“Don’t change the subject,” he snarled, his fists clenched. “That’s a bunch of bullshit and you know it. Obviously, he’s got multiple women he’s screwing around with, and the only way that wouldn’t be cheating, would be if…” Suddenly his voice trailed off, his green eyes widening in shock.
“It’s none of your business,” Lexi repeated, only to give Vivian an apologetic look. “I’ll let you get back to your book. Just wanted to say hi.”
“Sure,” Vivian said simply, holding her book up again, ignoring them both now.
Lexi began walking away, only for him to reach out to grab her arm.
An astral limb shot out of my body when I saw Radley reach for Lexi, but then I hesitated, already feeling like I knew what was going to happen. And sure enough, the moment his fingers just barely touched her, an arc of electricity shot into his body and blew him off his feet, causing him to fly halfway across the room before he landed hard on his ass.
Someone at the table whistled appreciatively, with it having drawn everyone’s attention.
Crackles of energy rippled around her for half a second, while she glared back at him, before she straightened her shoulders and moved over to the vending machine to grab herself a meal. All the while, Vivian kept her nose in her book, occasionally stabbing her fork into her salad, as if everything was business-as-usual.
I decided to get up and walk over to Lexi, suddenly feeling like I had to make sure we were okay.
“Hey,” I whispered when I got next to her side. “You know Winter and I aren’t really together, right?”
Lexi looked up at me in surprise. “Well, yeah,” she replied just as quietly. “But I know you might eventually. Which is fine,” she added, focusing on her meal. Her brow then furrowed. “But how did you know that’s what we were arguing about? Were we really that loud?”
I thought about that.
“It’s one of those things again, isn’t it?” she assumed. “Where you just kind of knew what was going on.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess it must be.” I sighed. “I can’t wait to see my evaluation. I really hope there’s an explanation on there for what’s going on. Maybe even some guidance on how to control it too.”
Lexi nodded, lifting the glass flap to grab her meal – just a sizzling chicken salad with Italian dressing.
Unexpectedly, someone burst through the door behind us, with it slamming against the wall. Lexi and I both looked automatically – her from irritation, likely assuming it was Radley, whereas I was focused in alarm, seeing the person in my second-sight first.
Jackie looked panicked as she focused on me.
“Sam, we just got a call to your house for an arrest. The local police are already on their way.”
The blood immediately drained from my face, having no idea what she meant by that. Arresting someone from my family? Or had someone attacked our home?
“Come on,” she continued before I could respond. “They’re already warming up one of the company helicopters. I’ll go with you.”
I immediately pulled out my phone as I took off to follow her back through the door, with Lexi just putting her salad down right on the floor and running to catch up. I was already calling Freya when I finally was close enough to probe for more information, keeping up with Jackie’s quick pace as we raced through the office.
“Do you know anything more about what’s going on?” I asked urgently, feeling more panicked when Freya’s phone went to voicemail.
“Only that Winter Fowler called in the arrest. That’s all I’ve got right now.”
Shit. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or more worried, because that meant they weren’t trying to arrest someone I cared about, but also meant they were arresting someone else. Shit! And worse, I knew Nancy was supposed to be visiting, which meant she probably got mixed up in the mess too.
As Jackie, Lexi, and I got onto an elevator that would take us directly to the roof, my phone call finally went through, with me about to try everyone else’s phones if this second attempt didn’t work.
“Is everyone safe?” I asked right away, hearing Eden crying in the background.
“Sam, it’s me,” Lily replied. “We’re okay.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Everything just happened so fast and…” She paused, only to sound overwhelmed. “Sam, I’m too hot right now. I had to put Eden down, and Heidi’s trying to comfort Rose, and–” She sucked in a breath, like she was hyperventilating, probably from the realization that she couldn’t be there for Eden because she might hurt her.
I took a deep breath of my own, knowing that my panicked questions weren’t helping. Everyone was safe. Winter and Freya were probably taking care of the situation. I just had to go from there.
“Okay, Lily, deep breath.” I paused to give her a chance to listen. “Now, have Heidi take care of Eden, and you take care of Rose. She like’s your warm hugs, remember? I’m on my way, okay?”
Lily sucked in another deep breath. “Okay. Please hurry. Freya, she’s, she’s, I don’t know. She’s just sitting outside, holding her head. Sam, I don’t know what to do.”
“Focus on Rose,” I repeated. “Just focus on that. Have Heidi take care of Eden. Okay? That’s all you have to do for right now. I’m on my way.”
“Okay,” she repeated simply, only to hang up.
I sucked in another shaky breath as I tried to get ahold of myself. I didn’t even realize Lexi was holding onto my arm, until she suddenly squeezed tighter. No one said anything as we exited onto the roof and climbed into the helicopter, with a pilot and two armed men accompanying us.
Jackie began having a conversation with the pilot over the headset, but I wasn’t listening, worried about Freya now. Suddenly, it’s like all I could see in my mind’s eye
