Influx (Book Four)

Chapter Sixteen

👀👀 let the drama continue!

Chapter Sixteen

Rolling over the next morning I almost scream when I see that it is ten o'clock. I've been asleep for thirteen hours. Catapulting myself out of bed, I find a change of clothes on the dresser and quickly shower and change. Walking out of the room I jog over to the stairs and all but run into the common area.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Alexander says quietly, glancing at the couch I see Cathleen working on one of the tablets we have, and Aviva is still sound asleep.

"Is Click up yet?" I ask and Alexander nods and hands me a plate of pancakes.

"She's outside with the Metac trio and Zana," he says before pouring more batter onto the pan. My stomach growls at me and I can still taste the stomach acid from last night.

"I'm surprised Aviva hasn't woken up yet," I say before shoveling food into my mouth.

"She won't wake up until Faith tells her to," Alexander says seriously, and I nod in understanding.

"Wait, Zana is here?" I ask and Alexander grins and points to someone else walking in the room. A gasp slips out of my mouth as I see none other than Thalia Hayes.

"Oh my gosh," she squeals, and I hop up and she pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.

"It's been too long Thalia," I say, and she shakes me around.

"You stopped calling me, Hadley!" She says and I stiffen at the name, I haven't heard that in years.

"What's wrong?" She asks me and I chuckle and knock my hair out of my face.

"In the same way you go by T, she goes by Beta now. A new life, a new name I guess," Cathleen drawls out as she works away.

"Beta?" She asks baffled and I shrug as the five younger Mavericks bound into the space laughing and smiling,

"Faith, you need to wake up Aviva," I say trying to pivot the conversation quickly. She nods and walks over to the couch and I stand one step behind her. She touches her watch and the noise dies away. Kneeling by Aviva, she whispers to her and she starts to stir, her warm brown eyes pop open and she is disoriented. Cathleen guides her into a seated position.

I am started by the left side of my face twitching. Turning away from everyone, the twitching continues and there is a slow-burning making its way across my cheek. Thinking back to last night and the insane pain of having my nervous system overloaded, I can't remember if I felt the pain in my face. The twitching starts to calm down.

"Beta, I am so sorry about last night! I don't know what came over me," Aviva babbles and I feel a hand on my shoulder. Glancing at the concerned redhead, she sees the twitch before I pull the scarf back into place.

"That's new," she mumbles, and I turn back to Aviva and kneel.

"I need you to tell me everything that happened last night," I say seriously and the burning in my face gets worse.

"Are you alright?" Aviva asks me concerned and I sharpen my gaze.

"Tell me what happened Arlington," I order, and she cringes back.

"I was walking back from dinner with Genève, I hadn't seen her in a while. When she walked away from me, someone fell in step with me and I instantly felt lethargic and confused. When I finally had enough energy to turn and see who it was, it was the same woman who I saw when I was on the other side of town! She kept asking me questions, but I could barely find words to answer her," she splutters out and Cathleen grabs her hand reassuringly.