“Yeah, right. Like she has one,” she states, looking up at me.She’s not wrong.“Have you seen Lynx yet? I know he tends to come and go, but I really think he should be here by now. Rez kept on saying ‘he’s gone.’ Maybe she meant Lynx?” she questions as she starts wringing her hands in a ball.
“I know, she was yelling for him earlier.” Moni’s eyebrows shoot up when I mention it, and I motion down the hall to her room. We’ve been busting our butts cleaning and I really want to sit down to have this conversation.
After sitting down and snuggling with Moni like old times, I tell her what I saw in my—for lack of a better word—vision when holding Rez.
“That’s insane. And you could feel it all too?” Moni asks in shock.
“Yep. It’s the weirdest thing. I couldn’t do anything like this before. Maybe it’s a new power thing? I’ve always been able to read minds, but now I’m picking up on feelings too?”
“Here, let’s try.” Moni sits up and throws out her arm in front of me. “Hold my arm.” I gently wrap my hand around her forearm as she giggles.
“What are you planning?” I laugh as she wiggles, getting comfortable on her bed.
“I want to see if you can feel this,” she says and pinches the shit out of her arm. “Ow!” She pouts and pulls back her arm, holding it against her body. Finding her eyes looking back up at me, I can’t help but laugh. The only thing I feel is relief as the tension I was holding drains from my body from her experiment gone wrong.
“Thanks! I needed that.” I laugh, and Moni throws me another pout.
“Well, that’s not what I was hoping for, but glad I could cheer you up. Now kiss my boo boo, it hurts,” she whines, thrusting her arm back out to me. Giving her boo boo a kiss, I watch as she wiggles back into her mountain of light green pillows and shoos me away. “Now go so I can get my beauty sleep,” she says and curls up into her forest green comforter.
“Okay, pipsqueak. Love you,” I tell her, leaning in and giving her a kiss on her forehead.
“Love you too, bubba.” She yawns and rolls over, her wings tucked in close to her back and her tail wrapped around her waist.
Making my way through the dorm and back to my room so I can crash, I wonder what all this means and how it’s related to ma chérie. Whatever happened tonight, it was something big and I think we’ll be dealing with the fallout for a while to come.
ChapterThree
THE GAME PLAN
JP
Something wakes me from a dreamless sleep, and looking over, I find Rez silently crying in her sleep. This tears at my heart, not knowing how to console her. I would do anything to take away her pain. Running my fingers through her hair, I murmur to her that everything will be okay.
Please let me be telling the truth.
Her tears slowly dry up as she falls back into a peaceful slumber. Her features smooth out as she drifts off, hopefully to a good dream, and I decide to get up and see what time it is.
Grabbing my cell phone off the nightstand, I walk on light feet out of my bedroom and into the open concept room to find Moni sitting at the counter absently stirring what smells like red silken tea. It’s a brew my mother would give to her when she was feeling ‘off’ so to speak.
Shuffling my feet to make myself known, I pad up next to her and give her a quick squeeze. “You okay, Mo?” I ask as I lean against the counter next to her and take in her figure. She’s hunched over and is a light teal color, giving away her worry about something.
“Yes, I’m just worried about Rez. How’s she doing?” She doesn’t make eye contact with me as she fidgets with her fingers.
“Well, I woke up to her crying in her sleep, but she seemed to calm down after I whispered some calming words. I’m worried about her too, but it seems she needs to rest.” Glancing at the time above the oven, it’s still early but the store is opening soon, so I turn back to Moni. “Let me call Dangles real quick and see if I can talk to Ms. Teal, then I’ll make breakfast. Want to get the ingredients for me? I’ll make omelets.”
Mo gives me a small smile and nods as she gets up and heads to the refrigerator.
Pulling up the number for the store, I hit dial and hope she doesn’t ask for my soul to replace our furniture.
“Dangles. This is Val. How may I direct your call?”
“Yes, could I please speak to Ms. Teal?” Holding back the disgust from my voice is an actual struggle.
“I’m sorry, but she doesn’t—”
“It’s Jacques,” I cut her off. I don’t need to hear the fucking excuse that she’s busy. It’s her forte to say she’s busy so she can pick and choose who she sees. Moni shoots me a strange look but continues to grab out the eggs and fresh veggies from the fridge.
“Oh.” Silence hits my ears for a few moments before she comes back on. “Just one moment, please.”
