Xander, who had one eye on the blonds over in Royale’s corner, shifted his body back toward her. “They’re actually taking it quite well.”
Daniel, who had hardly touched his food, more focused on the Daelighters around us, crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair. “Only time will tell,” he said. “If there is any fallout, we won’t know about it for some time. But at least this is a step in the right direction.”
I agreed with him. It was time for this change. I just hoped their people were able to deal with it. I only had the potato mash left, having finished everything else on my plate. Scooping up a mouthful, it slid across my tongue and I let out a low groan. “Holy sweet heaven above … this is amazing.”
Amused expressions were directed at me, but I didn’t care. They could laugh all they wanted; this was me enjoying the little things. When the bell rang fifteen minutes later, I could barely move, dreams of a food-nap playing in my head.
I perked up a little when Emma started to whine. “Seriously, why is gym class mandatory? Why? And right after lunch … surely they could give us some time to digest our food.”
Lexen, clearly used to her hatred of gym, just pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “We have a study period first. You’ll have plenty of time to digest.”
“Besides,” Star piped up, “today is self-defense classes. You keep saying you want to learn how to defend yourself...”
Hell, yeah. “I love training in self-defense. Is there an advanced class?”
Star nodded at me. “Yep, advance students mix between defense and fight training. I think the teacher said it was a M-style of fighting or something.”
Oh, fingers crossed it was MMA. I adored mixed martial arts.
Emma picked up on my excitement and let out a choked sound. “God, no, you’re athletic, aren’t you? And we had such a beautiful friendship going.”
A snort of laughter escaped me. Her dry wit was perfect; it matched my own sarcastic tendencies. “I do enjoy pushing my body to its limits. I’ve been fight training most of my life. It was the only activity outside of the home that my mom allowed me to do.”
It was the only thing I had to stay sane.
Sympathy and revulsion warred in Emma’s dark blue eyes. “Sorry about your mom, but nothing you say will convince me that exercise is good for you. Scientists are wrong. Doctors are wrong. Everyone is wrong.”
“What if I can proveyouwrong?” I said to her. I had no idea where those words had come from, but they were out now, and I couldn’t take them back.
She gave me a suspicious look, one eyebrow raised in my direction. “Listening…” she replied.
“I’ll do some fight and self-defense training with you, and once you learn how to take control of your own body … own your power … kick Lexen’s ass when he needs it … I bet you’ll love it. Once your body is strong, you’ll feel stronger in all ways.”
The raised eyebrow wasn’t going anywhere, but I knew she was thinking about it. Finally, she nodded. “You know what, I am going to take you up on that offer. I know I’ll always be weaker than most Daelighters, physically at least, but it doesn’t hurt to arm myself as much as I can. A few skills might have come in handy when Laous kidnapped me the first time.”
As we all turned the corner then, heading toward study hall, I really should have known my world was about to go to shit. The karmic scale only allowed so much happiness before yanking it away.
It started with a whisper of my name.
At first I thought I was hearing things, but as I turned to follow the sound, I locked eyes with a set of familiar dark ones.
“Mom…” I said slowly, swallowing hard as I took a step in her direction. She was thirty feet away from me, just visible at the end of the hall. Her long mousy-brown hair hung in matted strands, her too-thin body swaying visibly as she tried to remain standing. She was much shorter than me, about five-foot-four, and right now she seemed even smaller.
Melony Channing was in her late thirties, having had me young, but she looked like she was sixty, her face haggard and lined, head drooping forward as she gripped the side rail.
“Mom,” I whispered again, with more urgency. I lurched forward, ready to take off in her direction, but before I could, Daniel reached out and captured my hand.
“Wait,” he said, murmuring in my ear. “This is probably a trap. We need to move cautiously. Laous is no doubt somewhere close by.”
Of course it was a trap, but that didn’t mean I was not going to help her. Daniel had a minute to come up with a plan or I was taking my chances. Turning from me, he said something to the group and Lexen immediately moved Emma and Star back. The four overlords changed positions, so they were surrounding us protectively.
“I need to go to her,” I bit out, at the end of my already limited patience.
A hand landed on my shoulder and some of the tension inside of me eased. I waited for him to order me to stay. That’s what I was expecting. In my head I was already formulating an argument.
“Go slow,” he warned, surprising the hell out of me. “We’re right with you. Laous will not get his hands on you or Emma again. I promise.”
Thank you,I mouthed at him, grateful that he was acting like we were a team. Doing this together.
