Kane was surprised at his answer. From the gasp that escaped Dobah’s lips. He knew that his twin was surprised too.
Kane hadn’t even known when he had said it. It had just been said in the spur of the moment. He never wants to lose Lucille, and he wasn’t even tempted to try the theory out-if Lucille would choose Emma over him. He had spent so much in thick darkness to even contemplate that.
“Okay, I will take good care of her. You can count on me, like your father does.”
Lucille laughed again, and Emma heard. It was time to go. “Thanks old man. I will hold you to your promise.”
Kane sighed in relief, and re-adjusted himself on his seat, not moved when Dobah amused himself in their mind path, or when he caught Blenda and Nathan staring at him like he had grown horns.
They didn’t understand. He thought. They didn’t spend centuries yearning for death, yearning for anything, apart from turning to the undead.
“So, Freya, I have to go. I will talk to you later?” Emma’s voice crackled through the phone again, for the last time.
“Yeah, see you soon, sis.” Freya enthused with a sigh, not actually pleased with the call ending so soon.
Emma giggled-an act that would stay with Freya and her family for the longest while-and then ended the call.
Freya picked the phone from her lap and dropped it on the little space next to her on the sofa. Then, she folded her hands into her lap, and waited. She allowed the silence that filled after it, reveled in it, not in a hurry to get rid of Emma’s voice from her ears yet, or her laughter. The silence continued as she wished it until Julius broke it with a sigh.
“At least she is alive and kicking. At least she is with capable friends. Fates had made provision for her to train too.”
“I will have to agree with that.” Margo said, glad that Emma was in right hands. She wondered if this meant that her mission was still on? She looked at Keturah, but the latter seemed to be deep in thought.
Nathan, however, shook his head. “One of us still has to check in on her. How would she remove a sliver by herself? She is still coming to terms with her power.”
Sheila sighed, taking a deep inhalation before she spoke again. “Nathan, please.”
Nathan turned aside to stare at her. Sheila met his gaze, and in them, passed an information that made Nathan recline deeper into his seat.
“I don’t want her to be harmed.” He muttered with a sigh, when Sheila placed her palm on his.
“She will be fine, my love. We just have to let her do her thing, the way she wants it, so long as she is with capable friends. As much as we are in this together, she has her own journey to make, to find herself, and to find out what she has to do about the impending battle. Emma, if she is anything like me, which I am sure she is, won’t want our interference no matter how good it is. She has said that she would see us, as soon as she settled in. We will obey that, unless she changes her mind, or something happens outside the ordinary. Considering the training scope of that school, I would say it might take two months at least to settle in…”
Peter couldn’t help but interrupt Sheila’s statements. “How would you know of that? How did you know about the training establishment? I haven’t even heard of rare humans…”
Sheila shrugged her shoulders before answering. “By mere luck actually. You know my rebellious and traveling days, Peter.”
Peter nodded. How could he forget? The girl had kept giving him high blood pressures with her risky endeavors. Once, he had decided to follow her against his father’s instruction, to one of her places. He had almost paid with his sanity. That had been the last excursion with Sheila.
“Well, during one of those times, I stumbled upon an old tavern. Wanting to have a drink before I die of thirst, I invited myself into the old place, amazed when I sensed magic. But then I discovered that there was no wizard in the room. Later, I found out that the magic aura had come from a human, the barmaid. I ignored it, until some men had waylaid her at night to do as they wished with her. I had taken a room in one of the few above the tavern. Just when I had been about to retire for the night, I had heard them harassing her-thanks to our sensitive ears. I had rushed downstairs, and dealt with all of them, killed them actually.”
Melvina’s eyes widened. She calculated the years Sheila had been then, and shook her head. Her friend had been killing for a while.
“…We disposed of their bodies, and the girl gave me a tag. Before I could ask her what for, she disappeared. Two days later, she appeared on my doorstep here in the pack, and asked that I follow her. She was with her brother. I had asked her why. But she had mentioned ‘training’. It had been funny then, until her brother had tapped me by the arm. I blinked and I was in an establishment. It dawned on me that I had teleported. I owe all my training to them.”
Freya and Lucille exchanged glances, the same thought running through their minds. Could they join Emma to train?
‘You heard your mother. None of us is going to see Emma yet.’ Nathan mind linked.
“… So, when I woke up from the coma, and had prepared to journey back to the pack, my wolf had nudged me to drop a message for my daughter. I didn’t know which one, but I had obeyed, using the old methods. Luckily, Prescott had been able to decipher it.”