AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Or else?” The prof’s dark eyes are hard and unwavering.
Bhodi draws himself up to his full height and squares his shoulders, shaking his head.
“Or nothing,” he replies emphatically before cracking his knuckles in a clear sign of warning. “You let her sleep.”
The pair remain embroiled in a battle of wills by refusing to break eye contact, and I’m surprised when the prof eventually looks away first. He sighs, steps past us and goes to the kitchen to fix himself a drink.
He returns with a full glassandthe bottle. That’s never a good sign.
“What are we going to do about Malia?” Cove asks me softly.
The prof snorts.
“Something to share with the class, Sir?” Bhodi growls.
Prof shakes his head, salutes us with his glass and then tips the whole thing back.
Whatishis issue?
Sure, he’s never needed much of an excuse to drink before now, but this is definitely getting out of hand. He usually prefers to drink himself into oblivion and crash in his campus accommodation, in a thinly veiled attempt to hide it from us, so this blatant show of spiralling is new and unnerving.
He hasn’t been the same since he came back from visiting The Elders, but I’m fucked if I can get him to talk about it. Doesn’t he know that keeping secrets affects us all?
“Reef? Are you listening?”
“Sorry, what?” I check back in to the conversation when my name is mentioned. “What did I miss?”
“I was asking when you plan on wiping Malia’s memory,” Cove repeats.
My brow creases as I consider his words. “I’m not,” I reply carefully.
“What? You have to!” Cove insists.
I shake my head. “I can’t. It’s barely been a week since I last did it.”
“So?”
“So, if I do it too often, we run the risk of doing permanent damage.”
“The risk is so low it’s virtually non-existent and you know it!”
“I’m sorry. But I’m not willing to chance it. And you shouldn’t be either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cove demands. Internally I sigh, wishing to avoid a fight.
“Just that if you care for Malia as much as you claim, you wouldn’t put her safety on the line like that.” I try for diplomatic, but my intent must miss the mark because my words make Cove get even more worked up.
“It’sbecauseI care for her that I want to take these memories away. She’s been through so much. She isn’t ready to have our world exposed to her!”
“Be that as it may, she’ll have to learn about it at some point.” It saddens me to have to say it, but I know in my heart that it’s true. Malia is the key to…well, everything. And I can’t see how we could possibly complete this mission by keeping her in the dark.
“But not now! Not when she thinks she’s going insane and she tripped over the dead body of a girl with cat’s eyes and a goddamn tail!”
“I know. And you’re right. But we still can’t risk it. She’s going to have questions in the morning.”
“I have questions now,” the prof slurs from the sofa where he’s plonked himself down. The bottle is looking decidedly lighter already.
“Fine. First thing tomorrow, we’ll have a family meeting. Until then, everyone should just leave Malia be and get some sleep,” Bhodi cuts in before stomping up the stairs.
