During the week that Debra and Dariela stayed, Lydia’s days consisted mainly of school, training, and spending her free time with them. Thankfully, Sylvia was a little more lenient in their training schedule. As Arthur’s second-in-command, she had to run the Cave in his stead and allowed Lydia and the others to leave their training sessions earlier.
Wren joined Lydia often when she was able and enjoyed Debra and Dariela. Lydia also set aside time to visit the pool, but she always found Cooper gone and Nina in no mood to talk. She caught a glimpse of the girl in the pool once, sitting on the bottom, stewing with a sour face, her neck gills flapping restlessly. She swam off, ignoring Lydia’s running in and asking where Cooper had been taken.
Debra found plenty to do during those periods without Lydia, from talking to Jando’s mother to finishing paperwork for her business. Dariela actually did end up hanging out with Aidan, to the point that he accompanied her often. He relented to Dariela’s request for a flight as well and carried her on a short trip past the Center while Lydia headed to class one day. Lydia had been afraid he would drop Dariela, as he flew with his eyes closed and had several near misses with the building in his erratic flight.
Thankfully, they didn’t try any fancy maneuvers, and Dariela had returned unhurt and exhilarated. Lydia found several red spots and claw marks on Dariela’s back when she changed shirts that day, but Dariela wasn’t fazed. “He was clinging to me like a cat,” she said. “I thought he broke the skin myself.”
When the week ended and everyone said their good-byes, Lydia hugged Dariela and Debra tight. “We’ll come back soon, hon,” Debra promised.
“You got that right,” Dariela said. She privately bid farewell to Aidan, leaving him with a quick kiss. Again, Lydia’s mind reeled at the act and stirred up hot in her skull. She wondered at first why it continued to bother her so, as she and Aidan never ended up doing anything. Soon, Lydia believed the simmering feeling was due to Aidan himself. She was wary of his intentions for her friend and planned to speak to him about it later on.
A good opportunity never really presented itself until their next agent training session a few days later, when she planned to corner him after they’d finished. Yet their training was cut short when a security guard burst in, searching for Sylvia. “Ma’am. Urgent news.”
She broke off from her lecture about the proper methods of sneaking up to a target and incapacitating them. “What is it?” Lydia, Aidan, and Jando circled her. The guard looked at them, then at Sylvia, who nodded.
“The boys upstairs—however, they’re double checking it—say they may have found Heather Stanson.”