Read Online The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) by Tara Brown - Free Book Online

with a glimmer of light in them.”
    I
nod, “I know. They’re crazy.”
    “I
want to touch you.”
    I
smile, “This family could be home at any second. Trust me, hide and seek with
glowing eyes is not easy.” I turn and walk towards the stairs I know he can’t
see. “Besides, I don’t want you to touch me.”
    I
dash to the shower, jumping in and rinsing the sand and salt from my body. He
gets in with me. When I’m clean, I jump out, “I’ve never been naked this much
in front of anyone, except Willow. She’s always naked. Huge fan of nakedness.”
    “I
can see that.” I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see him
past the shower curtain. “I’ve always been around nakedness. Sports teams are
brutal.”
    I
wrap in the towel, “How old are you?”
    He
doesn’t answer right away. “Old, hundreds of years old, I think. It’s taken me
ages to get to this age. Apparently, the angel blood will freeze it here. I’m
fully grown, so I won’t age anymore. Not like my mom and Fitz, who are older
now, hundreds of years later. I did the majority of my growing recently. I was
stuck in a ten-year old’s body forever. Then I hit
that puberty stage about a decade ago. I got to go to normal school. I guess
it’s common for my family. But mom said Maggie has stayed at the ten year old
level for a shorter amount of time. Apparently she is about to bloom.” He turns
off the shower and pulls back the curtain, “We stay
young for a long time, innocent. When we hit puberty, we age normally for a
decade and then it slows down again. For me it’s stopped.”
    I
pass him a towel, fully staring at his naked body. He is like a sculpture,
perfect and chiseled. His body is artwork. It makes me think things that are
not quite pure. I have to turn away before I touch him, hurting myself.
    I
nod, “I’ve aged normally all five of my lives, I think if I was let to live, I
would be like you. I would stop aging when I was done developing. I always die
though.”
    It
stings a little to say that.
    I
walk from the bathroom before he can try dosing me in pity. I don’t want it.
The house belongs to people a little older than us, by the clothes. I pull on
two pairs of yoga pants, a Henley and a sweater, and thick wooly socks.
    I
pick him out a pair of thick jogging pants, a tee shirt, and a hoodie. He pulls
it on and we head for the kitchen. I grab a yogurt cup from the fridge and pass
it to him. He eats it fast. We raid their fridge for several minutes. Eating in silence and staring at the wall.
    “Is
this how you live when you’re on the run?”
    I
nod.
    “That’s
sad, Rayne.”
    I
nod again.
    He
grabs my arm, turning me to face him, “Never run from me again, I’ll take care
of you.”
    I
smile, pulling my arm from his grip to stop the sickness. “Don’t smack me
around, lie to me, or let your mom break my arms and we have a deal.”
    He
looks serious, “How many times, Rayne?”
    I
smile, “One more.”
    He
steps closer, smelling like cherry yogurt and orange juice. He runs a hand down
my cheek, making me almost gag. “I have never been more sorry for anything in
my life. I hate myself and who I am for ever hurting you or betraying you.”
    I
smile up at him, “Nope, still gonna be one more.”
    He
laughs, “You’re a shit.”
    I
nod, “I know it.” I walk past him, stealing mail from the fridge.
    “You
steal their mail too?”
    “And
their car. I have to have a way to send them money.” I open the shoe closet and
pull on a pair of sneakers. I pass him a pair.
    We
shrug on coats and walk out into the cold winter air. He starts the car in the
driveway and we leave for Salem. It is only a few miles from where we were.
    He
parks it and we walk in the dark. I notice suddenly, now that we’re in a busy
area, how bad things are. Windows are broken in stores, houses are burned out
and charred, cars are smashed and looted.
    “It’s
like hell on earth.” I whisper.
    He
steps closer to me as we walk in