Read Online Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon A. Thompson - Free Book Online

parents?” I finished, and they tensed. “I haven’t even had time to start researching yet.”
    “Whose fault it that?” my mother asked. “Maybe if you spent less time socializing, and more time studying, you’d be able to.”
    “But—”
    “No ‘buts’, Jessie.” She didn’t even let me speak. “We made a deal.”
    I bit my lip, avoiding their eyes. They didn’t understand. They’d never understand.
    “You get your grade up, and you can start searching.”
    “Fine,” I said, climbing my stairs to my bedroom and ending the conversation.
    Welborn was going to get it tomorrow.

 
    12

Eric
     
    My ears were ringing. Noah chewed with his mouth open, and his sticky slobber glued food to the roof of his mouth as he slurped his dinner. Across from him, Mindy filed the first layer of her nail off, and my father tapped his foot, humming. He only hummed when he was anxious. Still, he smiled at his new wife, and my stomach churned.
    How could he be so happy with a human? If it wasn’t for his wedding, the accident wouldn’t have happened, and Abby would be alive. But she wasn’t.
    “How was your day, Eric?” Mindy asked, her high-pitched voice tearing my sensitive ears like a razorblade.
    “Fine,” I said, shoveling food into my mouth to avoid a discussion. My father’s glare burned my skin, but I’d never acknowledge his human life. It was only a distraction. In fact, I often wondered if he married a human to throw off the Light, hoping they’d write him off as a human as well. But he wasn’t. And if I couldn’t deny it, he shouldn’t either.
    Noah kicked the table’s legs, shaking our dinner. “My day was amazing,” he said, spraying meatloaf across his plate. “Billy and I scared the substitute.”
    “That’s nice, Noah,” Mindy said, patting her son’s head. She hadn’t even paid attention; she was too focused on us. “You two are acting strange.”
    No. Really?
    “We’re just practicing our poker faces,” my dad said, beaming.
    As far as I had been told, we couldn’t have our meeting in the shelter. Security was breeched, and the elders weren’t risking exposure if a light decided to attack. Instead, my father was holding it in his office. We told Mindy it was a father-son poker tournament. She wouldn’t interrupt—not when we had been fighting so often.
    “We lost the last one from getting too excited,” I said, pushing my meatloaf around. “We don’t want that happening again.”
    She grinned, lighting up at the opportunity to talk to me. “I really hope you win tonight.”
    Me, too.
    The front door rattled with knocks, and then it opened. A man waltzed in, peering into the kitchen from downstairs. “Hello.”
    Mindy shot up from her chair and waved over the railing. “Hey, George. How are you doing?”
    “Great,” he said, scaling the stairs with his son behind him.
    Pierce barely resembled his human form of Jonathon Stone. Instead of pale skin, green eyes, and dark hair, Jonathon had light brown hair and eyes. He wore thick glasses, but his right eye was fogged over with a thick, white cloud. He was partially blind.
    At school, he was an artist, and he was easily picked on, but his bullies would shake if they ever saw his Dark side. He was strong, capable, and had the best endurance I’d seen from a trainee. He could easily kick any human’s ass. Too bad they would never see him like that.
    I stood from the table and shook my friend’s hand. “Hey.”
    Jonathon avoided my eye contact. I’d known him since birth, but he was never secure about his human identity. “How’s the family?” he asked.
    “Don’t force small talk,” I said, dropping my voice. “You sound like our parents.”
    He laughed. “Isn’t that a scary thought?”
    I nodded, and his telepathic thought shot through me. “You ready to talk to the elders?”
    “It’s not like I have a choice,” I said.
    Jonathon pushed his glasses up his nose, and my father waved sodas in our direction.