Page 12 of Where We Ended

Just then the splash of water had my head lifting. Two bulbous eyes stared at me from just above the surface. The frog was massive, and all I had to do was slowly reach forward and wrap my hands around him, then ease him into my bucket.

I started sliding on my belly, slivers from the worn dock slid into the skin of my stomach from where my shirt rode up. I didn’t care, this frog was mine.

My hands were nearly in the water when suddenly someone plopped down next to me, their face an inch from mine, hands dangling in the water.

“How many frogs you catch so far?”

The frog swam away, leaving ripples in its wake.

“You scared it!” I shrieked, slapping my hands against the dock.

I slid my hands under me and pushed up right as the person next to me did the same, and I came face to face with a boy my age. My brows caved in as I took in his familiar nose and hair, his jaw shape and even his lanky body. He looked like he could be Silas’s twin.

“Who are you?”

His eyes were a different shade of blue. Where Silas’s were light, like water found on the moon, this boy had gray ones, like thunder clouds stuffed inside glass.

“I’m Alec.” He smirked, then dropped his gaze to my hands. “And you’re Artie.”

My confusion only worsened. “Artie?”

He ruffled his jet-black hair, which was shorter than Silas’s. “Yeah, for Artemis.”

“My name isn’t Artie or Artemis.”

He stared at me like I was clueless, or should have figured it out already. “You’re a huntress.”

My hands found my hips as I opened my mouth to argue with him giving me such a lame nickname, when Alec was suddenly shoved off the dock. A loud splash followed as Silas stood there on the edge, his chest heaving. His glare was stark as he stared at the water where Alec finally emerged, coughing.

Between breaths, he managed to yell, “What the heck, Silas?”

I glanced between the two, still shocked by their similarities.

“Her name is Natty. Not Artemis, not Artie. Just Natty…and you’re not allowed to talk to her.”

Rolling my eyes, I let out a sigh and leaned down to help Alec out of the water.

“Silas, I’m not your toy. I’m like your foster sister.”

Silas turned quickly, snapping at me. “You’re not my sister.”

It hurt when Silas acted like I wasn’t his sister. I’d been living with him since I was seven, sleeping on his floor in a small sleeping bag. I was like his sister, he just never wanted to admit it. I wasn’t sure why he was always so overprotective when it came to me.

Alec was nearly to where my outstretched hand was when Silas moved again, but this time he pulled the belt loop of my jeans. I assumed it was so I didn’t fall but as soon as Alec got to the ladder, Silas hauled me back so I was behind him and away from Alec.

Sopping wet, Alec climbed out of the water, and swiped at his face. Those gray—blue eyes on fire as he stepped toward Silas. He was taller and had more muscle, but Silas didn’t step back. He didn’t wince or flinch. He didn’t seem afraid at all.

“I don’t want your little hunter, Brother. I only wanted to come say hello. Dad’s here, he wants you to come back to the club. He’s taking you with him for a few months.”

I looked between the two, confused and cautious. Silas had a brother?

He was leaving again, and this person…his brother, had been going with him each time?

He’d never told me.

Never once mentioned it in all the different times we’d talked after his trips.

Alec shoulder-checked Silas on his way back to land, giving me one last glance.