Page 65 of Detonation
Serenity walks over to Hale, who’s just finished throwing away the pieces of his broken plate and is now munching on a piece of toast with a zombie look to his eyes.
She waves her hand in front of his face but when she receives no response, she snaps her fingers in front of his eyes. "Earth to Hale."
I chortle, elbowing my twin. "Earth to Hale … Get it? Because he has an earth affinity."
Leo chuckles and grabs my coffee while I'm distracted, gulping down the remainder. "I'm ready now."
Serenity clearly doesn't appreciate being ignored so she snatches the toast from his hand and slaps it against his forehead. He comes out of his daze and looks at her, confusion evident on his face. "Uh ... hey?"
Her head tilts quizzically, not responding for a few beats, eyes searching his face for something. "Get your shit together, Hale. We need to be on our A game going into your realm."
"You're right. I'm sorry, I just slept like shit," he admits but hesitates as he trails off, like he has more to say but refrains.
Zedd walks up to him, offering him a cup of coffee, undoubtedly already prepped with the right amount of cream and sugar, the way Hale likes it.
It puts a smile on Hale's grumpy face and I smile my gratitude at Zedd. "Zedd, you're too good to us. I love you, man."
His eyes bug out at the sentiment before his shoulders slump like he's trying to hide within himself, unsure how to receive the compliment.
Leo pipes up, "I love all of you fuckers and I'm ready for our family to be complete again. Those assholes aren't going to be allowed out of sight after we get them back."
Serenity is leaning against the kitchen counter, clearly loving the morning banter.
Zedd changes the subject. "Do we get to say bye to Derrick, Logan, and Seth?"
Serenity shakes her head, her ponytail swinging behind her. "Unfortunately, no. They have their hands full running this realm without me. We had to say our goodbyes early this morning so I could go fill Lilli in on what was going on before I popped over here." Her face quickly switches to a somber look as she admits, "Gaia did not come to me last night in my dreams. So, we're flying blind."
Leo scoffs. "Shocker."
"Maybe she has her hands full with something else right now," I hedge.
Hale stretches his neck side to side, showing more signs of life in his eyes than earlier. "It was a long shot anyways, hoping that she'd be able to help us. We'll figure this out on our own."
He nods to himself, probably trying to convince himself of that.
Serenity slaps her hands against her legs. "Well, kids, go put your leathers on and get ready for war."
That was oddly perky for something a bit fucking scary.
"Do battles scare you less the older you get?" I inquire out of curiosity and her face darkens as she scowls.
"Are you calling me old, Luke?" she asks in a menacing voice, scaring the shit out of me.
I practically fall off the bar stool as I rush out of the kitchen to escape this trap I created for myself. I fumble in my steps as I aim for the stairs, repeating, "Nope, no way. Not me. I would never."
Her cackle sounds and I bolt up the stairs, smiling as I walk into our room, thinking of how insane she and Lana are going to be when they're back together again.
We all change into our leathers and head back down, catch the tail end of Serenity's sentence, "—behave while I'm gone, Mittens."
Mittens?
I cough and Serenity jumps, whirling towards us and reveals a Persian cat that's lounging on our countertop like it owns the place. Its body is pure white, besides the black stockings on all four paws, looking like it stepped in tar and never got a good grooming.
I guess the name is fitting.
Zedd coos as he walks towards it. "Hi, sweetie, do you like pets?"
The cat preens, standing and stretching to nudge his head into Zedd’s outstretched hand, as Serenity looks miffed. "Wow, she usually doesn't like strangers."
