The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger Volume: 1

Chapter 6

It was dark when I walked into my house. It felt empty. I had expected to see my mom waiting up for me. Instead, the only thing that greeted me was the ticking of the wall clock. I reached up and ran a hand over my lips, thinking about the kiss I'd shared with Corinth at the beginning of our date. The swirly-airy feeling in the pit of my stomach came flooding back as I ran through the events of the night once again. What a date. My excitement was a mixture of my feelings for Corinth and the giddiness of the unknown for my upcoming trip. My flight left at the crack of dawn and all of my belongings were already packed in one large bag, ready to go. Traveling light was the key to getting around quick. I'd planned on changing hotels to save money along the way and had done considerable research when it came to hostels in the area.

Three months was a long time to be away, practically forever. I'd never been anywhere by myself and the thought of having to figure out the airport, find a taxi and get to where I needed to go, suddenly threatened to overwhelm me—but the lights flipped on and brought me crashing back to reality.

Mom stood in the living room with her arms folded over her chest and a smile plastered on her face.

"Uh, hey," I said, giving her a half-grin.

She flung herself forward and grabbed my hands in hers. "I thought we could catch up on some Scrabble before you leave, what do you think?"

I turned to see that the coffee table was set up and ready to go. She had planned this out perfectly and it brought a smile to my face.

"I got us some soda and popcorn," she said proudly.

"It looks great. But there's just one problem with that."

She bit her lip and glanced away looking crestfallen. "What's that?"

"You're going down."

She gave me one of her rare hugs, almost squeezing the life out of me. It felt like having her back, the way she used to be when Dad was still around. And I'm not gonna lie, I started to have second thoughts about leaving her alone for so long.

"I'm going to miss you," she whispered.

"You going to be okay without me?" I led her to the table and we sat as I searched her eyes.

Mom raised an eyebrow in defiance. "As long as you stay in constant contact and promise to have a blast."

"That, I can do."

We shared another hug and I used the rest of my short night to squash her attempts at boasting that she had the best vocabulary on the block. That title still belonged to me.

***

My flight landed in London/Gatwick airport. Nine hours cramped between two people who kept giving me dirty looks the whole trip for having to use a seat belt extender was not a great way to start my travels. Fat girl problem number forty-five.

Jet-lagged and limping along with dull lower back pain, I yanked my luggage behind me in complete exhaustion. I wish someone would have warned me about how bad this feeling was going to be.

As I dragged myself through the automated airport exit doors and out into the cool summer air, I breathed deep for what seemed like the first time in forever. I swear the airplane oxygen had been alarmingly suffocating.

The weather was already shaping up to be way more pleasant than any of our summer's back home.

I fished my phone from my pocket, thinking about Corinth, but realized my phone bill was going to be astronomical, so I settled for a quick text, instead. The thought of his goofy corkscrew smile made me miss him already. In my text I told him I had landed and would touch base with him later. I texted my mom and told her the same.