Shadow Angel: Volume 1

The Visit

Just keep up the act, okay? It's for the best. Those words repeated themselves in Cody's head as he sat silently at the lunch table. He was being told to keep lying to everyone, even if he hated it. As Cody kept hearing the words Xander told him in his mind, he looked down at his hands with an emotionless expression, not facing anyone who sat at the same table as him. It also didn't help that he felt the tense pressure in his chest, which was making him feel even worse. But then, he was broken out of his trance when he heard the voice of a friend.

"Cody?"

Looking up from his hands, Cody turned to his right to find Milo sitting next to him; he looked concerned.

"Are you okay?" Milo asked. "You haven't touched your food."

Cody looked down at the tray in front of him. On it was a slice of meatloaf covered in a red sauce with mashed potatoes and broccoli as sides and a small water bottle. As he examined his meal, he realized that Milo was right: it was indeed untouched. "I..." Cody trailed off before he put his utensils down. "I guess I'm not that hungry."

"It's because of what happened to your caretaker, isn't it?"

Cody looked away and said, "I see you know about it, too." He felt awful knowing that Milo and others who were close to him believed Xander's lie.

"You know that I know?" Milo asked, raising both his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Lucien told me while he was taking me back to the Weaponry Practice Area."

"Lucien found you?!" Milo sounded shocked.

"He found me in the bathroom washing my face. We made up over there, and he offered to bring me back."

"Really?" Milo turned away as he furrowed his eyebrows. "That's weird," he said with a finger on his chin. "It isn't like Lucien to help people the way he helped you."

"He said the way I lashed out at him last night was a wake-up call for him, whatever that is."

"Hmm..."

Suddenly, the boys heard a pair of footsteps approaching their table. They thought it was Wei and Ling again, but when they looked up, they saw Lynn and Pearl standing above them with their respective trays in their hold.

"Hey, boys. May we sit with you?" Lynn asked with a warm grin.

Cody and Milo turned to look at each other, and the latter smiled and nodded. When they looked back at the girls, Cody said, "Of course." With that, Pearl and Lynn were free to sit down. But when they did, he noticed that their leader was missing. "Where's Lucien?" he asked.

"He said he needed to take care of something first," Lynn answered.

"Did he say what?" Milo asked as he popped a small scoop of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"No," Pearl said as she twisted off the water bottle's cap.

"Cody," Lynn suddenly frowned as she gave Cody a look of pity. "I'm sorry for what happened to your caretaker."

"Me, too." Pearl showed the same face as her friend, though it wasn't visible due to her blindfold.

"Thank you, guys." Cody gave the girls a sad smile. "This means a lot to me. Having a lot of friends, I mean."

"Anytime, Cody," Lynn replied warmly. "As your friends, it's our job to keep you company and make sure you're doing well."

Cody's breath hitched at Lynn's words. It made him think of Real Cody's words to him last year before he died: I like having you around, so it's my job as your friend to protect you. The thought of those words made Cody want to cry. He could have sworn that he felt his eyes making tears that threatened to leak out.