I opened it and looked inside. Dressed in workout clothes, she hit a punching dummy at three in the morning.
“Hey,” I said, stepping in.
She whirled to the door. “Oh, hey. Did I wake you up?”
“No, no.” I hugged my coat tighter around me. “I just couldn’t sleep. You?”
She reached for the towel on the floor and wiped the sweat from her face. “I haven’t slept much. I’ve talked to Lady Ceris, and she thinks it’s because of my hero’s metabolism. More stamina, more energy, and those things.”
“Oh.” I started wondering if anyone slept in this compound.
She sat down on the mat, her legs extended in front of her. With a groan, she bent at the waist and stretched her torso over her legs. “I might be a good warrior, but I have no flexibility.”
I sat down a good eight feet from her. “That’s not true. Compared to me, you’re very flexible.”
“Nu-uh. I’ve seen you stretching, remember? You’re like rubber compared to me.” She straightened her back again and looked at me. For some reason, I felt like I was under a microscope.
“Hmm, sorry.” I stood up. “I barged in here and made myself comfortable. I didn’t mean to interrupt your training.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Keisha gestured for me to sit back down. “I could use a break. And girl talk.” She smiled. With a smile of my own, I dropped back on the mat. She pulled her legs to her chest and hugged her knees. “So, what’s bothering you?”
“Nothing,” I said too quickly.
She tilted her head. “Really? I spend a lot of time with you. I know when something is bothering you.”
I scrunched my nose. “Am I that easy to read?”
“Sometimes.” She scooted until she reached the water bottle on the edge of the mat. “Am I going to have to beg, or you will spare me the humiliation?”
I picked some lint from my sweatpants, wondering what to do. I could not tell her anything. She wouldn’t become more than those people we called friends but didn’t really know. More like acquaintances. Or, in our case, allies working together for a common goal.
However, I could open up for once in my life. I never told Raisa anything because I was afraid of what she would think of my visions, and if I told her I knew Victor from my visions, or that I could heal him and Micah, she would have freaked out on me. Or not. I would never know. However, Keisha was here. She knew everything, including a bit of our messy past. She knew about the gods and the creed, the powers, the healing—everything. What did I have to lose?
Nothing. I might even gain something. A real friend.
“Micah kissed me this evening,” I blurted out before I lost my nerve. She choked on her water. “Oh, God.” I scooted to her ready to slap her back, but she raised her arm and took a deep breath.
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice raspy. She took one more sip of her water before turning her wide eyes back to me. “By the Everlast, that’s … wow. He’s a god. You kissed a god.”
I groaned. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“What? Was it that bad?”
“Oh no. Not at all.” Heat surged in my body just remembering how good it had been. “But he stopped it. He retreated from me and left the room as if I had leprosy.”
She frowned. “But I had the impression he liked you. Liked liked you, you know.”
So I hadn’t been the only one to see those mixed signals? Because I had seen them. I knew I had. And the fact that he had kissed me at all was proof.
“Well, I don’t know. I don’t understand. One second he’s all hot and coming at me strong, and I’m fighting like hell to stay away, but then the next second, he melts my walls and he’s the one who backs away.”
“Perhaps you two have a Romeo and Juliet thing going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Instead of the enemy families, think about what he is. A god. Immortal. He shouldn’t fall for a human, but he can’t really help himself.”
I snorted. “Micah falling for one girl, for real? Nah, not happening.”
“What makes you say that? Have you seen him with a lot of girls?”
I thought about it. The truth was, I had never seen Micah with any girl. He had always been around me—except for the three months they all disappeared. Nevertheless, since I met Micah, he hadn’t been with any girls. None that I knew of.
“I’ve never seen him with any girl,” I confessed, feeling silly for assuming he was a Casanova. Just because he acted like one, didn’t mean he was. I shook my head.
“See? I must be right. He knows he shouldn’t fall for you, but it’s stronger than him.”
That sounded epic. “How many romance books have you read?”
“I preferred fantasy, actually. You know, with sword fights and sorcery.” She winked.
I laughed. “Oh God, how didn't I see that coming?” She laughed with me. “How about you?” I asked once we calmed down. “Did you leave a boyfriend behind?”
“Nope. That is an odd thing, you know. I used to be flirty. I didn’t hook up with many guys, but I liked looking at them, flirting with them. But once I came here, I don’t know. I don’t think about guys that much anymore. I mean, I still do some, but my main focus is this.” She gestured to the room. “To be the best warrior I can. To train myself, to train you, to fight the battles for my gods, and help them win this war.”
This hero stuff sounded like a major brainwash. “Wow.”
“I know this new drive came from being a hero, but I’m not complaining. I love it, actually. I feel fortunate the Fates chose me.”
I didn’t know if it was hero magic working, but she sounded sincere and she did look comfortable in her warrior skin.
“I’m glad you’re happy with it,” I said, really meaning it.
We talked some more about life in Chicago and New York, what we did before everything changed, about our friends, our families. For once, it didn’t hurt as much to talk about my family. Tears brimmed in my eyes, but I didn’t feel like curling up and bawling.
However, what Keisha said about Micah stayed in the back of my mind. In the end, I pushed those thoughts completely away. She couldn’t be right about it. And even if she was right, I had a timer on my life—a timer I had put there. Hoping about impossible things would make everything worse.
24
The next morning, Keisha and I got in two hours of training before Ceris interrupted. Apparently she had located one of the Death Lords, and had set up a meeting for later that evening.
As expected, the entire compound thrummed with tense air.
One hour before the appointed time, Keisha and I walked into the conference room, wearing our armor and with our swords hanging from our belts.
Micah’s eyes bugged when he saw us. “What the hell?”
He and Victor were dressed like us. The only one at odds was Ceris, who still wore her goddess-like white dress.