“Skin is pretty soft, as well,” Nolan provides without being asked. “Her hands are freezing, though.”
“Feet, too,” Connor chips in.
Okay, now it’s getting weird.
As if Donovan can hear my mental complaint, he chides, “If she wakes up and hears you guys, she’s going to think you all are a bunch of crazy stalkers-in-training. She’s already dealing with the crazy shit we told her this morning.”
“Which she’s handling surprisingly well,” Kaleb observes, not realizing for the past two years I’ve had mutant powers-- or I guess magic powers.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Donovan counters.
Kaleb exhales a weighty breath. “It’s not, I just worry we’ve given her too much too soon.”
“Well, she’s here asleep on the couch,” Nolan whispers dryly. “Clearly, she wasn’t thrown enough to run in the opposite direction.”
“Speaking of,” Donovan mutters. “Probably should wake her up, crazy-stalkers-in-training, before she does on her own and hears us all talking about her.”
Too late.
A gentle hand slides from my hair to my shoulder and gives me a subtle shake. “Callie, love,” Nolan croons. “Time to wake up.”
Despite being already awake, I don’t want to get up and burrow deeper into the blanket wrapped around me, my hands tucked tight under my chin. I make a noncommittal grumble noise.
Nolan chuckles. “As enjoyable it is to have you passed out on my lap, we should probably get you home.”
I sigh the heavy sigh of the painfully weary and sit up, my hair falling into my face and the blanket pooling around my waist. Somehow I slept without dreaming, and I don’t look forward to the inevitable nightmares tonight.
I squint and carefully open one eye at a time, the low lights still hurting my eyes, and give Connor grade grunts of dismay at being conscious. This earns soft chuckles from the others.
“Welcome back, pretty girl.” Felix is standing in front of me and smiles sweetly. “Enjoy your nap?”
I shove my hair out of my face and nod, covering a wide yawn with my hand. With my arms stretched over my head, I twist at the waist, and I’m rewarded with a few loud pops of my vertebrae.
“Think it’s time to get our Callie home,” Nolan murmurs, amused. “We’ve worn her out.”
“I’ll give you a lift,” Connor surprisingly offers, and I’m extremely grateful.No nighttime death trap for me.
Everyone quickly gathers their things, and we all head out. As we walk down the hallway, I attempt to search for anything that looks like a damn elevator, but alas, nothing but nondescript doors. Taking a fortifying breath, I try to prepare for the stupid, never ending staircase round two, making sure to hang back so they won’t notice me white knuckle gripping the banister.One way to get over your fears is repeat exposure, right? At this rate, I’ll be taking stairs like a champ by next week.My thoughts are little too sarcastic to be reassuring.
They’re wood, not carpet, but I can still hear the heavy thuds of my body being dragged down the stairs. I can feel the sharp jabs as their edges slam into me. I grit my teeth, my jaw already aching from the pressure and carefully make my way down, watching my feet hit every step. Consciously, I keep my breaths controlled and even, desperate for the others not to see. Thankfully, they’re all chatting as we go down and don’t turn to look for me until we’re at the bottom.
I slap on a brittle smile and relax my jaw. Connor’s eyes narrow at me, proving I haven’t fooled them all. Now I’m nervous about being alone in the car with him and pray he isn’t chattier when one on one.
“Can I stay here tonight?” Felix asks Nolan as we veer down the hallway I followed Nolan up earlier. “Callie’s not a huge fan of the Edward Cullen treatment.”
Donovan snorts loudly, and under his breath I’m pretty sure I hear, “Creepy-stalkers-in-training.”
“Sure, man,” Nolan chuckles, cutting a side glance at Donovan. “What do you want to marathon tonight?”
Felix folds his hands behind his head. “Hmmm. I’m thinking Brooklyn 99.”
“Solid choice,” Nolan replies.
Now I know how Felix spends his evenings. Late night television.
We get about halfway down the hall, when Nolan opens one of the doors. On the other side it appears to be some kind of mudroom which features the less fancy front door I saw earlier. The boys are huge, and I have to wait for them to file outside before I can enter. The room isn’t large enough to house us all, and it’s not a small room.
It’s full dark now. The square is lit with bright outdoor lights, and the air is even colder than this morning. I flip my hood up and pull the strings tight around my face, then bury my hands in my pockets.
