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I tap her arm to motion her down the hall toward the front door. “You’ll get used to using your skills. It’s a pretty amazing talent.”
Nadia’s mouth twists with a hint of a grimace. “A little scary too, though. I almost burned you yesterday.”
“Hey, I’m fine.” I hold up my hands to show the perfectly healthy skin. “We all had to learn control before we could feel comfortable with our abilities. By practicing, you’re making sure that if you’re taken by surprise, you won’t do anything you’ll regret.”
She glances over me with a haunted cast to her eyes. “I did before, didn’t I? Do things I’d regret if I could remember?”
I swallow thickly and touch her arm again, this time with a reassuring squeeze. I’m not going to lie to her. “We all did. But no one here blames you. We’re glad you and the others are getting to start over in a better place. It’s scary, sure, but we’re also special. There’s no one else like us in the whole world.” I shoot her a grin. “And you can light up the darkness like no one else at all.”
A soft smile returns to Nadia’s face. “I guess that is pretty cool.”
We step out into the cool air. Over by the garage, Sorsha and her shadowkind men are standing around their RV, the phoenix motioning to what looks like a trombone protruding from the side that I don’t recall being there before.
Her balance is still a little off, but her vertigo has faded a lot more since the battle in the facility. She turns to face us with only a slight sway, not needing any overt support from her companions. “We’re heading back home for the time being, although I bet we’ll be back to check up on all of you again. We’ll see how the Everymobile handles another jaunt through the shadow realm.”
“It’s always interesting, at least,” Ruse points out with a smirk.
A pang hits me as if Sorsha is already gone. It’s been a relief having someone around who has more experience at the whole hybrid thing than the rest of us—and who takes so many things easily in stride.
“You’ll be missed,” I say awkwardly, not wanting to make too big a deal of it.
The phoenix’s expression softens. “You shadowbloods can always come visit us if you want. There’s more than enough room for a bunch of guests in our big Victorian.”
It’s hard for me to think about what I’ll be doing even a week from now, but I appreciate the invitation. I dip my head. “I’d like that. I guess we’ll see where we end up.”
As they clamber on board the RV, the rustle of footsteps draws my attention in the other direction. My guys are heading across the lawn to join me, the trio of teen shadowbloods they were helping in their midst.
The teens head inside, murmuring to each other with hushed delight about whatever new aspects of their talents they tried out. Andreas jabs his thumb toward the house after them. “Should I go get Devon and Ajax too?”
I hesitate. “I don’t know—they seemed pretty cozy. I hate to interrupt them. Maybe you could see if—”
At the clearing of a throat, I stop in mid-sentence. Rollick is strolling over from the gardens too, with Pearl and Toni trailing behind him, hand-in-hand, though Toni lets go when she sees us. The flush of her cheeks suggests that she’s still a little uncertain of whatever relationship she and the succubus have started to form.
The demon surveys our group with an approving air. “All of the Firsts in one place and not otherwise occupied. Perfect. We had an idea we wanted to present to you.”
My eyebrows rise. “What kind of an idea?”
“I’ll get into that.” He nods to Nadia. “Would you give us a few minutes to ourselves, my shiny friend?”
Nadia lets out a giggle that sounds less strained. “I’ll go grab a snack. I should have anyway—practicing always makes me hungry.”
Rollick motions for the rest of us to walk with him. As we amble toward the trees beyond the lawn and garden, Pearl and Toni keep pace.
Pearl claps her hands together, the energy to her strides revealing her excitement. “Tell them already! It’s going to be great.”
Jacob gives both of the shadowkind a skeptical look. “What’s going to be great?”
Rollick’s lips curl with a hint of a smirk. “I’ve been giving our current situation a lot of thought. Between our latest acquisitions and the kids you rescued before, we have nearly twenty shadowbloods who need training and supervision, at least for a while. And between this adventure and one I got caught up in recently, I’m thinking that some of my fellow shadowkind might benefit from a certain amount of instruction as well.”
I knit my brow. “They already know how to use their talents just fine.”
Pearl bounces on her feet. “Yeah, but a lot of us would like to get better at the mortal side of things. How to mix with humans and enjoy your world without hurting anyone—or getting hurt ourselves.”
Dominic cocks his head. “I guess that’ll be more of a concern now that Balthazar has primed a whole lot of people to be on the lookout for ‘monsters.’”
Rollick inclines his head. “Yes. And I think it would also benefit more of us to develop a healthy respect for the strengths mortals do possess, even if those are different from our own.”
Zian lets out a rough guffaw. “I can agree with that. Well, except for you, of course. You’ve obviously been great to us.”
