Guardian Of The Grove Read Online Free Page A

Britta had that effect on me. She always knew just what it would take to help me. Sometimes it was cuddling; sometimes, like now, it was more.
    After this, I would be able to fall asleep and hopefully remain that way until our alarm went off. It was time to stop thinking about the past. There was only one thing I could do to put it behind me. I had to go home and get the closure I needed. I had to see their graves and find out if anyone knew more about what happened to them than I did. In the morning, I would speak to Adam. I was going home.

Chapter 3
Jackson
    I woke up feeling refreshed for the first time in weeks. Britta was lying next to me, and I remembered what happened last night. The thought of it brought a smile to my lips. Was I lucky to have her or what? I placed a soft kiss on her forehead and swung my legs out of bed. It felt good to have finally gotten some dreamless sleep. The decision to go home seemed to have lifted a burden from my heart. I hadn’t realized just how much I had needed to do this until it was almost driving me insane.
    Marcus was going to be waiting for me on the arena floor, so I couldn’t visit Adam yet. As soon as we were done training, I was going to stop by his office and tell him what I needed to do. He would let me go, I hoped. The Ascendancy needed all hands on deck right now, but I needed time to finally grieve my parents’ loss. This was something that I had to do; I hoped he would understand.
    I grabbed a clean set of workout clothes and quickly headed to the door. If I was too late, Marcus wouldn’t be pulling any punches, and I didn’t feel like taking another trip to the healers. My last trip had led to some unforeseen consequences. Mainly the fact that I had ended up in the shower with one of my best friends, April, and now I couldn’t get her out of my head. She had been slightly aloof since then, probably because I was still with Britta. So much had happened in the last few months that it was hard to wrap my head around the feelings I had for anyone.
    I wasn’t sure what to do. Britta was there for me now, and she was great. I knew April would be there for me too, but how could I saddle her with all of my baggage? Plus, she was my best friend. I never wanted to risk losing that. Still, something in the back of my mind told me I would be better off with her. Should I trust that feeling or was that just my brain telling me to go after something new and shiny? April was a true friend and more. Without her help, I’d be dead by now, and I cared about her as more than just a friend. Damn, when had life gotten so complicated? Sometimes I missed the days when I had shunned everyone and everything. It was easier to be alone.
    Marcus smiled up at me and shook out his dreads as I took the final few steps down onto the sand floor. “Hey, sleepy, you sure you’re ready for this?”
    “I’m never sure that I’m ready for an early morning beat down, but yeah, I got this.”
    “I’ve set up some moving targets. I want you to shield yourself from my attacks and then hit the color of the target that I call out.”
    “Anything special I should hit them with?”
    “They are color coordinated. Red for fire, et cetera. Try and use an opposite element. So, if I call out blue, you could hit it with fire, earth, or air.”
    “Cool man, I got it.”
    “Then let’s get started.”
    I could have sworn he flashed me a wicked grin before moving off toward the side of the arena. The targets rose out of their respective places and started to move around the far side of the space. This wasn’t going to be easy; some of the targets were really going to test my range. The targets moved at different speeds, and some of them moved in weird patterns. Hitting all of them would happen, I just wasn’t sure how many tries it would take. Having Marcus hurling spells at me while I tried to do it would make for an extremely interesting morning.
    I managed to get my shield up just before the first