Ricochet (TGC book 2) (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 11

The last few days at school were completely boring. Mostly, I was too focused on getting out of there, I kind of counted the minutes. But then Christmas was on Saturday, and it was actually a really great day.

Leo didn’t have another sleepless night since Tuesday. He and his parents were doing great, and he already told them about The Guard and Nick’s role in it. After much argument, he had come back to stay with the rest of us at Headquarters the same day he made up with them. But he didn’t really explain too much, and they knew not to push it. I think he was leaving the threat on our lives till they'd properly adjusted, since he asked us not to mention anything about the rebels or anything to do with his past.

Nick invited them to come over for Christmas dinner, though, which dozens of people from The Guard were attending. It was a little awkward for them at first, but they didn’t take too long to get over the fact that they were in a room full of gifted –minus me, the ugly duckling– and just enjoy a regular dinner with a group of good people.

We had fun. Leo’s parents were curious to know the gift of each and every person present at the table. They knew enough to not interrogate their own son, but they did ask me again what my part in the whole ordeal was.

“Um,” I hesitated, feeling self-conscious. “I’m not really sure I have a gift.”

“Don’t listen to a word she says,” Nick interjected. “She has a gift, we just haven’t figured out what it is.”

I rolled my eyes. Here we go again. “Nick, just give up that theory already. I don’t have a gift. I can’t do any magic.”

He pointed a finger at me. “That is irrelevant,” he said, which forced me to roll my eyes again more cynically this time.

“Wait, you have us confused here,” Mr. Taylor remarked. “You have a gift but you don’t do magic? How is that possible?”

I nodded hard at him. “Thank you. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying to this lunatic.”

Nick spoke as if I hadn’t just said anything. “Yes, that’s the general idea. Why don’t you tell them what you do, Cody?”

I glared at him before turning to them and explaining. “You could say I’m an off switch for magic. Whenever I touch a gifted person, whatever magic they're in contact with or that's emanating from them just stops working.”

“But that’s not all you do,” Nettie remarked, noticing the bitter disappointment in my voice and trying to make me feel better.

“It’s really cool dad,” Leo went on eagerly. “When someone is using magic, she feels it. She can also see this glow around them called emblems, and she can see the actual work they do with it. Like if Nettie was using her gift to hear what was happening outside, Cody can see a path of her emblem going from her ears to where she’s listening. I’ve seen what it’s like, and it’s amazing.”

His mother frowned a little, confused. “You’ve seen what it’s like?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Through our bond.”

That was when we proceeded to explain to them about the bond. They took this news really well, and actually thought it was the coolest thing they’d ever heard, even cooler than seeing emblems, which was second on their list. Even when we told them we didn’t know why we had it, they still thought it was better than any gift they’d heard about all night long –no offense to the others. It made me feel kind of proud and special. 

The week before New Year’s Eve was filled with training sessions with Daisy. She focused on scenarios situations, to teach us how to get out of them. It was about how to defend ourselves against an opponent carrying various kinds of weapons. We took turns, with her acting as the opponent. For the first scenario, the weapon was supposed to be a bat, but Daisy used a water log, just for primary practice.