Page 104 of Bones

“What’s on the training agenda today?” I asked, needing a distraction.

Since returning to Salem without Deke, I’d spent my sleepless nights watching TV at Stellan’s cute house with Victoria. I’d spent my days training with Juno, Lilith, and Denny. Lilith was usually parked in front of one of Juno’s magicks books, testing out what magicks she could do. While she did that, she guided a boot camp in kicking ass.

Juno and Denny weren’t as established in fighting as Lilith, but they were still miles above me. It made me more determined to catch up.

I didn’t want to be the one dragging everyone down because I was an easy target.

Denny also worked on trying to create a larger, more powerful electric surge from her palm, but she hadn’t had much success.

I, on the other hand, had no success bringing on a vision. Not a single one.

“Stellan’s hung—” Juno started.

“We know, we know,” Denny muttered with a teasing smile.

“Ha, ha. It’s true, though.” Juno got a dreamy look on her face before giving her head a shake. “Anyway, he hung a couple of punching bags in the back room because we need to work on hitting without holding back. Denny and I will do that. I want you to read one of my books with Lilith.”

“I’m so bad, I’m being benched from fake fighting?” I asked.

“No, you’re being benched because you haven’t had a vision since you got here. I’m hoping something in one of those passages can trigger one.”

Since the accident, I’d prayed for my curse to go away. Now that I’d accepted the possibility that it wasn’t a curse after all, it was still radio silence.

I just had to hope my prayers hadn’t worked, and it wasn’t permanent.

While Denny and Juno were distracted by whether they should wear boxing gloves since they wouldn’t have them during a real fight, I asked Lilith, “Is Lennon done at the hospital?”

“Today is his last day. Why?”

“Is he still able to prescribe medicine?”

“I think so. But again I ask… Why?”

“Do you think he’d be willing to write a script for my old sleeping pills?”

“Probably. What’re they gonna do, fire him?” She pulled her phone out. “What’re the names?”

I rattled off the names and doses from the bottles, likely butchering the pronunciation since they always made them weird.

“Sent. We’ll see what he says. Are you tired? We can probably use that to get out of training today.” She grinned. “Kidding… Kind of.”

“I’m not tired, but I haven’t really slept.”

Her face softened. “It’s got to be hard with Deke literally a heaven away.”

I shook my head, but it turned into a nod. “It’s not that. I mean, it is. But I’ve never been a good sleeper. It can’t be healthy.”

“None of us require much sleep,” she shared. “And it gets less the longer we’ve been together. But we’ll still see what he says, just in case.”

It helped knowing I wasn’t alone. Not with my weird sleep. Not with my powers. And not at all. I had Deke—whenever he returned—and friends.

Actual friends.

Leaving Tom and Victoria in the apartment to snore the day away in their still uneasy friendship, we made our way down the steps that led to the street.

Lilith’s phone beeped, and her steps slowed. “Uh, Aurora?”

Dread swirled in my stomach, mixing with something else unpleasant. “Yes?”

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