Chapter 6.
"I could come over there," I offered, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear as I chopped the carrots. The task was made slightly difficult by the splints on my fingers.
"No, I have to work tonight," Warren's voice was slightly muffled.
"I know, you told me that already but I mean I could come over and stay with your mom. I mean, I know you're worried about leaving her alone right now and she might want some company."
There was a pause and began throwing the carrots into the salad bowl. My dad came up behind me and gestured with his fingers. Ten minutes, he mouthed and pulled out the plates to set the table. I nodded.
"I guess that would be ok," I could tell by his tone of voice that he was trying to think of all the reasons why I shouldn't, "If you want to."
"Yes," I answered firmly, "I want to. We're eating dinner right now but I can be over in about an hour. Sound good?"
"Yeah, I'll tell her you're coming," he paused, "Thanks Lydia."
"No problem. See you later."
I put the phone back on the holder and brought the salad to the table. Shyla and my dad were already sitting there. Knight was at work and Taylor had gone out with Alyce, his bouncing ball sidekick. It was kind of weird eating with other people, especially my new stepmom. Before my uncle had been taken to prison I ate almost every meal alone. My dad was gone so often chasing down leads that we barely had time for a decent conversation. Now I suddenly had two parents.
"I'm going over to Warren's tonight, to hang out with his mom," well that sounded strange, "he's working tonight and…I thought…"
"That will be good for you to get to know his mom," Shyla said with a smile, "Maybe you could have Warren over here some time."
My dad looked up from his plate, "Yeah Lydia, we haven't really had a chance to get to know him since you two started dating."
I pushed a piece of cucumber around the edge of the plate, "Maybe. He's just…kind of anti-social most of the time, especially with adults."
"Well in less than a couple months all of you will be graduated adults. Might be time for him to move past that," Shyla volunteered.
"Well I'll let you tell him that," I said quietly.
I let the two "adults" wash the dishes and hurried to get ready to go over to Warren's house. I had finally gotten my license but since Knight had taken the car we shared, I drove my dad's truck there instead. I'd only been to his place a couple of times as we usually met somewhere else when we went out. Warren and his mom lived in a town home on the edge of the old part of town. He was able to walk to work when his mom had the car without any difficulty.
"Hello Lydia," Hana Peace greeted me and ushered me in through the cheerful green door.
Ms. Peace was a woman of forty-one years who had aged rather gracefully. There were some wrinkles around her eyes and mouth that belied her vexing past, but these days she seemed to be living up to her surname. From what I had gathered from Warren she was of mixed Asian, Hispanic, Native American and English heritage. He could boast of heritage from even more countries with the German and Scottish blood from his dad's side. All in all, it made my ancestry look pretty boring.
We walked down the narrow hallway, lined with framed pictures and Chinese calligraphy. I had been told once that there had been several pictures of a much younger Warren there as well at one point. Of course I couldn't imagine that he'd ever willingly let me see any of those.
"Lydia, do you want to see some old pictures of Warren?" Ms. Peace asked as we sat down in the small living room.
I nodded with a slight laugh. If I hadn't known that Ms. Peace's only power was over fire like her son I would have suspected mind-reading as a second. Of course, the comment could probably be attributed to great perceptiveness. I sat in the room twiddling my thumbs while Hana was gone. It still felt strange to be sitting here in Warren's house without him around. The idea of Warren standing here in the cozy room painted in shades of light green and blue was almost enough to make me laugh out loud.
"Something amusing?" Hana's voice startled me as she walked back in with three large photo albums in her hands. I rubbed my shin which I'd inadvertently smashed against the coffee table and nodded.
"I was just thinking about Warren."
Her look softened slightly, "Well I'm glad that makes you smile," she sat down in the loveseat next to me, "I know he probably isn't very good about saying anything but he likes you," she paused dark eyes twinkling, "A lot."
I blushed and took one of the photo albums from her, "I know…but it's good to hear it once in a while."
She smiled and turned the cover of the book in my hands, "This is the oldest one I have. There's me when I was pregnant with Warren. And this one is from the hospital…that's Baron holding him for the first time."
I peered closer at the face. He was staring through the camera right at me. He did look like Warren if one ignored the wild hair and the slightly pudgy cheeks. Even without meeting him I could tell that he seemed kind and even playful. How had someone like this turned into a tool of the Ministry of Elements. From the letters it was obvious that his service was given unwillingly in some attempt to keep Hana and Warren safe. Other than that the specifics of the situation were still fuzzy.
Hana turned the page quickly and we quickly went through a mini-timeline of sorts of Warren's life. He had been a cute kid with a wide smile that now seemed to be reserved only for special moments. The pictures of Warren's twelfth birthday and onwards seemed to be the point at which all of Baron's presence disappeared. That matched up with information I'd gleaned from the letters and Warren's scant comments on the subject. It was also about the time the smiles disappeared. Some might attribute that to puberty, but these pictures just made it clear to me that Baron's absence had affected him deeply.
"I couldn't control him," Hana said softly, "Baron," her voice seemed to embrace the name, "kept our tempers under control. He was the glue and things came quite undone when he…left."
