Chapter 7 #2
“Plan for the day,” Corey said finally, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“We split. Sam takes Lucy for blade training, and the rest of us, I don't know. Do whatever you want” He said this with his hands up, almost like he had given up, Lucy caught this, “Corey” Lucy called before he could leave the room, “I need to go into the office at some point this week, can you make plans” A sparkle came into his eyes, “ Not a problem we can go tomorrow” and with that he left the room.
Training with Sam was hard, even though she was human, her skills were so proficient that she was ten times more advanced than lucy was.
The training had gone on for hours; they broke at last when sweat trickled down Lucy’s spine and even Sam’s hair had escaped its tie.
Barnaby arrived precisely on cue, wheeling in a cart with water bottles and a plate of sliced apples as if he were a one-man pit crew.
“Hydration and sugar,” he said cheerfully, whilst stopping to pick up his tablet, “and data.”
“Is that your way of asking me for my heart rate?” Lucy sighed.
Barnaby did not even look up. “I’m not. I’m tracking your aura density.”
“My what?”
He finally turned the screen toward her. The image was nonsense to regular people; colour bands wrapped around a stick figure; he needed to explain.
“Every time you move,” he said, tapping the display, “the field spikes, showing me different densities of your aura. Mandy smooths it out. Erin makes it… sparkle.” He said questionably. “And Byron, well. Byron turns it aggressively red.”
Lucy felt her cheeks warm.
Nick with his perfect timing entered the room before it got more awkward. “Speaking of Byron, he wants you.”
Barnaby lifted the screen again. “See?”
Lucy groaned and dropped her towel onto the chair, she followed Nick toward the west room, the one Byron had claimed for control work.
The curtains were half-drawn, sunlight falling in pale stripes across the floor. Byron stood at the centre, sleeves pushed to his elbows, wearing that let’s get to work expression.
“Breathing,” he said, tapping his chest near the collarbone. “Through here. Not just the belly. Your current rides this path. When your eyes start, you’ll want to lock your jaw. Don’t. It traps the current in your head.”
“Noted,” she said, rolling her eyes,
He stepped in close, close enough for comfort but not so near she mistook comfort for ease. “Talk to me.”
“About what?” she muttered
“Anything. It’s harder to control your energy when you’re using another part of your brain.” he said, as if this would make this session any less mundane.
She snorted. “Fine. Erin made a jungle out of the kitchen yesterday. Mary didn’t blink, which is strange for her, she really hates when shits not organised. Sam is also weird, she pretended she didn’t like all the flowers but saved a flower behind her ear.”
“Left ear?” Byron asked
“Right.” She answered, with a side eye.
“Means she’s in love.” He giggled
“With who?” Lucy demanded.
“Knives,” Byron said deadpan, and Lucy’s laugh broke the surge that had been pushing up her throat. The light in her eyes softened back into her irises. He nodded. “Again.”
They went like that for an hour, breath, talk, partial flare, control. At one point he made her recite the entire grocery list Mary had rattled off at dawn. At another he asked her to describe the feel of each person’s presence in her mind.
“Barnaby?”
“Fast and minty.”
“Minty?”
“Like chewing gum, when you take that first bite.”
“Sam?”
“Steel. But warm. Like a sword that’s been handled so much it knows your grip.”
“Nick?”
“A firework you’ve already lit.”
“Corey?”
“Guard dog. But the kind that will let a toddler braid his hair if he thinks no one is watching.”
Byron’s mouth curved. “Damien?”
“A locked door with a light underneath it.”
He hesitated. “Mary?”
Lucy swallowed. The word that came wasn’t exactly a word at all. “The edge of something, I can't put my finger on it”
“Mandy?” Byron interjected.
“A Canvas. Waiting for paint.”
“And me?” His voice went softer.
She let the answer slide into his mind where it belonged, Love.
They stopped and just stared at each other.
The door eased open. Mary stood at the threshold with Mandy just behind her.
“It's Mandy’s turn” Mary said to Byron, and before he could protest, he caught Lucy’s eye and surrendered.
“Fine.” He squeezed Lucy’s arm. I love you, so much more, he sent, a warmth that filled her chest like breath after a long run.
As they left the room Mandy came and joined Lucy.
“Let’s try what we talked about, start how you would with Byron, but now imagine you bringing your thread, as we use to call it towards me.
” Mandy said. Lucy nodded slowly. She closed her eyes.
A current spooled under her ribs like a quiet ribbon.
She lifted it and imagined carefully laying it over Mandy’s outstretched hands.
“Good,” Mandy murmured. “I can feel it travelling towards me and mine towards it. Now breathe. I’ll set the knot.”
Mandy’s left eye flared violet. The air in front of her condensed; the shimmer gathered and firmed. This time, when the ward formed, Lucy felt the knot—a tug, a twist, a decision that made the shape hold rather than drift.
“Again,” she said softly. “And again.” They practiced until the shimmer obeyed, until Lucy could feel the knot as soon as Mandy began to tie it; until Lucy found, tentatively, the first loop of how to tie one herself.
When they paused, Mandy sat down hard and laughed under her breath. “I had forgotten how much energy this takes”
Lucy handed her some water and sat beside her on the floor. “Tell me about your guardian,” Lucy said.
Mandy’s face softened. “She was wild and kind. She could make rain stop. Not by force. By simply asking. That’s the trick with the Fae. You can break more with mercy than with muscle.”
Lucy tucked that away. Mercy as a weapon. She liked that.
Near dusk, the Doves checked in. The head of their unit Ethan, stood with Corey at the end of the drive. “Movement at the north ridge, we found a drone shell in the field beyond the creek. Not one of ours.”
Corey’s jaw ticked. “Keep a close eye on it, let me know if the activity increases” Ethan nodded and walked back towards the building the Doves had been living in for the last nine months.
Up at the window, unknown to Corey and Ethan, Lucy heard their entire conversation.
She needed to talk this new situation over with Byron, who was already looking for her.
We are being watched; she sent. We expected it, he sent back, but how did you know?
I listened to Corey's conversation with Ethan, I was practising.
I don't plan on making this a habit, but, and before she could finish her sentence Byron waltzed up behind her, his hands wrapping around her waist. “You’re safe Lucy.
Let everyone else worry about those things.
You need to keep training — and keeping me company. That is all that’s required of you.”
She spun around and pulled him close, looking him in his eyes, as she whispered “I love you” there was nothing purer in that moment. He didn’t reply. They were so caught in each other’s eyes that they both knew this was it for them. They only needed each other.