explained why Pepper hadn’t come to see me in so long. She’d been pretty preoccupied from the sounds of it. Just then, Pepper came walking back up to us. “Hey,” she said with a cheery smile.
“I told her,” said Kess with a shrug.
“Oh. So, how’d that go?” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears and smiling nervously.
“Better than expected actually,” said Kess.
“That’s a relief, and I hate to do this, but do you think that we could go now? Gen is getting a little anxious from what Marty just told me on the phone. I guess she’s rearranging my entire kitchen.”
“Hold up a second,” I said putting my hand out to stop their conversation.
“How did you come to have her at your place all the way in Atlanta Georgia Pepper?”
“ That would be my doing,” Kess said, raising his hand like a student and then lowering his head sheepishly. I looked at him sitting there in his faded jeans and white t-shirt. His dark hair was hanging in his face and he looked like the epitome of the bad boy. Talk about a contradiction! Kalan frequently dressed in all white, looked like an angel, and would literally kill to take something from me.
“How did you know?” I said crossing my arms and glaring at him because deep down I already knew the answer to that. He racked his hair out of his face, picked up another rock, and tossed it toward the waves. I noticed he was deliberately avoiding my eyes. Pepper looked down at her phone and pretended to be distracted with something on the screen.
“Kess, how did you know? I thought you lost your abilities when you dipped into the sands of time to restore my gift, so I don’t really even understand how you could have possibly known anything about anything unless you just pushed that whole selfless sacrifice idea to me for brownie points or something.”
“Okay, so I elaborated things a little.” He held up his thumb and index finger to show an inch. I groaned and rolled my eyes. “You’re an impossible mess Kess you know that?”
“Okay, so no, I didn’t actually get stripped of my powers – but trust me, that was the only good thing that came out of serving Kalan.”
“Mmmhmm.” I said, which caused Pepper to giggle.
“So I kept tabs on you – you know, for your protection and all. Then when you reversed your Grandfather’s death I got this feeling, so I went straight to Era as fast as I could. When I got to Genessa’s tomb I could hear her moving around inside. I weaved myself in, explained what had happened, and then I got her out of there as fast as I could.
“And she’s been with me ever since,” said Pepper matter-of-factly. Both of them nodded like this was the God’s honest truth and despite everything I had been through, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much I’d been left out of. Months had passed since I’d seen either one of them and I hadn’t suspected a thing out of the ordinary. I had to wonder how much more there was that I’d missed out on. Like the time I had spent with Kessler that I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t a weaver anymore, and the guy I’d thought was the love of my life hated me. Why couldn’t I forget the painful things?
We left the beach and Kess weaved us to the sidewalk directly in front of Pepper’s place. It was considerably warmer in Atlanta than it had been at the beach in California, even though there was a nice breeze, I was definitely dressed wrong. Pepper was kind enough to switch my clothing. I smiled when I looked down at the floral dress she’d selected. It was gauzy and covered in little roses. Pepper gave my shoulder a squeeze as she said, “I thought you’d like that.” I instinctively reached over my shoulder for my floppy bag to grab a mint before we went inside and felt a pang of regret when I realized I didn’t have it. It was the first time I realized that I didn’t have anything but the clothes on my
“I told her,” said Kess with a shrug.
“Oh. So, how’d that go?” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears and smiling nervously.
“Better than expected actually,” said Kess.
“That’s a relief, and I hate to do this, but do you think that we could go now? Gen is getting a little anxious from what Marty just told me on the phone. I guess she’s rearranging my entire kitchen.”
“Hold up a second,” I said putting my hand out to stop their conversation.
“How did you come to have her at your place all the way in Atlanta Georgia Pepper?”
“ That would be my doing,” Kess said, raising his hand like a student and then lowering his head sheepishly. I looked at him sitting there in his faded jeans and white t-shirt. His dark hair was hanging in his face and he looked like the epitome of the bad boy. Talk about a contradiction! Kalan frequently dressed in all white, looked like an angel, and would literally kill to take something from me.
“How did you know?” I said crossing my arms and glaring at him because deep down I already knew the answer to that. He racked his hair out of his face, picked up another rock, and tossed it toward the waves. I noticed he was deliberately avoiding my eyes. Pepper looked down at her phone and pretended to be distracted with something on the screen.
“Kess, how did you know? I thought you lost your abilities when you dipped into the sands of time to restore my gift, so I don’t really even understand how you could have possibly known anything about anything unless you just pushed that whole selfless sacrifice idea to me for brownie points or something.”
“Okay, so I elaborated things a little.” He held up his thumb and index finger to show an inch. I groaned and rolled my eyes. “You’re an impossible mess Kess you know that?”
“Okay, so no, I didn’t actually get stripped of my powers – but trust me, that was the only good thing that came out of serving Kalan.”
“Mmmhmm.” I said, which caused Pepper to giggle.
“So I kept tabs on you – you know, for your protection and all. Then when you reversed your Grandfather’s death I got this feeling, so I went straight to Era as fast as I could. When I got to Genessa’s tomb I could hear her moving around inside. I weaved myself in, explained what had happened, and then I got her out of there as fast as I could.
“And she’s been with me ever since,” said Pepper matter-of-factly. Both of them nodded like this was the God’s honest truth and despite everything I had been through, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much I’d been left out of. Months had passed since I’d seen either one of them and I hadn’t suspected a thing out of the ordinary. I had to wonder how much more there was that I’d missed out on. Like the time I had spent with Kessler that I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t a weaver anymore, and the guy I’d thought was the love of my life hated me. Why couldn’t I forget the painful things?
We left the beach and Kess weaved us to the sidewalk directly in front of Pepper’s place. It was considerably warmer in Atlanta than it had been at the beach in California, even though there was a nice breeze, I was definitely dressed wrong. Pepper was kind enough to switch my clothing. I smiled when I looked down at the floral dress she’d selected. It was gauzy and covered in little roses. Pepper gave my shoulder a squeeze as she said, “I thought you’d like that.” I instinctively reached over my shoulder for my floppy bag to grab a mint before we went inside and felt a pang of regret when I realized I didn’t have it. It was the first time I realized that I didn’t have anything but the clothes on my
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