Elements: Can You Trust Me? (Book 3)

Return of a Traitor? (Chapter 4)

The doorbell rings.

"Stay here," Ku instructs Alex and Owen. "Let me check." Ku gets up, then walks over to the door.

Ku opens the door and his eyes widen.

"Sasha?" Ku asks, just in case he might be seeing things.

"Sasha?" Alex and Owen suddenly become alert, Ku puts his hand up to signal that he wants them quiet.

"You are badly injured, come in, I can fix the bandages," Ku opens the door further and lets Sasha step into the house.

"I'm sorry for coming with no warning," Sasha apologizes. She catches sight of Alex and Owen, who blink multiple times as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"It is nothing," Ku leads the way upstairs. "Come, let me get you some clean and fresh bandages. Alex and Owen, please do not tell anyone of Sasha's arrival yet."

"Thank you," Sasha inclines her head respectfully to the three of them and then follows Ku to where his medical supplies are.

"...that was Sasha right?" Alex questions.

"Mhm," Owen nods, rubbing his eyes. "What makes her think she can just come here? Jeez..."

"She looked badly hurt though," Alex counters. "And I bet she has no one to take care of her either."

"But why here? School starts soon as well," Owen muses. "She's got some ulterior motive for sure, I bet Urana would agree with me too."

"Oh cut her some slack," Alex huffs. "She's just a teen like us. Also, she could've killed us, or hurt us even more than she already did...but she didn't. Can't you tell?"

"That when someone betrays your trust once, you shouldn't trust them again, yeah, I can tell," Owen rolls his eyes. "It's because of you three softies that you didn't realize that Sasha was working for Vada."

"Dude, seriously," Alex puts his glass away. "If we're nice to her, she won't turn out to be some sort of crazy person who goes around killing people. I think we should at least do that, even if we don't want to be friends."

"Spoken like a true softie, or should I say, Brenton?" Owen scoffs.

"Hey," Alex starts. "Brenton is way better than you and Urana, both of you are so calculating."

"Not calculating," Owen counters. "It's experience we're talking from and you should take it seriously."

"I'm going to go to sleep," Alex turns away and walks up the steps.

"Well, so am I," Owen shares the same finality tone as he goes towards his own room, both not wanting to talk further to each other.

Meanwhile, in Ku's medical supply area...

"I'm really sorry to barge in like this...especially after all that I've done...you're the last mage I should've come to," Sasha apologizes again as Ku wraps her arm in bandages then puts on a cast.

"Then who would have you gone to? I will never turn down a mage in need. Even if they hurt those I care about, if not, what makes me better than them?" Ku replies. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"...no," Sasha answers sheepishly. "But I won't stay here...Alex and Owen won't be too happy with me being here. The same goes for Ava, Brenton, and Urana."

"Do not worry about them. I am going to prepare a room for you and you will stay there Sasha," Ku gets up, grabbing his staff. "You can not refuse either because you have technically made your whereabouts known to the Magic Council. You will be much safer in this house than out there."