Page 44 of Saber's Surrender

“Maybe not, but you do whine like a little bitch,” Wrecker accuses, peering down at me as he dries his hands on his shirt. “You’re out of paper towels; you need to restock that shit.”

“I don’t usually have guests so it wasn’t on the top of my priority list,” I argue. “If you plan on making yourself at home in my office, restock the shelves yourself.”

“Fuck that, I’ll get the prospect to do it,” Wrecker states.

“I’m sure your brother will be happy to be your whipping dog. Don’t be lazy, Wrecker,” I barb.

“Enough you two,” Foxy snaps. “Explain to Canyon what you meant when you told him he wasn’t responsible for his parents' deaths, Wrecker.”

Wrecker crouches down to where he’s eye level with Canyon and explains. “It’s like your dad said before. You didn’t project yourself from the car until it went over the guardrail. If they’d done an autopsy on your dad they would’ve found out he had a heart attack, and kid, it wasn’t a mild one. He wouldn’t have survived it. You did nothing wrong and there wasn’t anything you could’ve done to prevent it either.” Canyon gulps, turning his head away from us to where we can’t see the myriad of devastated expressions clouding his face. But when he lifts his shoulder and wipes his cheeks, I know he’s crying and it makes me wish there was something I could say or do to ease this sorrow for him.

Tears well up in Roxy’s eyes while I choke back my own emotion. We’ve both responded to traumas in the emergency room where a patient was in cardiac arrest, get them revived, only to have whoever’s working in cardiology take them up for a heart catheterization to find out that the patient’s attack caused massive damage. Then there are the ones who don’t survive and when the autopsies are uploaded to their chart, we see that they had what is called a Widowmaker heart attack, where the largest artery is fully blocked. While some who have one of thosedosurvive, the percentage rate is under fifteen percent, which is dismal considering how advanced we are in medicine these days.

“However,” Wrecker says, picking up his explanation where he left off. “With you being a time traveler, your powers can be deadly to yourself and others. You’re going to have to train and learn to keep yourself grounded. While your folks are away for the weekend, Butcher and I are going to spend some time with you, helping you learn how to do that. You need to learn to meditate and block. When Roxy gets back, Harper is going to work with her.”

“Me? Why does she have to work with me?” Roxy asks, confused.

“Because, babe. You’re his anchor. You’re who will keep him from getting lost anytime he travels through space,” I interpret. “Harper will have to clarify what that means because I have no idea how she does what she does. Jericho is the one who taught her how to keep Wrecker anchored to this plane when he dreamwalks.”

“Who’s Jericho? I haven’t met him,” she deduces.

“Jericho is her spiritual adviser. He’s a pain in my ass,” Wrecker bitches.

“That’s only because he gives you a taste of your own medicine when he invades your sleep,” I laugh. “He’s saved your ass a time or two so you should be thankful he gives a damn. If it were me, I’d let you sit in your own shit.”

Canyon barks out a laugh, his shoulders shaking as the first smile I’ve seen on him all day lights up his face. “You two are worse than me and Egypt when we fight.”

“That’s because we don’t fight,” I counter. “We just don’t sugar coat shit for each other.”

Foxy gasps before saying, “Liar. You better be careful or you’ll be struck by lightning.”

“I didn’t kill them,” Canyon whispers to himself.

“You didn’t,” Wrecker agrees, reaching out and patting Canyon on his knee. “You’re going to be alright, kiddo. It was their time, and unfortunately when fate steps in, there’s not anything we can do to prevent the reaper from coming for someone’s soul.”

“And I know you’re going to have a lot of questions, but for now, you need to digest what we told you, and Butcher as well as Wrecker will be around if you need any answers before we return,” I tell him.

“I’m good. I’ll be fine until you get back but I am ready to start my training before somebody accidentally gets hurt because I don’t have any control over my abilities,” Canyon acknowledges.

“We’ll start bright and early in the morning,” Wrecker informs him.

“Not too early though, right? I’m a growing boy, I need my sleep,” Canyon contends. Foxy and I stand up and head out while they argue over the pros and cons of an early start, barely holding back our laughter.

“He really will be okay, won’t he, Weston?”

“Yeah, baby. He will,” I guarantee. “We won’t accept anything less.”

EPILOGUE

Roxy

“I can’t believewe have to go back home already. The weekend flew by,” I whine. While I’m not complaining too much, I want more time with just the two of us before the rest of the people in our lives intrude on our loved-up bubble. Still, the sooner we’re home, it’ll mean that we can settle into our new family. I’m excited about that, even though I know it’s not going to be a bed of roses. Between Canyon learning to harness his gift, and both kids still grieving, there are bound to be days when I’ll wanna pull out my hair.

“Back to reality,” Weston teases me. “Got a report from Mrs. Tremain in my email while you were in the bathroom cleaning up,” he tells me as he wiggles his eyebrows recalling the reason behind why I had to refresh myself in the first place. “We’ll have more than Independence Day to celebrate in July.”

“Our court date has been set?” I ask, excitement thrumming through me.

“Yes, it is. July third, Egypt and Canyon will officially be ours,” he says, tugging me into his arms. “Then, we’ll be official.”

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