Lonely

Chapter 77, Hanger

All the kids were asleep. Jett was at my feet, Sophia and Roxi were curled on either side of Sadie, Ariadne and Ryder was in between Liam and Nicco. Sully and Libby were asleep next to each other, their heads almost touching. I didn’t quite understand, at first, how they could be sleeping, but Max soon answered that question, claiming that they were actually beat just didn’t know it.

Arianna and Jasper strode into the room, already to start talking, but then they saw the kids. We untangled ourselves from them and stepped quietly around them. In the kitchen, everyone started talking at once. Arianna held up her hand, and every one immediately went silent.

“I have terrible news.”

Sadie leaned against me. I didn’t know how much more bad news she could handle.

“The Avari have made their first move. We were not anticipating them to make their first move so soon, but they have.” Liam leaned forward. “

So what does this mean?” Jasper seemed to ignore him.

“We were hoping to have more time to train you. Unfortunately, time is not on our side.” I could tell Max was trying to control the feelings in the room, but they were hitting him pretty hard. Electricity crackled in the air around Liam. I could feel the heat from Nicco. A chunk of the granite counter came off in Boomer’s hand, and Levy was twitching worse than ever. Dodger still had a scowl on his face because he couldn’t hear or see very far.

“So what does this mean?” Nicco said, repeating his twin. He was getting irritated, and Nicco was possibly the most upbeat guy I had ever met. Arianna turned her grieved gaze onto him.

“We will be fighting tomorrow. They will arrive in the morning, so we will have to spend the night in the field where the battle will take place.” We were silent.

“What are our chances?” Boomer asked in a sullen voice. He was asking what chance we had to win. Arianna tried to smile.

“I am confident that we can win.” She said. Max relaxed, so I assumed she was telling the truth.

“I don’t know if this is good or not, but Ryder has made a, shall we call it an alliance, with the trees.” Sadie said. Arianna looked shocked.

“The trees agreed to help?” Jasper asked. Sadie nodded.

“Under Ryder’s command.” she said Arianna suddenly smiled.

“Fantastic!” She turned serious again. “Realize, this battle is only the beginning. Something I had hoped to avoid, but it seems it is…unavoidable. Gather the children, and get there stuff. We must leave tonight if we are to be properly prepared. Jasper and I will be getting ready in the other house.” She took Jasper’s hand and dragged him away. Right before she reached the door, she turned around. “Oh, and I need Hanger and all of the older boys to come over.” With that, she turned around and left.

Sadie leaned heavily against me and closed her eyes. I could tell she was holding back tears. The guys all looked at her, looking worried.

“Ah, don’t cry, Sadie. You heard Arianna. We’re going to win.” Max said. The

“Come now, lass, everything’s going to be fine.” Liam interjected. They must have been thinking encouraging thoughts for Sadie, because she smiled at Levy, who smiled back.

“I’m going to go get the kids ready, you know, explain. You guys go over to see Arianna.” She instructed. They gave her one long, last look and headed out the door.  I knelt down and pressed one long, hard kiss to her mouth. She responded immediately.

“I’m going to be right here.” I whispered. She almost gave me that smile that made my heart stop.

“I know.”