“You’re not afraid of me?” he whispers to me. He looks behind me. “The girls behind you all flinched when I yelled.” Mr. Prowler is no longer angry. He’s actually slightly amused.
“I’ve had my share of large men yell at me. I’m pretty good at attracting trouble.”
Mr. Prowler moves away from me and looks down at his wife, who is still sitting on the couch and waits for her reaction. She sighs and gives me a small smile. Nodding, she says, “We’ll help.”
Chapter Five
Every day after that, we visited mages. Some were easy to convince while others took more persuading. I was able to convince most to join our cause. A couple were persistent in their views and weren’t willing to change. They didn’t want anything to do with Dravin. Because of my new power, it made deciphering people’s feelings on the subject much easier. When someone was mad, I channeled that anger and yelled at them. When someone was hesitant, I turned into Miss Nice Girl and politely convinced them.
I can keep the emotions flowing into the emotional box in the back of my mind. Sometimes I can take the feelings from those around me give them a different emotion, effectively calming them. It’s easier to control this emotion power, but it definitely has it side effects.
Because we’ve been so busy, Colton and I haven’t had any alone time. We stay in hotel rooms, but we have to room with someone else or if they are nice enough, some of the people we visit let our large group stay with them. It depends on the day. We had just finished talking with Mr. Thalland and were heading back to the car, when Colton grabs my hand.
“I’m so proud of you,” he whispers in my ear as he opens the door. Letting everyone else get in first, I look up at him.
“Why? What did I do?” I ask.
“You’re handling all of this so well,” he tells me as he gets into the car. Crawling in after him, I sit down on his lap.
“I don’t really have a choice,” I say.
“Girl, if any of those guys yelled at me like some have yelled at you, I would have run out of the room crying, but you stand your ground. It’s hot,” Emma says. David laughs. “What? I know you think it’s hot too.”
“She’s like my sister,” David answers. I smile at him.
“Doesn’t make her any less hot,” Emma mumbles. Incendia and Natalie laugh. Incendia, Logan, and Lily are all sitting in the back. Logan and Lily are really awkward around each other, but I think they’re attracted to each other. They both watch the other often. Logan tries to start a conversation with Lily, but she seems to have trouble talking back to him. I’ve never seen her act like that before. The Lily I knew in school was very confident and not afraid to speak her mind. Logan’s been like that too, so how they’re acting is just plain strange. I think they’re confused as to why they’re feeling something, but if they don’t act soon, James will intervene.
I move over to Incendia and find her glaring at the back of Bragden’s head. Those two bicker like an old married couple. Similarly, neither one of them will admit their attraction. James won’t intervene on that one though. I think that he’s a little intimidated by Bragden’s size. James is large, but Bragden is slightly larger.
“So, who’s next Tom?” I ask as we back out of Mr. Thalland’s driveway.
“No one right now. I have a friend in the area and we’re going to stay at his house for a couple nights and train. It’s been a while since any of you have trained. We can’t afford for anyone to get rusty. Also, we have to help train Lily. He has a son who has been training mages and can probably help her.”
“Or we could just do it,” Logan suggests. Lily turns and looks at him. A warm feeling spreads through me as she looks up at him surprised. I push that emotion back into my box, trying not to read too much into it. When Logan looks toward her, she turns away, but I get another round of the feeling. I wish I knew of an off switch for these emotions.
“That sounds amazing.” I’ve missed training. Resting my head on Colton’s shoulder, I inhale deeply. I love how good he smells all the time. Colton laughs and wraps his arms around me.
“It’s called soap, babe,” he whispers into my ear.
“It’s called soap, babe,” I mimic as I move closer to him. I can feel sleep calling me and understanding my need to rest, Colton leans back a little and shifts me into a more comfortable position on his lap. I close my eyes and let myself be pulled under.
Colton
Ryanne sighs and snuggles closer to me in her sleep. I glance down at her. Goosebumps arise on her skin and she briefly starts shaking. The weather has taken a turn recently. It’s getting cooler outside as fall starts pushing summer aside. “Logan, can you reach into my duffle and pull out a sweatshirt for me?”