Broken

Chapter 9

Cassie practically squished me when I got back. She squeezed me until I almost threw up.

"Calm down, Cassie. I'm right here, girlie."

She looked up at me, her adorable eyes glistening.

"I missed you!"

"Haha, I'm missed you too," I said, smiling down at her.

Cassie took my hand and led me back towards the bakery. I gave my bag of supplies to Hank, who nodded his approval.

"You're a good kid. I think we can keep you and your sister around."

"Thank you."

Cassie tugged me to the baby, who was lying in a box. Cassie beamed.

"What do you notice that's different?'

"Um..." I inspected the baby. "She got bigger while I was gone?"

"No, silly! Her crib! It's decorated! Me, Lux, Benjamin, and Dexter did it while you were gone. Do you like it?"

I noticed the crayon drawings on the sides of the "crib." I nodded.

"It's very pretty, Cassie. You did an awesome job."

"Thanks! Oh, and Lux wants to talk to you."

"Where is he?"

Cassie pointed to the back of the bakery, where Lux was trying to figure out how to hold a knife. I hurried over and snatched the knife from his hands as he held it with two fingers.

"Lux! What are you doing?!"

"I'm trying to learn how to use a knife," he replied innocently.

I sighed and set the blade down. "Maybe you should ask your dad to teach you."

"But he won't! He just says no." Lux looked upset and distressed.

I sat down and motioned for him to do so. He sat across from me and I inspected the knife.

"This is a really good knife. Where did you get it?"

Lux shrugged. "I just found it."

"Oh. Well, this is a push dagger. You hold it like this."

I held the grip and let the blade protrude between my pointer and middle finger. I showed Lux. He nodded. I also showed him two simple thrusts that would jab someone right in the abdomen. He watched in awe and slight confusion.

"Alright. Now you try."

He took the dagger and held in his hand. I corrected his fingers.

"Show me what I showed you."

He sloppily thrusted the knife and ended up dropping it. He frowned.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You weren't holding it tight enough and your wrist wasn't strong. You also bent your arm strangely."

Lux sighed. "I'm bad at this."

I patted his knee reassuringly. "It's alright. It took me a couple of days to figure this out."

Lux's mouth dropped open. "A couple of days?"

I hesitated. "I, uh, I was already trained in self-defense."

Hehe, oops. I forgot to tell you that. So my brother taught me some self-defense stuff because of my father. I guess I learned something good because of him, but I won't admit it was for the better (even though it probably was).