***
After spying on Sailor, I went back to my room. I could hardly spy on her session with Grace without being seen, and after that, Ya-Ya insisted on some beauty therapy. It’s a waste of time, but there’s only so much training Sailor can do in a day, and watching how fast she was when she was fighting Aziza, I think she’s as good as there. She’s starting to trust her instincts, and the more she does that, the more her natural fighting skills will come out.
I’ve hidden away in here all day because I can’t bear to face Sailor right now. I mean, what am I supposed to say to her? Nice kiss, now leave me alone?
A light knock pulls me out of my head.
“Come in,” I say.
Mel sticks her head around the door.
“Hey. Nexus has just contacted Grace with a possible location. She’s taken Sunday, Jinx, and Aziza to suss it out. Ya-Ya and I have training. Can you see that Sailor gets home okay?”
“Sure,” I say.
What else am I supposed to say? I can hardly tell Mel and Ya-Ya to miss training when I’m the one who insists on its importance. I’d have to have a better reason than not trusting myself around Sailor. Damn Nexus. It’s like she’s trying to tempt me. Knowing her, she is.
I force myself to appear casual as I move through to the games room to find Sailor getting her jacket on.
“You ready?” I ask.
“Yup. And I don’t need an escort thanks,” she says.
I sigh.
Here we go again.
“Well I don’t want to have to explain to Nexus why I let the Paradox wander through the woods on her own, so you’re just going to have to suck it up,” I say.
She rolls her eyes and heads for the door, but she doesn’t argue further when I catch up to her and fall into step behind her. Her silence doesn’t last long.
“What would Felicity say if she knew you were walking me home?” she says.
I shrug.
“Who cares?”
“What would she say if she knew you kissed me and then avoided me like the plague?”
“Again, I don’t care what she’d say. But you obviously have something to say about it, so why don’t you just spit it out?”
“Me? I’m not the one playing childish games, Rye. You say the mission is the most important thing and you shirk your responsibilities and send Aziza in to train me.”
“So Aziza wasn’t a good trainer?” I ask, avoiding her obvious implication that I’m avoiding her.
“Yes actually, she was brilliant. But that’s not the point,” Sailor says.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Sailor. We kissed. It was a mistake. End of—”
“I want to know why you’re avoiding me,” she says.
I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to get me to admit that I liked the kiss and I’m avoiding her because I’m scared of the consequences. I can’t do that though. I can’t let her think that she and I are even a possibility. I won’t risk making her an orphan.
“Because honestly, I couldn’t stand another day of you whining about my date, your dad’s date. Do you just hate to see people happy or what?”
I know I’ve gone too far when Sailor’s eyes fill with tears and she takes off running.
“Shit. Sailor, wait, I’m sorry. That came out wrong,” I shout.
I’m shouting to thin air. For the second time this weekend, she caught me off guard and took off so damn quick I’m left eating her dust.
I jog after her. My jog becomes a frantic sprint when Sailor’s terrified scream shatters the silence of the woods.
I follow the sound of Sailor’s scream, panic flooding through me. If anything happens to her I don’t know what I’ll do but it won’t be pretty.
I come out of the trees into a small clearing where Sailor stands with two men. One of them has an arm around her neck, almost cutting off her air supply and using her body as a shield. The other one stands beside him. He gives me a cocky grin as I run into the clearing.
“Come any closer and she dies,” the man holding Sailor hisses.
She kicks at his shins and struggles to get free, but his grip is too strong for her, and something in his voice tells me he won’t hesitate to snap her neck if I ignore him. I stop a couple feet away from them. I have to distract them, get the one holding Sailor to drop his guard and loosen his grip so she can wriggle free.
“It was rather irresponsible leaving such a pretty young thing to roam the woods alone. It’s dangerous out here. So many unscrupulous characters would love to get their hands on the Paradox.”
“Well as you can see, she’s not unguarded, but I can see how you made the mistake of believing she was. So why don’t you just let her go and I might let you live,” I say.
I see the flash of anger in their eyes as I taunt them. Good. Anger makes guards drop and mistakes happen when guards are down. Before my eyes, the two men change as their anger consumes them. They no longer look human. Both of their bodies are now jet-black, their eyes red. Their hair is gone, replaced by oily dreadlocks that spike out at the bottom. One sting from those and Sailor is dead for sure. Their fangs hang over their bottom lips, and the one holding her licks his, leaving a trail of green sludgy venom behind.
As I suspected, the demons are Shadow Walkers. They are known for their cruelty. If either of them hurt Sailor, I swear I’ll rip
