Chapter 21: Chapter 21

“What are we talking about? Is it something bad?” I asked with wide eyes and a frantically beating heart when I imagined she was there to deliver the blow of Leon’s death. “Is…is he dead?”

She looked at Ryker and I saw her eyes widen slightly with recognition and something else I couldn’t quite place. Ryker’s eyes were fixed on her figure and I noticed there was something deeper between them. Before I could fully place it, she cleared her throat and motioned for me to leave the open space and go somewhere more private.

“Can you just wait for me?” I asked Ryker and when I noticed his hesitant look, I added, “Please?”

“Fine. Just go and talk about whatever it is you want to talk about,” he said with a slight roll of his eyes as he walked away, pushing the cart in the direction far away from us.

I turned to Amara with a sigh hoping that he wouldn’t ditch me. “So, where are we going from here?”

She didn’t say anything and instead took my hand and led me to a door that had “STAFF ONLY” boldly printed it. I raised a brow and she just twirled her finger so that tips would glow and when I looked around, I noticed people had stopped moving. She had obviously stopped time so we would talk.

I shook my head with a low chuckle as I walked in behind her and she shut the door. I propped my hands on my hips waiting for an explanation while silently praying that she didn’t come to crash my day like I imagined.

“So?” I asked impatiently when it seemed she wasn’t going to do anything other than stare at me.

“He’s alive,” she said with a triumphant smile and I swear the information nearly knocked me out. I mean, I was happy that he was alive but I just couldn’t get it. I didn’t voice out my confusion but it seemed that she understood it because she added, “You saved him, Paris. I’m so surprised that I didn’t notice it all along.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Are you trying to imply that I’m not human?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

She laughed and shook her head. “You are very much human. It’s just you saved the life of a caladrius and in doing that, the creature felt indebted to you and had to bless you. When a caladrius blesses you, you gain their power to heal people.”

“I don’t remember saving the life of any creature,” I said, my brows furrowing. “The only memory I have of saving an animal was a regular bird my father was going to kill. I did get punished for it but I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary happening to me.”

“The bird is a caladrius and that may have been the last of its kind you saved. It was a good deed that came back to save your friend,” she said with a smile and I didn’t know if I was more shocked by what she was saying or the fact that she was actually smiling at me. “Leon asked for you immediately he woke up and I knew I just had to let you know.”

“He’s…”

“Yes, yes he is,” she said, her smile widening. “Are you going to come with me now or we should wait for you to come.”

“No, I’m…My best friend just came back to life. I think the last thing I’ll do is not see him,” I said still trying to get over the shock of everything. “It’s just that all the information is so overwhelming and I don’t know whether to be happy or think about my life.”

“We can talk about it in detail when you’re with Leon,” she said and before I could open my mouth to ask, she quickly added, “Yes, Ryker can come. It’s not like he isn’t aware of all this when his mother was killed by a rogue.”

I had a lot of questions but I decided to start with the one that actually shocked me. “You know this guy?”

She scoffed. “Know him? I’ve tried to kill him four times in the last week. Of course, I bloody well know him.”

“When you say try to kill him, what exactly do you mean?” I asked, giving her a panicked look as I stock a step backwards.

“Not literally. It’s just…never mind,” she said and clapped her hands. “Are we going or what?”

I was still confused but I didn’t bother to push it like I normally would. I was just so much more excited that I would get to see Leon. So excited that I grabbed her hand and literally ran out of the little backstage place we were hiding. I didn’t realize that all the time we were in there, people were still frozen.

“Are you going to leave them like this or…?”

She rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers and everyone was moving again. I sighed and ran around the store, it wasn’t large so I found it easy, to find Ryker. He was already at the doors trying to make a safe exit like I told him not to. I smiled to myself and followed from behind and once he was out, tapped his shoulder.

He dropped his bags immediately and I smirked, “Leaving so soon?”

He groaned and started to pick up the bag he’d dropped. “What can one do to get rid of you?”

“I’m like a zit. You try to get rid of me and I just grow bigger,” I said with a bright smile and he just glared at me. “I don’t get why you’re so grumpy. I thought we had a big step in our relationship.”

“What do you want from me?” he asked groaning again. It seemed like that was all he did when he was around me.

“Losing your attitude would do,” Amara said coming out of the blues like she always did. She was like a modern James Bond. “She just wants to be your friend, Ry. It’s not like she’s asking you to marry her.” Ryker rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. “Look, I don’t have the time or patience for this. Are you coming with her or not?”

“Please,” I added since I knew Amara would rather be caught dead than be polite. “I’ll do anything you want. Pretty please.”

I made sure I gave him the puppy dog eyes that no one, not even Leon’s father whose heart was made out of stone, could resist. My father had always been a sucker for them and I knew it worked on anyone.

