• T W E N T Y • T W O •

"She cut her chest open and searched and searched but could find no heart."

• • •

Asher and I spent a couple hours training in the garage before I noticed that he was significantly slowing down and growing tired. Still, he pushed on. His determination and the way that he did not quit earned him my respect.

"I think that's enough for now," I decide, wiping the sweat off of my face with an old towel.

"When do you normally go to sleep?" Asher asks before filling a cup with sink water to drink.

I pull some water out of the air and send it directly into me before using my air and water powers to purify Asher's water quickly.

In response, I shrug. "Some days I don't sleep, some days I just go to bed when I'm bored."

"That's right," Asher says. "I forgot that those with the shadow element don't need sleep."

"Yeah, but you can sleep whenever," I tell him. "I'll probably sleep at the same time since I don't have anything else to do, really."

I mean, I could go fight, but I have enough money for a while and I can't exactly get dressed up as Raven while Asher is around. That certainly wouldn't raise any questions.

Please, please note the heavy sarcasm there.

Asher touches a necklace around his neck. This is the first time that I can actually see it since it is normally under his shirt. It is a dog tag, worn down from the constant wear but still gleaming.

"Alright," Asher agrees hesitantly. "I'll take a shower now then and head to bed. Where will I be sleeping?"

Biting my lip, I realize there is only one bed in the house.

"There is a bedroom on the other side of the living room and the bathroom is just across from it," I inform him.

I guess I'll just sleep on the couch or not go to sleep at all tonight.

Asher nods without saying anything and heads out, grabbing his bag as he heads into the bathroom. Grabbing my book, I flop on the couch and begin to read the awful thing.

Banging my head on the wall, I yell, "Why the fucking hell would she accept his goddamn apology?!"

"Problem?" Asher says from behind me.

I turn around and retort, "Yeah, there's a problem! Jessica took Ryder back!"

"Huh?"

"The "badboy" fucking cheated on her and comes crawling back the next week!" I exclaim, outraged. "And Jessica just started crying and it somehow ended up with them kissing and everything being perfect!"

"Huh?"

"I KNOW RIGHT?! WHO THE HELL COMES UP WITH THIS SHIT?!" I roar.

"Huh?"

"I'm dying and you don't fucking care!" I cry, a grin making its way into my face as I realize that I may have gotten a bit dramatic there.

Asher laughs, "All that and I'm still not sure what you're talking about."

I sigh heavily. "A book."

"Oh, okay then," Asher replies with a grin. "What book?"

Picking the book up off the ground, I pass it over to him.

"Oh, this is the one William gave to you, right?" Asher recalls.

I growl, "Yeah, that jerk gave me the worst book ever. Even the ending is horrible."

"But you're rereading it still?" Asher asks pointedly.

I sigh again. "Yeah... I don't have any other books and it's kinda like a train wreck that amuses you so much you can't possibly tear your eyes away."

"Ookaaay," Asher says, dragging the word out. "Well, I'm going to head to bed now."

"Night," I tell him with a much calmer smile.

Asher smiles back and heads into my room, leaving the door ajar.

I lay down on the couch, making myself comfortable. I don't sleep, just think.

A lot has happened since I left that town. The town I grew up in. The town I was constantly abused in. The town where I got my powers. The town where I lost everyone that I called family.

Now, I have calmed down, even.

Rage. It means a short-lived fury. Now, I want to see if there is anything I can do. I mean, I know that my family is gone, but a piece of me can't help but wonder if there is any chance that they are still alive.

I shake my head. I can't afford to think like that. Thoughts like those will just lead me down that dark road. For a long time, a couple years, I spent in pure fury. I destroyed everything and anyone that did anything wrong. Sometimes, they didn't even do a thing wrong. I would demolish and tear apart things, burn them up, shred them, flood them just because I felt like it.

All I knew was my anger.

Now, though, I am slower to anger and I actually have people that I like. Victoria, Flynn, Trent. And the boys that I like a lot. Nekoda, Asher, Darkon, Gage, William, Boaz, Kolton. All of the boys have done so much, sometimes without even realizing it.

With Asher staying here, I can repay the debt a bit. Help them in the same way they have helped me. This is just a start, though. I'm going to help them all.

A soft smile settles on my face as I think that. It's been so long since I've been like this. Kind. Calm. Peaceful.

But I know it won't last.

The smile promptly disappears and is replaced by a hardened look as I sit up, as if snapping out of my happiness.

Kitrina.

That motherfucker.

Whatever I do, I will not let her take any of the boys. She can't hurt them just because they have been kind to me.

No.

I will die before I let her hurt them.

And that scares me.

