Black Wing (Book #1)

Chapter 8

"Here."

I gasped in surprise as a steaming plate of pasta Bolognese was pushed in front of me, completed with a heap of parmesan on top.

"I know you haven't eaten in a while. I would've made something fresh but I figured you wouldn't mind leftovers from last night. I still made it, considering I am the only in this house that is a decent chef." I raised an eyebrow as he continued to ramble on about his cooking.

"Actually, Phoenix is a decent cook too bu-"

"Thank you Dan." I smiled and grabbed my fork, twirling it once between my fingers and launching into the dish. Dan's perceptive gaze watched me in slight shock as I stuffed my face in about five minutes flat.

"Wow. You must've been hungry, huh?" Belching quietly, I nodded my head.

"You have no idea. Not to mention, I can't remember the last time I ate a home-cooked meal. It tasted great Dan." He smiled at me warmly then cleared my plate for me and sat opposite me, staring at me intently. A good amount of time passed before I eventually got uncomfortable and voiced my thoughts.

"Is there something on my face?" He chuckled.

"Nah...I'm just wondering..." I tilted my head in confusion but Phoenix shuffled in before I could ask him to elaborate, as Dan shifted to greet his brother.

"The Ugly one."

"The Stupid one." Phoenix replied quickly and without skipping a beat, making me smile at their antics.

"Now now boys, play nice." Scar chimed in from outside. She noticed me and grinned.

"Hey hun, you eaten yet?" Smiling back, I nodded at her and she threw a quick wink at me before carrying on with what she was doing, which seemed to be carrying a huge computer screen inside.

"Need any help with that?" Dan asked immediately and I glanced at Scar, only to see a pink blush slowly creep upon her face. She nodded slightly and he immediately got up from where he was sitting to help her

"So new girl, what can you do other than sit there and look pretty."

No points for guessing who said that.

Before I could open my mouth, Dan jumped to my defence from the next room

"Cut it out Nikki." Dan shouted out and he shrugged.

"I just wanted to know if she would be useful or not." I frowned slightly.

"How much do you lift?" He turned and asked me and I almost laughed in his face. I don't know what was funnier, the actual sentence or the deadly serious expression on his face.

"Evidently, I don't lift."

"Ever done martial arts?" I scoffed.

"Do I look like Bruce Lee?" He narrowed his eyes and took a step towards me.

"Know how to get rid of a computer virus?" I shook my head at him.

"Reset the computer?"

"What's your IQ?" I thought for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure it's about 130 or something. But I've never taken an IQ test. Isn't the average like 130 anyway? Besides, is yours any better?" I replied and he shook his head.

"So you can't help Scar, Kris or myself. This is looking great." He shot Dan a pointed look which caused Dan to scratch his jaw in thought as he returned back to where he was seated previously. Suddenly, Dan's eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face. Phoenix and I looked at him in confusion but he just shook his head.

"Ever done acting?" He asked and I scowled.

"Yeah...I went to a performing arts school on weekends." He nodded slowly.

"What do you do in your spare time?"

"Jheez, you turned it into a job interview." Phoenix chimed in and I giggled.

"I don't know...I like languages?"

"Bingo. Do you speak a couple?"

"Oh yeah, I'm a polyglot." Phoenix scowled.

"A poly what?" Meanwhile Dan gasped in excitement,

"No. Way. How many?"

"Twelve."

"What the hell is a polyglop."

"Polyglot." I stressed and shifted myself on the wooden seat.

"It means I speak more than three languages fluently."

"Wait...you speak twelve languages fluently." He questioned in disbelief and I shrugged at him.

"Yup. English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Japanese, Mandarin, Turkish, Portuguese and Arabic." I stated, making sure to count on my fingers.

"I think that's twelve...or is that thirteen-"

"Why do you know twelve languages?" Phoenix questioned, his expression blank and his gaze unnerving.

"My dad was Creole. He taught French and Spanish at a local middle school so I learnt them pretty quick. Then he taught me German while my mom taught me Portuguese. I learnt the others myself." I smiled with Pride thinking about how many languages I had managed to learn myself.

"Quindi puoi parlare fluentemente l'italiano?" He questioned and I nodded as Dan rolled his eyes in front of me.

"You had to learn Italian didn't you. Why couldn't you learn Greek?" I chuckled at the childish pout on his face.

"If you want me to learn Greek I can, it shouldn't take me that long. A couple of months?"

"Months?!"

Shrugging, I looked over at the pot on the cooker.

"Is there any more pasta?"

Dan and Phoenix exchanged looks with each other before Dan grabbed my plate and turned around. Phoenix stared at me for a couple of seconds.

"You might be the best spy we've ever had..."

At this point, Scar shuffled back into the room with a glass half filled with orange juice.

"Are you guys done interrogating her yet? Honey, I apologise for their antics. It's been a while since they've welcomed anyone in here."

I smiled at her sheepish expression.

"It's cool, it's been a while since I've had a proper conversation."

"Well baby girl, it looks like you could use some rest. Follow me and I'll show you to where you'll be sleeping from now on."

"Hold on, I was just filling up her plate-"

"It's fine, the food isn't going anywhere, I'll be down in a sec." I muttered, sliding off the chair and following Scar out the room.

"It's just down this corridor." She said as we climbed up the stairs and took a right turn.

"Go ahead and open up! It's the blue door." I nodded hesitantly, noticing all the doors had a distinctive colour. The three doors were blue, green, red and purple.

"The purple one's mine, I'm just next door. Then you got Phoenix opposite you and Kris next to him. Levi and Dan are downstairs."

I reached out and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it slowly, nervous to see how it looked.

But before I even opened the door, there were tears in my eyes.