“I love that color on you, Sugar.” I glanced at the mirror hanging on the wall by the door. The purple really made the green in my hazel eyes stand out. I smiled. For once, I actually felt pretty.
“Are you ready to go?” This from Travis.
“Um, sure, but what are we doing?”
“We are going sight-seeing in Moscow. We won’t be going far, but you will get to see some of the city.”
“Awesome!”
David stepped up to Travis and me and closed his eyes. He held out a hand over both of our heads, and chanted under his breath. A heavy feeling settled over me.
“What are you doing? What was that?”
David opened his eyes. “I hid our magic from casual observers. That way we don’t have to worry about being attacked. You can’t go around preparing to be attacked either.”
“Okay. Who is going to do the talking?”
“David is. He can pick up languages telepathically.”
“That’s pretty awesome, too.”
“Let’s go!” Travis flung open the door to a dark alley. Of course, they would bring me in the middle of the night. Although, you would think it would be more dangerous at night than during the day.
We stepped out into the alley. When the door closed behind us, the alley brightened considerably. Turns out, it was the middle of the day. We went to St. Basil’s Cathedral, GUM, the Red Square, and Lenin’s Mausoleum. We had fun, but we quickly got cold. It was just below freezing. After several hours of wandering around, we returned to the safe house through the alley. How Travis knew where the door was, I will never know. He pulled the same trick Kait had in the forest when we first arrived, opening a door out of thin air.
The heat wafted out at us. I pushed past Travis and David in my haste to get inside. Even though I knew that my magic protected me from frostbite, I hate being cold, and at this point, I felt like I was almost frozen solid. I sighed as the heat soaked in. I gushed about all we had seen to Kait as we had lunch.
When we finished, Kait ordered us to the training room in the basement. He grabbed my arm as I followed David and Travis. I stopped and he waved them on. After they had continued down the stairs, he ran a finger along my jaw.
“I’m glad you enjoyed Moscow. I wish I could have come along as well.”
“I wish you could have, too. It was so exotic.”
His eyes were on my lips the whole time I spoke. I deliberately bit my lip, and Kait caught his breath.
“You always push me.” He ran a finger along my lip, freeing it from my teeth. Leaning in, he replaced his finger with his lips. Then, he smacked my butt, breaking the moment.
“Get on down there and train!”
“Bastard!”
He laughed as I went down the stairs, rubbing my butt. Since Kait had said one of the doors down here led to Hell, I was afraid to open any doors. I hoped it was easy to find where they had gone. I didn’t have to worry, though. The basement was one big room with two small doors in the outer walls. Travis and David were waiting in the middle of the room for me.
“There’s already a ward up, so we can’t harm the rest of the house. Are you ready for this?”
“Yep. So, do we just do a free for all, or what? There is nothing to attack besides each other.”
“Yeah. Just remember, though, we don’t have all the special equipment we normally have. Don’t throw ice daggers or anything.”
I nodded as I set myself. David attacked, vines sprouting out of nowhere. They tried to wrap around me, so I shocked them. They withered and disappeared. A gust of wind swirled around me, attempting to pick me up. I formed ice under Travis, causing him to slip and fall, releasing his magic.
A vine pulled my feet out from under me, while another one caught me before I could hit the floor. A third vine tightened around my neck, cutting off my air. I attempted to electrocute the vines but ended up shocking myself which was an unpleasant feeling, even though it didn’t really hurt.
Gasping, I called out, “David, stop. I give up!”
The vines tightened further. My nails just slid off as I clawed at them. Blackness was creeping into my vision when suddenly the vines disintegrated. Travis stood over David, who was now knocked out on the floor.
Chapter 18
Travis carried David upstairs and deposited him in his bedroom while I went to find Kait.
“Kait! We need to talk about David, now. I’m pretty sure he just tried to kill me.”
“What are you talking about, Princess?” His back was to me when I walked in the room. When he turned around and saw the bruises that I’m sure were forming around my very sore neck, he came over to me and ran a finger lightly over them. The pain eased where his finger touched. “There, I healed the bruises. What happened?”
I took a deep breath and told him. He was quiet through the story. When I finished, he asked, “Do you know what he was thinking or feeling at the time?”
“I don’t know. I was too busy trying not to pass out to examine his feelings. Come on, Kait. You know what is going on, and you need to tell me now!”
“I don’t know for sure, and I am not going to tell you something that is nothing more than a wild speculation, Princess. It is something that David needs to work out on his own, and it’s really none of your business, even if you love him. All you can do is be there for him, and if he wants to tell you, he can.”
I sighed. Kait really
