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A soft kiss on her lips woke her up. A smile slid across her face, and she knew right then that she was going to be one of those women who were soft and gooey when they looked at their male. Not that he was hers, but if anyone tried to take him, well, she was a trained assassin.
“What replaced your smile with a frown?’
“Nothing. I was just thinking about how to protect what is mine.” His eyes went from green to icy green, and she knew the beast was close.
“No one would dare touch what belongs to you.” He left the room with her gawking at him.
When she finished in the bathroom and changed, he was in the kitchen with a happy look on his face.
“I made breakfast.” Her eyes swept the table before she sucked down the laugh that wanted to come out.
“That’s my favorite kind of cereal. How did you know?” There was a half-gallon of milk and two glasses of orange juice on the table.
“You thought I was useless in the kitchen.” He told her after they sat.
“Nope, you’re a great helper and make a mean bowl of cereal. I just know that unsupervised, you will burn the pots.” She gave a laugh before she started eating.
Her head cocked to the side, ears perking up. “Did you hear that?”
They had been in their home away from home for roughly six days earth time. She’d never heard another sound outside of her, Rada, and Uncle Zeek when he was around.
“I don’t sense anything, and the sound is gone.”
“As long as it wasn’t just me. Let’s go train. Maybe we’ll get to go home today.”
They went outside to meet Zeek. He took his time to look at them like he was searching for evidence of what they did when he wasn’t around. Her cheeks flushed.
“Good, you’re ready. Moxie, first, I need you to understand why your connection to Rada is important. He’ll be back soon.”
Rada disappeared, leaving her feeling cold and bereft.
“I cut all your connections to him. It’s only temporary, and he won’t feel it, just you.”
“Why won’t he feel it?”
“I’ve taken all awareness from him. He’s stuck between one second and the next.”
“If you can do that, what’s to stop someone else from doing it?”
“Once you understand the connection, you’ll never allow it to be cut again. Make a shield.”
She stood straight, gathering the light around her forming it to make a shield. It wasn’t as easy as yesterday. She found herself with an overabundance of light. It was more than she needed. When she went to put it down, she picked up more. When her shield was finally fashioned, it was thick, hindering anything she would want to do next.
“You’re a magnet pulling the light toward you. Rada is your perfect balance. He’s negative to your positive and a positive to the lights negative. Perfect balance in a hell beast, go figure. Now, look within you. You’ll feel a space where the two of you came together. That’s the space you will guard. From this point forward, the two of you will have to decide if you want to deepen the connection.”
She looked up to find Rada standing beside her. Without thought, she jumped into his arms. He may not have suffered from knowing she was missing, but she had.
“Hands up; it’s time to make bullets. Today will be long. Think a week or several weeks put in a day. Then you’ll be able to leave. You know bullets, the weight and the feel of them. Fashion one in your hand.”
It took some time; sweat was dripping down her brows. Rada brought her water, demanding she get a break. When she got back up, she started again. Then the first bullet laid in her hand. She jumped, hollering. Then her hand was filled with bullets and then the ground around her feet.
“You just finished your year three practical.”
“Year three?”
“You did rather well as an advanced student. As much as I enjoy watching you make bullets, how much help will they be in a fight?”
“They’ll help.”
“As much as this?” There was a ping against her shield. Never let down your shield. It was the number one rule.
Without realizing it, she was keeping it in place as she made bullets.
“What did you do?”
“I had a thought, and I acted on it. The creation or the weaving was done instantaneously. If we were fighting, there wouldn't have been time for you to move. Your shield would have saved you, but I would have barraged you with these deadly creations of thought.” They poured against her shield, one after the other knocking her back until her shield cracked and she hit the ground.
“Your shield lasted longer than I thought it would. You’ve come far, but this is the last class. It’s the difference between a mage and a witch.” He gave her a hand helping her up.
“When you’re fighting the demons, they won’t wait for you to craft the perfect bullet. You’ll need to be fast on your feet, able to think, move, and weave simultaneously. You don’t want to think bullets; you want to think whatever will hurt them, send them back where they came from. It won’t be a bullet.”
She nodded because he was right. She had seen demons get hit dead center in their foreheads and get up like nothing happened.
“How am I supposed to do that? I don’t know what will kill a demon.”
“I always hate the question because the answer sounds so far out.”
“Really? I’m living outside of time, making bullets with a light not visible to human eyes, and now you’re concerned about an answer.”
“You might have a point. You don’t know what to do, but the knowledge is surrounding us. That’s why you’re telling the light what you want, and it makes it. I want something that can hurt or kill a demon. The light makes it for you. It’s like going through a drive-thru and ordering a milkshake. You don’t know how it’s made, but the clerk gives it to you.”
“Are you confused between the light and food, or are you hungry?”
