Chapter Twenty-Two
“Are they drunk?” Cathal whispered.
“Or are they dead?” Bréagha groaned and cracked her eyes open. She let out a startled scream when she found Bracken's face inches from her own.
“I guess that means she’s at least alive,” he observed.
Bréagha grinned when she heard the head slap.
She sat up slowly from where she had fallen asleep on her couch, pushing Roz off her lap, then opened one of her eyes and groaned again.
All eight Sentinels from both teams were standing in her front room staring down at them.
A glance out the front window also showed several animal faces pushed against it.
“Roz, wake up, our babysitters are here,” grumbled Bréagha, lying back against the couch and closing her eyes again. Roz grumbled and turned over, curling up against the back of the couch. Bréagha reached over and shook her friend, laughing as she got slapped.
“If you handsome boys would move over, I could wake them up,” announced Stephen from the direction of the kitchen.
They must’ve listened because a few seconds later the smell of Stephen’s cinnamon toast latte wafted underneath her nose and Bréagha sat up straight, reaching for the magic potion that was coffee.
Seconds later Roz was sitting up next to her moaning as she too took her first drink of the day, her eyes still fully closed.
When she opened them, she jerked and screamed to find all Sentinels just watching them.
“What the hell boys?!? What are you doing here at the butt crack of dawn?” Roz shrieked between sips of caffeinated cinnamon.
“As you can both see, it isn’t the butt crack of dawn.
More like mid-day,” Killian said dryly, pointing to the window where the sun was indeed high up in the sky.
“We let you sleep, because when me and Aiden came in earlier, there was no waking you, no matter what we did. We got zero reaction. Not a twitch, not a groan, nothing.”
“It was creepy, guys. The only sign of life was the fact you were breathing,” commented Aiden, amusement clear in his voice before Roz surprisingly launched a pillow at his face. Bréagha gave her a high five.
“Now, that we know you are indeed alive and not in some kind of ice-cream-and-girl-flick coma, we’ll give you time to get moving,” said Killian, motioning for the other Sentinels to move towards the door.
He stopped before following them. “When I say we’re giving you time I mean you have about five minutes before I unleash Bracken and Cathal who have several filled ice water balloons out here just waiting for you two to dawdle. ”
With that ominous threat he stepped out and shut the door behind him, taking immense joy out of the cursing and crashing he heard coming from the living room.
“You weren’t supposed to warn them,” whined Bracken who was indeed standing right outside with several water balloons ready to go. Aiden had introduced them to the joy of water warfare. Bracken and Cathal, both embraced it like a new religion, sneak attacking on a near-daily basis.
Exactly two minutes later both Bréagha and Roz exited the house, perfectly clean with their hair done and in clean outfits. Killian frowned and crossed his arms.
“Now how in the world did you two get ready that fast?” he asked. Bréagha smirked up at him and shook her wand that she pulled out of her back pocket.
“You both had icing in your hair, and I’m fairly certain Rozengwyn had some in her ear,” protested Bracken, pouting that he wouldn’t be able to attack now.
“You girls cheated.” He turned and threw it at Cathal instead, who was already launching his.
Bracken ended up with a face full of water and Cathal was able to duck.
“We won’t be hearing the end of his disappointment I can tell you that,” Mason mumbled as he stood leaning against the porch railing, his bear Soren resting at his feet. Bréagha grinned at him, unrepentant. Then went into full attention, saluting Killian.
“Reporting for duty Captain!” Roz grinned and copied her friend, she flicked her wand and changed Bréagha’s leggings and t-shirt to a full 1940’s pinup sailor outfit, and she gave herself, a Rosie Riveter outfit, including the scarf in her hair.
Pearl Harbor was on the movie list last night.
Bréagha glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye and grinned, not moving from her position.
Killian heaved a deep sigh, looking up into the sky for divine intervention before heading towards the Sentinels training ground.
Aiden shook his head and followed, trying not to laugh at his best friend’s insanity or the fact that it was rubbing off completely on Roz.
One by one the other Sentinels turned and followed Killian, all of them stopping to give the girls high fives as they passed.
Jaxx was the last one and he stood in front of Bréagha and Roz who hadn’t moved out of their positions though they were giggling.
He walked between them and put his arms around their shoulders, bringing them into a side hug as he laughed. He kissed them both on the foreheads then led them down the porch steps and followed the other Sentinels.
Their boots marched in unison and the sun caught the sparkles in both girls’ over-the-top uniforms. After a few steps he broke into Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, the girls joining in as they danced their way to their inevitable torture of the day, the familiars following close behind.