Tale 1: War of the Protector

Chapter 37

Taking my hand, Cody led me out of the hotel room after our talk. I stayed close to his arm. His bare arm, since I was wrapped loosely in his big sweater.

“Can you sense the other two?” Cody asked, looking around at the mostly empty lobby.

I tried, but everything was still fuzzy with the weather. “No. Can you?”

“Nope.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Then how did you find me?”

He looked at me down his nose, smiling. “I just knew.” He squeezed my hand.

“How did you just know?”

“I don’t know. There was just this… feeling. I was drawn to it. And I knew it was you.”

I smiled.

“Lily!”

I looked over and there was Caleb, charging down the way from the restaurant.

I laughed, holding out my free arm to hug him with but he swooped me up and spun me around instead, accidently ripping my hand from Cody’s.

“I didn’t know you missed me so much,” I said once he set me down.

“Of course I did. You’re kind of hard to forget.”

I rolled my eyes at him while he laughed. I reached out and gave Zach a hug before sliding up next to Cody again, whose shoulders didn’t relax until my hand was in his again.

Together we walked down to the lobby, but just before we exited the building Travis decided to make an appearance.

“Lily?” He looked to me. “Who are these people?”

“Travis.” I folded my hands nervously. “This is Cody, Zach, and Caleb.”

Cody wrapped an arm around me. I suddenly wasn’t so nervous. “We’re just here for her.”

“But… But…” He looked to me and then Cody. “You can’t just take her! I’m still using her!”

There was the Travis I knew.

Cody raised an eyebrow and looked to me for an explanation.

“Cody,” I said, “this is the son of the man who owns the hotel. He’s been letting me stay here for free on accounts of using me to impress to his father that he cares about people. He’s been taking good care of me, so I would like you to be nice to him.”

Cody pursed his lips, clearly not happy. With one arm still wrapped around me he used his other to fish out his wallet and pull out a wad of bills. “Take this,” he said to Travis, “and then leave us alone.”

Travis took the bills, quite flustered. “But my father owns a hotel. No amount of money…” He trailed off as he thumbed through the green paper. “Bye Lily.”

I laughed as he left and Cody greedily buried his face into my neck. My face heated under the stares of both Caleb and Zach.

Caleb did a little dance. “We found her!” he chanted in a sing-song voice. “We found her! We found her!”

“Cody found her,” Zach corrected. “We just kinda followed.”

“How did you find me?” I asked Cody, summoning him from my neck. “And where are the others? May, Rex, and Ryan?”

He frowned at my mention of Ryan.

Caleb started out of the hotel and we all followed behind as he talked. I was too distracted to notice the gaping mouths of all the maids and staff and hotel guests.