Arianna nodded. “You’re saying it’s better to be lower?”
“Sometimes,” Gabriel replied. “Other times it’s better to show your strength and scare off an opponent.” Arianna jumped as Gabriel increased his power to full strength.
“You are as strong as Grandfather,” she replied in awe.
“That old man doesn’t feel it’s necessary to lower his power.” Gabriel stopped and returned to normal. Smiling, he replied, “And you are stronger. Try it once. Just let go of everything. Don’t get distracted by the slight noises you constantly hear. Close your eyes,” he directed. “Relax. Take a few deep breaths and forget you’re sitting here.”
Arianna followed her uncle’s directions. Ignoring the sounds that seemed louder with her eyes shut, Arianna focused on listening to her own breath. Calming down, she felt a warm sensation growing inside her. Arianna waited as it grew larger and larger. Is this really my power, she wondered, as it continued to grow. It’s not stopping, she worried, opening her eyes to find Turner and Gabriel intently watching her, while Molina, Nelson, and Mica stood in shock nearby.
“I see the problem,” Gabriel replied. “You are already repressing your power greatly.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well if Turner is a nine on the scale and your grandfather and I are a ten, you would be a twenty-five,” Gabriel explained.
“What?” Arianna asked in shock.
“I’d put her more at a thirty,” Turner added. “She didn’t get up to full strength before she stopped.” Arianna looked from Turner to Gabriel. He nodded in agreement.
“Well, the best we can hope, then, is for you to try to keep matched to Turner,” Gabriel replied. “It would be nice if you could stay below Molina to keep people away from hunting you before you can defend yourself, but if you can match Turner it will help more than it does now when you fluctuate and get stronger than him. Night humans will sense your power and want to catch you, even if they do not know who you are.”
“I’ll try,” Arianna replied, knowing that everyone in the room was concerned about her safety.
“Good,” Gabriel responded as he stood and walked to her. “I need to get going for now. Tonight, I need you to come over to my house at around nine o’clock. There will be a formal dinner to meet the rest of our family and the leaders of the baku community.”
“Is this a dinner like the one grandfather threw for me, or Lord Winter?” Arianna asked.
Gabriel smiled. “I prefer the one your grandfather threw, if you are up to it.” Arianna nodded. It wasn’t like she was given a choice the first time around. “Since you deserve some sense of normalcy, Devin arranged for you to still have your foods class at the end of the day with Mary Ellen.” Arianna nodded, and Gabriel vanished just as the bell rang to end class.
Turner and Devin escorted Arianna through the crowded hallways to her classroom. Passing person after person, Arianna was surprised when she noticed that every other person she passed was a night human. Arianna stopped when Turner and Devin didn’t enter the room behind her.
“We need to go take care of something,” Devin explained, grabbing Turner’s arm. “Stay here with Jackson and Molina, and don’t go outside until after two.”
Arianna nodded as the bell rang again and people began hurrying down the hallways to their classes. Arianna casually moved to her cooking station where Mary Ellen was waiting, all while listening to Turner and Devin as they walked down the hallway. They stopped not too far away and turned into the math quad.
“Wait here,” Devin told Turner as he entered a room.
“I need to borrow Susan,” Devin said to the teacher, who seemed to easily agree. “Here,” Devin added, as he returned to Turner. “They don’t keep blood in school because it would make it a target, but there are several students here that offer to feed dearg-dul and lycan who are in need of blood. Turner, this is Susan. Susan, Turner,” Devin introduced them.
Arianna was beginning to get angry. She took a lot of blood from Turner, but she didn’t think it would lead to him feeding on another girl. Though they were not dating, she still was angry that he would be doing such a thing with another girl.
“Earth to Ari,” Mary Ellen repeated. “Your nap must have been good. You’re still in a daze.”
“Sorry,” Arianna replied. “What’s on the menu today?” Arianna wanted to keep listening to Devin and Turner, but she found that baking was a good distraction.
