Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(75)

It would be really nice to know she didn’t suck at everything.

Della frowned, not so much a pissed-off frown, as a guilty one. “I didn’t call you a goofer.” Standing in the middle of Miranda’s room, she

held up her hands. “And yes. You are getting better, but if someone popped into this room to hurt you—”

“I’d do this!” Miranda wiggled her pinky and a cage suddenly appeared around Della.

The thrill of success made Miranda’s chest feel lighter. The fact that she’d done it so effortlessly surprised even her. Not to mention the

caged vampire.

Della frowned and with tight lips and bright eyes, she pulled the bars apart, stuck her head out, and glared at Miranda. “Now what?”

Feeling extra confident, she wiggled her pinky and another cage fell, this one made of heavier metal.

Della growled and yanked the first set of those bars farther apart, slipped out, and was about to start on the second.

“Wait for it.” Miranda smirked and held up her pinky.

“Don’t do it!” Della hissed.

The door to the cabin opened. Della sniffed the air. “Kylie, you’re right,” Della called out. “Miranda’s losing it.”

“What? Did she say I was losing it?” Miranda asked.

Kylie appeared at the door and saw Della prying her way out of the cage. “Oh, crappers. I’m scared to ask.”

“Did you say I was losing it?” Miranda spit out.

Guilt clouded the chameleon’s expression. “I said I was worried you were losing it when you thought you had a ghost attached.” She looked

back at Della. “What’s this?”

“I’m just proving a point,” Miranda said. “And I’m not losing it. Thank you very much.” Or was she? Maybe she had to lose it before she

found a way to make things right.

“What point?” Kylie asked.

“That I’m not helpless.” Miranda frowned. “I could maybe even help you guys find Tabitha.” The second the words left her lips, she knew

how much she wanted that. She was so damn tired of waiting on the sidelines. She wanted to do something, not sit like a knot on a log and wait

for someone to feed her information.

“You want to work for the FRU?” Della asked, making it sound like a joke.

“Maybe.” Miranda glared at her. It sure as hell didn’t seem like college was an option.

“Seriously?” Kylie said.

“You two don’t think I could do it, do you?” Their lack of faith hurt. “I could. I could be good at it.”

Della exhaled. “You might be able to zap a cage, but what if someone grabbed you. What if there’s more than one and they come at you. You can

’t say, please don’t stab me with that knife while I work up a spell. And you don’t know how to fight.”

They were right. But … “Then teach me.”

Della shook her head. “I don’t know if…”

“Kylie was taught,” Miranda interrupted her, looking at the chameleon, hoping she’d take Miranda’s side. “You never thought you’d be able

to fight, but you learned. Burnett even takes you on missions.”

“I kind of did learn.” Doubt still clung to Kylie’s words.

“See,” Miranda said, ignoring the doubt.

Della shot Kylie a wide-eyed gape. “Don’t encourage this.”

“Pleeeease!” Miranda said. “Kylie knows I’m making perfect sense.” When Della didn’t look convinced, Miranda added, “What would it hurt?

” And just like that, Miranda latched on to her new goal. She was going to learn to fight.

“If it’s the ghost you’re afraid of, then fighting isn’t going to help,” Della said.

“It’s not that. Look, even if I don’t ever work as an agent, I should be able to protect myself. I’m tired of feeling”—less than

—“afraid.”

Kylie looked at Della. “She’s right.”

Della’s expression softened and Miranda let out a yelp. “When do we start?”

The vampire didn’t appear too thrilled. “You’ve got a broken arm.”

“I can still learn. And besides, it should be off in a few days.”

“You just got it.”

“Witches heal fast, too,” Miranda informed her.

“Okay,” Della said. “We can do this, but—”

“I don’t like buts,” Miranda said.

“Well, you are going to have to deal with this one.” Della spoke with sass.

Miranda sent the girl the stink eye.

The vamp and chameleon looked at each other as if they were on the same mutual mental wavelength. One Miranda hadn’t been invited to join.

Probably because the only ones accepted were smart people.

“What’s the ‘but’?” Miranda asked.





Chapter Twenty-two

“Just tell me already,” Miranda demanded.

Kylie spoke up. “For every thirty minutes you spend learning to fight, you spend twice as many studying.”

Miranda’s backbone stiffened. Were they trying to murder her newfound dream?