Lonely

Chapter 60, Sadie

“Sadie, go get the boys, will you? I think it’s a good time to start your training.” Arianna asked me. I nodded and walked down the hall. She had just finished with the kids. I couldn’t help but think of the last night, walking into the room to find Sophia snuggled up to Hanger like a cat to a window sill, and hanger sound asleep. It wasn’t hard to find the guys. They were about as subtle as a herd of elephants tromping through a glass store. As usual, they were in the kitchen. I stood in the doorway for a moment counting heads. Only four of them. Damn. Someone came up behind me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. I turned my head to see Dodger grinning. I elbowed him in the gut and he came in, holding his stomach. Boomer and Levy followed. Good, all six of them. Now I just needed Hanger. They all smiled at me.

“Hey there, sunshine. Howdy do?” Max asked. “Fine thanks. Arianna wants to see us for training.” Liam and Nicco groaned in unison. “That’s boring. Wait, do I get to test it on people?” Nicco asked excitedly. I frowned. “Probably not. Let’s go.” I said, gesturing for them to leave. They stood up. “Your man’s outside helping Jasper. Better go get him to.” Boomer added. I nodded and went out the back door to the lawn, ignoring the jab. Sure enough, Jasper was on one end of the lawn, calling orders to Hanger who had his arms crossed over his chest.

“No, no! More to the right.” Jasper called, waving his arms. Hanger sighed and grumbled something. I followed there gaze. Twenty feet up in the air was a brand new shed, a gray one. I assumed it was a replacement for the one Libby had helped to take apart. Hanger lowered it to the ground, and Jasper yelled another order. I came up beside Hanger. “Hey.” He glanced down at me. “Having fun?” he made a face. “He needed some help and was going to have boomer carry it over, but Boomer was eating.” He explained. I nodded. Finally, Jasper waved his arms for Hanger to lower it, and he did so. It sat perfectly on the ground. “How can you do that with so little concentration?” I asked him. Hanger shrugged. “Years of practice.” He said. Jasper came over and rubbed his hands together as if he were cold.

“Thanks, Hanger. Arianna would have my head if I didn’t get that in place my tonight.” He said, rolling his eyes. I smiled at him. “Hey, Jasper. If you don’t need him for anything else, Arianna wants to see us.” I said. Jasper waved his hand. “He’s all yours.” I took Hanger hand as we walked inside. “Training today. This better be interesting.” I said. Hanger grinned, that cock eyed smile. “Are the twins going?” he asked. I nodded. “We all are. I don’t know how Arianna plans for this to happen.”

Inside the training arena, Arianna had us all line up. Alright, guys. Liam, you first.” Liam smiled and stepped up. “What can I do for ya?” he asked Arianna. “Shock him.” she said, pointing to a big, bulky guy. Liam raised an eye brow. “How hard?” the poor guy. He probably had no idea what was happening. Arianna appeared to be thinking. Hard enough to get him on his knees.” Liam made a face. “That’s gonna hurt. How about we go a little less?” Arianna shook her head. “It’s alright. His ability is for stuff like this. Trust me. It won’t actually hurt him. This is his job.” Liam nodded, but still looked skeptical. He stood in front of the much bigger man and shook his head. “Sorry, man. This hurts me more than it hurts you.” Nicco snorted. The man raised an eye brow. “I find that hard to believe.” Liam looked taken aback. “Do you now, boyo? Lets test it, shall we?” without hesitating this time, Liam reached over and put his palm to the man’s arm. The guy doubled over, then fell to his knees and convulsed with the shock. Liam let go.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” he said. The man looked up. I could see his ego had just taken a large hit. Arianna clapped her hands. “Very good, Liam. Nicco, you’re next.” He stepped out. “I am pretty hot.” He said, and high fived his brother as they walked past each other. “Ah, not that I don’t enjoy a good burn or nothing, but you don’t want me to burn him, right?” Nicco asked, jerking his head towards the man Liam had shocked. Arianna shook her head. “No, him.” she said, pointing to a dummy. “Just catch him on fire?” Nicco asked. Arianna nodded, and Nicco cracked his neck and knuckles. “Give me a challenge, will you?”  he muttered. He walked up to the dummy and put an arm around it, then grinned at us theatrically. In a few seconds, the dummy started smoking, then caught on fire along the length of Nicco’s arm. Nicco held on, and the fire quickly spread down the whole dummy. He let go and folded his arms, watching the blazing fire ball.

“Very impressive. You’ll have a challenge later, I promise.” Arianna said, patting his arm. He got back in line and Boomer stepped forward next. “Very simple, Boomer. Take down that brick wall.” She said,  pointing to one not far off. Boomer cracked his knuckles. “Sure.” He stepped forward and started just by digging his nails into it and pulling a chunk out. Then he began punching it and kicking and pulling it apart piece by piece until all we could see was chunks of bricks flying and red dust. Finally, the dust settled and Boomer came out from the dust, looking pleases. Behind him was a pile of rubble. He rubbed his hands together to get the dust off. Arianna smiled. “Very good. Max, show us what you have.” Max yawned and stepped forward. He stood in front of Arianna. “So, what do you want me to do?” Arianna grinned. “I’ll be your dummy for this one. Make me cry.” She said. Max looked skeptical.

“I dunno, Arianna. I’d hate to make you feel like that.” He said. Arianna shook her head. “Nonsense, It’s not real.” She said. “It feels it.” Max muttered. A few seconds later, Arianna’s face crumpled, and tears streamed down her face. Her knees buckled and she put her head in her hands as her shoulders shook in sobs. I glanced at Hanger. He was frowning. Max’s eye brows knit together, and I could tell it was bothering him. she stopped crying and stood up, wiping her face. She smiled brightly, even though her face was still tear stained. Max relaxed as he worked his magic to make her feel better. “That was…interesting. Next,  Levy.” Levy stepped up. “Go get me that pen on the table over there.”  Arianna said, waving her hand to a white table at the end of the room, a good two hundred feet away. Levy grinned, and all I saw was a slight blur and he stood before her, holding a red pen. She took it. “Now, around the room nine times.” Levy rolled his eyes. “Are we training our testing?’ he muttered. “Testing, now off you go.” Arianna said.

All right here it is! I'm trying to be better about updating;) enjoy!!:)