Page 86 of Change

Chapter Sixteen

Bianca

Skin

It’d been a few days since my very strange, but recovering, encounter with Julian, and I’d been trying to find different ways to keep myself occupied while I waited for word from Ms. Protean.

Of course, that meant I had to hang out at the college—to make myself more readily available, obviously. If I wasn’t here if she needed me, I’d be remiss as an assistant.

I totallywasn’ta loser with no life.

But there was also something going on I couldn’t quite explain. I felt jumpy, restless, and was ready to punch the first person who offended me if only for some excitement.

“Small chocolate latte please,” I told the barista. It’d been a long day of waiting and reading, and I was so tired.

“Um, sorry,” The wavy-haired brunette cashier replied, not sounding very sorry at all. “We’re fresh out of chocolate.”

I frowned. Normally I’d never argue, but how could this be? I needed my fix. From the grumbling complaints of the patrons behind me, I wasn’t the only one who required such nourishment. “What do you mean?”

How could an establishment be so ill-prepared?

“You drank it all.” The employee had no shame, and even had the audacity to nod in the direction of my table. Of course, there were two empty paper cups there, but that wasn’t that bad. And there was no way I’d made that many trips to the trash can.

Besides, what about the concept of supply and demand. I’d been here forever already.

We should have all been used to this routine by now.

“Do you have something to say?” the man asked, raising his eyebrow mockingly. “Or would you like something else? We’ve plenty of decaf too. You might like that.”

Never. Decaf was for the weak!

And for people like Damen who had issues with hypertension.

I wanted to yell at the barista, if only to wipe that mocking smirk right off his face, but I couldn’t. My earlier fire and fury remained subdued.

I sighed. “Just a vanilla latte then, please.”

“Okay,” he grinned and winked. “One decaf vanilla latte coming right up.”

What?No!

But I was too weak to argue much past a muted protest as the perky man bounced away to make my order. Internally, I was screaming.

I could have sworn he was laughing at me as he handed me my poor excuse for a coffee. With a broken heart, I returned to my seat.

My calendar was still empty, and my coffee, ruined. It was back to reading while remaining the ever vigilant and ready assistant. Whenever Ms. Protean needed me, I would be there.

In the meantime, it was back to Miles’s book.

I set the cup to the side as I pulled out the novel in question, ready to learn and absorb. The witch had been more than helpful in offering his reading recommendations and had suggested another classic by the world-renowned Andreina Bellini.

“Hey there.” Anthony dropped a book onto the table and slid into the seat opposite mine. “What are you so moody about? I thought you were about to jump that guy.”

“Not really.” I closedLongsword of Loveand slid my notebook over the cover. This distraction would pull me further away from the harrowing adventures of Johnson, the noble, yet ill-advised knight, and Guinevere, the young noble maiden he was sworn to protect. It’d been coming up to a good part too: the two heroes were travelling through the moors to slay a dastardly dragon and everything.

Dragons really were violent creatures.

But that would have to wait.