Silver Lining

Chapter Twenty Nine

 The minute we walk into this huge, empty room, Lia gives me a hug and kiss on the forehead. When she lets go of me, I stand between Luna and Amber. Three faceless white dummies are standing in front of us. We take out our pocket knives. Lia stands nearby, holding a light purple iPhone.

"Alright, ladies. Ready, set, go."

We all stab the dummies in the chest, back and throat. Our knives are covered, but the dummies have scars on them. Lia and Roe don't want us to waste the poison on the blades. Lia taps on her phone.

"That happened within twenty seconds. Good work. Let's try again."

As I stab the dummy in front of me, I couldn't stop thinking about Orion's reaction to my question. I regret not waiting until later to ask, because Orion hasn't talked to me since this afternoon. Lia taps on her phone again. She smiles us.

"Ten seconds. Excellent. Let's move on to the smoke bombs."

A silver duffel bag full of light purple orbs appears on the floor in front of her. We all grab smoke bombs. My thumb hovers over the little button on top. Luna and Amber do the same with theirs.

"Ready? Three, two, one. Press!" Lia says, snapping her fingers.

I press the button on my smoke bomb. As the white smoke around me fades, I realize I'm in a dark blue bedroom. Cleo, Vanessa and Roe are looking at me. My phone vibrates in my blue denim jacket. I take it out.

Good. Now come back to the ballroom.

Just as I'm about to press the button on the smoke bomb, Cleo gets up and grabs my hand. She looks at me in concern. But, why? Did someone get hurt?

"Onyx, are you okay?" Cleo asks.

I keep a straight face. "As okay as I can be right now."

"That's too vague."

"It means I'm okay and not okay at the same time."

"No it doesn't. Be more specific."

"I can be more specific when I'm done training."

"Fine. I'll wait."

She lets go of me and takes a step back. I press the button again. As the smoke fades, I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding. I'm back in the ballroom, standing in front of Lia. 

Amber and Luna appear in front next to me, in puffs of white smoke. They smile and put the smoke bombs back in the duffel bag. I drop my smoke bomb in the duffel bag. Lia's phone vibrates in her hand.

"Good work, ladies. Let's take a break."

"Cool. I'm going to get something to drink. Anyone want to come with?" Luna replies.

Amber and I raise our hands. "I do."

All three of us walk to the kitchen. Cleo is sitting at the counter, with three bottles of water in front of her. Shit. She was serious when she said she'd wait.

Luna and Amber pick up water bottles and leave the room. Now, I'm alone with Cleo. I open a bottle of water and take a long sip from it. Cleo turns to face me.

The door creaking across the room catches my attention. No one is there, but the door is open. Oh well. I'll find out how that happened tomorrow.

"Well...I'm waiting for an honest answer," Cleo says, tapping her hand on the counter.

I sigh. "Okay. I just realized that Helen is Orion's sister, and we all know she's a demon. Luna mentioned that my knife kills demons. So, I asked Orion if she was a demon, because I was...curious. Worried, even."

"Wow. That's a lot. Did you think that through?"

"No. After I found out that two people in our circle were demons, I wanted to find out what Orion is sooner than later."

"If you tell her that, she'll understand."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

The door swings open, cutting out conversation short. A thud on the floor makes Cleo turn around. Orion is lying on the floor, in a fluffy white robe. She gets up, and runs her hand through her brown hair. That was her?

Cleo laughs. Oh shit. What if Orion gets mad at me over that conversation? She approaches us, and looks right at me.

"I'm sorry. I asked that question at the wrong time," I say.

Orion smiles. "That's fine. And the answer is no."

"Oh. Right."

"I didn't talk to you, because I was still thinking about those photos of my dad and sister. That, and this place made me realize how small my world is."

She hugs me. I hug her back, with a smile on my face. Thank God. I don't have to worry about my knife potentially killing her. As I let out a sigh if relief, I realize that I'm fully okay.