Page 2 of Relyn (Warriors of Etlon #6)

Lydia knew what was up. She nodded and picked up his phone from the line in front of her. “Please come claim your property Mr. Sandoval. And try not to pick any more fights with Mr. Whitmer.”

“ Gracias, Senora ,” he said meekly as he grabbed his phone and his backpack. He slipped out as quickly as possible.

They headed down the stairwell together. “Don’t make a habit out of this, Marco,” Nora said.

“I owe you a big one. A big one!” he said.

He was definitely in a hurry to get out of the building, but when he reached the door, he drew up short. It was pouring down rain.

“Fuuudge.” Marco said, changing the final sound at the last second. “I missed the bus and don’t have time. I’m gonna have to make a run for it.” He put his notebook in his backpack and paused over the copy of Pride and Prejudice. “Gonna get wet. You wanna keep it for me?”

Nora pulled her umbrella out of her bag and popped it open with a sigh.

“Tell you what,” she said. “If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll give you a ride home.

That way you can actually do your reading.

” He could easily access a digital copy from the net, but Nora found that kids were more likely to do their reading with a physical reminder sitting on their desk.

“Done!”

She’d discovered a few months ago that Marco was her neighbor, living only two doors down.

He put the book in his backpack and ducked under her umbrella.

Nora pointed and the pair sprinted out to the faculty parking lot to her to beat up Toyota.

It was third hand, but it was all she could afford at the moment.

“Wow. This thing doesn’t even have autodrive,” Marco said as he slid into the passenger seat.

“Hey, no knockin’ the ride. Petunia’s… delicate.” Nora pushed the start button and backed out of the space. “She still takes a charge, even though she needs a little encouragement in the colder months.”

“I got a cousin that can set you up with something-”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of those kinds of cousins. I’m not into that. This girl is all on the up and up.” She patted the dash above the steering wheel.

“Whatever. You’re weird.”

“I try. How’s your reading schedule going?”

Marco fiddled with his backpack and looked down. “I got a couple of pages down.” Which probably meant he’d opened it and read the first few pages with them in class.

“But I got a question. Why should I care about some girls that lived that long ago?” Marco said.

“It’s about the story, Marco,” Nora said. “It’s about being able to read people and their intentions. Sometimes the people you don’t trust turn out to be the ones trying to help you the most.”

“I don’t trust no one, no how.”

“That’s a double negative. You don’t trust anyone,” Nora corrected.

“Exactly. Maestra, in this world, you gotta look out for yourself.” Marco crossed his hands over his chest.

Nora sighed. “I would hope that you’d trust me.”

He looked dubious and then glanced out the window.

They were already on their street. Marco slunk down real low in his seat.

Nora slowed. As she reached his house, she could see four or so boys hanging out on the front porch, trying to stay out of the rain.

She didn’t recognize any of them. Most of them looked slightly too old for high school, anyway, probably in their early twenties.

“Just keep driving, Miss. They don’t need to see you with me.”

“Who are they?”

“Just some guys. From Work.”

Nora was immediately suspicious of what kind of work he was doing, but she continued two houses down and pulled into the short tight driveway just big enough to hold her small car.

“Marco, what have you gotten yourself into?”

“Nothin’.”

She turned off the car. He was trying to peek over the door frame to see if there was a clear view from his porch.

“Okay, but if those were guys from my work, and I was avoiding them like that, you’d suspect I was into something shady too.”

Marco opened the door and practically slid out. “Nah. You? Shady? Mississippi, you shine so bright, even Mr. Darcy wouldn’t be able to throw shade on you.”

And with that, he sprinted across the short distance to her tiny backyard, and disappeared among the trash cans. He’d probably hop the neighbor’s fence to get in his own back door, so the crowd at the front would be none the wiser.

Knowing it was foolish and dangerous to go sticking her white nose in neighborhood business, Nora got out of her car and climbed the steps of her own porch.

After the invasion, Philadelphia’s neighborhoods had become even more schizophrenic.

The rich and middle class that had survived had tried to buy up as much outside the zone as possible, crowding the poor out of neighborhoods that had long been dismissed as untrendy, but many of them had nowhere to go.