“Lemon cake,” Mary Ellen replied.
“Mmm,” Arianna added, looking at the recipe. “Do we need anything from the store room?” Arianna asked.
“We’re low on sugar,” Mary Ellen held out the jar to Arianna.
Arianna hurried to the small hallway between the two rooms. She easily found the sugar and her mind drifted to find Turner and Devin. Finding Turner in the neighboring room, Arianna peeked into the office to look through the glass windows. Turner was in the far corner with his head down on the desk sleeping. Looking around, she noticed Devin was not in the room. She found him sitting outside the room with Molina, both immersed in their own work.
Though she still was mad at Turner and Devin, Arianna relaxed a little; after all, she was home and at school with her friends. Baking the cake with Mary Ellen reminded her of how much she had missed everything back at home. Arianna joked with her friend as they finished cleaning their station. Even though so much had changed, it still felt completely normal to be with her best friend.
“Don’t you want to give some to your friends?” Mary Ellen asked, as they cut the cake they had just made.
“Not really,” Arianna replied. “I’m mad at them right now.”
“Well, fine,” Mary Ellen took several pieces. “I’m not, and they’re cute.” Mary Ellen hurried away before Arianna could stop her. When Mary Ellen returned, she was triumphant. “The cute blond said to stay here with spiky hair girl, and she will take you home.”
Arianna checked the room next door. Turner was gone and so was Devin. What are they doing now? she wondered.
“Are you helping with the diner tonight?” Mary Ellen asked.
“I don’t think so,” Arianna replied, as they stepped into the crowded hallway, filled with students leaving for the day. “I think I have to go to a formal dinner at nine. You and Tish should come over now before they take me away. Who knows when they’ll let me back again?”
“We do need to catch up, especially about the two cute boys that follow you around like puppy dogs,” Mary Ellen replied, winking at her friend and giving a little play bark. Arianna blushed. There was really no easy way to explain Devin and Turner without telling her everything about her time at her grandfather’s house.
“Arianna,” a male voice yelled from behind as Arianna and Mary Ellen walked to their lockers. Both stopped in surprise to find Chris Sherwood pushing his way through the crowd of students while yelling Arianna’s name. Arianna had never talked to the captain of the basketball team before.
Mary Ellen giggled at the shock in Arianna face.
“Are you guys coming to our game tonight?” he asked, finally making it close enough to them to talk in a normal voice without shouting.
“I don’t know. I just got back from a trip. I don’t know what my aunt and uncle will say,” Arianna replied.
“Well, we would love to have you there,” he said, as more team members joined him. “What about the dark haired guy that was with you today? Does he play?” Chris looked around for Turner.
“He had to leave a little early,” Arianna explained.
“Talk to your aunt and uncle,” Chris added, turning to the person who was yelling his name down the hall. “We definitely would win if you were there.” Chris grinned and weaved his way back through the students.
“Uh huh,” Mary Ellen replied, watching him walk away with a dreamy expression on her face.
TWENTY-TWO
Arianna sat in silence as Molina drove the three girls back to her aunt and unc
le’s diner. She listened to her friends talk about boys, mainly, and being invited to the basketball game by the captain of the team. Everything seemed so normal; it was like the last week had never happened. As her friends ran upstairs, Arianna went to the kitchen to get snacks.
“Lou?” Arianna asked cautiously, smelling the distinct smell of night humans all over the kitchen.
“Little one,” Arianna heard Lou’s hearty voice deep within the kitchen. Arianna weaved between everyone set on their tasks, preparing for the evening rush. The middle-aged man with the long, dark ponytail and mustache was at his normal position in the middle of the chaos. “You couldn’t survive without me, could ya’ now?”
Arianna felt her hesitation melt away as a smile crept over her face. So much had changed, but everything in the kitchen was the same. Captain Lou reached down and gave Arianna a bear hug.
