Sailor looks at her with curiosity sparkling in her eyes.
“Now I’m intrigued,” she says.
We reach the warehouse and go inside. Mel and Aziza duck down behind a shelf. I can hear them whispering together, but I can’t hear what they’re saying.
“Do you know what it is?” Sailor asks me.
I shake my head.
“No. I didn’t even know the surprise was real, remember?” I say.
“The suspense is killing me,” she says.
I cringe inside a little at her choice of words, but I don’t let it show.
“Come on, guys, she’s getting mad,” Jinx shouts with a laugh.
Mel and Aziza reappear. They are empty-handed, and Sailor frowns.
“So, we all know you have a thing for your dagger and the boots Aziza gave you,” Mel says. “But sometimes, grabbing for a weapon at your feet is impossible. And sometimes, you need more than a dagger.”
She nods to Aziza, who turns back to the shelving unit and pushes something to one side. She turns back and in her hands is a brown leather belt with a scabbard attached. Poking out of the scabbard is the silver handle of a sword with an emerald embedded in it. Aziza pulls the sword out, showing the silver blade. Sailor gasps when she sees it.
“It… it’s beautiful,” she says. “Thank you so much.”
“The emerald was my idea,” Ya-Ya says proudly.
Sailor flashes her a smile.
“You look a bit disappointed,” Mel says.
She flashes a grin as she says it, which she quickly works to hide, and I know there’s more to this.
“I’m not disappointed,” Sailor quickly reassures her, missing her grin. “It’s just a shame I can only ever use it here. I think it might look a little bit strange if I’m walking around with a sword on my hip.”
“Are you sure people would notice it?” Mel says.
“Well, yeah,” Sailor says with a frown of confusion.
“Maybe you should try it on and see,” Aziza says, pushing the sword back into the scabbard.
Sailor looks even more confused now, but she steps forward and takes the belt from Aziza. She puts it on and fastens the belt and the whole thing vanishes. Sailor and I both gasp. Sailor looks down at her leg where the sword should be and runs her hand over the now empty space.
“Nexus enchanted it for you,” Mel says. “It will remain invisible while you’re wearing it. Draw the sword.”
Sailor reaches for a handle I can’t see and she pulls out the sword. As it leaves the scabbard, it becomes visible, and the second she puts it back in, it vanishes again. Sailor shrieks with delight and hugs Mel and then begins making her way around the team hugging them all.
“Thank you. All of you,” she says.
“Just when your dad asks what your surprise was, tell him we made you a cake or something,” Jinx says as she hugs him.
“I will,” she says. “I don’t think he’s quite ready for invisible swords just yet.”
She gets to me and throws her arms around me. I hold her tightly.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” I remind her.
“I know. But I wanted to hug you.” She smiles.
She pulls away and turns back to Aziza.
“I get why you thought I’d want to train now. Who’s up for it?”
***
The training session went well. Sailor knows how to handle a sword, and while she’s better with her dagger, I can see that changing now that she has her own sword to practice with. After a long, brutal training session that Sailor refused to step away from, I finally managed to coax her back into the cabin and we spent an hour or so just chilling in the games room. Adam came to pick Sailor up, and the cabin feels quieter without her in it somehow, even though it’s still full of noise.
Other than the obvious fact that Sailor ended up in the hospital, it’s been a good weekend. We’ve got the second Soul Gem and Sailor and I got to spend a lot of time together. And Adam seems to approve of our relationship. He even let me sleep over. That’s got to be a bonus.
The only slight damper on everything is Sailor’s insistence of Raven’s guilt. I wish I could make my mind up one way or the other whether or not I think she’s right about it. Raven seemed suspicious at first, but surely she’d have made some sort of a move by now. Still though, there is something off about her. I can feel that, and it’s not me letting Sailor’s opinions cloud my judgement.
I don’t want to share my feelings about it with Sailor in case I’m wrong and I just make her more paranoid. If it turns out that Raven isn’t a member of Boundless and she and Adam go the distance, I want Sailor to be able to find a way to get along with her. They’ll be family. At the same time though, I can’t let the dream of Sailor gaining a family member cloud my judgement either.
I have to know one way or the other whether Raven is clean. I make my decision and head down the hallway to find Mel. I tap on her bedroom door and she calls for me to come in. She’s sitting up in bed playing on her cell phone. She puts it down when I come in.
“Is everything okay?” she asks me.
I nod my head.
“Yes. I’m just… do you think there’s any possibility Sailor is right about Raven being the leader of the Boundless?”
“The leader, no,” Mel says. “She wouldn’t be so bold if she was the leader. It’s all about self-preservation for those types. And for all I do think Sailor is paranoid, we have to at least consider the idea she could be a member and could be feeding information back to the higher-ups.”
“I agree,” I say. “Mel, I have a job for you, but you can’t talk to anyone about this. Especially not Sailor, okay?”
Mel nods, her face serious.
“What do you need?” she asks.
“I need everything you can
