As if he’s been listening to my thoughts, my half brother, Abel, steps through the bedroom door and into the living room. Stopping, he cocks his head to the side and looks me over, his expression that of someone utterly unimpressed.

“Don’t you own an umbrella?” he asks. They’re the first words he’s spoken to me in over a year.

I slide the messenger bag off my shoulder to ease it to the floor, then unbutton my coat as I try to keep calm. Or at least appear so on the outside.

“What are you doing here? How did you get a key?”

He steps into the light and smiles. He hasn’t changed. His smile is little more than a sneer, his eyes disapproving as I take off my soaked coat and drape it over the back of a chair.

“It’s nice to see you, too, sis.” He walks past me into the kitchen and picks up the bottle of whiskey I keep for when Dad comes. He opens it, sniffs, then takes a clean glass out of the drying rack and pours himself some. “Should you be drinking?” he asks, turning to me and leaning against the counter as he sips.

“It’s not for me. It’s Dad’s. What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I come visit my sister?”

I don’t bother to answer that. Abel and I have a hate-hate relationship. He hates me, and I hate him. Have from day one. He’s a jerk.

“Why are you so late?” he asks, tone ugly. Walking over to my desk, I see he’s been through my calendar and my notes from various classes. I wonder what he thought he’d find.

“I had to work. Why are you here, Abel?” I close the calendar. There’s nothing he’d uncover anyway so I’m not worried about it. I know the rules, and I know myself. As much as I’d like to say I don’t care about them or the consequences, I do.

“The library closed an hour ago. You were still working?”

“It’s called clean up. How do you know the library hours anyway? Are you having me followed? I’m here with Dad’s blessing, and you know—”

“I hope you’re not lying, Ivy. I hope you weren’t on a date.”

He swallows the last of his drink, sets his glass in the sink, and walks into the living room.

“Is that why you were going through my calendar?”

He grins. “I have some bad news.” He shrugs his shoulders. “And some good news. Which do you want to hear first?”

That sinking feeling I’ve had all day is back. I put my hand on the back of the chair to steady myself.

Abel doesn’t miss it. “Don’t fucking pass out. Like I said, it’s not all bad.”

“What is it?”

“Dad’s taken ill.”