The Warrior- Laila Nomon

4. Spoilsport

'Are you all right? You were shaking badly. Thought you were having a seizure, or something. You skipped your dinner last night, kiddo.' Now Fedrick was shaking Laila vigorously.

'Yeah, I'm okay. I didn't sleep through the evening and through the night, did I?' She asked as she sat up straight, slid out of his grip, and looked around- it was already morning, judging by the light filtering in through the cream-colored curtains.

'Yeah, you did. We tried to wake you up but you muttered something about if we woke you up, a dog- Zoppy? – would come bite us.' The boy frowned, minuscule lines appearing on his forehead.

'Are you fully awoken now? Okay. We went to Norwood Hills and got your clothes and other things you might need since you'll only be going back during summers,' said Lita, entering the room and clapping her hands once.

A little shocked, Laila dipped her head, 'Thanks, but I'm starving. Can we have some breakfast first?'

'You mean lunch? You know what time it is?'

'Right.' Laila said, smacking a palm to her forehead.

They exited the room and went out of the sitting room; there was a hall fit for a banquet with a long wooden table in the middle and twelve chairs around it. On the walls were twelve huge portraits of men and women wearing heavy armor, ready for war. She instantly found her father and was finally able to see how he looked. She was sure that this was her father's portrait since he had the same blue eyes as her and a warm smile on his face. He had a small beard and the same dark brown hair that Laila inherited, fell to his shoulders. He was wearing a golden armor with a gold spear clenched in his left hand and a silver shield in his right.

'Was this portrait made just before the war?' She asked, scanning the painting.

'Yes. That, as you have noticed, is Liam standing along with the other Leaders,' said Lita.

'Why isn't yours here?' Laila raised an eyebrow.

'Well, if you notice, mine's here,' Lita said, gesturing towards another portrait a few portraits away from Liam's.

'You look so young! I didn't notice you,' Laila said, walking over to Lita. The portrait captured young Lita in silver armor, clutching a thin sword with a determined look on her face.

'Now, we don't want to wait till Christmas for supper, do we?' Fedrick asked, already seated at the table. Laila forced a laugh and got down to eat. After a hearty meal, she felt extremely full.

'We'll head towards the Headquarters early tomorrow morning so we'll go to bed early tonight. Is that fine, Fedrick?' Lita asked. Fedrick nodded, his mouth full of bacon, and murmured a word of approval.

'Spoilsport.' Laila murmured under her breath.

Lita pretended not to hear. 'You know, Laila, when young Warriors come around your age, they find out what your powers are. That's how even I found out mine. Have you ever lost control and done something unknowingly?'

'If making the dustbin turn itself upside down on your Algebra teacher's head without your touching it is a power, then yeah. Oh, and yes, I thought I heard the janitor's thoughts when I locked myself in the school lavatory. I thought I was going crazy and/or hallucinating.'

'Does anyone else know?' Lita raised an eyebrow.

'No one...except Rosalie.' Lita nodded. 'And Zoppy. I, uh, tell it everything.' Laila added slowly.

'Doesn't matter. You've got two powers right there- You've got telepathy and you can levitate objects. Most of us have five or six powers max, but some even have up to seven- Liam had eight. Let's see how many more you have, along the way.'

'Alright.' Laila said, determined to have just as many as her late father.

Laila got out of the mansion for the first time since she'd arrived and saw that from the outside it looked as though there was just a rusty old playground in a huge plain meadow which stretched for a few miles where the mansion should have been and at first, she almost panicked but realized that it must be another one of Lita's enchantments to keep the outhouse safe. She found many mushrooms growing nearby and plucked them, carefully choosing the edible ones. She'd plucked so many that she had to levitate most of them so they followed her like little ducklings in the air when she went back.

That night after dinner, Laila couldn't sleep because of the excitement to what was to happen tomorrow- finally, she would meet the other Warriors, some of them probably around her age and for the first time, she would have people around her whom she could probably call her friends. So, when the next morning Lita came to Laila's room to wake her up, she was already sitting with her bags packed.

A/N: I've noticed the count of readers has increased and am very grateful to all who've been reading and supporting this story. I was on a road trip, so I took longer to update this part, sorry. My holidays end tomorrow and school will start again, but I'll do my best to give you an interesting tale and update regularly!

Comment down your thoughts on if Laila should believe them about them claiming to be good people, or be careful and observant until she finds better proof than bare paintings?