caution with her. She was so ready to pick up a sword and learn how to use one of those bad boys.
Despite her impatience, Eden wouldn’t take back one day of training. Sparring with Cameron and Tobe with Noah coaching had been a lot of fun. They got her sense of humour and it helped that Tobe’s was as equally as biting as her own. Sometimes other Neith had joined them. Two in particular had shown up a few times, a couple of college kids called Mark and Shona. Eden couldn’t stand the girl. Shona reminded her so much of the girls she’d left behind at South Salton High. Snide and superior. What Eden found particularly irritating was Shona’s attitude towards Tobe. She was constantly sniping at the younger Neith and although Tobe was pretty good at handling herself, it was driving Eden nuts. Whatever the girl had against October, Eden was getting plenty fed up of her and had to keep reminding herself that Cyrus wanted her to make as best an impression as possible on the Scots so that her heritage wasn’t drawn into question by an already wary McLeish. It helped that Shona’s boyfriend Mark was an actually pretty OK guy. Eden wondered what in hell he saw in the blonde though. Unfortunately, despite the other Neith quite happily taking turns to spar with Eden, Shona hadn’t volunteered, disappointing her greatly. She was pretty sure a hefty smackdown would have eased her irritation somewhat.
Friday night had come around all too quickly and Eden hadn’t been looking forward to being cooped up again. So it was a pleasant surprise when Noah said he’d gotten permission to escort Eden, October and Cameron out for the night. They were going out for dinner and then onto a movie. It was all so
Eden loved Edinburgh at night. There was so much light despite the darkness, so much energy and life. They jumped on a bus that dropped them off on Princes Street, and Eden soaked up the sight of the castle looming in the distance. Her breath still caught every time she looked up at it. October nudged her forward and she followed her companions, watching lots of men in sharp shirts and cologne, women all dressed up in their high heels and dresses, clack back and forth as they sought the next greatest restaurant and bar. Noah smiled at her as he caught her glancing back at the castle again and she shrugged him off with a sheepish smile.
As they passed the gardens and the Scott Monument, Tobe turned so she was facing Eden and began walking backwards. “You have to come back to Edinburgh at Christmas time. The both of you.
This place is beautiful. They put white lights on all the trees and there’s a German market that smells amazing and a small fun fair with this huge ferris wheel all lit up. Princes Street at night on a cold Winter’s day is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. Even if I do say so myself.” Tobe grinned.
“She’s right,” Cameron agreed. “It’s really Christmassy. There’s even ice skating down in the gardens.”
Christmas had never been a big deal in the Winslow Mansion. Since it was a religious holiday and not a soul eater’s religion, they pretended on the outside with everyone else, but on the inside there was no decorations, no tree, no presents. Unlike birthdays, Christmas was blown past with Ryan handing them a wad of cash and telling her and Stel to buy whatever they wanted.
“I wouldn’t have thought you guys celebrated Christmas.” Eden frowned.
Tobe shrugged still walking backwards, impressing Eden with how she managed not to trip or knock into anyone. “Well of course we don’t go to church or anything like that but many people who celebrate Christmas don’t go to church.”
“You go to the service,” Cameron murmured at her.
Eden could swear she saw Tobe’s face flush red as made a face at him. “Service?” Tobe huffed, “What? It’s cool OK.”
Noah snorted. “The defensiveness would make some sense if you told us what you were talking about?”
“There’s a Christmas service at McEwan Hall at Edinburgh Uni every year. The Hall is huge and stunning and it has an old organ. They hold a proper Christmas service with these amazing choirs.
It’s kind of beautiful.”
Eden thought it sounded wonderful. “And you’re embarrassed by this why?”
“Because I’m not religious. It’s weird for me to go.”
“No it’s not.”
Tobe smiled at her and turned back around.
Cameron grimaced and threw her a look. “I’ve been telling you it’s not weird for five years and you still sneak off to it with a furry hat pulled down over your head so no one recognises you. Eden tells you it’s not weird and suddenly it’s not.”
Eden and Noah shared an amused smile.
Tobe shrugged. “Well she is the authority on weird.”
Eden’s smirk slipped and Noah smothered a laugh with a cough.
“Thanks, Tobe, real nice.”
Her ‘cousin’ shrugged without looking back. “Don’t mention it.” They made their way to their destination in relative quiet, letting Eden soak up the atmosphere of the city. Less than ten minutes later and Tobe and Cameron were leading them into a glass front building with two giant metal giraffes outside. The centre had a cinema and a bunch of restaurants and clubs inside it, and they stood for a while trying to agree on where to eat. Eventually they decided on an Asian fusion restaurant and settled around the table in a comfortable silence as they perused the menu. Cameron asked Noah a couple of questions and Eden relaxed as Noah answered them amiably. She’d noticed that Noah had been a little cagey around the cute Neith over the last week. Cameron was a naturally flirty person and she had kind of got the impression that his flirtatiousness with her was bothering Noah.
That made her stupidly happy.
Eden, however, didn’t put any stock in Cameron’s flirting. She had been watching him and Tobe over the last few days and was beginning to think there was something going on there. Yeah Tobe had said that they had tried dating and quit because it was too much like kissing her cousin but the way they acted around each other had Eden questioning that story. Tobe excused herself to go to the bathroom and Eden watched with amusement as Cameron followed the girl with wistful eyes. She looked at Noah and was surprised to see he had noticed too. They shared a knowing smile that made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Flushing, Eden quickly picked up her glass of water and waited for Tobe to come back to the table. Sure enough, Tobe kept glancing at Cameron surreptitiously, just as she had been doing all week. For the first time ever Eden wanted to meddle. She chuckled inwardly at the thought. She’d never had a group of friends before, people that she cared enough about to want to stick her nose in where it didn’t belong if it meant bringing two people she liked together in happiness. Her eyes widened. Jeez, when had she become such a cheesy dork? She found herself looking at Noah again. Maybe she had always been a cheesy dork underneath it all. Back in her life in Salton her friendship with Noah had meant the world to her. She would have done anything for him then, even with the soul eater inside of her battling for her conscience. The memory of her depth of feeling for Noah was so sharp, and suddenly not so clouded by his duplicity now that she was Ankh and fully understood what that all meant. When Noah looked up at her, his violet eyes smiled at her and she lost her breath for a moment as she drowned in that familiar look. It was a look that said he cared. And he had looked at her like that for nearly the entire time they had been friends in Salton. For the first time, Eden began to see how difficult it must have been for him to lie to her.
The smile in Noah’s eyes dimmed until he was gazing at her with the most intense expression –
almost as if he had seen the light bulb go on in her head.
A kick to her shins broke their eye contact and Eden glanced sharply at Tobe. The girl was grinning suggestively at her, her eyes flicking between her and Noah questioningly. Eden made a face at her and then lowered her gaze to the menu. “I’m thinking lemon chicken. What are you guys having?”
Dinner was fun. Now that Noah had relaxed around Cameron the two of them discovered they had the same taste in music, literature and movies. Eden swore she and Tobe could have walked away from the table and they wouldn’t have even noticed their absence. Instead she sat and had a similar conversation with Tobe, the boys only interrupting if they heard them talking about a band or a movie they liked. There was a lot of teasing sarcasm flying around and Eden was amazed by how much fun she was having.
So this was what it was like to have friends.
The movie selection was a little disappointing so they eventually decided on a comedy about a group of guys in the 80’s. There was some laugh out loud moments but Eden had seen funnier. They trailed out of the cinema back into the light of the centre discussing the film with the lukewarm reception it had received.
