Chapter 340
Two weeks. That’s all it took before Lucy was packing her stuff, again. She had her phone in one hand, talking to her mom, crying, while I helped her get her clothes out of my dresser drawer and closet and back into her few measly suitcases. I could hear Annie telling her to calm down, that everything was going to be all right, and she could come back home if she wanted to. Lucy didn’t want to. But she did want to get as far away from my mother as possible.
When Brandon and Dax showed up to grab her stuff and move her over to Tara’s apartment, my mom just stood in the living room by the kitchen entryway with her arms folded. I’ve never seen her look so defeated. I could see both sides, if I’m honest. The one time Lucy missed her new curfew, my mom lost it and tried to keep her from going back over to Tara’s the next day, and Lucy screamed, “You’re not my mom!” and slammed my bedroom door. My mom felt like she was supposed to raise Lucy like she’d raised me—but Lucy had already had almost seventeen years of a different parenting style. There was no way this was going to work unless they were both willing to give a little. And neither were.
Lucy was much happier at Tara’s place. I could tell within a few days. It was crowded, and she was sleeping on a pull-out sofa Elliott had swapped out with Tara’s old one, but she was happier. There were plenty of empty apartments in the training building, despite the fact that the Roatan Guardians were also mostly housed there, but Lucy wasn’t ready to be alone, and I don’t think her mom would’ve liked that either. I wondered why my grandparents had made so many tiny apartments instead of fewer, bigger ones. I had no idea what they’d envisioned for this place when it was built over a hundred years ago, but I guessed it wasn’t quite what it had turned out to be. At any rate, Lucy and Tara would share their little domain, and that seemed to suit them both just fine.
The girls got along great, sometimes bickering like sisters but never fighting, and I was glad to have them both in my life, even if I didn’t have time or freedom to spend hanging out with them. Getting up to leave at 7:55 every evening was a pain in the behind to say the least. I started pestering my sister even more to let me go on hunts, even the ones out of state, which were a big no because my mom was afraid something would happen to me—again. So... I spent my days training, doing school work, sitting with my friends for a bit, and then saying goodbye to them and locking myself in my room where I could still see them and talk to them but couldn’t be with them. I was ready for summer break, but even then, I had an idea my mom wasn’t going to budge on my stupid curfew.
Houston happened, and it was yet another hunt I wasn’t allowed to go on. By then, I only needed one more observation before I could quit my training. I argued with Cadence that I should get extra points for Melbourne. I had beheaded a Vampire there, after all, but she wouldn’t shift on the protocol. She’d learned from Mr. Rule Follower, so when Brandon and the rest of the team went off to Texas, I sat in my room and watched and waited. It was pretty cool that my sister and Elliott got attacked by some sort of crocodile-Vampire mutant. I would’ve loved to have seen the crocopire in person. Instead, I watched through my eye computer and hoped my last observation would be over soon. Then, maybe, I’d be allowed to go on out-of-state hunts. Right now, it seemed like they’d only consider taking me if they needed my telepathy for something, and since we weren’t taking any major risks, I continued to be left at home.
Training wasn’t so bad, but I did hate getting up so early and wished Aurora would consider the fact that some of us still need our sleep. Unlike Cadence, Roar is one of those Hunters who has adapted such that she only requires a few hours each night. Cadence and I both could sleep for an entire weekend and still need a nap on Monday afternoon. I have no idea why that is, but I wish it would just stop. Maybe my parents would allow me more free time during the day if I could do the bulk of my homework in the middle of the night, like Brandon.
Sometimes, Alex came to help train us, which was both really cool and a little nerve-racking at the same time because I always felt self-conscious around him. I was standing in front of one of the greatest minds in American history. Going into the simulator after he’d just given us tips about how to aim our weapons always sent my stomach into waves and my breakfast looking for the nearest exit. But hearing him clap and say, “Well done, Miss Findley,” with every successful kill made me smile like a little girl with an ice cream cone. I knew Tara was going to make fun of me when the simulation was over, but I had to try not to care. He was an American treasure in the flesh!
“All right, that’s our time for today!” Aurora said as we all carefully placed our Berettas into proper storage. I overheard Addy mumbling something to Gina about being glad Shane wasn’t there to tell us we’re doing it wrong and almost chimed in that I agreed before I remembered that neither one of them like me much.
“Miss Findley, that was wonderful shooting,” a familiar voice said behind me, and I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
