LAILAH #2
“Glad you guys were still at the house and hadn’t left yet. Hopefully, we can get this figured out so you guys can be with your families for the holidays.”
“One could argue that all of us together is being with family,” Hudson said, shocking me.
There are a few people that I would have expected that to come from, he was just not one of them. Grinning, I tightened my grip on his arm. “I like the sound of that.”
The kitchen was fully stocked with anything you would need to cook with and all the basic ingredients you could ask for. I whipped together some spaghetti, making the sauce from scratch since my mother never allowed us to use the premade stuff.
“Are you sure I can’t help?” Brayden asked, hovering in the kitchen.
I stopped and turned to look at him, spoon raised so it was right in front of his face. “If you don’t stop asking me that, I’m going to burn your portion. Now. Go!”
Brayden opened his mouth to argue once again that the over-cooked pasta paste wasn’t his fault.
“Just let it go, man,” Micah said, slapping Brayden on the back, grabbing two beers from the fridge.
Apparently, Beth never let them have alcohol at the house, but most of them drank on occasion.
Brayden sighed, taking the beer from Micah and following after him into the living room.
Never in my life did I think someone could be so bad at cooking that you could turn noodles into soggy goop.
Parker offered as well, but I decided that for tonight I would just manage on my own.
The others steered clear of the kitchen and watched a movie in the living room.
Taking a final taste of the sauce, I deemed it ready. “Dinner’s ready.”
Grabbing the salad and the bread, I set them on the table along with the dressings that I found in the fridge. When I turned back around, I found all the guys holding plates, practically drooling as they looked at the stove.
“Can you guys manage to dish things up yourself, or do I need to portion it out so everyone gets some?” I asked, hands on my hips.
They all looked at each other and nodded, so I waved them on.
Grabbing the water pitcher, I filled the glasses as Jay walked over to me with a full plate.
Setting it down, he pulled back a chair and pointed to it.
Smirking, I set the pitcher on the table and took the seat he picked out for me.
Jay had taken it upon himself to be my caretaker, making sure I didn’t go hungry by making up my plate first. He also drove me to school every morning, so I was in class on time.
Jay didn’t need words to show that he cared; his actions spoke loud and clear.
Once I was settled, he left to go get his own plate while the others settled around the table.
Parker moaned as he shoved more pasta into his mouth. “God, this is the best spaghetti I’ve ever eaten.” He looked over at me with a glint in his eye. “Is it too soon to say that I’m glad you have to stay here with us, so we don’t have to live off of Jay’s cooking?”
“There is nothing wrong with my cooking. You get everything the body needs with each meal,” Jay said, narrowing his eyes at Parker.
“Yeah but rice, chicken, and vegetables with no flavor for every meal is not nearly as enjoyable as this,” Parker rebutted, waving his fork at Jay.
Jay looked down at his plate, then brought his eyes to meet mine. “He is correct on that; this meal is delicious and full of nutrition.”
“Thank you, both of you,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat at their words. Cooking like this is normal when your family does food for a living.
“Where do you guys want to start with this whole shitstorm?” Micah asked after eating a few mouthfuls.
Hudson set down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin before answering. “Why don’t we start with the whole story. We only got bits and pieces from all different sources.”
“There really isn’t much to the story, we went sledding where we always go. Everything was normal until we got to the wooded part of the trail about halfway down. Then all hell broke loose—literally,” Brayden said, finishing off the rest of his beer.
“You're forgetting the part where the demons blocked the trail by knocking down a tree. You know, the one that almost landed on you and Hope,” I pointed out, not liking that he wasn’t being very specific.
If we were going to do something about this, they needed all the facts.
“When we hit the forest, I could feel down in the pit of my stomach that something wasn’t right.
I thought it was just that I was scared of sledding, but then I saw the demons moving in the shadows like they had that night I was with you guys. ”
Hudson nodded his head, tapping away on his phone, making notes I assume. “Interesting. What makes you think the demons were responsible for the tree?”
“It was healthy, huge, and looked like something with claws hacked it down,” Micah said.
I looked at him with a raised brow, impressed that he would notice something like that.
“What would be your best guess on how many attacked you? Our sensors said it was over a hundred, but that can’t be right; never has that number attacked as a unified group,” Hudson said, looking at some report on his tablet now laid on the table.
Parker pushed back his chair, walked to the living room, and returned with a laptop. Pushing his dish out of the way, he opened it and started typing away. “Okay, I’m hooked up with the Elementi HQ here and their number is, and I quote, ‘an overwhelming amount.’”
“Overwhelming would be the right word for what we faced. It’s the reason I had to create an avalanche,” Brayden pointed out. “I wasn’t even strong enough to do it alone, Lailah had to help give me a power boost.”
The three that hadn’t been there stopped and looked at me. “You gave a power boost and held a shield strong enough to hold back an avalanche?” Parker asked, jaw falling open. “This happened today, right? Why is she still awake?”
I looked at all of them, suddenly feeling very nervous. “Is that bad? Did I do something I shouldn’t have?”
“Quite the opposite, actually. You’ve done something none of us could have.
We are strong and have powers, but we also have limitations with how much power we can use.
From the sound of it, you used far more than any of us.
Even Micah couldn’t have managed and stayed conscious,” Hudson said, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose.
“I took a nap earlier,” I offered.
Micah barked a laugh. “Your nap was only an hour before Dad made it back to the house, Lailah. Truthfully, I’m amazed that Brayden and I are still awake.”
“You bring up a good point. I think we should call it a night and go over this tomorrow. The house is warded just like the school, so we are safe here. No need to rush with muddled thinking,” Hudson said, collecting his plate and heading into the kitchen.
Now that bed was an option, a wave of tiredness hit me.
After we woke up and everything went down with Brayden’s parents, I’d been running off adrenaline.
Now that I was safe and comfortable and had a full belly, nothing was holding back my fatigue.
I picked up my plate and headed for the sink, but Parker blocked my way.
“Nope, not gonna happen, Trouble. You cooked, so we clean up. Only fair for the delectable meal you made,” Parker said, taking my plate out of my hands. “Now, you march upstairs and get into bed, or I’m sending Jay to babysit.”
“Fine, you win,” I said, not having any fight left in my body.
Stumbling up the stairs, I made it to the bedroom Brayden and I were going to share.
Then I remembered that I didn’t bring up my suitcase, but there it was, sitting on the bench at the end of the bed.
Bless whoever did this for me. Grabbing what I needed, I sped through my bathroom routine and had enough effort left to ditch my jeans and bra before curling up in bed.
My body sunk into the mattress, and the pillow was just as welcoming, helping me to drift off into a dreamless sleep.