response, keeping his eyes glued to the movie. He pointed at the TV and yelled “T-Rex!” when the toy dinosaur came on the screen. I smiled.
“Can we have popcorn, Dotty?” Easton asked.
“And candy!” Thomas added, getting on his knees to look at me with puppy eyes.
After they’d arrived home from school earlier, I’d taken them to the store and let them each pick out one candy and one soda to have during the movie.
They’d already drunk their sodas with their pizza.
“Maybe we should wait a little while,” I replied. “I don’t want you guys getting sick.”
The eight of us had already finished eight whole pizzas, and Felix and Griffin were still working on the ninth with no signs of slowing down.
I truly didn’t understand how they could eat so much. Just one of them could eat more in a single meal than I could in an entire day.
“Pleaaasseee, Dotty?” Easton said, clasping his hands together and jutting out his bottom lip. “I promise we won’t get sick.”ching me. Where I laughed in disbelief, shaking my head. “I don’t understand how you guys can still be hungry. I feel like I’m about to burst.”ming what I could “Dad says we’re growing boys and that we should eat as much as we want so that we get big and strong,” Elliot told me, puffing out his little chest and showcasing a big grin.way to prove my “Shh! I can’t hear the movie!” Griffin complained, shoving his older brother.
Elliot shoved him back even harder while keeping his pleading gaze on me.
I rolled my eyes. “Dad only says that because he eats more than a starving mammoth at a feast.”
Wes giggled. “A mammoth at a feast.”
I finally gave in. “Fine. I’ll make some popcorn and grab our candy. But if any of you throw up in your beds tonight, you have to clean it up yourselves.” I sent them all warning glares.
Elliot and Thomas cheered and gave me a thumbs-up.
I lifted Wes off my lap and set off for the kitchen.
“I’m coming, Dotty!” Wes called out. He got up on his little legs and waddled after me. My heart nearly burst at how cute he looked.
Someday, I knew I was going to miss the days when he insisted on following me everywhere.
I scooped him up in my arms. “You want to help me make popcorn?”
He nodded and set his head against my shoulder.sta sauce or stew “All right then, let’s go.”
I had to give my mom credit—it was hard to get things done when you had a squirming toddler in your arms. Even a task as simple as making popcorn took twice as long.
It didn’t help that Wes refused to let me put him down and insisted on touching everything.
Once the popcorn was in the microwave, I finally pried Wes off me and set him down on the counter while we waited for it to cook.
He played with my moon necklace—a gift from Ace for my sixteenth birthday—and told me some
incoherent story about a dog (or a cat?) he saw while on a walk with our dad around the neighborhood. he TV and yelledI nodded along, barely paying attention, my thoughts somewhere else.
I hadn’t heard from Ace since our conversation at school earlier that day. I didn’t like going so long without talking to him. It made me worry.
As if on cue, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and immediately answered when
I saw who it was.
“Hey!”
“Hi, baby,” Ace replied in his deep timbre. “Fuck, it’s good to hear your voice.”
I let some of the concern dissipate from my body. Although I knew Ace was perfectly capable of l working on thehandling himself, I still couldn’t help but imagine the worst every second that I didn’t hear from him.
Especially as I knew he’d gone to confront his scary and extremely unpredictable dad.
“I’m happy to hear from you too,” I replied. “Is everything okay now? What happened with your father?”
“Everything worked out. I took care of him.”
“Did you hurt him?” I pushed. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine, baby. There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll tell you more when I get home. I’m on my way to the plane right now. I’ll be by your side again by morning.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for his vagueness. Maybe it was best if I didn’t know the details.
It couldn’t have been too bad though. Mr. Stoll might have tried to murder someone, but his son would never attempt such a thing.
“Wow, that was fast. I thought you were going to be gone for at least one more day,”
I said.
“I thought so, too, but the longer I spent with my father, the angrier I became. throw up in yourEspecially when I remembered everything he did to you. He’s lucky I made our meeting quick.”
Wes shifted against me. I looked down at him to find him yawning.
I patted his back to wake him up. He had the habit of falling asleep before his bedtime, then would struggle to sleep through the night or wake up extremely early in the morning.
It was only six o’clock. I needed him to stay awake for at least a few more hours.
I sighed. “How’s your cousin?”
“He…he’s been better,” Ace replied. “But it has nothing to do with my father’s attempt to murder
him.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Wes’s eyes drifted shut. I hoisted him onto my hip and began bouncing him. Wes whined. g toddler in your“The love of his life is missing.” Ace’s voice became deeper, almost as if he were speaking a warning.
“Ran away from him.”
“Did he deserve it?”
Ace hesitated. “It’s complicated.”
“Sounds to me like he definitely deserved it.”
“It’s more complicated than you think, Doe,” Ace repeated.
“All I know is, if you ever ran away from me like that, I wouldn’t be able to function until you were by my side again. I wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t do anything until you were found.”
I laughed. He sounded ridiculous.
“Then you’d better not do anything stupid enough to make me run from you.”
A quiet growl came through the phone. “It’s not always that simple. I wish it were.”
The microwave timer beeped behind me, letting me know our popcorn was done.
Wes cried at the sound.
“You have to stay awake, Wes,” I whispered to my brother as I walked to the microwave, continuing to bounce him on my hip. “You can’t fall asleep yet.”
“Hold on,” Ace said. “Your parents left.” It wasn’t a question.
Shit. “How do you know that?” Pressing the phone between my shoulder and ear with one arm still around Wes, I pulled the bag from the microwave and grabbed a big bowl from the cabinet.
“Your dad texted me earlier. I’m just getting to look at my phone now…” He trailed off for a second.
“He said you would tell Madoc to stay with you but…” Another pause. “Doe, are you by yourself?”
My head dropped. Of course everyone texted Ace and told him everything.
I was already so done with this conversation. I nearly hung up on him then and there. e. I’m on my way “No, I’m not alone,” I grumbled. “I’m with my brothers.” I put the bag of popcorn into the bowl, grabbed some napkins, and started to make my way back to the living room.
I sighed when I noticed that Wes was now completely passed out in my arms. We couldn’t get the kid to take a freaking nap but falling asleep in my arms at inopportune times he was able to do.
“You and I both know that’s not what I meant,” Ace replied in a curt tone. “You might be taking care of your brothers, but who the hell is taking care of you?”
“I’m taking care of myself—” I came to an abrupt halt when I entered the living room and took in the sight before me.
All my brothers were dead asleep on the living room floor. Some still had pizza in their hands, their mouths open mid-bite, as the movie continued to play on the TV.
“What?” I murmured.
“What?” Ace demanded in my ear. “What happened?”
I laid Wes down on the couch and put the bowl of popcorn next to him. Then I bent down and shook Felix’s arm. “Felix, wake up. It’s not bedtime yet. You didn’t even finish your movie.”
He didn’t even shift, completely dead to the world.
I straightened. “All my brothers fell asleep,” I said to Ace. “I left for a few minutes to make popcorn
and they…they’re all asleep now.”
“What did they eat?” Ace asked.
“Pizza. I ordered pizza from Lucy’s. And soda. I didn’t give them anything else.”
I tried waking Thomas next, nudging him with my foot. His eyes remained shut.
“Fuck,” Ace hissed. “Fuck!”
I tugged my eyebrows together. “What?”
“Doe, I need you to listen to me. Your brothers were poisoned. They’re coming for you next. You need to get out of the house. Right now.”
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