Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,76
love I could ever have imagined.
My parents and Luna had believed I deserved to be brought into this world—that I’d make things here better rather than worse. I had to believe in myself at least as much in their honor.
The Everymobile swayed as Ruse changed lanes, to no honks just this once. “We’re officially halfway there!” he called back to us.
“Woohoo!” I raised my arm in a fist-pump. A moment like that called for a song. “We’re as spry as a tiger; we’re as chill as a kite, rising up to the challenge on arrival!” I belted out.
Gloam blinked at me with a bewildered expression, but Antic giggled and did a little jig with the map book.
Omen materialized next to the table with his arms folded over his chest. “If you want to actually ‘rise’ to that ‘challenge’ without barbequing yourself any more than you already have, I’m thinking another training session might be in order. If you think you can manage not to burn down Darlene around us?”
I stuffed the last of my muffin into my mouth with a quick nod. How many challenges had I already tackled and lived to tell the tale? I’d get the hang of this. If my mom and dad had managed to get their differing natures to cooperate enough to produce an entirely new being, I could talk the opposing sides of myself into getting along.
Swiping my hands together, I got up. “All right. Let’s do this.” I paused, considering our limited options for training space. “Maybe not right here near the driver’s seat, since I can’t promise a flame or two won’t get a little out of hand. And I’d rather not make a bonfire out of my own bed, so… the master bedroom?”
“I could just stuff you into the bathroom, since no one else here needs that.”
“Yeah, but there’d be no room for you to join me in there to boss me around.”
I marched past him to the narrow doorway at the very back of the RV. I’d only gone in there once before, when Gisele had been curled up on the bed unconscious from her battle wounds. Apparently she’d wanted to shake that memory too by changing the surroundings—the bedspread was different, a dark blue that twinkled here and there like stars. She must have gotten Bow to scrounge up a new one for her.
“All right,” I said. “What’s on the menu today? Any sparkly things you’d like scorched out of existence?”
Omen cast a baleful look around at the bedroom, which had more surfaces that shimmered than not. Even the ceiling had been dabbed with patches of gold glitter like a shiny hurricane was about to descend on us.
The unicorn shifter’s taste in décor was unmistakable. It really was too bad she and Luna had never gotten the chance to meet.
“I thought we’d go back to the first trick that worked.” Omen brandished a handful of torn strips of paper he’d pulled from his pocket. “Simple and easy to work with in a confined space. But first—I thought back to when I originally decided I needed to temper my, ah, temper. We can try a few centering and calming techniques that might help you stay cool while you’re summoning your fire.”
Anything that reduced the chances of me ending up in cinders sounded good. “I’m ready. Teach away!”
Omen talked me through a couple of mental exercises involving measured breathing and visualization. I decided it was wisest not to mention that his instructions sounded an awful lot like the yoga guru meditations Vivi’s mom was addicted to.
Who was I to poke fun, anyway? Picturing a serene stretch of still ocean water, I could compel its imagined cooling sensation all the way across my skin. Of course, what really mattered was whether my mental imagery would continue to hold water once very real flames came out to play.
“Do you think you’ve got a good enough grip on yourself now?” Omen asked. After several minutes of pacing while he lectured, he’d finally allowed himself to sit on the edge of the bed—a foot away from me, but even when I closed my eyes, the heated power of his presence tickled over my skin.
“I’d better be,” I said. “Bring out the papers!”
He got up again to stand in front of me and held one pinched between his fingers about two feet from my face. The bedroom, for all its impressiveness, was still an RV bedroom, and we didn’t have a whole lot of room to