“He didn’t explain any more than that,” Jax answered. “He said he would be back in two days' time. I expect that means he will show up tomorrow at dusk. He didn’t specify where, but I assume he meant at the same location as yesterday.”
“Which was where, exactly?” Terrick asked.
“At the base of the mountain, about fifty yards from the front doors. He didn’t appear to be able to see past the wards,” said Jax.
“He also made it clear he would not be happy if he showed up and there were no royals waiting for him,” Zuri added.
“I don’t respond well to threats,” growled Nasima. The swirling of air around her seemed to intensify.
Aviur sighed. “Peace, Nasima. The last thing we need is to add a battle with the lord of the underworld to our already busy schedule. I think it would be in our best interest to give him an audience.”
“I concur,” Kairi said.
“Fine,” Nasima said.
“I’ll post warriors in the forest in case Osiris tries anything,” Terrick said.
Nasima shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, Headmaster. We can direct the elementals surrounding Terra Academy to be on alert.”
“Is that all?” Aviur asked Jax.
“I believe that is enough,” he said.
The fire king nodded. “I will have to agree with that assessment.”
Jax glanced at Zuri. Her face was grim, and she seemed to have gotten over the humor she’d found from Osiris’s need for assistance. After seeing the reaction from the royals—the tired looks in their eyes, and the resolve that they had no other choice than to add yet another burden to their responsibilities—he couldn’t find the humor in the situation either.
Gabby tried not to slam things around in her haste to gather up warmer clothing and a few more weapons. But her emotions were running high after Shelly’s impromptu intervention. Gabby had to admit the chick had a pair of lady balls the size of the pyramids in her man’s home country, and she wasn’t afraid to hang them out there.
Gabby paused as she slipped a dagger into her boot when she realized her hands were shaking. Her lungs were tight as she tried to take a deep breath, but no air came in. She stumbled back until her legs hit the bed, where she sat down. She was broken, too. Perhaps for different reasons than why you are broken. Shelly’s words played through Gabby’s mind over and over like a song on repeat. Every time she heard “broken” she felt as if she was being cut. “I’m not broken,” she whispered into the empty room. “I’m not effing broken.” Maybe if she said it enough, then it would be true. She snorted to herself. “Why don’t you feed yourself a little more shit, Gabs, since you seem to like the taste of it so much.” The fact that she was talking out loud to herself should have been a red flag indicating that if she wasn’t already broken, she was certainly nearing her breaking point. Why couldn’t she just be normal? Nausea rolled in her stomach as that thought brought back a memory she was usually able to keep locked away.
“She’s not normal,” Gabby’s dad spat out as he stared down at her. She was sprawled across the floor of her bedroom looking up at his angry face. Gabby was clumsy, true, but that’s not how she ended up on her bedroom floor.
Lewis Gellar had a bad habit of manhandling his daughter, and Gabby was constantly having to make up excuses for why she had bruises.
“I’m not messing around, Vanessa,” Lewis said with a sniff. There was still white powder around the edge of his nose, but Gabby wasn’t about to point it out. She’d learned her lesson the last time she’d done that and could still feel the sting of his backhand.
“She’s ten,” Vanessa—not quite a mother, but the woman who carried Gabby in her stomach for nine months—said. “No ten-year-old is normal. Just ignore her and come do another line with me.”
“Yeah, Lewis, ignore me and go away.” It wasn’t the first time Gabby had wished that she had mind-control powers and could force her parents to do what she wanted or even what she needed.
“Don’t come out of this room,” Lewis growled at her. “We’ve got people coming over, and we don’t need them focusing on you and your weird ass.”
She didn’t say anything as he glared at her for a few seconds longer. Then he slammed her door. She stayed frozen