Storm Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,6
some food to your friend, but she threw it back at me. Is she always so mean?” Ruby asks me, sitting next to me on the floor in front of the door. I overlook the grey waters, the shore lapping against the wooden planks outside the door. I’ve knocked myself out twice trying to walk out of here. Once, I attempted to just walk out the door, calling Neritous’s bluff. That hurt. The second time, I got creative and tried to escape through the roof. The same thing happened, and fecking hell did it hurt when it threw me back onto the steps I climbed up. I was almost thankful I passed out that time.
“Thanks for trying, and no, she is the kindest person I know. Mads is just lost right now,” I tell her, wrapping my arm over her shoulders. “Is Kit awake?”
“Just checked and nope,” she answers, moving her eyes to the water. “I’d never seen the sea before I came here. Mum wanted to take me, but we didn’t have much money. I told auntie Jade, or she overheard me, and she made a beach in our living room with a pool, sand and deck chairs with umbrellas.”
I watch her fond smile, and I can just imagine Jade taking the time to do all that. She was the kinda person who always made the best of any bad situation.
“I wish she was here. Jade would know what to do next,” I admit. “Or she would tell me I had the answers, or I could figure it out myself. She always believed in me, even when we just met.”
“Do you still think the weatherman and the twins will come to save us?” she asks.
“Weatherman?” I furrow my brow until it clicks. Storm. I chuckle as her cheeks go red.
“If anyone can find us, it’s him. The justice twins have a chance, and so do my family. We all defend each other and find a way. Even against all the odds.”
“I like that,” she replies with a shy smile. “Cats have packs, like most animals, and anyone we have in our pack, we would protect. That’s what mum told me once.”
“You’re my family always, Ruby. I will protect you, you know that?” I say, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I felt like I knew you before we met thanks to the stories Jade and your mum told me.”
“They didn’t tell you about that one Halloween, did they?” she asks, pure horror in her eyes as her cheeks go bright red, matching her hair. “I was five, and I made a bad choice in costumes.”
“Nope,” I laugh. “But I really want to know now.”
“I will never tell you,” she states and sticks her tongue out at me. I’m so busy laughing that I almost miss the sound of Killian’s voice. I pause, crawling to my feet and searching around me.
“Karma, we will find you,” Killian’s voice whispers to me like a ghost. But it is him.
Hope blossoms in my chest. “Killian?”
“Karma,” his voice softly replies. “Karma, we will—” The voice gets cut off, and whatever magic was here is gone, leaving me feeling cold all over again. Even though I only got to hear his voice for a second, it’s enough to fill my heart with hope and a longing that just comes with it.
I have to face it. Killian has dug his way into my soul and made roots there.
Roots I’m never going to be able to get rid of.
Not that I even want to.
“Do you two want lunch?” A nervous voice cuts into my thoughts, and I turn around to see Dominic standing behind us, shuffling his feet and rubbing his hands together like he just can’t stand still. “I mean you d-don’t have to but I—”
“That would be brilliant. Ruby told me that you can cook?” I ask, and he nods with a big grin. He relaxes a little as we walk to the kitchens, and he rambles with Ruby about the chicken noodles he has made for us and how he hopes we like it. I can see why Ruby likes him; he is just a nervous young teenager and really doesn’t seem to have an unkind bone in his body. Ruby is more like me, headstrong and direct, whereas I see he is the kind one of us all. He serves us chicken noodles as we sit at the table before he joins us. After a few mouthfuls, I can’t hold