One street would be filled with bourgie tech workers doing thousands of dollars of upscale renovations, and the next block would be filled with those still working paycheck to paycheck and whose houses had needed a fresh coat of paint for the past twenty years.

There had been hopes that this new arrangement would lead to a stronger, more diverse community.

Instead, it seemed to just lead to uneasy neighbors.

Nora’s small slice of real estate had been one of the windfalls of her life.

During her student teaching, she’d taken on a job, helping Marie, a retired teacher, in exchange for rent.

The pair of them had lived together for two years, with Nora doing all the shopping and chores around the house, as Marie had been touched by the Blue and got winded after just a few steps.

When Marie had died peacefully in her sleep one night, Nora was surprised to find that Marie had left everything to her in her will, as she didn’t have any family left to leave it to.

So Nora had found herself with a house with no mortgage at the age of 22. Since then, she’d put away a portion of her salary a bit at a time, and remodeled as she went, still trying to keep the character of the house that Marie had loved so much.

Nora dropped her bag by the door and went to turn on the kettle. On a rainy day like this, she needed a cup of tea and a good book before she could even think of grading papers. Marie said it made her an old soul, just like her. Nora agreed.

Just as she sagged down into her favorite chair, the vid wall beeped.

It was her one concession to newer tech.

Nora had allowed her father to install it last year, after he went on and on about getting it for her as a gift.

It only took one call to realize that he’d set it to accept her parents’ vid line without consent.

The last thing she needed was her parents being able to drop in on her living room at any time without warning.

Her father hadn’t mentioned anything when she reversed those permissions.

Nora sighed and took the call. Her parents' living room flashed into full view along her wall. Her mother looked disappointed to see her sitting there, a mug in one hand and a book in the other.

“Hello, darling. Did you hear the latest family news?”

No, she hadn’t, because if she had, her mother wouldn’t be calling, but Nora kept her mouth shut. Her mom would continue to tell her anyway.

“Cousin Lily is getting married!”

“Again? What is this? Three times?”

“Four, but those first ones were, you know.”

Yeah, she knew. Uncle Roger had no problem paying for his baby to stay here on Earth.

Nora’s dad had offered once, mainly to show off to his brother that he could afford to, but Nora had turned him down.

She’d take her chances, though by now, if she hadn’t matched, she wasn’t likely to.

Nora had also considered in vitro, which was, in the short term, a cheaper option.

But she didn’t relish raising a child on her own, and it didn’t seem like many good quality guys were interested in dating a middle aged, slightly frumpy English teacher.

Just the announcement of her job title sent most guys running with memories of their high school days.

“Anyway, I’ve got things all set up for Sunday. I’ve even got some extra guests coming. Bob and Joel. I think you’ll like them. They’re roommates and Joel is really smart.”

Her mother was trying to set her up again. Knowing her track record, they were both probably gay. Her mother had horrible gaydar.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Nora said and took a sip of tea, unimpressed.

“Your Aunt Shelly has five grandchildren!”

As much as her father competed with his brother, Nora’s mom seemed to be racing with her sister, a race that she was losing spectacularly.

“True, but you have to admit I’m getting a little old for catching up.”

“You’ve got time.”

Nora snorted. “I’m too busy for that nonsense. Besides, I think I’ve proven that I don’t need a man to complete me!”

“I can’t believe I raised you as my daughter. You will bring that pie?”

“Yes, mother. I will be there with pie in hand on Sunday. Love ya, bye bye.”

She told vid screen to hang up. She didn’t need her mother rubbing in the fact that finding a guy seemed to be a skill she couldn’t master.

Oh, there were always those open to an opportunity, but Nora wasn’t into that sort of thing.

There were always too many awkward moments and too many missteps to make it a viable option.

No, it was always better to just skip the live ones and go straight to the battery powered options.

Then, she didn’t have to worry about strings or diseases or anything like that.

No, she could power up her pink toys and engage her imagination and be quite satisfied all by herself.

She adjusted herself in her seat. It was quite clear that she was going to need a session tonight, and just the thought of it had made her hungry for more than just dinner.

It was early though, not even five o’clock. Fine, she told herself. Early dinner, and then maybe a nice hot shower and a curl up with a trashy steamy romance. Those essays could definitely wait another day, right?