The Assassin's Shadow

Chapter 19

The next morning I awoke feeling as if I had a furnace against my back and across my stomach. I looked down to see Ky’s hand slung carelessly on my stomach and his body pressed against my back. Feeling a bit suffocated and uncomfortable I tried to get out of his arms and, to my great surprise, found that he just pulled me tighter against him. Even Ash’s defensive trick to make someone let you go wouldn’t work here.

“Would you stop squirming.” Ky muttered.

“Well can you let me go?” I asked in a bossy voice.

“But you’re so warm!” Ky whined.

I snorted. “Says the toaster oven.”

“Did you just compare me to a toaster oven?”

“Yes.” I said stubbornly. Ky laughed and let me go.

“So when can we go check on my family today?” I asked him as I hunted for clothes in my bag. He was watching me when I turned back around to face him. 

“After we’ve eaten breakfast.” he answered. That was all it took for me to run off to the bathroom to get dressed. I ran down to the kitchen afterwards, leaving him the bathroom so he could shower and change. The woman that I met last night, Cora, was already there eating some cereal. She was maybe in her mid-twenties with short black hair shaped into a faux-hawk with the tips dyed a deep purple. There was a tattoo of a star and moon on the side of her neck. She grinned at me when she saw me.

“Hey! Elaine right?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded. She got up and grabbed me a bowl and spoon and I thanked her as I poured myself some cereal.

“So what’s your power?” she asked me. I looked at her curiously and she nodded towards my chest. I looked down and saw the vial hanging outside my shirt. I quickly tucked it in. She winked at me and took out her own vial before putting it out of sight.

“I can see bits and pieces of the future.” I looked at her wide-eyed and she laughed. “Not far into the future, it doesn’t work like that and I can’t control it. I just get visions sometimes and can see a little of things about to happen in anywhere from a second up to a day.”

“I can heal myself.” I told her, still feeling very overwhelmed at her talent.

“Useful.” Cora nodded in approval. I shrugged as I began to shovel food into my mouth, eager to be done.

“Slow down there girly before you choke.”

I looked up to see Ky walking over to us, his hair wet from his shower. I gave him a dirty look. “I told you not to call me ‘girly’, old man.”

Ky narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at me. “I’m not old you she-devil!” he teased.

“Now I’m a ‘she-devil’?! Well you’re a grumpy old man!”

“Is that the best you can come up with? That’s pathetic.”

“Will you two please keep the flirting to a minimum while I’m eating?” Cora asked, pretending to gag.

“Flirting?!” I spluttered. “Who the hell flirts like that? Well, maybe Ky does since he lacks in proper social skills...”

“Lacking in social skills?! I was just stating the truth here!”

“Just for that you don’t get any cereal.” I told him, sticking my tongue out and grabbing the cereal box away from him. Ky shrugged and grabbed my bowl from me and quickly shoved the rest of my food into his mouth before I could snatch it back.