“I was contemplating moving, but I figured, what would Dean and Lilly do without me? Are they at least feeding you right at Lord Randolph’s?” he asked.
Arianna nodded. In more ways than one, she wanted to say, but remained silent. It was still too awkward to discuss her new life with everyone that was so familiar with her old life. The kitchen staff must have all known who she was all along, but she just didn’t want the old familiar feelings to change.
“Chili cheese fries then?” Lou asked. “Mary Ellen and Tish are with you, right?”
“Yep,” Arianna replied, remembering her friends. She hadn’t even found a way to tell them what was going on, and they were waiting upstairs to bombard her with questions.
“We’ll have those ready in a minute.” Lou smiled and patted Arianna’s head as he had done since she was a small child. Only Lou could get away with still treating her like a kid. Arianna looked one more time around the kitchen. Her better senses could pick up the subtle differences in the people shifting from one work station to another. As much as she wanted everything to stay the same, it was now different.
“You better get up to the girls,” Lou commented as Arianna paused.
“But,” Arianna didn’t know how to explain her dilemma to Lou.
“Everything is back to normal now, right?” Lou asked. He always read Arianna’s expressions perfectly.
“If you don’t count the people that now constantly follow me around. How do I explain them to my friends?”
“It’s probably easier than you think. You like to overanalyze everything. Do you honestly think Mary Ellen and Tish will ever see you as anything other than their best friend?” Lou began to push Arianna towards the staircase.
“But,” Arianna wanted to complain more.
“They know more than you think,” Lou added, as they reached the door.
Arianna turned quickly, and only caught the back of Lou weaving between cooks and orchestrating the mess in the kitchen. Turning back to the staircase, Arianna stood face to face with Molina. Molina didn’t speak, she just waited for Arianna to climb the stairs in front of her. Arianna didn’t move but just stared back.
“What did he mean by that?” she asked. Molina had no choice but to answer.
“Your friends already know about all this,” Molina replied, she tried to usher Arianna up the stairs.
“What?” Arianna tried not to shriek, but it came out quite close.
“They should explain, not me.” Molina waited for Arianna to move and refused to add more.
Arianna began to slowly climb the stairs. Everyone made it sound so easy, but it wasn’t. Arianna barely understood it herself, let alone explain it. Pausing near the top, Arianna turned back to Molina. “What about Turner and Devin? Why did they leave school early?”
“Turner was low on blood and refused to take it from a human. Devin took him to the nearest safe house.”
Arianna tried not to let her smile show as she continued to climb the last two stairs. Turner didn’t take the blood after all. She didn’t have a right to be jealous. It wasn’t like Turner was her boyfriend, but she was happy nonetheless.
Arianna opened the door to their apartment and found Aunt Lilly cleaning as usual. Aunt Lilly smiled and waved with her free hand, ushering Arianna inside. Arianna hesitated at the door. Everything would change again. No matter what Captain Lou said, things would change. Mary Ellen and Tish stood from the couch and dragged Arianna to her room.
“No way, I think she already has too many cute guys. She should let one of us have Chris,” Mary Ellen complained to Tish.
“But he was asking her to come to the game, not us,” Tish replied, flopping down onto Arianna’s floor.
“Are we going to the game tonight?” Mary Ellen asked Arianna, standing in the doorway to her room.
“I have to ask,” Arianna remembered. Turning around, Arianna waved to her aunt to turn off the vacuum. “Can I go to a basketball game tonight?”
“That’s up to Gabriel. Your plans are with him tonight.” Aunt Lilly returned to her vacuuming. Arianna could feel in the air the distaste her aunt had for Gabriel.
“I’ll be right back, guys. I have to go ask my uncle,” Arianna explained to her friends. “Food should be done. If you eat everything before I return, you guys have to go place a new order.”
“But,” Tish complained. “Lou doesn’t like us.” Mary Ellen nodded. Arianna smiled and shrugged. Lou was always strict with both Tish and Mary Ellen because it was funny to watch when they were scared. Lou actually was very fond of Arianna’s two best friends.