• • •

I wake up at five in the morning, wanting to be sure that I am awake before Asher. If he came out and saw me sleeping on the couch, he would feel guilty for taking my bed and I don't want that.

Grabbing my backpack, I pull out my textbooks and folder and get to work on my homework. I had completely spaced it yesterday, but now that I remember and have time, I should get it done. Plus, it saves me from boredom.

Okay, now I've convinced myself.

Rubbing my eyes, I start on English and begin to handwrite the first draft for my paper.

After I scribble that out, I begin studying for a test in Elemental history.

Studying.

Ever notice how they conveniently put the word dying in there?

Studying.

By the time I am finished with my homework, it is around seven and Asher is still asleep.

I decide to let him sleep a bit longer and just shower and get dressed in the clothes that are supposed to be for fighting as Raven.

I take a quick shower, not wanting to spend much time in there and quickly get out and dry off. Pulling on a pair of leather pants and a white t-shirt, I tug on socks and cram my feet into my red converse. After brushing my teeth, I pull my hairbrush out of one of the drawers and try to brush my hair out.

Keyword being try.

Growling, I toss the hairbrush back in the drawer and pull my hair back into a messy bun, calling it good. I slip on my necklace that I had taken off to shower. The silver butterfly gleams against the white shirt and I smile slightly at it. The present had been a present from my brothers, a rare gift from my family.

I walk out of the bedroom and sit back down on the couch, deep in thought.

It was the first and last gift my brothers gave me. They were all punished for it when our fathers found out about it. Angry with me, my brothers didn't talk to me for months. I didn't mean to get them in trouble, though, and they came to realize that later. But things weren't really the same. Maybe we just grew too much during that time. We were pretty young when they gave me the necklace. After we all got punished for the present, our fathers pretty much forgot about it, so consumed with the punishment. I've made a habit of keeping the necklace hidden under my shirt.

This necklace is easily my most prized possession.

I've never gotten another present and I can't quite remember when my birthday is. I think it is in the fall sometime, but I don't remember anything else.

"Hey, Rage," Asher greets me, his voice thick from sleep. "What time is it?"

Pulling out my phone, I check the time and realize that it is later than I thought.

"Half past seven," I tell him. "We have about twenty minutes before we need to be on our way."

Asher nods, waking up a bit. "Thank you, Rage. That was the best I've slept in a long time."

I give him a tight smile. "Of course."

Asher smiles back and heads to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

I don't bother with breakfast, knowing that we should be able to get to school early enough to eat the breakfast there.

Asher doesn't take long at all to get ready. I swear, boys have it so easy.

Scooping up my backpack, I decide to leave my necklace how it is.

"Ready?" I ask, looking at Asher.

Nodding, he grabs his own backpack and we head out. I lock the door and turn to see Asher with a frown on his face.

"Why do you have so many locks on your door?" He asks, concern evident in his voice.

I raise an eyebrow and reply, "Look around. Do you trust the people in this neighborhood not to break in? I could handle them if they broke in while I was there, but while I am gone, there's nothing to stop people from getting in except those locks. Sure, it's easy to break a window, but it's also a whole lot harder to hide."

Asher touches the dog tag that lies beneath his shirt and the frown stays.

"Let's go," I direct, starting to walk.

After a beat, Asher begins to walk beside me.

We walk in silence. It's not awkward, though, oddly enough. I've always thought of silence as awkward, but this is peaceful.

My hand brushes against Asher's and he takes that as a sign to grab my hand. It's not what I was trying to do, but I don't complain or pull away.

We walk into the crowded school and navigate our way to the cafeteria where we sit with Darkon. Because the boys can't be seen together too much, I only get to sit with a couple of them at a time. They say that if people see them together, they'll notice just how close they all are and begin to draw conclusions.

Asher had dropped my hand as we entered the cafeteria and I fold my hands, trying desperately to warm up my frozen hands the way that he had. My hands are always so cold, despite my anger.

I dig into my food eagerly. I swear, with the way I eat, I'm honestly surprised that I can still fit through the door.

"Well, I'm going to steal Rage away," Kolton says, walking up as I shove the last of the food in my mouth. "We should get to class."

"Talk to you later," Asher says mentally with a grin as Darkon nods a goodbye.

I flash both of them a smile and head with Kolton to dump my tray and get to math class.

• • •

I M P O R T A N T

So I have decided that I will end this book in a way that makes it so it can be read as a stand-alone novel or you can read the sequel. As it stands now, the title of the sequel will be called Conspire, but it won't be out for a long time.

• • •

Instead of a Q & A, I am changing it up a bit for this chapter. You silent readers are killing me. So, if you are reading this, comment here!

Thank you for reading!

Jade