“Fine, I’ll go as long as you stop whatever it is you are doing with your eyes,” he said scrunching up his nose and I glared at him. “I didn’t come with a car so how are we getting there?”

My eyes didn’t get the desired effect but it worked out just fine.

I took his hand in mine. “I came with Emrys so you can ride with us.” I turned to Amara. “You coming?”

“I’ll be there before you,” she said with a wink and walked away.

I raised a brow and turned to look at Ryker. “Is it me or is she a little too happy today?”

He didn’t reply so I just dragged his hand in the direction of Emrys’s car and I felt a little bad that I had left him there. I just hoped he wasn’t going to get mad at me or something especially when I thought of how much he and Leon didn’t get along.

“Emrys, I’m so sorry I took so long,” I said giving him the puppy dog eyes as soon as I got in. “I came with my friend, Ryker, and it would be really nice if you can take us to Amara’s house so we can see Leon.”

“Amara?” he asked casting a glance outside at Ryker before opening the door and letting him in. “Which Amara are you talking about?”

“Kosara’s sister.”

“Oh, okay then. What happened to Leon?”

That was enough to make me smile like I was high on sugar. “He’s alive. Can you believe that?”

“Really?” Emrys asked as he started the engine. “How is that possible?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” I said with a grin. “So, Emrys you already know Ryker? Ryker, Emrys.”

“I think we have already met,” Ryker said with a sigh before muttering something that sounded oddly like, “Today is going to be a long day.”

“Tell me about it,” Emrys said joining in the sigh party with Ryker.

I frowned and crossed my arms. “Are both of you trying to insinuate that my company is boring?”

“Sort of,” Ryker said and I turned to him with a sharp glare so he quickly added, “I mean, um, your company is actually pretty exciting.”

“I didn’t mean it like that either,” Emrys said

“Well, thanks for breaking my heart,” I said with a dramatic sigh. “After all I’ve done for both of you, you pay me by insulting me? How can you be so cruel?”

“We’re sorry?” Ryker offered, slightly confused with my theatrics.

“Sorry doesn’t even cut it,” I said adding an extra flare and little waterworks to make it more believable. “The only way I can forgive you is if you bathe me with compliments.”

“Your eyes are as beautiful as Enchanted Eden, your hair as perfect as Roasted Coffee, and your lips as bright as Raspberry Bellini,” Emrys said with a fake British accent that was actually quite on point.

I smirked. “Someone has clearly been looking at the dulux color chart but my eyes are blue not green. Try again.”

He laughed and I swear I felt butterflies in my stomach. No, not butterflies. Dragons. It was a feeling that was craving to be felt and honestly, I found myself falling deeper and deeper.

There was no way out of that one. The only thing I could pray for was that he would not break my heart.

“We’re here,” Emrys announced dragging me out of my thoughts and I looked out to see that we were in fact at Amara’s house.

I couldn’t help the excitement as I ran out of the car and up the steps to ring the doorbell. The door opened by itself as usual but this time I wasn’t terrified since I knew what to expect. I didn’t even check behind me to see if Ryker and Emrys were following because the one thing on my mind was seeing Leon.

As soon as I got inside, I bumped into Tobias and sheepishly smiled as I backed away grateful for the fact that he actually had stamina and didn’t fall immediately.

“You’re here to see Leon, right?” he asked and I nodded. “Good, I’ve been trying to see him but Amara said I had to wait for you. All that’s left is for her to see that you’re here and take us to him.”

“Well, where is she?” I asked bouncing impatiently.

“That is what I’d like to know,” he said with a sigh. “She left because she was going to get you and I was hoping that I’ll see her with you.”

“Well, she left me saying that she’d be here before me,” I said with a shrug. “Clearly, something else is going on that I’m not aware of.”

“I’ll call her,” he said taking out his phone to dial her number while I waited not-so-patiently for him to say something about Amara’s location. “It keeps going to voicemail. I swear I’m going to kill…”

“Like I said before, your temper is horrible,” Amara’s voice came through and I saw her suddenly standing in the living room like she had been there for hours. “I had other business to deal with.”

Tobias crossed his arms. “You couldn’t have just shown up and taken us there before doing whatever business you have?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?” “Hardly,” Tobias muttered.

“What did we miss?” Emrys’s voice came from behind me and I was going to ask what had taken him so long but I thought better of it. “Is Leon alive or is he not alive?”

“There’s a word for not alive and I think that word is ‘dead’,” Amara said propping her hands on her hips like a smartass. “Besides, why would I lie about Leon’s health status? He’s perfectly fine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with him and I mean it.”

“Can we see him now?” Tobias asked taking the words out of my mouth. “Of course. Come with me,” Amara said and we all followed behind her.