Magics: Escape (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Wow." 

Amy stepped around the corner, her eyes wide and her eyebrows raised. Rachel was behind her, twisting her fingers together and not meeting Linda's eyes. She looked like she felt bad about eavesdropping, because that was obviously what they were doing. 

"That's a lot of information to soak in," Amy said, clicking her tongue and coming to a stop by the couch. She cocked her hip and gave Linda a lopsided grin. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm in?" 

Everyone blinked at her, while Rachel blurted out: "I'm sorry for eavesdropping. Amy wouldn't let me come out here so she could listen." 

Linda sighed, closing her eyes and touching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Amy, both of you know that I hate it when people listen in on my conversations secretly. You at least could have come out and asked us what was going on." 

"You would have made up some clever lie," Amy said with a shrug. "That's what you've been doing this whole time. What was going to stop you from keeping it going?" 

Linda's frown deepened, and Kai realized that Amy was right. Linda would have made something up so she would have to worry her friends, or worse, drag them into their fight. "No," she said, shaking her head at Amy. "You're not coming. This isn't your fight, so you don't have to fight it for us." 

"Nope," Amy said flatly. "I am coming, Linda. Who knows, you could need me. I have no idea who this 'Moon' woman is, but she sounds dangerous. So does that Dark Lord guy. You could use... Someone like me on your side." 

Kai wasn't sure why she hesitated or what she was going to say, but he didn't pay too much attention to that. He didn't want to drag an innocent pair of girls into their fight. This was going to be a dangerous adventure, and he didn't want to risk the lives of people he hardly knew.

He and Linda were both shaking their heads.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Linda said with a sigh. "I don't want to drag you into something you had no part in." 

"How did you have a part in it?" Amy countered.

"I've been with Kai since Thorn changed his life," Linda said back. "I could have, I don't know, destroyed the key while I was there? I had every capability to do something like that." 

"Of course you did," Amy said, her smile turning down a little. "But you didn't. And now I want to help you make it up to them. There's nothing wrong with accepting help." She tipped her head at Linda, who sighed again.

"I know," she said quietly. "I'm not saying I don't want your help. I'm saying that I don't... I don't want to risk your life for no reason. I'm not letting you join us and then lose your life when you could have stayed here and lived." 

"I'm not going to die," Amy said with a raise of her eyebrow. "You and I both know that it's not that easy to kill me. And even if I do go down, I won't go down with at least doing some damage." She crossed her arms and smirked at her friend.

"Amy, I already know all of these things," Linda said, crossing her own arms. "I don't want to put you in danger!" Kai knew that when she raised her voice, she was panicking, angry, or desperate. 

Kai assumed she was both angry and desperate. 

"Linda," Amy said in the same deadpan tone that she'd used when they had first met her. "I am danger." She gave Linda such a weird grin that Kai couldn't contain his own smile. 

Linda opened her mouth and closed it again. She took a breath through her nose, then shook her head in a defeated way. "Are you sure you want to do this, Amy? It's going to be hard, and dangerous. Most likely more dangerous than anything you've ever faced." 

"Even so," Amy said, putting her hands on her hips, "I bet I'll come out of it without so much as a scratch." She grinned again.

Linda rolled her eyes. "Fine. I hope you know that what you're getting yourself into isn't going to like you imagine it." Then she turned to Rachel and shook her head. "There's no way I'm letting you talk me into letting you come. Don't even think about it." 

"You should know that I didn't," Rachel said, raising her arms in surrender. "I'm not sure if I want to let you go without me... But I'm pretty sure you still wouldn't let me come. I can... I can stay here with Nanami." 

Nanami looked up at Rachel and smiled a little.

"That's perfect," Linda said, smiling just a little. "I was wondering what we were going to do with a little kid trailing along." 

"I wanna come," Nanami said in her tiny voice. "Please?" 

Linda got down on one knee in front of her, putting on her motherly face that Kai knew so well. "I don't want you to get hurt or in danger, Nanami. You're going to stay here with my sister, okay? Don't worry, you're going to like her. Please stay here and be her company, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Nanami's face lit up in a determined smile. "I can do that!" 

"Good," Linda said, smiling and standing back up. "Kai, do you think you can walk properly again?" 

"Pretty sure," he said back as he stood up. He could stand without any pain, but he knew that walking would be at least a little painful. But he also knew that he could suck it up and walk anyway. "When do we leave?" 

"As soon as we've eaten and everyone's packed up," Linda said, gazing around at everyone, who had been silent during the whole conversation. "That means you too, Amy. That also means get moving!" she added when everyone continued to sit there in silence.

Chase was up first, scrambling for his sleeping bag case. Gabriel was next, standing and turning around to face his sleeping bag. Falte stood up and started doing the same as the other boys. Since Kai had slept on the couch, he hadn't used his sleeping bag. 

Linda and Abby headed back to the guest room to gather anything that they had left there. Rachel followed them, offering to give them any supplies from her house that they needed. Nanami went over to Kai and clutched his leg, making him look down at her.

"Kai?" she said in a small voice. 

"Yes?" he asked kindly, touching her head and messing with a few strands of her hair. He always found long, silky hair mesmerizing, and he was lucky that both Abby and Nanami shared it. 

"Can you do something for me?" she said, and Kai smiled a little wider. She was obviously going off of what Linda had just said, and it made her sound adorable.

"Sure, Nanami," he told her.

She looked down, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, she squeezed his leg tighter  and said: "Bring Shintaro back for me." She looked back up and him and met his eyes with a sincerely pleading face. "Can you do that for me?"

Kai's smile grew more real, and he took a deep breath, wrapping his arm around her gently. "Of course I can." 

~

Twenty third chappy!! 

Thank you guys so much for reading! 

Why in the world do I love coming up with quick heated discussions between freinds? XD Like as I made Linda and Amy snapping back and forth, I was lovin' it.

I know, I'm weird.

Hey, I'm starting to post digital drawings in My Art book! 

Requests are still open, so I can draw something for you guys!!

Thanks for reading! (I already said that...)

Peace!!~~