Undertow by K.R. Conway (1st book in trilogy)

Chapter 17

She shifted her weightand took a deep breath. "It's fine. It's daytime and neither of them are far away. We'll be fine. We're not going to freak out and start calling them back. We can handle this." 

I tried to draw off her confidence. It seemed to work, on a near microscopic level at least. My house used to feel so safe to me. Well, until I found out about my real family tree.

"Right. We'll be fine. I'll just lock up and then we can keep looking," I said, dead-bolting the front door. I kept chanting, "We'll be fine" over and over in my head.

"Kian and I started looking in the back bedroom up here, but didn't find anything," said Ana.

"Well, we might as well check my room. There are some nooks and crannies in there too," I said, starting up the stairs but stopping when I heard the shrill whistle of the kettle.

"Oh. I forgot the tea. Be right back," I said to Ana, heading back into the kitchen. I gathered up a tray and a couple teacups, small kettle and some crackers. Ana saw me with the tray as I approached the stairs, trying to balance the heavy load. She looked at me and sighed, no doubt sure I was going to drop everything.

"Here, let me help you," she said, picking up the kettle from the tray. We started up the stairs in silence until she finally cleared her throat. "Did the house come with all this furniture? It looks old," she asked walking up the stairs beside me.

"Most of this stuff came with the house. Some of it is a bit too, elaborate, I guess, for me.  My bed, though, is awesome," I said, truly pleased with the spectacular 4-poster bed.

"You mean the one Raef built? Can't wait to see it," said Ana. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "I bet Raef would like to see it again too."

"What?" I asked, embarrassed.

"Please. You know what I mean."

"Raef and I are just friends." Well, at least from his standpoint. I however wanted something more. A lot more. My cheeks were a bit too hot as we reached the landing.

"Yeah, right," said Ana, knowingly. I suspected she had more abilities than she let on. Maybe some sort of psychic dowsing.

"We're friends. Besides, the priority is to keep us all safe, and mixing business with pleasure might endanger you guys."

I led Ana down the hall and to my bedroom door, opening it for her. She stopped and looked at me, "Life's short, even when you are not being hunted. Know what I'm saying?"

I nodded, stunned. And confused. Ana had a bad experience with Kian and she was encouraging me to live a little with Raef? She walked into my room while I was left standing in the doorway, trying to make sense of her mind.

"Nice digs," she said, looking around the room.  Her eyes fell on the ornate bed. "And really nice bed. Plenty of room to maneuver. Well done, Raef," she said, grinning.

I turned to her, making sure she was in fact Ana, the petulant pixie, and not some doppelganger. "Have you been smoking something?"

"No," said Ana with a laugh.

"Okay, don't get me wrong, but you ain't exactly all warm and fuzzy in regards to Kian and Raef. What's up?" I put the tray down on my desk and she placed the kettle next to it. She leaned back against the desk, her hands in her pockets.

"Truth?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm thinking that I better Carpe Diem while I can and you should do the same."

"While you can?" I asked, suspecting I already knew the answer.