Destiny

34.

Chapter 34

Lucy walked down the steps and sat down in a chair across from me. Her hair was pulled back and she had dried blood on her collarbone. She looked exhausted and her eyes were red. Had she been crying?

"How is he?" I asked, pushing myself into a sitting position.

A smile spread on her face but she spoke as if there wasn't one. "He'll be fine. Just needs some sleep to recover."

"Can I go see him?"

"Not until he wakes up."

I sighed.

"You should know that he's not very good at keeping secrets."

"He told me he was."

She rolled his eyes. "Aryan keeps dumb secrets like having pets or eating weird food or liking weird movies. The good secrets are never secret for long."

"Good secrets?"

She got to her feet and pulled a phone from her pocket. I recognized it as Aryan's. "Like the fact that he likes you. And that you like him too."

My face turned red and I wanted to hide forever.

"I saw the letter from Brayden too. He was a good kid-"

"Did you know he was leaving?"

"I didn't. But I wish I had."

"How did he get back to the hospital?"

"He called them."

Both Lucy and I turned to see Kellan standing at the top of the basement steps.

"He called them?" I asked, completely surprised. How would Brayden have figured out how to use a phone? Or even gotten the number, for that matter.

Kellan nodded. "He looked them up in the phone book and called. He pretended to be some innocent bystander that found him in the woods. It was pretty creative."

"What were you doing in the basement?" Lucy asked.

"I wasn't doing anything bad. Just checking it out. It's impressive down there."

"Why does everyone know about this but me?"

"I didn't know either. Then again, I wasn't that close with him." Lucy said, putting the phone on the coffee table. It had several cracks in it. I knew Aryan would have a fit when he saw it.

"I ran into him on my way here."

I sighed and leaned back against the couch. When my back pressed against the cushion, I groaned and arched it away. "I thought you fixed me."

Lucy put her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to be able to heal yourself."

"Supposed to. Except I'm not in the best position to do that."

She sighed.

"Isn't that what moms are supposed to do? Fix boo-boos and make everything better?"

Kellan laughed.

Lucy glared at him. "Don't encourage her."

"You know she's right."

Lucy looked at me and changed the subject. "Come train with me."

"Are you insane? I almost died and you want me to go fight with you?"

"It's the best time for you to learn. You'll know what to do whenever you're in the situation again."

"I don't plan on ever being in it again."

"You never know what could happen, Julia. I want you to be aware of your abilities."

"My answer is still no."

"Then watch Kellan and I."

"Hell no." Kellan said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Come on. She needs to learn."

"How is she going to learn how to fight when it'll just be you kicking my ass?"

Lucy smiled. "She'll get some entertainment out of it. And she'll know what not to do."

"I'm in." I said, getting to my feet.

Kellan rolled his eyes. "Fine."

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Kellan was a good fighter. He never let Lucy get the upper hand. He knew when she would move and where she would move to.

And that frustrated Lucy. She would try to hit him harder, move faster, but each time he knew what she was thinking. It was weird. But fun to watch.

Finally, after blocking hits for several minutes, Kellan grabbed Lucy's arm and twisted it around to her back.

"How did you get so good at this?" Lucy asked through gritted teeth. Sweat was building on her forehead and the back of her neck.

"I learned from the best." He said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"You're so full of it." A smile took over Lucy's mean expression.

Kellan relaxed his grip on her and spun her around to face him. He took her other hand and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm thinking this wasn't such a bad idea after all."

"Which? The fighting or... this? Us?"

He smiled. "Both."

She got close to him, their lips almost touching. Before they could meet, Lucy dropped one of his hands and used the other to flip him over her and onto his back. He hit the ground with a thud and he groaned.

"Damnit, Lucy. We're so not done here."

"Not even close."