Suppliant

  Chapter 31

  Once inside my room, I breathe a sigh of relief. I need to talk to Damien and Zeke after my heartbeat slows down a bit. I’m headed over to unpack my bags when the bathroom door flies open.

  Damien and Zeke are coming through in a hurry. They are in attack mode. Their eyes are wild and their bodies rigid.

  The look of shock registers on their features.

  “Lay, what are you doing back? We heard a noise and thought that someone broke in,” Damien explains.

  “What the hell happened to your head?” Zeke comes rushing over when he sees my wound. Damien is just a step behind him.

  “I had an accident; it was nothing.” I brush their hands away, but that doesn’t stop them from pulling my hair aside. By now it’s matted to the dried blood.

  “It doesn’t look like nothing. Zeke get a warm wash cloth,” Damien goes to work cleaning the wound and putting a butterfly bandage on it.

  “How did this happen?” Zeke is asking while pacing again.

  “That’s what I came to tell you. I have had two visions that I needed to share with you.” I tell them about my first vision. I recalled my trip to the cave and the vague feeling that I was in the Geroda Realm and how to Pendant was pulling me to it. I let my wall down to show them the image that was burned in my memory.

  “The second vision came a few minutes ago while I was in the bathroom at Trish’s.” I tell them how the council member was talking about Queen Nema trying to find the Pendant and how it was stashed away in the Geroda Realm where I can’t get to it. It confirmed my feeling from the previous vision. “When I came too, I made an excuse to leave and walked back.”

  “By yourself?” Damien asks. “Layla, you know better than that, especially after the meeting that was just held for the entire student body. You need to be more careful.”

  “On the way back, I overheard some people talking about Nema,” I say, telling them the details of the attack on The Isle.

  “What? They kept an attack from us?” Zeke is livid. I can feel it rolling off of him in waves.

  “Why was your heart racing when you got back?” Damien questions. “It made us think that you were an intruder.”

  “I felt like I was being followed. I heard footsteps in the hallway, but no one was around, and the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. I just got spooked with all of this talk, especially about the cloaking.” I try to brush it off, hoping that they wouldn’t make a big deal of it.

  “You need to trust your instincts, Layla,” Damien says. “You should have had someone walk you back. It’s for your own safety. What would have happened if you were attacked?”

  I can tell that Damien is right back to his old self, concerned for my safety. Zeke and I are still flustered over the events of late.

  “You need to take one of us with you from now on.” Zeke stops pacing and turns toward us. I can feel that his anger is dissipating and his protective side is kicking in.

  “I agree. We will walk you wherever you need to go. It’s not worth risking your safety.” Damien lays his hand on my thigh.

  “I guess there are worse things than being followed by a bunch of hunks,” I joke, making the boys laugh.

  “I will talk to the Dean about stepping up your training,” Damien says. “We might need to leave sooner than anticipated. If it’s true, and Nema has already made a move, then we need to get you out of here. Let’s not make any plans yet. I need to find out if this is true or not.” Damien stands and heads for the door, leaving Zeke behind.

  “He’s right, Layla. You could have gotten yourself into a world of trouble. You could have easily been attacked. We only want to protect you.” Zeke sits next to me on the bed.

  “I know. I was really scared. I could feel someone watching me. I just wanted some time to spend with the girls, and it turned into quite a night.” I laugh at the irony. I left the boys to relax and ended up more on edge than ever before.

  My eyelids are starting to close, and I feel Zeke scoot closer. He wraps his arms around me, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I am able to completely relax. My last thought before sleep overtakes me is how safe I feel being near them.