Little Green Stars

Chapter 35-Ties

Jin's car revs to life. The quick, sudden forward motion feels like the jolt at the beginning of a roller coaster, causing my stomach to drop.

"It's 8:12," Malcolm announces.

"So we have about four hours until Red Lady comes," Jin says.

"Who is this Red Lady you speak of?" Malcolm asks, interested.

"That's just what we call my inner demon."

"Very clever, but, well, I fear we may only have an hour or less before we run into complications."

"I'm sorry, but what OTHER complications are we going to have beside me turning into a murderous demon?"

"Your sister," Jin adds.

Typical. Maeve is always my number one problem. "Tell me something I don't know," I snark back, grabbing my head.

"You okay?" Jin asks, reaching his hand over to squeeze my knee.

Tingles run up my leg, if I hadn't known better I'd think the tingles were just more symptoms of my sickness—whatever the hell it is—but I know it's because I freaking like Jin A LOT.

"Fine," I say, the tingles making me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"That hypnosis will only last thirty minutes, and after that, I fear that the health care worker will report your escape to the hospital staff who will then contact your guardian," Malcolm chimes back.

"Damnit," I say, irritated. "She'll know exactly where I ran off to."

"Which doesn't leave us much time," Malcolm continues.

"It doesn't leave much time for what exactly?" Jin asks.

"I'm sorry? You guys do have a plan, right?"

I painfully turn to look from Jin to Malcolm, only to see that oh shit look on both of their faces.

"What's the damn plan!" I demand.

"The thing is..." Jin says as I stare him down. "Malcolm?" Jin defers to him.

"Yes, of course, I have a plan—I have several plans! It will be intriguing to see if I can get one to unfold."

You've got to be kidding me. "I thought you were Master Malcolm, whatever! Are you seriously telling me you don't know what to do? YOU DID THIS TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! You really are Master Bullshit—"

"How dare you! I have my Doctorate in Astrology, and I coined a world-renowned hypnosis technique that you two just had the pleasure of witnessing for FREE! I've spent over a decade making theories on how to reverse Red Velvet Theory. I just never planned on having to!"

I watch as a perturbed Malcolm huffs and puffs, ripping off the doctor scrubs off.

Oh, my God. He's such a big baby. Apparently, being dramatic is genetic.

"The good news is that my parents are out of the house," Jin says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well done, my lad!" Malcolm says.

"How'd you manage that?" I ask.

"I figured we better not stay in a house that had just been broken into. You know, in case the intruder comes back for something they forgot."

I smile back at Jin. He's getting good at this whole undercover thing we got going on. "Genius."

"My parents are at a hotel, and they think I'm staying at my new best friend Maverick's house," Jin says with a wink—and it's a pretty damn cute wink.

I'd wink back too, but my skin feels like it's burning again, causing me to rub and itch my skin.

"She's getting worse," Jin says back to Malcolm.

"My prediction was that she would stabilize by now," Malcolm says, sounding only slightly concerned.

"You guys were prediction things without me?" I low key feel left out.

"Well, she's not!" Jin demands. "Malcolm thinks you're getting sick because of the renovations on the house. Remember your mom's letter?"

I think back to the memory of the hospital bed from when I was little and what my Mom's letter said. It oddly makes sense!

"Vel's soul is intrinsically tied to HillCrest House. Any time there is a disturbance to the home, Vel is physically affected. So, when a new owner moved in and began renovations, it caused the onset of symptoms. We are just lucky that no major renovations have occurred yet. Imagine what would happen if a wall was removed!"

"So far, all my parents have removed the old wallpaper and pulled up the kitchen flooring."

"Hence Vel's skin irritation, high fever, and stomach pains."

"If they aren't currently working, then why is she still getting sick?" Jin asks as I sit and listen to what is somehow a real-life conversation.

"Well, the damage is still there, left unrepaired," Malcolm says quietly as if thinking. "But I fear fixing the damage won't be enough. The real question is, how do we ensure the house remains untouched moving forward?"

"Meaning, how do we stop my parents from renovating a home they bought specifically to renovate?" Jin asks, knowing the answer.

"You can't," I say quietly as the revelation hits me.

"Well, obviously, we aren't just giving up!" Jin demands.

"Red Lady is already trying to do something about it..." I say quietly.

I glance over to stare at Jin's dumb, cute face. I realize that there's no win-win in this situation. Either I'm going to kill Jin's family, or I'm going to die.

"There must be another way!" Jin demands, having the same realization as me.

"Convince your parents to move?" I say.

"They wouldn't. They sunk all their money into that house..."

"Well," Malcolm interrupts. "I might have an idea..." Malcolm draws out his words all dramatically.

"WHAT!" I demand.

"I can't explain...not yet."

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