Page 23 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
As she took her seat, Adam said, “Everybody, this is Nora.” The way he said it gave Nora visions of standing up in front of the class at a new school as the teacher introduced her and warned the other children to play nice.
“Nora, this is Ezra.” Adam motioned to a square jawed man in red who looked her over before giving a grunt of affirmation.
“This is Antony.” The man in purple looked up from his food to give her a dreamy smile.
“And this is Seraphina.” Nora glanced to the last person at the table, but the woman didn’t even look up and Nora was forced to give her polite smile to the elaborate tangle of pale blonde braids on top of the woman’s head. Nora didn’t have much of a chance to be offended, however, because her attention was quickly monopolized by the food on the table as her stomach growled.
Thad, sitting across from her, gave her a knowing look and grabbed a plate.
“You should be starved after the massive healing you went through,” he commented as he shoveled stuffed dates, cheese, and olives onto the plate.
“Are you sure you didn’t replace my stomach with a bottomless pit?” Nora asked as she watched Thad add a pancake-like piece of bread drizzled in olive oil to the pile and her mouth watered. As Thad put the plate down in front of her, she looked around for silverware. Not seeing any, she shrugged and began tearing into the food with her hands.
The blonde woman at the end looked up and sniffed distastefully while delicately nibbling on an olive.
“Speaking of healing, I think we would all prefer it if Thad didn’t have to heal Nora like that more than once,” Drew started in diplomatically. “Maybe we should talk about how we are going to keep her safe before she eats you out of house and home.”
Nora narrowed her eyes at Drew but kept herself quiet by filling her mouth with a bite of cheese.
“Unfortunately, Nora is now going to be some sort of homing beacon for disaster. She will need to have protection around her to be able to continue going about her normal life,” Adam explained.
“So, what do you want me to do? Walk around with a fully armed bodyguard? That won’t raise any questions or get in the way of my life at all,” Nora argued, remembering why it had seemed like such a good idea to run away just a few minutes ago.
She almost jumped when the man in purple, Antony, chimed in from the far end of the table.
“I would enjoy being your bodyguard. Chicago sounds lovely.” His smile was excited enough that Nora almost felt bad for being frustrated at the suggestion.
“That’s not the point! I don’t want my entire routine upset by this!”
“I agree with her,” the blonde at the end of the table spoke up. “I don’t think we should be putting ourselves in harm’s way just because she was dense enough to mess with things she shouldn’t have.”
Nora opened and shut her mouth, uncomfortable with the feeling of being lost for words, which hadn’t happened to her in quite a while.
Adam stepped in before she could formulate her response.
“Seraphina,” he warned, to which the woman just shrugged and returned her attention to her plate. Adam turned back to Nora and continued. “The guard could be temporary. If we get you trained in at least basic combat, you could learn to defend yourself if there was any trouble.”
“I’m resourceful enough. After all, didn’t I save you by skewering a Shadow in the eye with a pair of tweezers?” Nora jabbed Adam in the chest with her finger and was thrown off guard by how solid it was.
Thad grimaced. “Yes, but as much as I’d love to see how many Shadows you can fight with everyday objects, I’m sure Ezra could teach you to fight in a way that won’t involve you throwing your tools.”
Ezra himself grumbled from the end of the table. “I’m not training anybody.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you can’t train her?” Thad asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous; I could train a goat to fight if I wanted to,” Ezra responded, his gray eyes narrowed. “But she’s too old to start training now. It would be too hard for her to learn, and she would get hurt.”
Nora pounded her fist on the table, making the plates rattle as everybody jumped.
“Could everyone stop arguing about what to do with me as if I don’t have any say in the matter?” she ground out through gritted teeth.
Adam opened his mouth but remained silent when Nora narrowed her eyes at him.
“I’ve worked hard for the life I have, and I’m not going to let one weekend of craziness ruin it for me,” Nora continued. “Drew, you’ve been quiet for all of this. You’re on my side, aren’t you?”
She looked pleadingly at one of her oldest friends, but he wouldn’t quite meet her eyes, instead rubbing his beard and looking down at the table.
“I don’t know, Nora. I don’t want to see you coming through the emergency room doors covered in blood again,” Drew said. “Maybe staying safe wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
