Demon Huntress (Alt Collector)

Chapter 7

After Brody left, Dad explained all of the house rules for Nate. My heart broke for him as I watched him nod and agree to everything Dad laid out. They were gone for over an hour, and when they came back, Mom showed Nate into one of the guest rooms and told him she'd have it painted any color he wanted, and they could go pick out things if he wanted. She hugged him, and I swear, it was like Nate hadn't had a hug in a long time.

I'd finally taken that much needed shower. I was packing my bag for the next day, we were having extra practice since we had a big meet coming up, when I heard a knock on my door. "Come in."

"Hey, can I talk to you a minute?" it was Nate.

"Sure," I pointed to my desk chair and I sat down on my bed. "What's up?"

He pulled the chair out and sat down. "I need a girl's advice, and if you're going to be like my sister, then yours will be the best I can get," he was looking down again. "I want to break up with Eden, but with prom coming up, I don't want to look like a supreme asshole."

"Do it before prom then," I shrugged. "Just tell her you have a lot of family stuff going on right now, and you do, and you just can't give her everything that you want to right now, and it's not fair to even try, but you'll still take her to prom."

"That's good," he looked up at me. "And all true."

"Don't you dare take anyone else out until sometime this summer," I warned. "If you do, you'll just add to your rep, and right now that's the last thing you need."

"No kidding," he laughed ruefully. "I hate the rep, but I guess I've earned it. I don't want to go out with anyone right now at all. I just want to settle in here and get my shit together before I try anything else."

"Hopefully she'll understand, and if she doesn't then she's selfish," I smiled at him. I seriously felt so bad for him, he looked like he needed a friend. "You still going to hang out with all of us on prom night?"

"Yeah, I think I'll need that," Nate stood up. "Thanks, Emmie." I totally let him get away with using my nickname. Usually I only let Dad and Sean call me that, but I guess I'd just gotten a new brother.

I walked over to him and gave him a hug, and I heard him sniff a little bit. Like he was crying, but I knew I wasn't going to call him out on it. "Any time you need me, I'm here."

"Thanks," Nate smiled softly and walked out.

I walked through the bathroom I shared with Sean and knocked on his door, then pushed it open because he knew it would be me. "Hey."

"Some bombshell, huh?" he looked up at me from his laptop.

"Did you know?" I sat down on his bed.

"Yeah, I knew things were bad," he swiveled in his chair to look at me. "I brought it up to Dad and asked if this could happen. Dad called James, and apparently James thought it would be for the best."

"Poor Nate," I pulled my legs up and hugged them.

"And you know this means no funny business around the house," Sean looked right at me. "I know you practice a lot, so either you do it when he's not here or you keep it to your room."

"Lucky for you, when you're having a vision, you still look normal," I hated that I couldn't move things with my mind any more. "Peter and Deanna have said I can use any power in their house as long as it's not destructive. Evan doesn't hang out with Brody, so he makes me practice."

"Good," Sean smiled. "Are you and Brody coming here after prom?"

"That's the plan," I confirmed. "Hasn't Mom gotten a ton of food for us?"