The Blood of a Nightlock

Chapter Four

"Okay! Homecoming is coming up, we'll have to figure this out!" Jasmine said as Isla hurried to the fridge, pulled out two bottles of water, handed one to Jasmine, and then turned to us.

"What?" She asked as her eyes went from Dad to me and then back again.

Dad shrugged. I shrugged. She moved on.

Once she was gone, their feet on the stairs, I turned back to Dad. "I think if anyone took Isla, they'd bring her back willingly."

Dad smiled, pointed the knife at me, and nodded. "I wonder sometimes where parts of me are hiding within my children and then you open your mouth and I just know, you are my kid."

I smiled back at him. "Sometimes I think I'm more like you than Mom."

He went back to cutting. "Oh, Wren, you're all your old man."

"I thought I was in the wrong house with all that screeching." Fremont said as he swung into the room.

"Hey, Greg!" Dad laughed as he rounded the Island and hugged his best friend. "What are you doing here?"

Fremont raptured me up into a wrestling move and then placed a kiss on my forehead. "Thought I'd stop by to see my girls! How's school?"

I shrugged and rolled my eyes.

"How's training?"

"My only reason for living."

He winked at me. "My girl." He turned to Dad. "When are you gonna get this girl into MMA or something?"

"You see that right hook on her?"

"Oh, it's good!" Fremont said. "Real good!"

I stole a piece of pepper. "Mom won't let me."

"Well, that's horseshit."

"She said fighters get a lot of concussions."

"Yeah, but if you love it, you should do it."

I slid my eyes to Dad.

Dad held up his hand in surrender before he added the peppers. "I think you should be doing it too, but I'm being a solid husband who is supportive and understanding." He thought about it and then rushed out, "until you're eighteen then we're going to the MMA."

I laughed.

"Oh!" Fremont said. "I almost forgot." He handed Dad his phone.

Dad chuckled, confused. "Is there someone waiting on this?" He lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello?" He paused, listening on the other side. "Silas, how are you?" He said. "I'm good. I'm sitting here with my Wren talking about her right hook." He laughed at the caller's response. "Oh, it's too good, Si. It's so good. She was born for it." He waited. "Yeah, Fremont just said something similar." He swung his eyes to Fremont. "How's it going over there? What's the latest?" He paused, his smile falling a little. "Stop it, don't start this shit." Dad chuckled and then paused, emotion filling his features. "Silas," he was trying his best to stay composed, "I would do it all over again tenfold." He said and then his features faltered. "I'm sorry, you what?"

Fremont smiled.

"No," Dad said in shock, "no way!" Dad laughed. "You're lying!" He glanced at Fremont who was grinning, ear to ear. "They-" Dad put a fist over his mouth. "They made you Chi-" He grinned, choking on tears. "Silas! This is great! I'm so proud of you, man!" He waited, his smile falling a little. "I wish I could be there to see it." He listened. "Thank you for calling, I'll be in touch. We'll get lunch or something soon. I'm proud of you, Si. You worked so hard for this. You deserve it." He nodded. "We'll talk soon. Bye."