Taboo Sin System

Chapter 5 The Nun

Closer. Closer.

Christina's sharp green eyes cut into the shadows under the bed. Up close, Pan could smell her bubblegum shampoo mixed with the crisp, sterile soap she always used.

Did she bathe in holy water and bubbles every morning?

Pan caught himself wondering what that looked like. Christina in the shower, all lathered up. Water droplets running down her perfect back. Then he snapped out of it, hard.

What the hell am I thinking?

Panic slammed back into him and his heart jackhammered against his ribs. One more inch and Christina would have his face.

And it would not stop at trespassing. Lila had dropped her towel two minutes ago, and nobody would believe he had kept his eyes shut for it.

Busted. Pervert. Creep. Out on the street by lunch, if the cops did not drag him off first.

Gregory would not even need an excuse. The evidence would be lying right there under the bed with a hard-on.

There was one card left to play. The Taboo Sin System.

Pan blinked, summoning the glowing blue text of the system menu into his vision.

[Invisibility Lvl 1: Ready] [Duration: 20 seconds] [Charges: 2/2]

Fuck it. Activate.

A tingle rushed over his skin, sharp and cold. His body shimmered for a fraction of a moment, like a liquid mirage, then vanished. Poof.

Pan looked down at himself. He could see the floorboards and dust, but not himself. He was hidden from human eyes, at least.

The air felt heavy, pressing against his chest, but he did not care. It was do or die.

[Charges: 1/2] [00:19]

Christina leaned lower, finally looking directly at his hiding spot. The hair on his neck stood up as he stared into her eyes.

Would the invisibility skill actually hold? The system was new and unproven.

What if all of it was a hallucination? If it failed now and the bubble burst, Pan's life would end in this room.

His sister's face hovered inches from his. Her neat ponytail brushed the bed frame. He had never once taken in how flawless her skin was, and she really did look like a nun with how perfectly she was put together.

The irony was almost funny. The family's self-appointed saint was moments away from catching her adopted brother under a bed, and she had spent the morning setting him up for a theft she committed herself.

Christina squinted, her eyes narrowing as if examining a lab specimen. Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Hmm. What is this?"

Pan's heart skipped. Did it fail? Does she see me? System, don't betray me now.

Her hand reached directly toward him. Pan froze, bracing for the impact, but her fingers dipped past his face and snatched something off the floor. One of the marbles he had rolled out earlier.

"Come on, Lila. You need to clean up this room."

Christina turned the marble over in her fingers. "These are from the set Mom gave you, and you have them rolling loose on the floor like a child."

"What? I can't hear you!" Lila yelled back. She was still buried under her blankets, completely oblivious to the high-stakes drama happening inches from her feet.

Christina pulled back, straightened up, and brushed the dust off her knees. "Clean up! This room is a disaster."

Pan let out the breath he had been holding, a silent ghost of a sigh. That was too close.

Relief washed over him, cooling his adrenaline-fried nerves. The invisibility had worked perfectly.

But damn it, that had just cost him one of his two daily charges. Twenty seconds was nothing. The system had saved him, and in the same breath it had put a hard limit on how long he could stay saved.

[00:12] [00:11]

The countdown was brutal. Why is she not leaving?

Christina glared at Lila, who was still scrolling through her phone without a care in the world.

It occurred to Pan, with a chill, that if a real stalker ever got into this house Lila would not stand a chance. Judging by her follower count on social media, she probably had a few.

The girl lived like the concept of consequences had never been explained to her. Two girls had raised each other in this house, and only one of them had bothered to learn the rules of survival.

Christina planted her hands on her hips. "You know, Lila, this is exactly why Mom worries about you. Leaving marbles on the floor? You could have cracked your skull."

She swept a hand at the room. "And look at this place. Clothes everywhere, drawers hanging open. It is a total mess."

Lila yanked out an earbud and rolled her eyes. "Oh, stuff it, Saint Christina. Not everyone wants to live in a convent. Some of us actually like having a life."

She waved a hand at the door. "At least I don't pray over my breakfast every morning. Go micro-manage someone else. I'm fine."

Christina crossed her arms over her crisp, high-collared white blouse. "Fine? You are a walking, talking hazard. Dad would lose his mind if he saw the state of this room."

"And give me the cufflinks chain. You will lose it in this pigsty before six o'clock, and then we are both finished."

Lila's hand went to her throat under the blanket. "No, it stays with me. You already run everything else in this house."

Christina threw her sister a disapproving look. "Because somebody has to."

But Lila was ready with a barb. "That somebody has never been kissed. Go find a boy, or something and get touched. It might loosen that collar and let loose some cleavage."

Christina clenched her jaw. A flush climbed her neck above the top button and stopped there, because she would not allow it any further.

"Clean up before you embarrass us at the gala tonight."

Lila put her earbud back in. "Whatever. Close the door on your way out."

Christina did not move toward the door.

Pan listened from the dark. He had always thought of the two sisters as a united front, but behind closed doors they were vicious with each other.

The cracks in the alliance were plain if you knew where to look. Pan could use that later.

Right now it was one more reminder that neither of them was on his side, and he needed Christina out of this room before the clock ran out.

[00:08] [00:07]

Christina showed no sign of leaving. She stood there staring down at Lila like a disappointed class monitor. Every moment she lingered burned more of the skill away.

Pan's lungs ached from controlled breathing. The dust under the bed tickled his nose. One sneeze and it was over, invisibility or not.

Christina's flat shoes stood a foot from his face. Under the denim, his cock had not got the message about any of this chaos, and the bed frame pressed it into the boards.

The system had saved him from Christina once. It would not save him from stupidity.

Come on, Pan said in his head. Leave. Just turn around and walk out.

Christina's green eyes flicked toward the open drawers and the scattered clothes again. She looked ready to launch into another lecture. The girl could not help herself. Control was her favorite drug.

[00:05]

Pan's hands curled into fists in the dust. If she did not move in the next few seconds, he would be visible again while she was still standing three feet away.

The thought sent a fresh spike of ice through his veins.

The Taboo Sin System had given him power. It had also put him in a position where one sister lingering around longer than necessary could destroy everything even before it started.

[00:03]