Page 131 of Living Legend

"Maybe they have shit under control," Reese said, clearly on the defense.

"You’re back to defending Jonah?" Elise retorted.

"I'm not totally for anyone, I just don't think jumping to conclusions and thinking silence equals problems is the answer."

Elise snorted. "Okay Mr. I jump to conclusions as if I'm on a damn trampoline."

Reese nearly blew steam out of his ears. "No one wants your opinion, little one." He looked her up and down, clearly referring to their significant height difference.

She lifted her hand up and smacked him on the back of the head, causing him to wobble forward, clutching his head. Before he could make a move towards her, I stepped between them.

"Alright you guys, calm down. We were all doing so well until now." I sounded like a parental figure.

Reese shook his shoulders. "When do you want to head back there? You know, to deal with all the shit waiting for us?"

I fiddled with the leather strap across my chest, making part of my sword hit the back of my neck. "Soon."

"How ominous," Elise taunted. "Are you planning on leaving and bringing Dani back with you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Once I talk to Natalia, I should have a better understanding of how we want to do things. None of us knows what's out there, and I think she would be better off staying in one place for now."

"How caring of you," Elise said, her voice uncomfortably suspicious. I ignored it. She stretched her arms up and over her head, her black tank top riding up.

I arched an eyebrow at her, refusing to reveal anything. I needed something to change the conversation away from my thoughts of the demon who was waiting for me to return.

“My dad has a girlfriend now,” I quickly said to Reese, who was leaning forward and touching his toes. He shot straight up.

“No shit!” he exclaimed, rattling off questions to me about my dad’s mysterious lady friend. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up, as if someone was staring at me. Reese was telling me something when I flicked my eyes over to Elise, who had her gray eyes in a skeptical squint. Her thick bangs fluttered in the wind, but her eyes never left me. She looked as if she was simmering; not in an angry way, but in a way that said she knew something I didn’t.

Reese pointed his thumb at Elise. “This one caused a scene the minute we got here.”

Elise shot her piercing glare at him. “Fuck off. When I get whisked away from a fight, wherever I land next is going to feel my fucking wrath.”

“You scared the poor kids.” He tilted his lips down in a fake pout.

“No, I’m pretty sure you did that with your face.”

I snapped my fingers between them. “What the fuck happened?”

Elise groaned. “Once we landed here, I might have let out some magic and caused a tree to fall on a building. It was unoccupied and no one gothurt.” She looked at Reese with a snarky glance. “I call that a win in my book. Some kids got scared because they saw I had red and black smoke leaking out of my hands and my eyes were probably all black. They call it scary; I call it expressing myself.”

“Elise…” I exhaled the breath I had lodged in my throat.

“I said I was sorry, alright. I almost threw up apologizing.”

Reese nodded, confirming. “She was gagging the entire way.” He snickered.

She let out a fake laugh, lifting her foot and slamming it down hard on top of his. Reese shimmed his foot from underneath hers and hopped back and forth. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

“Somehow you made it through without killing each other, so there’s that.” I acknowledged when he calmed down.

Elise crossed her arms over her chest, the strap of her tank top coming down over her shoulder. “He was either with Natalia or drinking his last brain cell away. I did some exploring when it got quiet, enough.”

“Natalia wanted to spend time with me,” Reese said matter of factly. He bundled his hair in his hands and tied it in a low bun near his neck with the hair tie around his wrist. “She actually offered to enhance my bow.”

“Enhance your bow?” I asked.

“Make it less shitty,” Elise answered.

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