There’s this little feeling that you get when everything is going to go to shit. And right now, I am experiencing that. Gerald looked at me with cold eyes, saying again, “She’s no good. Can’t even speak, how can she warn us of danger?” He didn’t even bother to read my childish note.

I looked at Lily as she giggled. “It looks like this route is a no go,” she said.

Don’t patronize me.

“I wasn’t patronizing anybody,” Gerald said aloud. I looked at him with wide eyes. “I was just stating facts.”

Lily stared in wonder, “We best be careful around this one. He can read minds.”

So you can read minds, so what? That just means you can hear me warn you of danger, I thought, raising an eyebrow.

He snickered, “Okay, okay. I concede there. You have a lot of sass. I wasn’t expecting that.” He put his hands on his hips and took a step towards me. I offered my hand, knowing what he was going to say. He clasped my hand and shook, “I guess you’re part of the team.”

“Sweet!” Lily twirled.

Gerald chuckled and walked away. Realizing that while he couldn’t see Lily, he could hear her, I immediately made a motion to shush her behind his back.

The other group members had a short discussion with Gerald. Then they walked up to me and patted me on the back.

There was a small blonde girl with big brown eyes. Her name was something like… Cornelia or something. I didn’t remember. Besides, I hated looking at girls that were prettier than me, and she certainly was.

Another girl had deep red hair and a fire blazing in her green eyes. She was also very attractive in the curvy kind of way. Something I was pretty jealous of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not as flat as the blonde but I certainly didn’t look as good in travel gear as this redhead did. Her name was Joan.

A boy, by the name of Tim, was burly and big. He was bigger than Gerald. He also had great posture. So good on him.

And finally, a boy with straight black hair and dark eyes, Geneth. He stood back and didn’t offer direct praise for joining the group. Instead he offered me a thumbs up from a distance. I think he’s what you’d call an introvert.

But I was pretty much welcomed after that whole ordeal. Margie gave me a smile and returned to her duties.

I stood in front of Gerald, What’s next?

“Well, there’s some wolves that are terrorizing a nearby town. Apparently they’re brazen enough to attack during the day. We were going to head over there next. What are you abilities besides seeing?”

I can make us invisible.

He looked surprised, “I’ve never heard of support magic such as that?” Was that really a question?

The small blonde pestered him, “Hey, what did she say?”

“She said,” he turned back to glance at me again. I only nodded, I didn’t make a mistake boy. “She said she can make us invisible.”

“Wow,” the group said collectively.

I know, I’m impressive.

“No need to get arrogant. There’s a long journey ahead of us. You better be ready to face life and death situations.” He had a haughty look that made me want to punch him. I let him continue though. “There’s lot’s of dangers, especially for girls like you. Can’t even protect yourself.” He said the last part with a shake of his head.

I grabbed onto his arm, feeling an anger building up within me. I could feel his skin heat under mine, not yet enough to burn but enough to be uncomfortable. Do you want to see if I can defend myself?

“I got it, I got it,” he conceded again. He raised his hands in defeat. “Was that fire magic? I’ve never seen magic used like that.”

I shook my head.

“What was it?”

I held a finger to my lips, Trade secret.

He sighed, “Well, anyway, let’s start heading out. We’ll pay for a carriage ride out there and then take a carriage back with the spoils. It should take us about two days to get there so everyone prepare for a journey.” He called it out loudly. Like he was herding cattle. We all collectively moved out and into the open air.