Ward's Castle

HENDRIX

I replaythe video Colin sent me again. A man. Holding Lila’s hand. She’s smiling. I make a voice note and send it to Colin. “Look up all the girls-only colleges. Lila will attend one of those.”

There’s a loud cough behind me. When I turn, Colin is standing next to a pissed-off Lila. Her arms are folded across her chest. Her lips are pursed into a mean frown.

“I’ll go where I want to go, and I told you, I’m not going to college in the fall. I’m taking the year off to be with Beau. Where is he, by the way?”

“Lila! Lila! Lila!” The five-year-old boy comes hurtling into the room to throw himself against his sister’s legs. “Look! I caught a snake in the garden!”

He thrusts a small, wriggling green reptile into Lila’s face. She squeaks and falls backward. Colin catches her, and that strange possessive feeling that surfaces whenever Lila is around roars to life. In two strides, I’m by her side, ripping her out of Colin’s arms and setting her out of his reach.

“Get out,” I order in a low, angry voice.

Colin’s eyes widen, flickering from me to Lila and then back again. “You need to be careful,” he replies.

“That’s a warning you should apply to yourself,” I bite back.

“Are you scared of snakes, Lila?” Beau asks, his voice shaky. Kid’s on the verge of tears. I don’t have time to deal with Colin.

I kneel down to a crestfallen Beau and pluck the snake out of his fist. “Garden snakes belong in the garden. Lila was probably surprised to see one inside the house.”

“Yes.” She clears her throat and takes a tentative step forward. “I wasn’t expecting to see any snakes. Just you, Beau, honey. I’ve missed you.” She bends down and opens her arms wide.

Beau charges forward and clutches her neck. “I missed you too, Lila. I don’t know why you had to go away. It wasn’t any fun around here.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” she replies, sending me a dark glare over the top of Beau’s head. Colin takes the snake from me and slips out of the room. I probably don’t pay him enough.

“Don’t leave me again, ‘kay?” Beau demands.

“Lila is attending college, Beau, but as you are older now, you can visit.”

“No!” He stamps his foot. “Lila is staying with me now.” He clasps her hand possessively in his.

Lila closes her fingers around the small boy’s hand and nods in smug agreement. “That’s right. I’m staying here. You can’t separate us anymore.”

“Yeah, no separating,” repeats Beau.

I can already see how it’s going to be. “Ganging up on me, are you? Put away your eye lasers, Beau. Lila is home for the summer. Why don’t you show Lila her room?”

“Yay!” Beau tugs on Lila’s arm. “We decorated for you. I helped pick it out. It would’ve had more superpower energy, but Drix said no.”

“Drix?”

“Yeah. That’s what his buddies call him, and I’m Drix’s best bud.” Beau puffs out his tiny chest and thumps his fist over his heart. “I gotta keep him in line. That’s what Colin says.”

Lila gives him a warm squeeze around the shoulders. “Lead the way, then.”

“It’s not pink. Drix said that pink is too boring. I liked red and blue because that’s the Spiderman colors, and I’m going to be Spiderman when I grow up.”

“Red and blue?” Lila repeats faintly. I don’t think she wants to sleep under a spiderweb of primary colors.

“Yeah, but Drix said that Spiderman isn’t very relaxing and bedrooms are for relaxing even though I have a racecar bed and sleep fine. Racing isn’t relaxing. It’s exciting. I’m going to race cars when I grow up. Formula 1 cars, not the ordinary race cars.”

“I’m intrigued, Beau. What did you finally decide?”

“You’ll see.” He half hops, half skips forward.

Lila towers over him. At sixteen, she seemed slight and small, but during the two years away at boarding school, she’s grown. It’s hard to remember her as the waif I found in the basement boiler room. Her cheeks are plump and rosy, and the rest of her—I slam the door shut on those thoughts. Lila is my eighteen-year-old ward who will be sent off to an all-girls college as soon as I can manage it.