Bad Luck, Baby

12 - Bad Plan

"Alright, so tell me, already," I grumbled, as Ro finally came back from the showers, drying his long hair with a towel. I tried not to notice how good he looked in nothing but a pair of underwear, and focused on my lingering cupcake resentment, just to be safe. "Where have you been?"

He sauntered to the window, shutting and locking it, before turning to me with a questioning quirk of his brows.

"You've had this open the whole time I've been gone?" he asked.

"Well... yes. So you could get back in," I said, though I had a feeling he wouldn't thank me for my thoughtfulness.

He tossed the towel over the back of a chair.

"You really have no instinct for self-preservation, do you?" he mused, dressing himself in a loose cotton bathrobe. I bit my lip as he cinched the cloth belt about his slender waist. "I'm perfectly capable of letting myself back in—lock or no lock. It's everything else you should be worried about."

"You said it was safe here," I argued, dragging my mind from the gutter and up to his face.

"Relatively safe, yes. That doesn't mean you can let your guard down." He rolled his eyes. "Come on—I don't like to repeat myself, and Janelle should hear this, too."

He led the way downstairs, and I followed, having nothing better to do, anyway.

Ensconced in Janelle's comfy chair once more, Ro waited until Kyrie joined us from the kitchen before he began. Then, rather than explain his whereabouts, he told Janelle how I'd spontaneously summoned fire.

"You did?" Janelle looked at me, penciled brows raised.

"It was just a few sparks," I said.

"Green, like your magic, though?"

I nodded.

"How'd it happen?"

I glanced at Ro. "I was... a little upset."

She studied me thoughtfully. "Hmm. Not unusual for strong emotions to bring it out, but that's your second element in barely two days."

"Is that... bad?"

"Not bad, no. Just... uncommon. Usually, a witch has a single, primary affinity. In time, they might discover a secondary, and with dedication, may master more than one. But to have two manifest naturally in such a short time is rare. Especially since it took quite a lot to draw out the first. What were you feeling when it happened? Were you angry?"

"No. Just a little... alarmed." I glanced at Ro apologetically, but his face was unreadable.

Janelle nodded. "So, it was fear, both times. Makes sense, I guess. Fear is a powerful emotion, and not one we experience every day—if we're lucky."

"My father terrorized me, though," I argued. "If he could have scared the magic out of me, he would have."

"He was an impatient man," Ro said, regarding me thoughtfully. "Some things take time to ripen."

Janelle gave him a look. "Speaking of patience; I only got so much. So, what's the scoop?"

Ro shifted in his seat, and I hid a smile. He didn't like to be rushed.

Then I frowned, wondering how I knew that. And yet I did know, with absolute certainty, that Ro liked to do things in his own time.

"I went to visit some old... acquaintances," he began. "I wanted to find out if any of them had seen something like that spectre."

"Spectre?" I asked.

"The 'hyena thing' you saw," Ro clarified.

"Oh." I'd forgotten he'd called it that before.