Page 76 of A Shade of Myself
It took Eli a second, but he added his. “Right.” He gestured at my injured arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Eli dropped his voice to a whisper. “What’s with the crazy lady in the living room?”
“That’s Marsha,” I said. “She stitched me up.” I ran a finger over the bandage. The painkillers had kicked in. “Did a good job.”
“Military Marsha? Did she see the demon?”
“Big-time. It turns out she’s an Ohrist. Today is full of surprises.”
Sadie bounced on her toes. “Her magic was insane. She ages things superfast. Like she melts them through time. It’s bonkers. I wish I had powers like that. Guess I’ll stick with Laurent training me.”
“Laurent?” Eli’s left eye twitched and he slammed the electric razor on the counter.
Sadie cast an anxious glance between me and her dad.
I shut the razor off.
Eli shot our kid a thumbs-up. “Training is good.” It was a tad forced but better than nothing.
I poured a glass of water, which I handed to Sadie. “Here. Make Marsha hydrate.”
She dragged her feet leaving the kitchen, but at my encouraging nod, left.
“Training implies she’s going to be doing more fighting,” Eli said disapprovingly.
“She might.” I held up a hand. “I’m not necessarily talking about supernaturals.” He knew better than anyone the depraved depths that Sapiens were capable of. “Laurent already checked her running abilities since he’d rather have her get away than fight. Physical moves come next.”
“And flamethrowers?”
“I didn’t realize she knew where I’d hidden it. If you like, I’ll put you in charge of that. You can teach her weapons safety, same as if it was a gun.” My ex still didn’t look happy. “What’s the real issue here? Laurent?”
“I don’t like that he thought of it first.” That was a huge admission from him.
Laurent might be insulted if I took Sadie’s training away from him, but Eli was her father. “Do you want to train her?”
It was a testament to how far Eli had come in accepting the existence of magic and all the new dangers that came with it, as well as to the few therapy sessions we’d had with Dr. Takimoto that he thought it through carefully. “I do. At least in the basics. Laurent could take over for more specific moves to stay safe from anyone or anything with magic.”
Sadie returned with the empty glass. “She’s calmed down, but I think you better go check on her, Mom.”
“Okay.”
Someone knocked on the front door.
“I hope that isn’t one of the book club people,” I said.
“I’ll get it.” Sadie left and a moment later we heard “Hi, Nav.”
Eli’s eyes widened and he grabbed for the electric razor, his hand darting to his half-shaved head as footsteps drew closer.
I fell over the counter, laughing.
“Stop it,” he hissed and ran out the back door, the razor cord trailing behind him like a tail. He disappeared down the stairs just as Sadie and Nav entered the room.
“Where’d Dad go?”
Nav perked up.
