Page 14 (1/2)

"You know, you’re right, Mel It isn’t fair for ht I was so tired, and there’s so ave her a small sht"

"Yeah, and he shouldn’t have said a lot of things either" Melanie went and sat down on the bed

"You could hear that?" Ree sat on the bed next to her and frowned

"Super hearing is one of the perks" Melanie started picking at the end of her braid "And don’t worry about Paden You kno stubborn he can be when he has so stuck in his head, but he’ll co, huh?" Ree griured you wanted to be alone"

"I’ized, es to think about And everyone deserves a good cry when their life is turned upside down"

"Melanie, what’s wrong? There’s sohere so cal out all night? Well, apparently she knew soht happen one day Maybe not exactly as going on, but she knew I erous one day" She clutched her braid in one hand, her knuckles getting white from the tension "You know my Dad died when I was nine, but I doubt you know very much about his actual death I didn’t really know very much about all of it until yesterday"

Ree rabbed her hand She could sense that this was very hard for Melanie to talk about, but she needed to get it out She had neverbefore she had started school at St Theresa Melanie’s e Inn and handled the day-to-day arden behind the er of the Inn late one night We didn’t live in the cottage at that point We had a house near Forsyth Square It wasn’t in the best of shape, but Moether Anyway, apparently there were so a lot of trouble, and they were de to speak to the owners Dad told Mo; I was already asleep I knew he never caht, but it wasn’t until yesterday that Gram explained to me what had happened" She took a deep breath and yanked on her braid Ree squeezed her hand to reassure her

"I thought he had been ed, you know? I remember the headlines in the paper; his body had been found behind a tool shed near a private driveway Mom never spoke about it, but the papers said he had suffered stab wounds and bled to death" She gritted her teeth "But apparently, he had actually been drained by Dark Ones After they finished with him, they came to our home Thankfully, Graet closer than the front steps They hollered from the sidewalk until Mo h the house"

"Melanie, was it an accident the Dark Ones happened to find your father? Isn’t he the one you get your iood to the Dark Ones, and their ability to sures they had smelled us around the Inn It doesn’t help that Gram and Mom are fro that has so to Dark Ones They can drain us, and it gives theular hu

"They caht forshe knew, to explain the danger ere in I knew Moood terht it was Dad’s death that brought theht Gra Hecate; now she’s just as likely to se the house and set up wards as Gram" Melanie stopped and stood in thelost "Mom sold the house teeks after Dad died, and we moved into the Inn They took every precaution they could to ht ere a pretty normal family, you know? Aside froed her "So when you didn’t show up the other night, your Moht you had been taken, too"

Melanie nodded her head and wiped a few tears from her eyes "Yeah, she was pretty upset But Gram understood what I had to do, and she told Moht the Dark Ones and capable of protecting other people from what had happened to us" She sniffed and smiled "Mom may not be a Guardian, but she was pretty fierce She was all set for ain Graet es froht"

"This is why you are so ready to be a Guardian?"

"Oh, yeah I plan on kicking so any other fathers from their children"

Ree squeezed her shoulders and s to do then!"

Melanie nodded "Yep We need to be BA"

"BA?" Ree looked at her friend in confusion

"Bad Ass!" Melanie s everything off of her chest

Ree snickered and pulled her friend out of the room and headed toward the kitchen

Chapter 19

After a breakfast of waffles, homemade hash browns, and bacon they all ended up in thearea Someone had taped plastic over the brokenpanes in the French doors The others were lounging around on the leather couch and overstuffed chairs Sophie entered the roo a sandwich that looked to be made out of a folded piece of toast and bacon After sing the last bite, she bent over and checked the laces of her shoes

"Alright guys! Let’s run!" She bounced in place for ato be doing sorie breakfast She wasn’t athletically gifted like the others were, and it was going to be tough to keep up with them Well, except for

"But we ran five roaned