Chapter 32: Jada
Xain has another cousin?! Both of our jaws drop at the news. She looks nothing remotely close to being a cousin of Xain’s. She could be a cousin of Clay or Katya with her red hair, but not Xain.
“If you’re Xain’s cousin,” I start, “then why are you...well...”
“Not the same skin color or complection?” Alestra completes. I nod and she continues, “We’re not blood related, my father was adopted into the family at a young age. He married, and moved away before any of us we born.”
“Why didn’t he take me and Xania in when our parents died?” Xain has a bit of anger in his voice. Alestra just sighs.
“My mom wouldn’t let him,” she says as she bites her lip, “She said that it would bring more harm than good.”
There’s a silence as we stand in the doorway.
“Can we go in?” I clear my throat.
“Oh, of course,” Alestra says and unlocks the door. We go in and walk down the hall.
“Are you hungry?” Alestra asks as she turns the corner. She looks at our faces and bites her lip. “You probably want to wash away all of that blood.”
“This isn’t blood,” I say, “it’s residue from firesap leaves.”
“In that case, you both need to take showers,” she grabs both of our hands and runs up the stairs.
At the top, she opens a closet and pulls out two sets of towels and hands them to us. She then points us to opposite directions.
“Boys are on the third level, girls are on this level,” Alestra explains, “Every other room has its own shower. Xain, you’re in 304; Jada, you’re in 211.”
She leaves us, but then turns to say, “I’ll send clothes up to you.”
I head to my room, which is unlocked and has two beds. Great, I think, I have a roommate. I throw my pack down on the floor along with my weapons and head to the bathroom. It’s so beautiful and clean that I feel bad that I’ll be the one to dirty it up.
The shower is so white and shiny. There’s a panel that has an option for the shower. I hit “on” and it begins to shoot water down on my head. I press an option that reads “fountain”, and it shoots water underneath me. I see the dirt from my body pour down the drain and immediately reach for soap, but there’s no bar. The to the side of me, there’s a soap despenser.
I stay in the shower for what feels like half an hour. It feels so good to have a warm shower, even though I did have a hot spring bath while Xain was incapacitated. This shower is like none I’ve ever known. It even shows you how “dirty” you are with a scanner. At the end of the shower, there’s an air dry option. I hit “yes” and it tells me to step out. Once I do, air shoots below my body, and almost within seconds, I’m dry. I grab my towel and wrap it around me as I step out of the bathroom. Like Alestra said, there are clothes layed out for me, right down to undergarments. I slip them on and they are a perfect fit.
As I slip on my shirt, the door opens. I jump, but see that it’s just Alestra.
“You clean up nicely,” she comments. She’s changed into jeans and a green top. Her hair is also pulled into a ponytail. “The others should be getting back from training soon, so we’re about to have dinner.”
“There was nothing on the stove when we walked by,” I say, but she just laughs.
“We have four kitchens, meals are usually prepared in the back where the dining area is,” Alestra explains. “Xain’s still in the shower, so we can have some girl time if you want.”
It sounds as if she’s nervous and asking for permission. She even bites her lip as she says it. I just smile and say, “Sure.”
“Yay,” Alestra is excited, “You can tell me all about my cousin.”
“I’ve barely known him a month,” I tell Alestra.
“I know,” she says, “but you spent a whole week alone with him. You could tell me what happened that whole week.”
As we walk down the hall, I notice that Alestra’s hair is nearly as red as Katya’s. Great, now I have two redhead girl pals. Wait a second.
“How did you know about my sais?” I ask abruptly, “Were you the one that rescued me in the woods?”
“I didn’t rescue you from the woods,” Alestra is confused, “My father gave me those as a present for my thirteenth birthday. He said that they belonged to a friend of his named Joanna Arcs. When I saw you and Xain on television, and saw your name was Jada Anderson, I thought that I’d send them as a sponsor gift.”
“Oh,” I can only manage to get out.
“What happened in the woods?” Alestra asks.
“I ran into Brutus Merikh,” I say, “He and his gang attacked me, but I got away. Someone hit me with some sort of drugged dart and I was disoriented. I’m not sure, but someone with red hair grabbed me and carried me to a hiding place, and then once I was asleep, to Xain.”
“You poor thing,” Alestra holds me in her arms for a few seconds, “I wish I could meet him so that I could rip his head off myself.”
“I would love to see that,” I chuckle, “how’d you learn to fight like that?”
“My father taught me everything I know,” Alestra smiles, “of course I did adapt some moves of my own. And you?”
“Xain and a couple of other friends,” I say.
“They trained you well,” Alestra says.
