Talented (On Hold)

Chapter Thirteen

Sorry for the long wait! I hope an extra long chapter will make up for it… I also did a little editing on the last one.

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Chapter Thirteen

“Alina?” Kaolin knocked on Alina’s door.

“Come in. “ Alina said from inside.

Kaolin entered, Gage and Zack following close behind. They found Alina sitting on her bed, legs crossed, polishing one of her knives. Kaolin sighed. Alina had developed the habit of polishing her weapons whenever she was really upset.

“What happened?” Kaolin asked. “I was worried when you broke the connection.”

“Mr. Manus is an idiot, that’s what happened.” Alina said furiously.

“What did he tell you?” Zack asked.

“None of your business. Speaking of that, where’s Connor?” Alina said.

“We thought that you wouldn’t appreciate having him here.” Zack said.

“You were right about that.” Alina snapped. She took a deep breath. “My foster father broke out of jail three days ago, on Friday night.”

Zack’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard me. My crazed idiot of a foster father, Jacob Hyden, broke out of jail because Mr. Manus was too much of a moron to put him in a Talented-proof jail.”

“Oh.” Zack said, for a lack of other things to say.

“Are you in any danger?” Kaolin asked.

Alina paused. “No.” She said firmly. She knew she was lying, but she just didn’t want to worry them.

“Good.” Kaolin said, relieved. “I guess that explains the nightmares, then.”

“Wait, what?” Alina said, confused.

“Your nightmares have gotten worse, right? Didn’t you say that he was the one who gave you the nightmares?”

Alina was surprised. She hadn’t thought of that. ”Um, I guess.” She didn’t tell them, but this worried her. He had to be relatively close to her to mess with her mind. She would have to try harder with the mental shields. She was fine at keeping them up during the day, but it seemed that at night her defenses could use some work. Of course, not all of her nightmares were his fault. Some of them were just nightmares, but over half had started because of him.

Zack smiled. “I guess if you’re not in any danger, you can come with us into town later. I really want to check out a prank store, and Kaolin and Gage need more art supplies.” The older students of Cliffwood were allowed to go into a nearby city, only an hour away, after class on certain days, usually about twice a month.

Alina hesitated, but then made up her mind. “Sure, I’ll come.”

*****

After a while in airy, open Cliffwood, the hustle and bustle of the city became an interesting change in scenery. Also, there was the fact that, compared to Cliffwood, the city just seemed so normal without all the crazy, impossible stunts that made up their day-to-day life. Yet, despite all these advantages, within the first few minutes Alina was already considering getting on one of the buses back to school. She just couldn’t concentrate. No matter how many times she told herself that she was not in any danger, she couldn’t help jumping at every noise and flinching every time anyone bumped into her.

“Alina?” Alina jumped when someone spoke her name, relaxing when she registered that it was just Zack. “Is something bothering you?”

“No.” She answered, lying.