The Legend of the Eight: The Wicked (Book 2)

13: This Guilty Blood

THIRTEEN: THIS GUILTY BLOOD
MARCH 24
NICOLE BRADLEY

NICOLE WAS HALFWAY THROUGH A yawn when her Thursday morning took a turn for the incredibly strange. As she padded out of the bedroom to the kitchen for coffee and leftover pizza, she saw a naked Phoebe tangled up with a likewise Drew on the living room couch. They were sound asleep in each other's arms like they'd been that way for a while now and Nicole immediately froze in panic.

She started backing up to the bedroom, pretending like she hadn't just seen what she had. But she looked back to the couch and sure enough, Phoebe was still there with Drew's arms wrapped around her to preserve her modesty.

Nicole tiptoed backward, quietly as to not wake the two on the couch, but she bumped into a lamp behind her and it fell over, shattering against the ground.

"Shoot!" Nicole hissed, dropping to the ground at the site of the mess. On the couch, Drew and Phoebe shot up, startled by the noise. Drew propped himself up with his elbows and looked around while Phoebe straddled his lap and covered her chest with her arm. Quickly, Nicole squeezed her eyes shut.

"Sorry!" she apologized, wincing in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see anything, I swear!"

Drew laughed and then stretched to reach a tee shirt which he helped Phoebe into.

"I doubt that, Bradley," he said and Phoebe tossed him back his boxers. Once she was sure that they were both dressed, Nicole opened her eyes again.

"So you two...?" she started to ask. "I mean, we all thought you would but... Are you...?"

Phoebe was quick to shake her head and then tossed a couch cushion off the floor to Drew, giggling when it hit him square in the chest. "Not together," she said to Nicole and stood. She pushed her hair out of her face and yawned.

"Yeah," Drew agreed and stood, grabbing Phoebe by the waist and pulling her back into him. He kissed her on the neck and she squirmed, trying not to giggle. "Totally not together."

Then Drew lifted her off the ground and carried to the bathroom down the hall. Phoebe giggled and shrieked the whole way and Nicole called out,

"Wait! The lamp!"

"Try Mundatis!" Drew called over his shoulder, carrying Phoebe with ease. Then Nicole heard the bathroom door shut and the shower squeak on.

She stood in the living room, utterly confused by the morning's events and it was only when Chloe walked out that she blinked.

"Morning, Nicole," Chloe said with a yawn, only to stop and observe the broken lamp. "You should try Mundatis."

"Yeah," Nicole grumbled and then huffed. "I've heard."

While Chloe flipped through a drawer of single serve coffee pods, Nicole looked at the mess and waved a hand over it.

"Mundatis," she spelled and waited for the magic to work but when she looked at the mess, there wasn't a thing to suggest it had.

"You have to swipe your hand," Chloe said from the Keurig where she watched a stream of mocha and caramel swirl into her cup. Then she demonstrated the gesture for Nicole to see. "It's more of a sweeping motion than a wave."

Nicole mimicked the move over the lamp and tried the spell again. Sure enough, the lamp began to repair itself and then returned to its upright position.