Page 17 of Livewire Witch

Making my way over, I drop onto the sofa beside Hanna, squishing in so that my legs are practically on top of hers. “I’m glad to be out of there. I didn’t exactly get much sleep.”

She hums. “Because you felt unsafe? Or was it all the screaming lost souls?”

I roll my eyes at her. I can’t quite tell if she’s joking, but she’s unintentionally pretty close to the mark.

“Because the place seemed to be made of piles of skulls and bones and they wouldn’t shut up talking.” I say the words without really thinking them through or understanding exactly what I’m revealing.

Rook leans forward from where he’s sitting at the other end of the sofa. “You can talk to skeletons now?” he grunts.

My eyes flick over to the kitchen where Roscoe has returned to cooking while he hums merrily to himself. “I—”

Hanna has zero time for my hesitation. She follows my eyeline and pokes me hard on the thigh. “Look, sweetcheeks, we either trust these guys or we don’t. If they don’t know by now that we’ll fuck them up if anything happens to you on their watch, they’ll know it now. I’m perfectly happy to set this entire place on fire with them in it.”

Comforting words they might not be, but strangely, I feel a little soothed by them.

“I’ve told you from the start,” Luna adds. “It’s not something you need to worry about. You just need to get out of your own way for your future to unfold.”

“Before you get into the creepy skull stuff, where’s the sexy mage whose life you saved?” Hanna asks, peering around like she might have missed him. “I kinda thought he’d be here, bowing at your feet and feeding you strawberries or peeled grapes or whatever.”

I snort. “Fabian? Uh, well, things are kind of complicated between us at the moment.”

And as if my words have summoned him, he and Zeph step through the door, both sweaty and topless, dressed only in workout shorts. Z’s leg is still in a cast, so I have no clue what kind of exercise they’ve just returned from, but judging by the sweat and the bulging veins, it seems to have been quite the workout.

Hanna whistles appreciatively since she apparently has zero sense of shame, drawing their attention our way.

I’m half expecting Zeph to storm over like an angry rhino and turf everyone out. Instead, he gives a brief nod and heads over to the kitchen. Fabian flashes his sheepish, cute as fuck, smile and quickly pulls on a hoodie to cover himself while Hanna fans herself beside me and mouths, ‘hot, hot, hot.’

I try to smile back, but I can’t seem to get my face to work quite right.

“Did you heathens at least bring coffee when you decided to invade my private penthouse?” Zeph grumbles.

“Coffee and little cinnamon bun things,” Hanna replies. “I guess you already paid for them, so you might as well eat one.”

I barely stifle my laugh at Hanna’s absolute lack of shits to give. Zeph’s a pretty intimidating and intense guy, with a scowl that could crack nuts. But she doesn’t care. To my surprise, he catches my eye while I’m still fighting a smile and graces me with the tiniest of lip twitches.

Maybe I’m growing on the big guy, after all. Or maybe his dislike is diluted when the rest of my family is here. He weirdlyseems more comfortable now that the apartment is full of people than he did yesterday when it was just the five of us.

“So, what have we missed?” he asks.

“Nothing much. Silver was just explaining how she was making friends with some skeletons underground, and I was explaining that if any of you blab about her powers, I’ll burn your apartment to the ground.” Hanna shrugs casually. “I’ll take another coffee if you’re making one.”

Z’s eyebrows flick up and he shakes his head slightly. “It’s not a good morning until someone’s been threatened or maimed.”

“I’ve been telling these guys what I’ve already told Silver, but I don’t think it’s sunk in for her just yet,” Roscoe says. “She’s one of us now. All of you guys are by extension. She saved two of our people, so that means she gets our loyalty and protection.”

I shrug. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just... it’s not something I’ve said out loud. Not since I was a kid.”

Rook’s the only person who has seen my necromancy in action, back when we met in the cells while awaiting our execution. I used it to allow us to play dead for long enough for the both of us to escape and start our lives on the streets. Even Hanna and Ember don’t fully know what I’m capable of, although I’m pretty sure that Luna knows far more about anything than any of us realize.

“Silver, right?” Fabian makes me startle as he crouches down beside me.

I look into his kind, brown eyes and for a fleeting moment, it’s like things are back to how they should be. That’s at least until his words sink in.

“Right.” I nod. “I’m Silver.”

“Loyalty’s a big deal to all of us. And if my brothers have said you have ours, that’s no small thing. You’ll find we’re a pretty trustworthy bunch.”

I give a pained smile in response, since I can’t muster any words. It seems neither Luna nor Rook miss the exchange and both shoot me concerned looks.

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