A Vow of Flesh and Blood (Moonborne #1)

Chapter Eight: Newer Faces, Newer Places

Usually, the first day of training and schooling takes place after the initiation ceremony. However, Hanover decides to give me the day off, since we had spent the previous day traveling," he had explained. But I had a feeling that the real reason was because of what the fates had said and what had happened at the initiation ceremony.

The night before had been rough- I hadn't been able to sleep at all given all the thoughts that now swarmed my brain and the strange sounds of the unfamiliar nighttime forest had done nothing to ease me.

Thinking everything over, it almost felt like watching one of those witness protection movies Dad likes to see. The movies where people can't live normally or go outside because people want to hurt them- but no one would want to hurt me here, right?

Either way, I didn't want to find out, not after how I remember how Jonathan's sister was looking at me last night...

I sniffle, wiping my eyes as I begin to miss home more than ever before. It had only been a day yet I already wanted to go home. Had Ademola been this lonely too? Had they been mean to him too? I wondered, examining my stuffed bear. I didn't want to think that they did. He'd given a lot to

At first, I'm not sure what to do, but all I do know is that I don't want to stay cooped up in the hall, yet I didn't exactly want to go outside to deal with Aurelia. So with this in mind, I turned my attention initially to my room, for the time being.

A half-empty guest room that I'd stay in while they renovated what would become my room.

Grandma Damilola had told me that the room in which I was to be staying had once been my father's old room when he was my age and undergoing training. But when he had left the room had been fairly abandoned. I slide out of my bed, tip-toeing into the empty hallway.

Apparently, it had been a habit for everyone here to wake up early leaving most of the place more or less abandoned. I stop at the door of the room that would soon belong to me, peeking through the cracks in the fairly empty room.

It was a nice room, but I think it could've used some touches in the interior decorating apartment. The walls had a few pictures of various family members- a few of which I could recognize- my grandfather and grandmother, along with various pictures of my Mom and Dad.

My fingers graze the edges of the photo of my parents standing there, one of Dad in this room holding a weapon as he grinned towards the camera. Another one had Mom dressed in some sort of gear, her eyes focused on something off the camera. It had felt strange seeing them being this young, but it feels oddly comforting, I think, almost as if they were here with me somehow. For a moment I felt like I was walking in my parents' footsteps, in Ademola's footsteps.

Looking around the rest of the empty room, I quickly remembered that Grandma Damilola agreed and promised to help me decorate. Just not today she says. She had a meeting to attend to, one that all the heads of the clans had to be at, so for now, I'm currently stuck home in the kitchen eating a nice bowl of Ogi and akara, contemplating my life as I'm trying not to die of boredom or humiliation or maybe both.

I'm still trying to decide what to do when the front door opens and shut, followed by the sound of Betty barking as I see Hiro enter, into the kitchen. He's wearing a red shirt with a strange symbol along with, some black camouflage pants and combat boots. I watch, as he places his bookbag down on the floor, before easily rolling up his sleeves to reveal a knife with Japanese etched into its blade, attached to a hidden sheath on his forearm.

His forearms are covered in faded scars, no doubt the signs of a more than few scuffles he's gotten into I think as he takes a seat at the kitchen island.

"Good morning Freida," he says simply. "I hope you're feeling better."

"I am," I say with a nod, feeling a bit surprised to see him, as Betty gives me a happy bark, running over for her usual morning belly rubs and pats.