Page 97 of Live Like Legends

“You rebel,” I joked. “Dani made a point earlier before I came here. This might not be the best time to be harboring things in my room, so…” I held the notebook out to her.

She took it, running her fingers along the leather. “I’ll keep it safe for as long as I can.” She started to turn away, but I said her name, causing her to turn back towards me.

“I am curious. The whole memories thing. I don’t really know if I’m completely ready to see everything I don’t remember, but I’m curious enough for you to keep trying. I would like to think our mothers were close enough to where Moira would leave something open. Like you said a while back, magic has loopholes.”

Zane, who had been standing silently in the doorway, held his hand out when Natalia gave him the notebook. She mumbled something about taking it straight to her room, which he nodded and hurried away.

“I have to get to Xander, but please stay as long as you need.” She gave me a genuine smile.

“Thanks, but I’m seeing my father.” I hadn’t told my dad that I was coming to see him, but if we planned on any sort of normalcy, then I had never really planned my visits before so why start now?

“Good. And you? You’re good?” She leaned against the door frame.

I shrugged. “More or less.” I rubbed the back of my neck, giving her a lopsided smile.

“And what about her?” She asked this as if she had an inkling that I likely always had Dani on my mind. She wasnotwrong.

My smile faltered. “She’s…okay. You’ve met Dani, you know how she is.”

Natalia smiled fondly. “I do. She survived when she was meant to crumble and that is honorable. I do hope she knows that.”

There was a glint in her honey-colored eyes that had me wondering if that last part was something she wanted me to hold onto. Natalia gave me a quick wave of her hand before she departed, leaving me to my own thoughts. I had decided that I could just fly off the balcony and head to my house when a voice caused me to halt.

“Nick,” Beetee shuffled out to the balcony, her arms wrapped around herself.

I raised my eyebrows. “Hey, are you okay?”

She nodded, pieces of her pink hair flapping in the breeze. “I had a talk with my moms while you guys were off getting Dani.We talked about Daya and pretty much everything under the sun.”

I had been completely engrossed in getting Dani situated and trying not to hover over her, that I had pushed the Beetee/Daya issue to the back of my mind. “How did that go?”

“Better than expected. They are the most understanding women I know. They’re my parents, Nick, I just…”

I rushed over to her as she started to sniffle. “Woah, hey, you said they took things well. That’s a big step, you don’t need to rush anything. I just so happen to be excellent at prolonging things because I’m not ready.”

She coughed out a tiny laugh. A few tears left her eyes as she sniffed. “They told me that…that they think it would be good for me to talk to her. They said she deserves to know who I am but that it’s my decision how I proceed after that. If I don’t want any sort of relationship, then I don’t have to and if I do, then they fully support me.”

“That’s really good, Beetee.”

She looked up at me with sadness swimming around in her lilac eyes. “Nick, Iwantto talk to her. Regardless of how my moms feel, I just don’t want to have a great time getting to know Daya and Alex, but then I start to drift away from my moms because Daya is myfamily, by blood.”

I placed my hands on both of her arms and squeezed. She rubbed underneath her nose, her face a little blotchy from her on and off crying. “Dayaisyour family, but so are your moms. They raised you, they taught you things and let you be this oddly bubbly snake shifting hybrid that cares so much about other people, that you created a hostel to keep creatures safe. You can have them both.” I shook her just a little to get her attention. “You also have all of us, you know. You won’t be replacing the family you’ve always known; you’ll be adding to it.”

She cried a little harder, wrapping her arms around me. I looked over her shoulder to see her moms at the door, waiting. They looked hesitant as if they wanted to make sure it was okay to proceed towards their daughter. I pulled back, watching as she smiled at me.

Beetee glanced over her shoulder, noticing her moms. “How long have you guys been there?”

The one with white hair, Willa, shrugged. “Not long.”

Her other mom, Louise, walked over to her daughter. “We just wanted to make sure you were alright, that’s all.”

Beetee looked at all of us and nodded. “I’m okay.” She focused on me. “Where are you headed?”

I looked in the direction of the North Village. “Uh, my house.”

Beetee stuck her tongue out, licking at her bottom lip. “Can I go with you?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but it was like the words were caught in my throat. Beetee continued. “Can we all go with you? I don’t want to intrude on your time with your dad, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the nerve to go over there.”

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