AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

25| SHOWER STEAM AND COMPUTER SCREENS

     By the time Reed had arrived back home, it was already six in the evening. Callas waited to have dinner with him, knowing he'd want to talk about how her day was. Anya had placed the plates on the table and walked out to sit in the living room with Silas, the TV murmuring quietly. Callas knew she would have to lie and only mention that she hung out with the boys at the beach, and try to avoid the topic of the Wight—if that's what he even was. By the looks on the boys faces, when they were in the truck, and the direction they were all looking at, she could only assume that there was a possibility that he was real. Even when that possibility was probably only a one percent chance. Silas and Anya had asked about her cuts when she had walked back downstairs, after laying on her bed for a while, but she told them that she had just fell, it was a lot easier to explain that than the truth was.

     They had already eaten dinner, so Reed and Callas were the only ones who would be eating, at least it would give them time to talk to one another—maybe Callas would get some answers about Henry and how he was doing, or if Reed had anything he was able to tell her about what really happened. After all, Henry didn't go into a lot of detail at the hospital. Reed looked drained, physically and mentally. He ran his hand through his hair before dragging it down his face, letting out a deep sigh. He blinked quickly, as if he was falling asleep, and picked up his knife and fork, cutting into his steak. Callas ate slowly while watching him carefully, her eyes locked on his face to see if she was able to read how he was feeling. Reed paused, no longer chewing, and turned his gaze to his sister, furrowing his eyebrows.

     "Do I have something on my face?" He questioned, trying not to show the food in his mouth.

     "No." She shook her head.

     "Then why are you staring at me like I'm going to tell you the meaning of life?"

     "I'm not," she defended.

     Reed's shoulders dropped in exhaustion. "Cal. I'm your brother, I know when you want to say something."

     She shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

     "Yes, you do."

     "Nope." She looked away from him and to her plate, stabbing a parsnip with her fork. Reed put his knife and fork down, swallowing his food before giving her his full attention.

     "Cal," he spoke softly, placing his hand on hers. "You can talk to me. You know that, right?"

     She let out a sigh. "How's work?"

     "Don't change the subject."

     "I'm not, I want to know how your work is, maybe it will help me try to understand why you look like you've been working for a decade without sleeping."

     Reed took his hand away from hers, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's your friend's case. That's all I'm allowed to say."

     "Do you know who the man was?"

     Reed tilted his head. "Huh?"

     "The man they brought in with Henry. The twenty-year-old."

     "How did you know about that?"

     Callas paused. She wasn't meant to have eavesdropped on him while he was on a work call, who knew what type of trouble she could have got into of Reed found out. She had to think of something. "The newspaper," she said quickly. "The one Gramps was reading, it said a man was brought in."

     He watched her carefully. "Right." He nodded, shaking his head as if he was trying to convince himself of something. Of what? Callas wasn't so sure. "I read that this morning, they got a few things wrong, but yeah..." Reed trailed off. "We haven't found any I.D. on him, so it's going to take a while—"