Long Way Down (Calloway Sisters 4)

I pull out her costume, something navy blue, silver, red, and a winged helmet.

She continues reading. “‘Lil said you should be something cool since you’re the coolest girl she’s ever met or whatever. I thought you should be something flighty because you’re all over the goddamn place. We decided on Thor—the girl Thor, which is a real thing in Marvel.’” She bounces on her toes, fucking excited.

It makes me happy seeing her this upbeat.

“‘P.S.,’” she reads, “‘don’t abuse the hammer.’” She gasps at me. “There’s a hammer?”

I toss her the plastic weapon that has a rubber band on the other end. So when she tosses it, it’ll swing back towards her body. “Don’t fucking hurt yourself,” I say.

“I won’t.” She doesn’t test it out yet. She waits and looks at my letter. “What’s yours?”

Thing is, most years I dress as Green Arrow because I always forget to put together a new costume. Lo absolutely despises it, so he won’t waste this opportunity to make me wear something different.

I read his letter. “‘To the brother who’s not the bastard.’—Fucking hilarious, Lo,” I mutter and shake my head. “‘I thought about making you Luke Skywalker since you have such daddy issues…’” I roll my eyes. “‘…but I can’t imagine you in a white robe. Anyway, you have a scar on your eyebrow, which makes you look more like Anakin. Just know, I could’ve made you a bottle of mustard or a banana, so be happy about it.’”

Daisy takes out my costume, a blackish-brown robe, tunic, and pants from Star Wars with a plastic lightsaber. It’ll be the nerdiest fucking costume I’ve ever worn, but I’d wear it for Lo. I’d actually wear just about anything for him.

I glance down at the letter and silently read the last line.

P.S.

I don’t think you’re the villain, even if Anakin is.

RYKE MEADOWS

“Mother of dragons!” Lo shouts at the Cobalt’s house, all of us waiting outside for Connor and Rose. The limo parked by the fountain. I’ve known them for too many fucking years, and I can count on my hand the number of times they’ve been late to anything.

I try to call them again, but there’s no answer. I’ll be fucking worried when they go on ten minutes late. We’re only at four right now.

“You stoleth thy lightsaber, you pesky fairy.” Daisy outstretches her hammer towards Lily, who’s dressed as Tinker Bell this year.

Lo is a disgruntled, peeved Peter Pan. “MOTHER OF FUCKING DRAGONS!” he yells at a quiet house.

I gave my lightsaber to Lily, both girls bored waiting, and Lily, all gangly limbs in a green tutu dress with wings, whips the blue plastic beam towards Daisy. “Prepare to meet thy doom, Thor.” They battle with huge smiles, her lightsaber hitting Daisy’s hammer.

Lo sighs heavily, crossing his arms and leaning against the limo like me. “Should I be prepared for you to be naked by the end of the night?” I’ve given away more than just my lightsaber in the past four minutes.

Daisy wears my robe, the long fabric dusting the ground as she fences with Lily.

“She was cold,” I tell him, but his gaze has already drifted to our sister, who stands by the trunk of the limo with Garrison, his laptop popped open. She points at the screen and he nods, explaining something to her out of earshot.

I remember that Lily told me out of all the Superheroes & Scones employees, Garrison won the “make your own superhero” contest for the Fourth Degree comics. The artist and creators of the comic universe chose his concept: an anti-hero named Sorin X with teleportation powers linked to the proximity of the girl he loves. He can’t teleport more than four miles away from her. And he’s a recovering alcoholic.

Sounded a lot like Lo made an impact on Garrison. In some way. Some form. Enough to create a fucking superhero out of him.

Lo leans closer to me and says in a hushed voice, “Apparently this is Willow’s first Halloween party, the kind that doesn’t involve carnival games. It’s really not her thing, so if she looks ready to bail, I think we should all just leave early.”

I nod, agreeing. She’s dressed as an angel in a knee-length white dress and matching wings, a circular gold wreath on her head. Garrison stands opposite in red slacks, a red T-shirt, and a red-horned headband on his dark brown hair.

I still can’t believe my brother gave them couple costumes.

“Devil!” Lo shouts at our sister’s boyfriend.

Garrison pries his eyes from the computer, and Willow pushes her glasses up.

“You know what happens when an angel and a devil create a bodily union?” Okay, now I fucking get it. “The apocalypse. Do the right thing and don’t end the world tonight.”