We continue down the hall until we reach a crowd of people. There’s one girl sitting alone. She has bright blond hair and looks as if she’s lonely. She looks oddly familiar. It isn’t until I see the side of her face that I recognize her and run to her, hugging around her neck.
“Melissa,” I say in a squeaky voice, “Oh my goodness you’re alive!”
Melissa turns around and sees and immediately picks me up and spins in excitement.
“Jada, I was so scared,” she sounds as if she may cry, “When I went to your room, you weren’t there. I thought something might have happened to you, and then they brought me here and I was more worried because you weren’t...”
“It’s okay, Mel,” I comfort, “Xain took care of me.”
“Xain,” Melissa looks excited to hear the name, “where is he?”
“Right here,” Alestra announces for Xain as he walks toward us in a black shirt and sweat pants.
Melissa sets me down and runs to Xain, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him right on the mouth. His eyes shoot wide open as she does it. I think he might actually be scared or traumatized. My eyes shoot open, too. I’m surprised she did that. Did she just all of a sudden fall in love with him? The kiss only lasts for about a second, but it wasn’t a simple peck.
“Thank you so much for taking care of Jada,” Melissa thanks Xain, who is still frozen from the kiss, “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost her.”
“You’re welcome,” Xain says with a cracking voice, “but Jada’s the one who took care of me.”
“Well, we took care of each other,” I say in a humble manner, “It was a mutual survival.”
“Then I should thank both of you,” Melissa beams a smile at me while still holding on to Xain.
“Well,” Alestra cuts in, “I think I should go bring the others up. They’ll be happy to see you.”
All of us sit down at a table as Alestra goes to bring up the others. I can’t wait to see them. I even miss Clay, which is odd. I just sit and bite my lip in anticipation.
When the crew—about fifty or so people, I would guess—does finally come up, Alestra has them blindfolded. There are others coming up behind them and staring at us, I guess they don’t recognize us fully. Well two teenage girls are staring at me and Xain with looks of excitement, so they may know.
“This better be a good surprise, Ally,” Katya is first to talk. I try so hard not to laugh as I look at all of them: Abi, Izzy, Clay, and Katya.
“The best,” Alestra smiles and says, “You’ll love it, so now you can take off you blindfolds.”
Katya is the first to rip hers off, and she nealy falls to the ground as she sees us. The others take off theirs and almost immediately run to us. Well, Clay actually does. I let him hug me just that once.
“Oh my goodness,” Clay exclaims almost in my ear, “I thought you were a goner for sure.”
The others are a little more composed in their approaches. Abi and Izzy both squeeze Xain before picking me up like a little girl. Katya jumps up and wraps her whole body around Xain. Xain awkwardly smiles as he hugs her back. Katya spins me around once she finally lets go of Xain.
“Well,” Alestra cuts in, “I think we should all sit down and enjoy our supper. The chef said it should be a delicious one.”
“Sounds good to me,” Xain says. Katya has once again wrapped herself around his waist while Clay has his arm around me. If it weren’t for all these people, I’d rip his arm off. “I haven’t had a formal meal in a week.”
Everyone laughs for some reason, but they all go and sit at various tables. Our table quickly fills with Katya, Abi, Izzy, Melissa, Clay, and two girls who I’m pretty sure have been eyeing us since they saw us. There’s also Alestra and two others—a boy about eighteen and a girl about my age.
“Hey, Xain,” the girl immediately hugs Xain, “it’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Xain looks at Alestra as if to ask who the little girl is. Alestra just looks at him and smiles.
“Excuse our baby sister,” the boy says as he nearly lifts the girl off the ground, “I’m Mason, Alestra’s older brother, and this is Tanziona.”
“But I go by Tanzi or Z,” Tanzi says as she digs her nails into Mason’s arm. He doesn’t seem to care, but sets her down gently.
Tanzi comes and sits right next to me with Mason sitting next to Xain. I also have one of the girls who I don’t know sitting next to me. The other is next to Xain, who is almost across from me.
“So what’s for dinner?” The girl next to me asks. Her lips are painted pinkish-red and her hair is in brown curls. If I had to give a guess on her age, I’d say she’s sixteen.
“I shot a couple of turkeys while I was hunting in the woods earlier,” Alestra says. She seems so modest when she says it.
“With a bow?” I ask in amazement.
“Close,” Alestra says with a smile.
“She uses a crossbow,” Tanzi smiles.
“Crossbow, huh,” Xain says, “now I’m more terrified of you.”
The table laughs as a team of chefs comes out with carts of food: sliced turkey with gravy, steamed vegetables, and thick sliced bread. It smells so wonderful that my mouth actually waters.
I’m glad that the only words that come out of anyone’s mouth next are, “Let’s eat.”