Maya (Book #3)

Chapter 38

I woke up to pressure on my shoulder from a large hand. I cried out and flew to my feet, prepared to run if necessary. When I had gotten to my knees and flipped my hair out of my face, I saw Damon looking at me with alarm.

"It's just me," he said, holding his hands up. A wave of relief rushed over me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug without thinking. He paused for a second and then hugged me back, squeezing me tightly before releasing.

"Good morning," I said with a small smile. I was trying to be brave, but I was also feeling better this morning. The younger part of me was more prominent today, and she was excited to be going home. I wondered if I would be allowed to take things from my house or if I would have to leave them there for the pending investigation.

 "Mom thought it would be better if we left early. It's not even 7:00 AM yet," he warned. "You okay with that?"

I nodded hugely, liking the idea myself. It would be light outside, but hopefully my uncle would be asleep still, wherever he was. The thought made me uncomfortable, so I pushed it down and told Damon to wake Dominic up, so I didn't have to.

 I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth and tame my hair, detangling the wild knots that had formed on the carpet last night. I grabbed the ends of my brown hair and realized that it had grown a lot since I'd left my house. I combed through it with my fingers and twisted it into an uncharacteristic braid and then threw it over my shoulder.

After Dom had left my room to get ready, I grabbed leggings and a shirt that must have gotten mixed in with my laundry because it was way too big and had a Star Wars logo on it. Regardless, I didn't mind getting it dirty, so I threw it on. As I walked downstairs, I wondered what state my old house would be in. It had to be dusty, and it was never all that clean before, but it must be awful by now.

We piled into Charlotte's car, and I squeezed into the backseat between Caleb and Brooks. Dominic was in the passenger seat and Damon was in the one remaining seat behind us.

"Why can't you sit in the middle?" I begged Caleb, for no reason. I knew it was logical for me to be here, but there was no leg room and I had to sit awkwardly for the duration of the ride.

"You're the smallest!" he said, shoving me over into the middle seat.

"But the middle sucks!" I whined, jumping back into the left seat before Caleb could sit down. He pushed on my shoulder to shove me back, but I just fell over, now effectively taking up two seats. Charlotte turned on the car and Caleb groaned, trying to push my legs over now.

Charlotte giggled as she waited for us to figure it out and Brooks and Damon laughed. I smiled, cheered on by their laughter. When Caleb had wasted a good couple of minutes trying to shove me, Dom turned around from the front seat and gave me a look.

"Maya," he said in his scary voice, focusing his dark eyes on me. I sat up with an eye roll and slid into the center seat, crossing my arms over my chest. Caleb sat beside me triumphantly and Brooks and Damon looked at one another.

"Buzzkill," I said, loud enough for him to hear. He turned around once more and raised an eyebrow, causing me to duck behind Brooks and be quiet.

"How does he do that?" Brooks whispered to Damon as we left the Anders house and headed towards mine.