I kept my mouth shut, even though I wanted to ask more questions. I wanted to know if she had seen him since his imprisonment the summer before Warren's ninth grade year. I wanted to know if she was there…what had actually happened, did she hate the Commander or rather did she hate the rest of her family involved in villainy? These all ran through my head to such an extent that I didn't hear Hana as she spoke in a high, urgent tone.
"What?"
"Your car," she whispered this time and a loud screech of tires came through the open window.
I hurried over ignoring Hana's protestations. Looking back at her face I saw suddenly how frightened she was. How could I blame her? I turned back towards the window and pulled open the nondescript gauzy curtains just in time to see the truck turn a corner and careen senselessly down the next road. I sighed thoughtfully thinking it had been simply a strange car theft. Something moved near the door of the adjoining townhouse just as Hana was walking over to see for herself.
"Move back," I hissed pushing her roughly to the side, "He was looking in at us," I whispered being careful not to edge in front of the window.
I saw the brick flying through the air but could do nothing to stop it. I might have paused time and gone out to remove it from its flight but that would just lead to another brick thrown or something worse. Hana, who had not been happy about my rough push, was even less happy with the shove I gave her now in an attempt to protect her from the shattering glass that would likely occur. The sound wasn't as loud as I expected but I still flinched involuntarily. The offending item stopped on the carpet, a piece of string and attached note conspicuous against the shade of burnt red.
I looked back out the window as Hana bent down to pick it up. Whoever had thrown it was gone now. The darkly clad man had disappeared as if he had never been there in the first place. A shiver coursed through my body as I turned back towards Ms. Peace. She held the note in one hand, eyes reading the simple typed words over and over again. Suddenly, both the piece of white paper and the attached twine were consumed in a small, powerful flame. Ash replaced the message in a matter of seconds.
"What did it…" I started to ask but Ms. Peace clenched her hand around the black remains and shook her head.
She stayed almost completely silent the rest of the time I was there. The only time she spoke was to say no to my offer of calling Warren and telling him what happened. I wasn't anticipating his reaction to the news but I felt it was only right to stay here until he got home from his shift. I couldn't abandon Hana in this state, though personally I thought it seemed that I was more shook up about the incident than her. Of course, she'd seen it all happen before. She knew the sequence of events that would follow better than anyone.
I was taping a large piece of poster board over the window when Warren finally came home. Other than the strange replacement for glass, there was no evidence of what had happened. It seemed however that he knew immediately. Within seconds he had crossed over to his mother and taken her hands in his. I watched them for those few silent moments. If the situation hadn't been so serious I might have smiled to see them communicate so clearly without any words. They were so similar that words really weren't necessary.
I was the only one who jumped when the phone rang. By the look on Warren's face as he picked it up I could tell exactly who was on the other line. If it wasn't his cousin Fletcher it was someone equally odious.
"Yes," he said shortly crossing his free arm over his abdomen. His dark eyes flicked over his mother and then over me. Jaw clenching he said no more but slammed the phone on the holder a minute later.
"I wouldn't expect to see your truck back anytime soon Lydia," he finally said, then gesturing for me to follow he walked out of the room towards the front door.
I followed, eyes glued to the steady motion of his back as he walked, "I'll walk you back to the Paper Lantern. Knight's still there and I'm sure he can take you home after his shift."
I didn't ask why he couldn't take me home himself, though I was sure it had something to do with what had been said on the phone, "Warren," I ventured before he opened the front door. He turned back to me with an expectant look. I wished I could read his mind to see if the next words would be welcome, "I don't want to be used like this," my voice was shaking.
He looked as if he was going to turn away but I moved closer both hands holding on to the collar of his leather jacket. His dark hair fell in front of his face as he leaned his head down to look me in the eyes. The soft curtain brushing against my face and his eyes smoldering behind it, quieted my voice to a whisper.
"I won't be used as a pawn Warren. I take my own risks, so don't let them make you do anything because of me."
With sudden movement I was engulfed in a tight embrace. I ignored the discomfort of the tight squeeze and burrowed my head in his chest as his hand ruffled my short hair.
"I won't," came his muffled reply. Somehow the tone of his voice made me worried.
AN: Dun, dun, dun... Yes I've finally updated. All thanks for that should go to I.I.M.N. who reminded me that this story did exist whether I had tons of homework or not. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and leave me some feedback for it! I have replied to every single review given to this story but have been informed there was some sort of fanfic glitch going on...so if you didn't recieve my reply I'm so sorry. I really do appreciate each and every one.
I.I.M.N: Now you have me all curious as to what the initials stand for. I really appreciate your review and blatant honesty about your opinion of the story. Some of the things you mentioned have been edited, other people have mentioned some things that confused them and I tried to edit them to make more sense. However, I will not be rewriting this whole story, I enjoy how it is coming together and frankly I don't have the time to go back and rewrite the whole entire thing. I'm sorry you feel this story is mediocre but there is only one "chick fight" and I thought it was pretty low-key. Basically, I needed a filler bit for that chapter and the idea came to me. They aren't fighting over boys, Maj was angry because of a racist comment directed at her. Magenta strikes me as the type of person who would deck someone for saying something like that. This of course is my interpretation of her character and you may not agree with me. Those confusing bits have been edited for clarification, thanks for bringing them to my attention.
