Page 68 of Black Onyx
“I don’t think we should ask her what it was about and what happened.” Rival suddenly says into the silence.
“No, she can tell us when she’s ready.” Kill agrees.
After that’s settled, we all watch the TV, none of us willing to move away from her. Storm could’ve put her in her room, but like us he needed to see that she was okay too. So far, his emotionless barrier seems to be staying down, and I’m hoping with everything I am that it stays down. We need a leader that is capable of everything, of feeling alongside the rest of us. With the Headmaster determined to fuck with us at every opportunity and the games quickly approaching, I truly believe that although Storm was a great leader before, with his emotions fully switched on and, more importantly showing, he will be an amazing one. I have never doubted that he cared about us but seeing him be himself again would be amazing.
At some point, the sun goes down, and we decide to order food. We don’t bother waking Farren, wanting her to sleep for as long as possible and hoping that the smell will wake her. She’s so exhausted though, that she doesn’t even stir, so Mayhem wraps her plate and puts it in the cold storage in case she wants it later.
As the evening progresses, I feel my eyes get heavy. I really should go to bed. I’m going to have one hell of a kink in my back by the morning if I stay here, but I can’t bring myself to move, and no one else does either. My last thought before I finally succumb to sleep is that Farren has made us stronger. She has quickly become the glue that sticks us together.
*********
Farren
Deja vu hits me when I’m woken up by banging on the fucking door again. I groan as I roll over and realise that I’m not in my bed at all. Suddenly all of the events of yesterday come rushing back, and my eyes immediately search the room for Storm. When I find him, he’s already looking at me and smiling, a real honest to goodness fucking smile. As I gape and his eyes become amused, which is not helping my shock because when the hell did he start showing his emotions? He gets up, the banging still sounding in the background.
“Good morning, gorgeous. How’re you feeling?” he asks, no snark in his tone and completely ignoring the banging.
“Like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. Like in that famous earth realm book.” I ramble.
“You’ll get used to it.” He grins.
“You mean, you showing your emotions? You’re not going to hide from me again?” embarrassingly, there’s a thread of panic in my tone by the end of the sentence.
“I’ll never hide from you again.”
I nod, unable to get any words out, as I sit up and glance around at the rest of the guys, all spread out in the room and starting to wake up thanks to the incessant banging.
“They didn’t want to leave you.” Storm explains, “I better get that.”
Then shocking the shit out of me, he dips and gently kisses my forehead. My eyes don’t leave him as he strides towards the door; by the time he gets there, his mask is back in place, but he doesn’t seem as tense as he has been since I’ve known him. I swear if he doesn’t drop that bloody thing again, I will make him somehow.
“What!” he barks, pulling open the door and then adds, “Sorry, Magnus, you woke us.”
“The Headmaster has managed to go above me and everyone else who disapproved of sending you out again so soon,” Magnus rushes out.
Storm sighs heavily, “When?”
“Now.”
“What the fuck, you have to be fucking kidding me!” Loki grumbles.
“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. He was insistent that you went out today.” Magnus’s worry is obvious.
“Okay, don’t worry, we’ll sort it. Thanks,” Storm says, closing the door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Storm turns back to us; his hand closed around files that I didn’t see Magnus hand to him, from the angle I was sitting, “Well fuck. We better get our shit together then.”
“The fact that he is so insistent that we go today is suspicious as fuck.” Mayhem points out.
“Oh yeah, he’s got some sort of trap ready for us. Without a doubt.” Loki adds flippantly.
“Then, as always, we keep a lookout and make sure that we are as prepared as we can be,” Reaper suggests.
“Agreed, there’s no time frame for this one, we just need to leave this morning, so I’m making breakfast, especially since you didn’t eat last night,” Mayhem says, looking at me.
My stomach chooses that moment to grumble, and I smile, “I guess I could eat.”