Arianna hurried, with Molina close behind, to the old yellow house two doors down from the diner. Molina paused in the yard as Arianna rang the doorbell. Everything about the house made it seem like a family home. In fact, there was even the sound of children playing outside in the backyard. Molina couldn’t pick up a bit of the scent of baku in the house. Arianna opened the door without waiting for someone to answer. Molina stayed in the yard as Arianna entered.
Arianna walked down the hallway to the kitchen, following the scent of Gabriel. Arianna hesitated as she walked into the brightly-lit room. The largest baku she had ever seen was sitting at the table, while a small, bald man was studying his large muscular arm. Her head filled with fearful thoughts of the first night she met a baku. Arianna and Devin were surrounded by men who were all the same as the man in the chair.
“Sure, but you have to leave at nine whether the game is done or not,” the baku said. Arianna didn’t move from the doorway. He was physically completely different, but Gabriel’s voice was exactly the same. The large pale man smiled. His razor sharp teeth glimmered. “I heard you talking with Lilly. My hearing is almost as good as yours when I’m in this form.”
“Oh.” Arianna stayed in the doorway. It wasn’t fear that held her there as she knew it was her uncle, not only by his voice, but his scent. Rather, it was some built-in sense that told her that he was dangerous to get near.
“And that’s why baku and dearg-duls don’t get along,” Gabriel explained, responding to her feelings. “There’s no reason to fear me. Don’t worry, that feeling will be gone after tonight.” Arianna nodded before turning to leave.
Before she made it out the door she paused. “Will I look like you when I turn?” she asked, not turning around to watch his expression. She was trying not to insult him, but she didn’t want to turn into a large muscular man either.
The needle broke with Gabriel’s movement, and Gabriel laughed as the bald man swore under his breath again.
“You broke another one,” the man complained.
“If that’s your only fear about tonight, we should be fine. You won’t turn into a gigantic albino man,” Gabriel reassured her. “Going through the change won’t make you any less you than you already are. Nothing can change who you are.”
Arianna ran back out the door past Molina, who had been listening to the conversation while she waited. Arianna made it up halfway the stairs before pausing and returning to the kitchen of the diner. With her increased senses, she easily avoided the organized mass of workers to grab foo
d for her friends who were waiting upstairs.
As per normal, Mary Ellen and Tish were already seated on her bed, gossiping as she returned. Arianna sat down on the floor, and they all used her bed as a makeshift table. Arianna looked at her friends again. Neither one was a night human.
“So, spill it,” Mary Ellen started to grill Arianna.
“How do you get two gorgeous boys to follow you around, begging for your attention?” Tish asked. “I need to know your secret.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Arianna replied as Tish and Mary Ellen both shook their heads, mocking her.
“Come on,” Tish complained, nudging Arianna.
“Really,” Arianna replied. “They just started to follow me around on their own.”
“So which one is your boyfriend?” Mary Ellen asked, wanting to know more juicy details.
“Neither,” Arianna replied. Again her friends didn’t believe her. “Really. Devin works for my grandfather and Turner is my keeper.”
“Then they’re not your boyfriends?” Tish asked, disappointed they weren’t going to get details.
“Your keeper?” Mary Ellen repeated and Tish stopped and stared also. “But don’t you guys normally wait years for that?” Arianna stared dumbstruck at her two best friends.
“But? How?” Arianna sputtered.
“We’re your best friends,” Tish added. “Of course we know what you are.”
“Sometimes I wish I could be one also,” added Mary Ellen, turning the bowls of fries so they could grab more.
“But?” Arianna repeated.
“My dad is a dearg-dul,” Mary Ellen added, noticing her friend’s confusion. “Remember all those trips? He was going to the Randolph estate for annual meetings.” Mary Ellen picked up a fry and popped it in her mouth like she was having any normal conversation with Arianna.