“That’s definitely not how that works,” Garrison says dryly.

Lo looks to me. “Do you hear this guy?”

“Yeah. I guess he doesn’t understand the fucking meaning of apocalypse. Want to spell it out for him?”

Garrison crosses his arms with a look like you too?

She’s my sister. I fucking care about her having a good time. No pressure to drink, to dance, to fuck, to do anything that she doesn’t want to do.

Problem with Garrison is that he’s too sarcastic to get a good read on. Whether he respects her hesitations, I have no fucking clue. Deep down, I want to think the best of people, but I’m not fucking naïve either.

“Apocalypse,” Lo says, “also know as the end of your godforsaken, puny little life by the powers that be.”

“Also known as me,” I chime in.

“And me,” Lo finishes with a half-smile. “Welcome to hell.”

“I’ve seen scarier,” Garrison says flatly.

My brows jump in surprise. Besides my father and my brother, I’ve never seen anyone as spiteful and sharp-tongued. “Who?” I ask.

“My brothers.” Garrison closes off at that, returning to his computer. I don’t bother him because I know what he’s doing on there. Something for Daisy.

Lo watches him for a moment or two longer, and I check the phone. “They’re ten fucking minutes late now.”

Right when I say it, the door swings open. Rose struts out first in a long, light-blue draped dress with a gold belt, along with a platinum blonde wig.

I’ve seen episodes of Game of Thrones with Lo to figure out that she’s Danaerys. Also known as the Mother of Dragons.

“Finally,” Lo huffs.

I open the limo door, and Lily and Daisy are the first to climb inside, their cheeks reddened from the cold and bouncing around. Garrison and Willow slip into the limo next, his laptop still opened.

“You realize it’s my birthday?” Lo asks her as she approaches us, her fiery attitude enhanced with penetrating yellow-green eyes.

“Sorry,” she actually apologizes, almost unrecognizable with the platinum hair. “Connor will be out in another minute.”

I stare at her a little fucking longer than usual. Always shocked when she changes her appearance, even slightly. I’m used to Rose being in high-collared black dresses. Any deviation usually throws me the fuck off. Like being whiplashed.

Lo smacks the back of my head, reprimanding me. I’m not checking her out in a sexual way—for fuck’s sake.

I shove his arm lightly.

“What?” she asks me, scanning my wardrobe from head to toe. I don’t think she knows what I’m supposed to be. At least not without my lightsaber, but she doesn’t question it.

“What took you so fucking long?” I ask.

“Things.” She collects her platinum hair on one shoulder and then lowers her voice. “How’s Daisy?”

“Happy.”

Her lips twitch upward.

Lo grimaces. “It smiles.”

Rose glares and scrutinizes his traditional Peter Pan costume. “I hope your tights give you a wedgie.”

“I hope your hair falls out.”

“I hope this conversation fucking ends,” I chime in.

Rose looks between the t

wo of us, hands on her hips. “Let’s make a pact. If anyone hassles our sisters tonight, we confront them and handle it with necessary means, according to how antagonistic they are towards us.” She lifts up her dress.

“Whoa whoa,” Lo says. “Jesus, Rose, no one wants to—oh.”

She has a knife strapped to her thigh.

“What, you plan on fucking shanking someone tonight?” I’m suddenly worried. Uneasy. Concerned. All of the fucking above. She’s clearly scared about a public outing. We all haven’t taken one together in a long time, not like this. We’re headed to the Hamptons where some famous singer invited us to her Halloween party, and our bodyguards have to stay outside her mansion.

Price included. After our wedding and helping Daisy reach the hospital in Lima, I’ve trusted him a lot more. I still don’t know why Greg would hire someone that young, but I don’t think Price is going to fuck us over.

“I plan on being resourceful and cautious.” She raises her chin. “I also have a taser.”

“Where?” Lo cringes. “Actually, I don’t want to know.”

“You’re telling me that you don’t have a knife?” Rose rebuts.

She has a point. I lift up my blackish-brown pants that are tucked into my boot. My brother and Rose can see the hilt of my knife. I usually always carry it around, especially after the crazed fucking media.

“Jesus Christ,” Lo curses. “Am I the only one not armed?”

I don’t say it out loud, but his words are basically a weapon.

“Do we have a pact?” Rose asks. “Keep an eye on them and proceed with action.”