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"Pff," Kiva made a dismissive noise. "I'm never alone here now! And even if we were, the house watches."

The rest of them nodded solemnly. I blinked, realizing she was right. There was always a subtle awareness of Gluttony's manor, an attention that shifted and followed like the sensation of being watched but somehow comforting rather than intrusive.

"Fair enough," I conceded. "How long have they been gone?"

"Since before sunrise," she said, pushing her empty plate away with a satisfied sigh. "They've been arguing about what to do next. The loud one?—"

"Greed?"

"Yeah, him. The sleepy one said he was stupid."

"Sloth?"

She nodded. "The angry one with the books?—"

"Pride?"

"He just kept saying we need more information before we do anything else." She hopped down from her stool and made her way to the sink, standing on tiptoes to rinse her sticky hands. "The pretty one wanted to find you weapons."

I put a hand to my mouth to stifle my giggles.

"Let me guess. That would be Lust?" I asked.

Nic turned, his eyes a kaleidoscope of colors as he looked at me, deadly serious. "He says you're the weapon."

I nearly choked on my coffee. Before I could ask what exactly that meant, a commotion at the front of the house drew our attention. Doors opened and closed, footsteps approached, voices raised in continued debate.

The Sins were back.

Pride entered first, his impeccable appearance belying the tension evident in his tightly controlled movements. Envy and Greed came next, still deep in heated discussion, followed by Sloth who looked almost animated for once. Gluttony brought up the rear, his ancient eyes scanning the kitchen before settling on me with mild surprise.

Lust was last, his jacket slung over one shoulder, hair slightly disheveled. He walked with a limp and looked like he was in pain.

I ran to him, throwing my arms around him.

"You're up," he stated, as everyone fell momentarily silent. He gently hugged me back as I took him in. He smelled of lightning and cinnamon; musk and danger.

"And feeling much better, thank you," I replied, raising my coffee cup in a small salute. "Kiva and the others have been keeping me company."

Their tension visibly eased at my casual tone, as if they'd expected to find me still weakened or upset from last night.Only Lust seemed unsurprised, his eyes meeting mine with quiet understanding.

Gluttony met my gaze then looked away, embarrassed.

"So what's our first step?" I asked, ready now.

Pride smiled, clearly pleased by my focus. "We train. Each of us works with you individually to strengthen those specific connections. Then we practice channeling power as a group."

"Consider it a supernatural bootcamp," Greed added with a wicked grin.

"Starting now?" I stood, surprising myself with my eagerness. After days of feeling lost, overwhelmed by powers I didn't understand, the prospect of action—of purpose—was energizing.

"Soon," Gluttony said. "First, you need to rest. And we need to prepare the training grounds."

"Training grounds?" I echoed.

Lust's smile turned mischievous. "G has a rather special basement. It survived the east wing incident, thankfully. We also have some space we will set up outside as well so we don’t completely destroy his mansion."

"I'm not sure if I should be intrigued or terrified," I admitted.