See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(7)
I looked at him with narrowed eyes. “We really need to go, Kennan. You know Molly will be freaking out. She already sounded tightly wound on the phone yesterday.”
“Fine, but we need coffee,” he said as we got up and found our clothes. We got dressed in a hurry and made our way down to the lobby where there was a coffee stand, or Valhalla. Whichever.
We got our coffee and made our way out to the car for the seven hour trip. If we were lucky we would make it there just before noon. Stupid Kennan and his glorious body ruining our schedule. Okay, so maybe I didn’t mind so much. The truth was I would take any excuse to attack my future husband.
**********
The car trip to Chicago was far more boring than the one to Nashville had been. The scenery consisted of cornfields, soybean fields, farm houses, and the occasional windmill. There was not even a hill in sight. I was bored to tears by the time we finally made it to the city limits. The noise of my old home welcomed me in with a warm embrace. I was surprised by how much I had missed the hustle and bustle of the city. Kennan steered the car toward our old house, and a thousand memories assaulted me.
We passed the pub that Kennan owned when I first met him. I thought back to that first encounter. I still don’t know how I had been so blind to him for so long. I blame my own jumbled brain for not seeing how amazing he was back then.
We made it down the two blocks to our old brick house. Now it was Molly’s. I looked up at the old building and the nostalgia rushed in. Pizza nights with Kennan, him waking me up from my dreams, every single moment we had spent there. The memories of Gram’s, Kennan and my old life swelled to the forefront. The house beckoned me in. I could honestly say I did not miss living there, but the memories the house contained made me long to be inside once more. Kennan parked the car and I jumped out, eager to be reunited with my old house and the people that now lived inside.
As soon as I opened my door, Ian came running out of the house. His clothes were subdued and matching. I was instantly convinced something was wrong.
“Are you sick, Ian?” I asked, concerned for my friend’s well-being. Every other time I had seen him he had been in ridiculously loud clothing. He picked me up and twirled me around in a hug.
“Nope, I am in deep trouble though. This is my way of trying to apologize,” he said as he sat me down and walked over to give Kennan a manly embrace.
“What did you do?” I asked as Molly appeared on the front step with hair that resembled a straightened rainbow clown wig. “Oh no, please tell me you didn’t!” I turned back to Ian with a horrified expression. He looked downright pleased with himself.
“I thought it would be funny. She is always so serious. Plus she wouldn’t stop nagging me about my clothes,” he said with a shrug, only slightly cowed.
“I swear to God, I am going to kill him, Izzy. I don’t care if he is my Guardian. I am going to murder him. I think that the Council will understand,” Molly said as she hugged me, keeping a wary eye on Ian.
“Please tell me it isn’t permanent color. I mean, if it is temporary maybe we can fix it,” I said, running my fingers through Molly’s once blonde hair. She looked up at me, her bright eyes brimming with tears. I knew it took a lot to make the hard Molly cry.
“It was the only kind I could find,” Ian said. He smiled brightly at Molly which just made her that much more upset.
“Well, maybe you could go dark for a while. We can go pick something out right now if you want,” I said hopefully. I wanted to get Molly as far away from Ian as I could. She was bound to stab him with anything available.
“Dark would be good. Let me go grab my purse,” she said, making her way back inside.
“I will get everything taken in. Be careful, do you understand me?” Kennan asked as he pulled me in to kiss my forehead.
“Promise,” I said as I stood on tiptoes to kiss his mouth briefly.
“Gag!” Ian exclaimed.
“Shut it you. You are lucky Molly has not set every last one of your belongings on fire. You better hope we can cover that up. Otherwise I may help her kill you,” I said pointedly.
Molly came running out of the house with a sweatshirt on. The hood was pulled tightly over her hair trying to hide the rainbow monstrosity. If Ian had done it well it would not have looked so bad. As it was she looked like a rainbow cheetah with random splotches of color all over her once blonde hair. She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the sidewalk as I yelled a hasty bye to the guys.
“So, it is going well I see,” I said with a snicker.
“I hate him. One second he is sweet and totally there and supportive and the next he is just a jackass. I don’t know what to do with him, Izzy,” she said. The frustration rolled off of every word.
“You still haven’t heard anything from your mom?” I asked. It was a subject we tried not to talk about. She had been missing since the lab evacuation. No one had seen or heard from her since.
“No, nothing. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if she is dead or alive. I think that maybe she was with the Corporation too long. Maybe she just doesn’t trust the Council. I’m not sure. She could be dead for all I know,” Molly sniffled and I pulled her into my arms. “I just wish I was finally old enough to have the full-blown visions. Maybe then I could see what was coming. Ever since we left the lab and I stopped getting the injections my brain mojo has been off.”