“I might want a milkshake.” She handed him one. He took a deep draw on the straw savoring the taste of chocolate. “And the student becomes the master.”
She was staring at her hand, trying to figure out where the shake came from. “How?”
“When you’ve mastered the light, you can do almost anything. Like put together and call a milkshake from a different plane to here.”
“But I haven’t mastered the light.”
“You mastered it here.” He placed a finger over her heart. “You haven’t mastered it here.” His finger was resting against her temple. “Many good weavers never became great because they couldn’t get outside of their heads.”
“My mom?”
“Was a great weaver, but not even she could stop a bullet in her sleep. The demons wanted your father, and they weren’t going to let anyone stand in their way.”
It was another reason to get rid of the demon infestation on the earth.
“You can....”
“Come on,” she said, interrupting Zeek. “Don’t tell me you don’t hear that.”
“It would be best if you ignored that, Moxie.”
“Right, I hear you.” She started moving around, trying to find what was hiding in the open space she was training in. “Come out, come out, wherever you are. I hear you.”
There was the most adorable growl, and then something no bigger than a teacup poodle came out on itty bitty legs. It was lavender in color with darker purple wings that seemed to shimmer in the sun.
“Oh, my heart. You’re so beautiful.” She knelt, putting her hand on the ground, and he walked into it. She picked him up and held him close to her chest.
“Where’s your momma?” He blinked at her with sad eyes. “You don’t have a momma? Who’s taking care of you? Wait, don’t answer. I’m taking care of you if you want to come home with me.” It felt like the sun came out and warmed her. “That’s it you’re mine.”
“Moxie, spawn of my sister, you don’t want to take him home with you.”
“I do, look how itty bitty he is. And the wings are adorable. I don’t think they can hold his weight though.”
“I beg you. Think.”
She looked from Zeek to the tiny poodle with wings, and the poodle won. “I think he’s coming home with me.”
Asking Rada how he felt about it might be good.
“Can we keep him?” The poodle looked at him when she did.
“If you want him, yes.”
“I do.” She kissed Rada while holding her new pet. “We need a name for you. I’ll call you Bullet because you are fierce.”
“It’s time to send you back home.” Zeek’s voice held a trace of sadness.
Moxie’s eyes looked over the open space. It was nothing special, but still, she would miss it.
“Will I ever see you again?”
“Let’s say when you win, I’ll bring your cousins to visit.”
“I have cousins?”
“You have a whole family who can’t wait to meet you.”
“Tell them I want to meet them, too.”
“I will.” He took her in his arms and held tight, tears glistening in his eyes. “Leave before I keep you here where it’s safe. I lost my sister. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“Make sure you come to visit after we win.” She wiped her eyes to find herself back in Rada’s room.
“We’re back.” She stroked Bullet’s head, the only reminder of the time they spent away. They both looked at the picture to find the bullet that captivated them was gone. “He has some mad skills.”
“I know that in this time we’ve just eaten, but I’m hungry.”
“I second that; lead the way.” She followed him out of the room.
_____
Moxie sat on the couch with everyone staring at Bullet.
“What is that?” Ellie asked. She and Malik were over visiting.
“He’s a teacup poodle with wings.” She held him up high showing him off.
“He looks like a dragon to me.” Rose pulled out the stuffed dragon Lael won her at the fair. “See.”
“He’s not a dragon, not even an itty bitty one, but he is fierce. That’s why his name is Bullet.”
Puck came in and jumped onto Moxie’s lap. He sniffed at Bullet before grabbing him by the nape of his neck and jumping down.
“Puck has a brother, how sweet,” Rose cried out with joy.
Everyone in the room stared at her except Moxie, who was watching Bullet.
“He won’t eat him, will he?”
“No!” Rose sounded like an indignant parent. “They’re brothers from a different mother. Puck will show him around and give him the lay of the land.”
“Thank you, Puck. Bullets is so little I worry about him.”
Moxie and Rose grinned like idiots as they watched them play together. They howled and growled at each other like they were communicating. Then ran out of the room.
“What if they understand each other?” Moxie said to Rose.
“That would be perfect. I hate that we don’t know what Puck is saying. He’s so smart.”
Rada shook his head, eyes wide. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“When a savvy assassin was taken down by an itty bitty dragon?” Asa asked him.
“That’s the day.”
“Don’t mind them; I don’t think they like animals. Soon Bullet will own their heart the same way Puck does.”
“You do realize that Puck saved our lives. I don’t think a microscopic dragon can do that,” Lael said, then shrugged.
“He’s not microscopic; take that back.”
Asa dropped his head into his hands. “Why me?”
Rada launched himself off the couch, landing on his brother as they rolled around on the floor.
Moxie and Rose laughed. She loved this place, the longer she was here, the longer she wanted to stay.