The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee

Author:Katharine McGee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-07-05T16:00:00+00:00

CALLIOPE

“WE MISS YOU girls!” the holographic image of Elise exclaimed, from where she was projected over the coffee table like a ghostly apparition—if ghosts appeared in high-res safari attire. She and Nadav were at the woolly mammoth camp in Mongolia, bundled up in scarves and dirty hats, grinning ear to ear.

At least these daily pings from the happy couple would end soon. Calliope couldn’t take them anymore.

“We miss you too! It looks like such rewarding work.” Livya edged imperceptibly farther from Calliope on the couch, wearing her school uniform and her usual sticky-sweet smile.

“It’s so cool of you guys to use your honeymoon as an opportunity to give back, rather than to celebrate yourselves,” Calliope gushed, never one to be outdone.

“I know. It was all your mom’s idea.” Nadav exchanged a smile with Elise. “She has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Only if her heart is in proportion to her cleavage, Calliope thought, trying to amuse herself. Then it is definitely big.

“Livya,” Nadav went on, “is your grandmother there?”

“She’s right here! Say hi, Boo Boo,” Livya simpered, reaching for the vid-cam and angling it toward Nadav’s mother.

“Hello, Nadav. I hope you don’t get sick in that freezing weather,” Tamar said implacably. She didn’t even bother to acknowledge Elise.

Tamar would be staying here, living in Calliope’s room, until Nadav and Elise returned—she was literally babysitting the two eighteen-year-old girls. Calliope thought the whole thing was ludicrous. Even worse was the fact that she now had to share a room with her stepsister. That first night, Calliope had taken one look at Livya’s queen-sized bed and decided instead to inflate the insta-mattress, mumbling that she snored. No way in hell was she sharing a bed with Livya. She would probably wake up with a knife in her back.

Even though they slept in the same room, Calliope and Livya had barely spoken since the wedding. They behaved like a pair of queens presiding over warring dominions from a joint palace.

“Have a great night, girls!” Nadav butted his face before the projector so, from their end, he seemed to hover before them like a disembodied head.

“Be safe!” Calliope waved good-bye just as a flicker came through on her contacts. Are you still under house arrest?

It was from Brice.

Calliope quickly turned aside and logged on to her tablet. No way could she answer this as a flicker. Livya would hear her whispered reply and know precisely what she was up to.

Unfortunately, she typed back.

Brice had flickered her a few times since the wedding, and each time, she’d pretended that she was grounded. It made her sound completely lame and high-school, but it was essentially the truth.

Calliope couldn’t bring herself to reply the way she knew she should, the way Elise would want her to—with a snide dismissal, making Brice think that she no longer cared about him. Because she did care about him.

Even if she couldn’t see him, at the very least she could keep communicating with him.

Don’t forget our bet. You owe me dinner, Brice replied.

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