The Descendent Protectors

Chapter Thirty-Four

Three days had passed since I had woken up at the private infirmary in Xavier's estate. A day after I'd woken up, I was moved to a private room which had a king-sized bed located right in the middle and a large balcony that overlooked the estate garden. The minute I settled in, my phone began to buzz non-stop. When I glanced at the screen, I found the name of my mom popping up on the caller ID. My eyes snapped to Ariel, who shrugged and pointed back at Bella. When my eyes found hers, she gave me a goofy smile.

"You told my mom?" I gasped.

"I had to, Nora. You were shot, for God's sake." She reasoned.

I frowned, but refrained from replying back. When I answered the call, I spent nearly two hours convincing my parents not to end their cruise-trip and travel all the way across the globe to come see me, and that I was absolutely fine, and that "the police did catch the robber". Bella must've had to come up with a whole story when speaking to them on the phone, without letting away too much that they'd snatch me away and lock me in my old bedroom for the rest of my life.

My parents were fairly protective growing up, which I kind of understood given that I was their only child and they spent nearly seven years trying to conceive me. But as I was leaving for college, I had a heart-to-heart with them about the importance of my independency; and I was beyond grateful for their understanding of me moving out after college instead of returning to my old town. They spent the years after cruising around the world, living off the adventures they couldn't experience during the time I was glued to their sides.

Ariel and Bella rarely ever left my side after that night when I spoke to my parents, on some nights they even threw slumber parties in my room and we watched a dozen chick-flicks until all the romance and humor turned cringe-worthy, all in an effort to get my mind off of the fact that I still hadn't heard from Xavier.

On the first two nights it kind of upset me, the fact that I'd woken up and he wasn't there, the fact that he didn't check up on me. But soon enough my hurt had turned into anger, thinking how dare he ignore me at a time like this. I could think of a thousand different ways I could yell at him.

And another thought that constantly occupied my mind was the fact that even Noah and Elliot were rarely around. None of us girls knew what they were up to or where they were at when they weren't with us. Bella tried to get some answers out of Elliot on the one night she saw him, but his answers were always short and vague.

I saw Seth a night ago. Ariel helped me walk to his room that was just down the hallway from mine. He was in his own bed, his back straightened against the bed-frame with his eyes trained on the Star Wars movie playing on TV. When he heard the door closing, his head snapped to our direction and he gave a wide smile.

"Hey!" He exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hey, you." I smiled, reaching the bed and plopping down, sighing in relief as the pressure on my thigh was decreased. I turned my attention to Seth, inspecting his wounds; but only a few were visible. A small gash on his lower lip, and a fading bruise on his cheek. "How are you feeling?"

His grin widened. "Never better. Have you seen my new room? I might fake feeling unwell for just a week longer so I could stay here. Plus they deliver my every meal; I feel like a lazy king up in his own castle."

I giggled, shaking my head. Typical Seth. "How's your head injury? Are you in any pain?"

He clicked his tongue. "Nah. It was just a small gash that's nearly entirely healed. But what about you? I heard you got shot, are you okay?" His eyes softened up a bit as he glanced at my injured leg, worry coursing through his vision.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm all good." I smiled tightly.

"Dang..." he teasingly huffed, his eyes lighting up in amusement. "Lucky you. Now you have a badass scar to show off, telling stories of how you once got shot and survived. But my scar will be covered by my stupid hair."